From Finland to Sweden

hey peeps coming to you from Fanny's house in Sweden. yes thats right i have swopped one scandinavian country for another! but this week trip will have nothing to do with Lacrosse i think!

first a round up of events from the last few days in Finland. Ireland ladies won our group and went on to face scotland for a bronze medal. now scotland were one of the countries that decided that we shouldnt have a chance for a medal or infact to win anything so the tension was thick in the air. we faced them bravely with much music and shouting. and for a long time we were matching them goal for goal. it was tense it was brave and it was exremly emotional. in the end a combination of the politics, the refs being unfair (and i stand by my description of this) and a tougher game inall, the scots beat us 15-7. this doesnt depict the strength of our team. we came together very strong and we left it all on the pitch. there were tears after the final whistle and we as a team sang irelands call one last time. dan was so proud of us, we did exaclt what we set out to do regardless of the result. we had fun, we made our mark and we made history... GO IRELAND!

obviously we had to celebrate that night, alcohol was bought and consumed as the tough lax ladies washed away the hard game edge an became all soft and feminine once more. suddenly we had boobs again (speaking mainly of myself here cos 2 sports bras does nothing for ones chest size)we hit the club at about 10pm with game lanards for free entry. i have never seen so many lacrosse players in one sport before, it was crzy. the drinks were cheap, only 3.80 for a vodka +juice...crzy. but the annoying thing was that it was the norm to do shots and then crush on the ground, the place was a walking courtcase!it was so hot that soon everyone was throwing the drinks into themselves and making eyes at randomers. the two dutch guys that had been showing their interest in me took me dancing, great ego boost, but there was no kissing... i just wasnt in the mood! mental i know! after giving a very married kevin a suspicious bruise on his neck i thought it best to call it a night! i think that the experience of Finland is sonething i will take with me for the rest of my life, it was amazing and i miss everyone already!

so now i am in Sweden! am here for a week to hang out with Fanny, and see Stockholm, and hopefully also her summer home on the lake but the weather has been crap so fingers crossed. the idea is to have the week here and then come home to dubling in preparation for the electric picnic next weekend.. its all go go go here in becka land. for after the picnic i think i will be in New york, that is if the trials are in new york... there is talk of a lax thing in vegas...god it never stops!

Finland

Super apologies for the lack of blogging recently but i have been p to my eyes in lax activities here in Finland. if you havnt been paying attention then i ought to remind you that i am in Finland representing my country in the european lacrosse championships...at the same time that the olympics are going on unfortunately.. so no one really knows that we are here!

the irish based players started their trek in dublin airport at 5am on the 5th of august. we took a flight to finland that brought us into the country at 12pm their time only to find that the american girls had been waiting on the bus for hours poor things. and that is the last time i will be referrin to them as the american girls.. there are 18 girls on the irish womens team and in my eyes we are all irish, and im sick of telling people this! an hour and a half later and the bus pulled into Hotel Salpaus, my home for the next 12 days. we were roomed together at random and i drew skip our goalie and our room is on the second floor, not a problem since the restaurant is on our floor but no one else from our team is here :( dont know how it happened but we have gotten over it as it seems that the men are causing a bit og havoc on the 3rd floor...more on that later...

so we as a team havent played alot together at all... and we were given only 3 practises together berfore the games, not good enough for us so we were clever and got up at 6.45am for 7am practises in all weather conditions, ouch.. it has made the trip seem extra long so odd! then there were the uniforms to be concerned about.. i think that gibby might have chosen kiddies sizes or something..aerodynamic is a word that has been tossed about ;) im wearing 13 and so far it has done me proud. yesterday we faced Austria, our first match. we beat them 15:1!! the best part for me was that i scored my first ever international goal in lacrosse, actually i scored my first ever goal!! yeaterday was the first time that i played in the middie line and i was bricking it before i went on, but once on the pitch i settled and enjoyed myself, all until i pulled my quad, whilst i scored!karma?! the goal itself was beautiful, and i think it was caught on tape... if it was i will post it (how big headed)

today we face Sweden, fanny.... who will you be supporting?!?!

Home at last... but not for long!

hey peeps, coming to you from Cork in the south western tip of ireland today!its about 9pm and my father has already been put to bed after an enthusiastic evening in thepub awaiting our arrival from Offaly. I say our.. cos i drove down with me ma an my god ma. 2 of the worst back seat drivers EVER!! but im getting off topic, im just home from Ios and it was quite the journey...

lets see, how about starting on my last night on the island.. headed out for dinner and then to the CAvan girls house for some drinkies.. got stuck into the wine and then we hit orange bar for their amazing shots, mint aero anyone?? after that it was on to the red bull bar for some dancing, met some aussie with questionable hair and we jived for a good 45 minutes i think.at this stage my bag had burst and i was keeping my stuff in aoifes bag. but then we go spilt up and i had the bag!uh oh, but did i think of this ... NO. hit shramrock bar, then on to Coo and then flames.. yummy barman told me tonight was my night(yawn that line got so old) i took that time to check my phone and an hourearlier i had gotten a message from aoife saying she was heading home uh oh.. ran home and she was in bed and was so annoyed with me. but we got over it. i think i owed one evil experience...the next day my head was pounding, but i made the ferry, wish i didnt though, the four hour ferry was a disaster...puked (from sea sickness i might add) 4 times!!! then i navigated the tube for about an hour adn finally got to the airport. had about 3 hour to wait before the flight left. but the funiest thing happened on the plane, we couldnt take off cos of a hole on the engine!!! but it was grand.. apparently, he reved the plane and we were off.. if very scared at the thought that we were about to explode! we were an hour late getting hoe and then mum picked me up and headed straight down home... finally at 3am i got into bed in wraymount stud.. so hapy to be there,
but it was not for long...drove the whole way to cork today and it took forever....why have i not figured out how to fly yet???