When I arrived in Glasgow on Saturday night, I quickly learned that I had arrived on the eve of the biggest football game of the year. Celtic v Rangers. If you lived in Scotland, the blog would end here and I'd just post the pictures. For myself and my audience, I will elaborate.
Locals and visiting tourists were quick to warn me not to pick a side and to go to very neutral pub to watch the show. During dinner on Saturday, I met a couple my parents age from Dublin who spent some time chatting with me and trying to explain the dynamics. They later invited me to stay in the their house and gave me all of their contact info in case I headed that way. It won't happen this trip, but I appreciated their offer none the less.
After dinner I headed a few miles away to a couchsurfing event. There, I met other surfers from Finland, France, Spain, Austria, and of course Scotland. It was a really dynamic group and I'm excited that even if I haven't couchsurfed, I've connected to that community. I left the couchsurfing event around midnight, thinking I'd head back to the hostel. But something drew me to stay out. On my walk back, I met a group of Celtic fans who were also walking back to their hotel, to hang out in the lobby bar. Concidentially, their hotel was across the street from my hostel so I walked over and hung out for a bit.
At the hotel, I spent the next three hours listening to about 15 Irish-Scottish men discuss football and intermediatley burst into Celtic songs. It was a riot. Right then and there, I was converted. Afterall, I am not a very neutral person. I'm oppinated, loud, perhaps I also talk too much. Sit in neutral pub? No thanks, I wanted to scream and sing along with the rest of them.
I woke up Sunday uterlly exhausted and rolled over the hotel to meet back with the group from the night before. Our group went from 6 people to 10 and I was excited that their were two other women to hang with. Then came the Magners. Magners is an Irish hard cider, which God Bless them, is gluten free. I was surprised how light it tasted. Most ciders I've had have been too sweet to drink. It was Magners for me for the rest of the day, it might be my new favorite drink.
We all taxied to a pub called Pools, where I spent the next several hours falling in love with the spirit of the people. Their passion for this game was intoxicating. It's not all about drinking Magners too. It has a deep religious roots (Protestant v Catholic) and is tied to the history and culture of the people, especially in Glasgow. I'm sad to report that we lost 2-3. However, we are still the highest scoring team in the UK and will win the titles associated with that. Following the game, the singing and celebrations continued. Even in the face of a loss, the Celtic fans sing and cheer on their team. We formed a crowd in the streets, there were crowds dancing everywhere. Later, when we tried eating out most restraunts wouldn't let us in because we had Celtic colors. That was a weird experience for me, to be denied access based on a t-shirt.
I would love to spend an hour describing my big footbal day, but internet is costly here at my hostel, so I am going to have to post photos, videos and end here. Since I've done nothing but meet people and enjoy football, I'm staying in Glasgow another night to do some actual sightseeing. I depart tomorrow, but I don't know where I'm heading. Loch Lommand? Ft William? We'll see in the morning....
Scotland has won me over.
I am a Celtic fan now.
No comments:
Post a Comment