A U.S. tradition overseas

By COLLEEN HUBER

Whether or not you are a football fan, almost every American sets aside one Sunday a year to dedicate to the sport: Super Bowl Sunday.

It is a day to gather around the television, drink beer and eat wings and nachos. Even if your team didn’t make it to the Super Bowl, you inevitably choose a side.

Being in a different country during the Super Bowl creates a slight conflict. The time difference was definitely a bit of an issue. As my fellow Americans were settling around their televisions at 6:30 p.m. to watch the game, I was grabbing a pitcher of beer at 11:30 p.m. as the game was beginning at a pub in Cork. Unfortunately, I had a 9 a.m. class that I had to go to the next morning, so I was only able to see up until a little bit into the third quarter before heading back to my apartment at 3 a.m.

Although American football is not their sport, the Irish came out to watch the game in traditional Irish fashion: packing the pubs and getting rowdy. They wore any random American football jersey they had, not truly caring which teams were playing.

One downside to watching the Super Bowl in a foreign country is missing out on the commercials. Everyone knows that the Super Bowl has great commercials, and unfortunately, the only commercials played in Ireland were Irish commercials.

Watching the Super Bowl was like having a little piece of home with me. Although the atmosphere was completely different than what I am used to on a Super Bowl Sunday, it was an experience I will never forget.