We are delighted to be welcoming the University of Central Florida to Ireland for your season opening football clash against Penn State on August 30.
Fresh from a terrific campaign last year – including a superb victory over the Nittany Lions – there is every chance the luck of the Irish will be with the Knights again at the end of the month. (A coach with a great Irish name like O’Leary doesn’t hurt either!)
The game will be played in Croke Park, the national stadium of Gaelic games since 1884, in the heart of Dublin. The ground can accommodate more than 82,000 spectators, making in the third largest stadium in Europe. And there is sure to be a terrific atmosphere on August 30 for a game which has already been dubbed the Croke Park Classic!
The timing is good too. Fresh from the soccer World Cup and at the height of Ireland’s Gaelic football season, spectators in Ireland should be just about ready to enjoy a third kind of football – the American version. And although this will be UCF and Penn State’s first game ever outside the US, Irish crowds have had a chance to enjoy American college football before.
A Notre Dame-Navy game in Dublin in September 2012 attracted a huge audience, including 35,000 visitors from North America.
Those holiday-makers were there for more than just the game, of course. Whether you are looking for beautiful scenery and coastlines, to improve your golf game on some of the best courses in the world, or to trace those Irish ancestors, a holiday in Ireland is always the experience of a lifetime. And the options for travelers looking for a good time may surprise you: in addition to the music and festivities for which we are famous, the west coast of Ireland has also come to be recognized as one of the finest surfing destinations in the world.
This year, thousands of visitors will drive the beautiful Wild Atlantic Way along Ireland’s rugged western seaboard, enjoying the breathtaking views and fine hospitality along the way.
For those of you travelling to Ireland to see the Knights in action, the options are endless. But even for those of you who don’t get to visit on this occasion, we hope you will get the chance to go soon – including to experience a world-class place to study.
Ireland is one of the fastest growing destinations in the world for US study abroad students. It is easy to see why: in addition to Ireland being a safe and friendly country – recognized as the friendliest in the world by Lonely Planet – we are also English-
speaking. To be able to study abroad in a new culture without encountering language difficulties is a rare treat.
And we have world class universities in Dublin, Galway, Cork, Limerick and elsewhere, recognised consistently as amongst the finest in the world in global rankings. As you assess your options for postgraduate research or year abroad study, you may be surprised too at how competitive Ireland is in cost terms – this can be an unforgettable experience which doesn’t leave you drowning in debt!
You can find out much more at www.educationinireland.ie. Above all, an opportunity to study in Ireland is a chance to immerse yourself in Irish music, culture and heritage and to make new friends and contacts in one of the most creative, energetic and entrepreneurial countries in Europe today. There are good reasons companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter choose Ireland as their European headquarters.
These are exciting times for Ireland’s relationship with Florida. Last year, we appointed a first Honorary Consul of Ireland in Orlando and we also recently helped launch a new Irish-American Chamber of Commerce in central Florida. The game on August 30 is a chance to deepen those connections in areas like education, culture and business. We hope to be as successful in those ambitions as the Knights have been on the field.
Enjoy the big game!
By Paul Gleeson,
Consul General of Ireland
