Student Bloggers

Ah, St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin – the epitome of tourism, stereotypes, and mimosas at noon. Back in the states, we celebrate by going to our local Irish bar for drinks and wearing silly “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” shirts. In Dublin, however… we still did the same. Kincaid (and my 11th grade English teacher) would be so disappointed in my participation in the ‘terrible tourism,’ but hey, when in Dublin! Since St. Patrick’s Day is a church holiday for Ireland, classes were cancelled, and the Trinity/Parliament Arcadia group decided on having brunch to start celebrating early in the day.

After brunch in Rathmines, we headed north to breach the sea of tourists in Temple Bar, searching for trad music (‘trad’ music is the abbreviation for traditional Irish music). We ended up worming through the masses to a busy pub right at the center of Temple Bar, where I was given an awful straw hat to wear with the pub’s name on it. I was very happy to have it, however, because it was pouring outside when we finally went to watch the parade in person. We didn’t stay there for too long, since we wanted to grab a bite to eat before heading back south. At the parade, the floats differed from parades that I remember attending as a kid. It’s hard to describe what exactly was different, but the structures they used and the materials made it a very unique spectacle for me! I’ve included some photos, although they’re slightly obscured by the crowd in front of us.

For the evening, we decided to stay local, since we heard everywhere directly in town was completely packed. First we stopped for drinks at Blackbird, our favorite local pub, which was full of heavily intoxicated Irish men and a good amount of shouting. After a while, we decided to go dance at another local place just down the street. Every pub and bar was packed, which made it tough to get drinks, but everyone was very social!

While we were a bit tired out on Saturday, we decided to head over to a market in the western part of town. I haven’t explored much in that area, so it was exciting to discover new murals and shops. I bought some coffee and sampled different foods at the market, which I can’t wait to go back to and try again! It was a peaceful evening afterwards, and I was grateful we got to have a laid-back day while exploring more of Dublin.

This weekend was a spectacle indeed. I doubt I’ll be able to top my St. Paddy’s Day experience this year ever again!