Arcadia Ireland

It’s Paddy’s weekend this weekend? Wow, we hardly noticed. It’s not like Dublin has become a sea of green and is teeming with excited tourists! I joke, town is BUZZING and the excitement is brimming as hundreds of thousands of people flock to the capital for the annual celebrations. With the big parade expecting half a million people, you can only imagine how packed our tiny city feels right now. The funny thing is though, although a lot of tourists will head to the parade, there won’t be too many Irish gracing the streets of Temple Bar, most of them will be at a different kind of Irish celebration.

St. Patrick’s weekend is a national holiday in Ireland so there is a bank holiday this Friday. A long weekend with no work will take lots of people out of the city, but it also means there is plenty of time for sport. Let's first talk about rugby. The last couple of months have had us following the NatWest 6 Nations Championship and it has been a nail biting tournament. This championship works on a points system, with points being granted for a win, along with varying other factors. Ireland have managed to win most of their matches so far and are coming in strong to this weekend’s match, happening on Saturday, when Ireland takes on England in the Aviva in Dublin.

In 2018 Ireland won the Grand Slam and the Championship. A Grand Slam is when one team wins every match in a single Six Nations Championship – or Five Nations as it used to be known. It is an incredible achievement to defeat all of your rivals in the one calendar year. And it is not easy to do. Ireland v England: Check out updates and see where you can watch this!

Students will quickly remember their first few days in Dublin when they had an opportunity to experience Gaelic Games.  Gaelic football is the most popular of our National games, but hurling comes in at a close second with the less popular hand-ball taking the rear. Every year on Patrick’s day the GAA football and hurling club championships are played in Croke Park, Ireland’s national stadium. This year is no different, at 5pm Armagh will play Galway in the Allianz Football League-All-Ireland Senior Club Championship.  These teams will have first won their county final, then played the other counties for the title of their province and now will battle it out for the coveted All Ireland title. 

As for Parades - students may be surprised to see the scale of those here in Ireland. I always remember back to 2010 when I visited Boston on the 17th March. Let's just say, it was a very different experience to what I had known in Ireland over the years. I think we have actually stolen many of the American ideas when it comes to the day of green! Check out your Ireland Local Parades

Happy St Patrick's day from everyone at the Arcadia University Dublin Center! 

Share your best St. Patrick's day pics @arcadiaireland (on insta)-Arcadia in Ireland!