Student Bloggers

The semester is quickly coming to an end, and I’m losing track of time (as evidenced by my not posting for three weeks – sorry!). As it gets closer to the end of the semester, I am increasingly thinking about what I will remember of my time in Dublin – how I think about my time here so far, what experiences I will look back on fondly, as well as experiences I want to have before I leave, but still haven’t. I think everyone who goes abroad wants to look back on this time as something amazing, unique, and maybe even life-changing. I’m not sure I feel like my life has changed, but I’ve definitely had some experiences I will never forget.

One of these occurred last weekend, and was something I’d looked forward to ever since I decided to study in Ireland – St. Patrick’s Day. Dublin has a five-day St. Patrick’s festival, but as much as I looked up events and thought of going to them, I really only ended up going to the parade. But this turned out to be enough. An Irish classmate told me that the weather is almost never nice on St. Patrick’s Day, and that certainly held true last Saturday – the temperature hovered around freezing, with periodic bursts of snow flurries.

A group of five of us – Brenna, Katie, Savanna, Sydney, and me – had planned on going to the parade together, and at around 10:30, we left our apartment building decked out in green and Irish tri-colored face paint. At around 11:00, we found a spot along Dame Street from which to watch the parade, ducked into a café to kill some time, and then waited. At first we waited in the café, and then, not wanting our spot to be claimed, we waited outside in the freezing cold. When the parade finally kicked off at one, we already felt frozen.

One of the things that I will always remember, besides the cold and the tourists huddling together for warmth, was that the parade was not at all what I was expecting. Besides some pipers and some children in Irish tri-colored costumes (pictured), there were very few things about the parade that were distinctly Irish. This maybe shouldn’t have been as surprising to me as it was at the time – after all, Dublin is a very culturally modern city, with more venues with pop or jazz performers than traditional Irish music. But I was shocked when instead of pipers and trad bands on floats, the parade was dominated by marching bands from American colleges and high schools, such as Purdue University and the University of Illinois.

There were also quite a few community organizations, made up of children and adults from all across Ireland. Each community had a different theme (some notable ones were insects, fire, and children’s toys), though none of these themes were particularly Irish. St. Patrick did make an appearance, of course – which seemed so profoundly sacrilegious and quintessentially Irish that I regret not taking a photo.

The final thing I will always remember about that day was our lunch afterwards. It wasn’t a particularly special lunch, and we were all tired and freezing, but it was an unexpected pleasure to sit there, in Dublin, on St. Patrick’s Day, just eating a meal with four friends. We talked casually about our home universities, our classes, our pasts, our likes and dislikes – barely noticing the time passing. After we left the restaurant, we went back to my apartment and shared some apple tart Katie had bought. Somewhere along the lines, these people who I hadn’t even known 3 months ago had become an essential part of my life. And I hadn’t even noticed.

There are other things I know I’ll always remember, of course. Last week, I had the privilege of attending both a panel discussion and a singing workshop led by famed Irish traditional singer Karan Casey, and working on a group project in one of my classes has brought me a lot closer to some Irish students. But I know that when I leave, the absence of the other Arcadia students I see so frequently will feel as strange as the separation from Dublin itself. The space I’ve created for myself here is its own separate world – separate from regular college life, old friends, even my family and home life. As I look ahead to my memories of my time here, I am thankful for St. Patrick’s Day, and even more thankful for the people I got to spend it with.