The Luck of the Irish

Return from St. Patty's week in Dublin and I'm ready for a break. Don't let anyone tell you different: the Irish know how to party.


I returned from the land of the leprechauns with a new found love for the Irish and an appetite for Guinness. Remember when I said I wasn't a fan? Spend five days in Ireland where this stout flows like water and is the cheapest beer on tap and even the most hard-lined cider snobs will be converted. After visiting the Guinness factory I even discovered that this beer is supposedly good for you. At least that's what they used in the majority of advertising campaigns over the years so it must be true, right?

Although my 5 days spent in Dublin may or may not subtract 5 years from my liver, it is a trip for the memory books. In a nutshell: St. Patty's day = mental. I had booked this trip back in November with my friend Dan who was only staying for a couple days. Since this would be my first trip to Dublin I decided to go out on a limb and stay until the Saturday by myself. With a majority of McGill and other exchange students coming over for second semester I soon found out that we weren't the only two with the bright idea to head over for the holiday. In the end I met close to 15 international students who took advantage of their proximity to Ireland. When your from North America, St. Patty's in Dublin is a rare occasion and here's some of the highlights:

8:33: Wake up surprisingly energetic after partying in the Temple Bar district the night before. Confused as to why I have managed to wake up so early then remember I'm in a hostel and hear the sound of a foreign language on the other side of my room. I'm not sure what they were saying but I did pick up the "Let's get drinking it's St. Patty's day" line of English. I sit up and jump down from the upper bunk, stumble then regain stability. I'm off to a good start.

9:58: Arrive at my friends hostel and walk in to find a free breakfast that beat my hostels stale bread by a mile. I take advantage of this and try to fill my stomach in preparation for the day ahead. More friends start to arrive as we are all staying in different places throughout the city. We soon realize that the table of Canadians across the room is already 5 beers deep. It's 10:15 am. We leave the hostel after applying much green face paint. My Shamrock resembled a giant blob that looked like Flubber. At least it's green.

10: 55: Wandering the streets of Dublin we soon discover that pubs do not open until 12:30 and liquor stores are closed until 4 pm. We go into a restaurant for a pint but soon discover that each person must order a full meal in order to enjoy a delicious Guinness. We leave.

11:05: We line up on O'Connell street in preparation for the parade. After waiting for a good hour and a half for the parade to start we finally hear the faint sounds of music gravitating slowly towards us. The parade has finally begun. I must say, I haven't seen too many parades in my day but this was one of the strangest processions I have ever experienced. Imagine The Rocky Horror Picture Show meets a Tim Burton film and that pretty much sums up the acts. I don't think I even saw a leprechaun.

1:30: We realize the pubs have now been open for an hour and agree that's it's time to go.

2:03: Enter first pub and it is packed. Grab the first open table then order a round of Guinness and Irish Stews. We figured we'd go all out.

4:02: Return to my friends hostel and enter the lobby to find about 30 Canadians in top form. Turns out half of them are from McGill and the other half are from Queens. Not necessarily rival Universities but opposite enough to engage in some friendly drinking competitions. After about 7 rounds of flip cup to separate the heavyweights from the haggard we set out on our bar crawl through the streets of Dublin.

10:05: Amanda, Meryl and I meet some Irish. We are very excited as most people in the Temple Bar district are tourists. I most likely try and speak with an Irish accent and epically fail.

1:05: Call it a night. After eleven hours of Irish pride I'm ready to hit the hay. All I can say is that while struggling at times, this is a St. Patty's day that I will never forget.