St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday celebrated in many countries around the world. At home in America, many enjoy dressing up in green and decorating with pictures of leprechauns and four leaf clovers.
It is a day all about the luck of the Irish. Coming from a large, Irish family, St. Patrick’s Day has always been an exciting holiday for me. I have many fond memories from my childhood on the day. I remember having traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner followed by our favorite spirited essential: Green Jell-O. For many years my St. Paddy’s days have followed this type of schedule. But this year, living in Dublin, my St. Patrick’s Day was a little different.
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Every year Dublin hosts a giant parade in the city center to celebrate the holiday. My housemates and I were all very excited to experience the celebration. We started the morning by cooking pancakes colored with green food dye in our apartment. After filling up, we got onto the bus and headed towards where the crowds were gathering in the city center. Everywhere you looked it was green! The pubs and shops had all decorated and every single person was wearing an outfit themed around the country. Finding a good spot to watch the parade was admittedly difficult due to the number of people crowding the streets. However, once the parade started, we learned just how bug many of the floats are. Even the viewers in the back could see the whimsical creations dancing above the heads of those in front of them.
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After we were worn out from the parade, we headed towards the Temple Bar area for a change of scenery. The Temple Bar area is a famous part of Dublin known for its upbeat atmosphere. With renewed energy, we enjoyed dancing to the traditional Irish music provided by bands throughout the pubs. The main streets were still closed down from the parade, so the pedestrians had free reign throughout the city. After a full day of crowds and excitement, we all felt pretty worn out and headed back to the apartment.
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We were all very grateful that the big day fell right in the middle of our spring break. We have two weeks off from classes so it was a nice time to relax and experience a special part of our host country. Even though the majority of people in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day are indeed tourists, it was still an exciting and fun part of a semester abroad in Ireland.