The Panther Newspaper: Ashley Tries St. Patrick's Day in Ireland

Graphic by Georgina Bridger.

Standing in the middle of Dublin’s city center on St. Patrick’s Day reminded me of the last time I wiped out while attempting to surf — slowly suffocating in a sea of green, just trying to find somewhere safe to come up for a breath of fresh air.

This cramped feeling may have been due to my lack of intoxication, which many Americans might find appalling considering that I was in Ireland for one of the biggest drinking holidays in our home country. But that’s just it. St. Patrick’s Day isn’t necessarily as notable to the Irish citizens I was staying with during my visit. It’s typically considered a celebration for tourists to partake in, which explains why I was the only one in our group who was wearing green!

I had a mental checklist of drinks that I wanted to order in honor of the holiday: a pint of Guinness, an Irish coffee and an Irish Car Bomb. In the morning, I discovered that an Irish coffee is a shot of Jameson in black coffee, which was different from the drink I was imagining — I ordered a Baileys latte instead because that incorporated the Irish cream liqueur I wanted. I later received a bout of chuckles from my mates when I ordered the pint with lunch, but I just stuck out my tongue and blamed it on being on vacation. I was surprised to find out that they had never heard of an Irish Car Bomb before when I inquired about where to get one. It turns out that this particular cocktail is an American creation and isn’t served at any pubs in Ireland.

Although I did plan to visit Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day, my main purpose was to experience the country through a native’s perspective and I felt that having an old friend be my local tour guide was both unique and enriching. I was able to learn about the traditional Irish language, as well as modern slang: my favorite term being, “What’s the craic?” or, “Good craic,” (pronounced like crack) which has nothing to do with hard drugs and essentially translates to, “What’s up?” or refers to a generally fun time.

My favorite part of visiting the Emerald Isle was getting a tour of my friend’s school, Trinity College, which is Ireland’s oldest university and home of the Book of Kells — a Gospel book that was created around 800 A.D. On that same day, we walked through the city to the Guinness Storehouse to learn about the brewery’s history and how the famous Irish stout is made. On our way there and during the tour itself, my friend ran into many people that he knew, which highlighted the fact that Ireland is such a small country. Such an occurrence is especially rare in a large city like London.

Ironically enough, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Ireland claiming its independence from the United Kingdom — and the people sure don’t hold back about how grateful they are about it. It was an interesting perspective as someone who has certainly fallen in love with England, but being able to learn more about Irish history and to get that context was quite enlightening.