patrick the saint

So one of the things that has always been on my to-do list was to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Ireland. Others on this list include: win the lotto, buy a chocolate lab that will play Frisbee with me at the park, get a tan that is not mistaken for a deep burn, visit every continent, live in Africa, etc. So, check one.

Turns out, though, that St. Patrick's Day was pretty much code for 'international day' and Irish people don't even really care that much about it (aside from a day off classes and a day in the pub). Whatever. I was in my picture taking prime at the parade, completely happy that I could be as touristic as I wanted. My friend, Katie, came up to visit me from England and we spent the weekend hanging out and doing Irish things. Like going to pubs. We went out to a bar/pub called Sober Lane on Friday night which was really fun- a live band was there playing cover songs which included old school stuff as well as Justin Timberlake. Sweet. Then on Saturday we had a chill night and made chocolate chip cookies from scratch and watched the cycle 10 season of America's Next Top Model- all 4 hours of it so far.

Monday was St. Patrick's Day. We woke up super early (like 11) and got ready for Cork's parade that was held, as it should have been, on St. Patrick's Street. There were a million vendors selling food and drinks which were all freshly made and smelt amazing. Only it was one of those scenes where it was so crowded you had to shove small children and old people out of the way in order to make your way down the street with food. The parade itself was pretty normal when it comes to parades, but I really enjoyed it. There was this really amazingly cute kid on the other side of the street, so when the parade got to a slow part I would just watch her hitting her brother in the face with her Irish flag. There were also a million very excited parade attendees who were whoa dressed up, so I was pretty entertained looking at everyone. When I got home and looked at my pictures, I realized I had more pictures of the parade-goers than the actual parade.




After the parade, Katie Kym Johnny and I went to a really fun pub called Slainte. We hawked this little table near the back, which ended up being the best spot because in then came a million trad players. The place got packed and I think we stayed like 4 hours or something just listening to the music and conversing with this really friendly drunk old man sitting next to Katie who was supposed to be playing the flute but was distracted by becoming best friends with us. That night we went home, made dinner, and then Katie and I went back out to celebrate St. Patrick's Night. I think this was definitely one of my most favorite weekends in Cork. When I was at the pub, I was looking around at everyone and listening to the music and I realized that I did NOT want to go home. I look forward to seeing my friends and family, but I will miss Ireland and its really chill pub scene immensely.


Yet another video clip: