8:30 AM: Wake up. Drank. Just kidding. Wake up, eat scrambled eggs and toast and get ready for the day ft. a struggle with temporary tattoos and almost forgotten flashing shamrock sunglasses.
10:00 AM: After getting decked out in green and embracing my inner leprechaun we (my big, our sister studying abroad in Rome and a friend from home) set out for the St. Patrick's Day Parade. The parade was taking place on the famous O'Connell Street, which runs through the center of Dublin. It was about a 20-minute walk across the River Liffey to the parade. In true American fashion, we stopped at the local Starbucks for a pick me up on the way.
11:00 AM: We weasel our way into the crowd for the parade. By living the mantra “Be aggressive, be be aggressive," we got a semi-decent view of the parade, which was scheduled to start at noon.
12:00 PM: No parade in sight, however we are now surrounded by drunk Frenchmen, so I was still being entertained.
12:30 PM: Is that a bagpipe I see??? YES! The parade is here; time to get my Irish Dance on.
12:35 PM: Why is there a mechanical dancing spider in this parade?
12:45 PM: Oh hey look- an American marching band, glad I flew across the pond to see this!
12:50 PM: Finally, more bagpipes. Music to the Irish ears!
1:15 PM: My old roommate, Chloe, and her friends arrive. She is studying abroad at University College Dublin this semester. We decide to head to Temple Bar. Contrary to popular belief, Temple Bar is an area of Dublin home to many pubs and theaters, not just the bar that takes its name.
2:00PM: Lunch time! My favorite time of day is food time. We grab a classic fish and chips and a pint from Chloe's favorite pub The Norsemen. Now that we are recharged we can head back out into the crowd.
3:00 PM: We stop at a bar named after me, Bad Ass, to meet up with some more of Chloe's friends. We grab a pint and some fries and sit down to chat. Many of Chloe's friends from UCD are from other countries in Europe, so it was interesting to hear about their university experiences in their home countries and in Ireland.
4:30 PM: Two words: Butlers. Chocolate. If you are a chocolate lover (everyone should be a chocolate lover) then you would be in heaven. They say the Irish are lucky and now that I've had Butler's Chocolate I know they're right.
5:00 PM: We head to the “Fun Fair". Essentially it was a street fair with rides and food. I am not the biggest fan of rides so I watched as the others defied death on carnival rides.
5:30 PM: When you see the people you spent last St. Patrick's Day with on the Streets of Dublin. I spent last year at University of Delaware with a friend and this year I saw her roommates, who are studying abroad in Portugal, walking down the street as we were walking to dinner. Talk about small world!
7:00 PM: Fittingly I ended my day at a pub named Doyle's, which was my grandmother's maiden name, with a pint of Guinness and good friends. Until next time, Dublin, stay Green.
