Heaven in a Suitcase

Last week, this guy came to visit me.

I'll get to him later.

He had the job of bringing me a HUGE checked duffel bag full of food that my mom packed for me.

And look at what I got!

Special K cereal with strawberries! Two boxes of my favorite cereal.

Soup! There are four packets of soup in these five boxes, so if I have soup for lunch every day, I'll be good until April 20th!

Wheat Thins!
Not one box...

Not two boxes...

But THREE boxes!

Easy mac and cheese! Now I definitely feel like I'm in college...

Hot chocolate and cappuccino mix!

Cheese and chili mix! Now all I need are chips.

Whoever thought putting caramel inside chocolate was a genius.

Graham crackers... 

plus marshmallows...

plus chocolate = s'mores!

More chocolate!

And more sweets! My mother knows me so well.

And easy-bake muffin mix!

I also got a container of peanut butter...

But after looking inside...

I found that somebody already ate out of it!

THANK YOU mom and Ryan for bringing me all this food! I really appreciate it! And now I won't have to go grocery shopping for a few weeks which also makes me really happy!

St Patrick's Day in Dublin is so classy!

When I got home later that on St Patrick's Day and up until yesterday, pictures of St Patrick's Day parties went up on Facebook. Most of my friends are those who go to UW-Whitewater, and I saw all these pictures of my friends getting drunk at house parties and at bars, wearing crude t-shirts and anything green they could find. It wasn't anything new. I've seen pictures of my friends going out, but in comparison to the classy day I had in Dublin, it made me a little disgusted.
Some shirts that I saw on Facebook said things like "Sham Rack City Bitch" "You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning!" "Irish today, hungover tomorrow" "I love drunk sluts" and "Blow kiss me, I'm Irish!"
In Dublin, didn't see anything even remotely close to what those t-shirts said. At the parade, people were wearing simple, celebratory t-shirts, basic green, white and orange hats, kids had their faces painted and others dyed their hair green.

I wasn't in Dublin when it was late, so maybe the crude t-shirts and drunkards came out then, but what I got from the day was that Dublin celebrates St Patrick's Day in style and class, whereas Whitewater celebrates St Patrick's Day by seeing who gets wasted first and then having everyone catch up.

If I were to spend St Patrick's Day in Dublin or Whitewater, I'd pick Dublin, every time.

St Patty's Day Article

I have been asked to write articles for the UW-Whitewater school newspaper, the Royal Purple, and this was my article for the St Patrick's Day issue.

St. Patrick’s Day is fast approaching, and I’d say there isn’t a better time to be studying abroad in Ireland!

St. Patrick’s Day isn’t a legal holiday in the United States, but it is in Ireland. This well-known holiday will run from Friday the 16^th to Monday the 19^th in Ireland.

Guinness, the popular Irish stout, ranks this day as “The Friendliest Day of the Year”, and I’m sure that title won’t disappoint.

There will be festivities in Dublin, including street performances, walking tours, beer festivals, a parade and fireworks.

Dublin isn’t the only city to take part in events like this; Belfast, Cork, Kilkenny and Limerick are also known for hosting their own St. Patrick’s Day festivities.

Since the 1990’s, Dublin has experienced a rapid growth of immigration, and the city is filled with so many people from diverse backgrounds.

Even being here for almost two months, I’ve noticed Dublin City University has many foreign exchange students.

The people who live in Dublin and study at DCU may not all be Irish, but perhaps they know the story of Saint Patrick.

The story behind St. Patrick’s Day begins with a man, Patrick, who was born in the year 378 in Britain.

Legend goes that Patrick was captured around the age of 16 by a raiding party of Druids and pagans and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd sheep. He learned their ways, but still turned to God and prayed.

He dreamt one night that God was telling him to leave Ireland.

The next morning he escaped, walked 200 miles, and found some sailors that would take him back to Britain. He was 22 when he escaped.

He reunited with his family six years after being gone, but his heart was still with God.

Patrick had another dream that the people of Ireland were calling out to him. “We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more,” they said.

He then began his studies for priesthood and studied under St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre.

Years later, Patrick was ordained a bishop and he travelled back to Ireland.  He had complete trust in God and was entirely devoted to him.

Saint Patrick preached for 40 years in Ireland and is said to have worked many miracles.

Most of the people in Ireland practiced a nature-based pagan principle, and Saint Patrick helped convert these people to Christianity.

Today, Christianity is the largest religion in Ireland.

He was regarded as a patron saint to Ireland, as the special guardian from heaven of engineering.

Although shamrocks have been an important symbol even before Saint Patrick came around, he used the shamrock to explain the holy trinity to the pagans.

Saint Patrick wrote that shamrocks signify three divine persons in the one God. They also signify rebirth and eternal life.

Ireland’s favorite saint died on March 17 in the year 461, which is why we celebrate his life on this day.

For a holiday that was once observed as religious, it has turned into a secular celebration, with acts of Guinness-drinking, face painting and drunk dancing in the cobblestone streets.

Even though that has angered some Christian leaders, such as priest Vincent Twomey, I don’t think non-religious or non-Irish people seem to mind.

I think I’m going to spend my Saturday in town, getting my fill of people watching and picture taking.

An Irish man told me that you can’t spend St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin sober, and I know I’ll be more than happy to oblige with that request.

Gary Fitzsimons, and Ireland native, says, “I’m going to meet up with friends in town, probably end up in a club.”

“When I was young I’d go to the parade,” said Jeff Dalton, Ireland local. “Now that I’m older I’ll go to the pub, or have a party with friends.”

Raphael Hagenbuch, from Germany, is going to Limerick for the week. “Since there is a rugby game on St. Pattie’s, we’re going to get Ireland jerseys. We’re going to get dressed in green and go to the biggest pub in Limerick.”

“It’s my favorite day of the year!” Says Luke Reilly, Ireland native.

I’m looking forward to seeing how Dubliners celebrate this famous holiday.  

I’m sure it will be full of the craic, which is Irish, meaning entertainment, dancing, good conversation, and having a grand time.

I’m not Irish by blood, but thankfully on St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish!

I also interviewed six students and asked them "How do people in Ireland celebrate St Patrick's Day?"

“It’s an all day drinking thing. The families see the parade, and there’s a lot of celebration.”

Eimear Shannon – from Ireland

 “The families go to see fireworks and the parade. There’s not just drinking that goes on, there’s other fun stuff.”

Luke Reilly – from Ireland

 “People wear masks, wear green, and drink a lot. They’ll go to the parade or go to pubs.”

Jeff Dalton – from Ireland

 “There are lots of sporting events, like club finals, hurling and gaelic football.”

Ciarán Neary – from Ireland

 “They get drunk, go to the parade and dress in green.”

Susan Histon – from Ireland

“They dress in green, they sing Irish songs, drink Guinness, get together and have the craic.”

Raphael Hagenbuch – from Germany

St Patrick's Day

Happy belated St Patrick's Day!
I spent Saturday in Dublin, the most perfect place to be on this holiday!
When I came back from the train station on Friday morning, some girl on the streets was handing these cards out. I think I'll give it to Ryan as a gift. ha ha :)

It says: TO BE IRISH IS...
GUINNESS, TAYTO CRISPS, CADBURY'S IRISH CHOCOLATE, THE CRAIC IS MIGHTY, THE GIFT OF THE GAB, HURLING IS THE FASTEST SPORT ON EARTH, ITALIA 90, DRIVING MILES TO SAVE 1 CENT ON PETROL, HAVE A CUP OF TEA, YOU WILL, RIVERDANCE, U2, THE LATE LATE SHOW, FOUR SEASONS IN ONE DAY, JEDWARD, ARRAH, WELL... SURE... IT'LL BE GRAND, LIKE... AG FOGHLAIM GAEILGE AR SCOIL "DID YOU HEAR WHO DIED?" WAKES AND FUNERALS, ROAD WORKS, CUTBACKS, GHOST ESTATES, AUSTERITY, GREED, DEBT.

I think this card is so funny and so true! I especially like "Well... sure... it'll be grand, like..." because I've heard so many girls with their Irish accents say "like" at the end of their sentences. They'll say, "Well are you coming, like?" and "This class is a bore, like..."
I also love the use of "grand" here!
Will someone please buy me this shirt?!

On the back of the card was this:

Of course it was an ad about Saint Patrick and a church!

Anyway, I got up and took the bus to the city. It takes just under a half hour to get into the city by bus, so I made sure to be at the bus stop by 11. When I got there, almost two dozen people were waiting! It has never been that crowded before, and one bus had to skip our stop because there wasn't enough room on the bus. So, I ended up getting into the city around 11:30, and there were SO MANY PEOPLE. I honestly didn't think a lot of people would make it for the parade, as I heard students saying that the parade is for families and the children.

I wandered around for a while, trying to find an open spot I could squeeze into. This was a perk of being there by myself: I didn't have to worry about finding spots to stand for two people. If it was just skinny old me, I think people would be more forgiving. That was my mindset anyway!

People were sitting on the Daniel O'Connell statue at the end of O'Connell Street.

There were police (Garda) keeping people inside the metal gates. 

And so many people in green! 

I have a theory that the Irish play a drinking game on St. Patrick's Day in Dublin. It's called "See green, take a drink!"

I ended up spying a seat on the ledge on the bridge and shimmied my way through the crowd towards it. I asked a French guy to help me up and there I was, sitting at the best seat in the house! I was sitting right in front of that lamppost. Seriously BEST SEAT EVER.

It was just before noon then, and I thought the parade was going to start soon. I think Dubliners run on a different time schedule as Americans... when we say "be there at noon" Dubliners think "alright, be there at half twelve, like..." (Half twelve means half past twelve).
So I was sitting there for a while... when all of a sudden, the clouds turned dark and it started pouring! I couldn't be mad, this is typical Dublin! I had to wrap my green scarf around my head and protect my camera under my coat. Five minutes later, the sky cleared and it was sunny. It's true what they say. Ireland sees four seasons in one day.

The parade started around 12:30 and this is what I saw:

A younger version of Prince Harry!

 

                

I was talking to the guys who were sitting next to me on the ledge and they invited me out for some drinks after the parade, so around 2 we walked through the crowd and to a bar, although I couldn't tell you where it is now. They were from California and visiting friends in Dublin. It was a really fun time! We didn't get super drunk but we did make fun of people who were.
St Patricks Day in Dublin = SUCCESS.