AKA St. PADDY'S DAY.
Let’s face it. I wear green all day everyday. And this day, I was not alone. In fact, you could say I was modest, toned down, even mild in comparison to the others celebrating in the streets. There was face paint everywhere, boas, children suited up in multiple shades of green and set upon father’s shoulders for further accessory, crazy hats, countless jerseys, and a thick dusting of shamrocks and flags. Also, people from all over the world came to Galway for the day/night, so I wasn’t one of those few blondes wandering the streets, obviously not Irish, for a change.
Mom sent me a St. Patrick’s Day t-shirt from Old Navy for this very occasion. As if I didn’t have enough green in my wardrobe already. I thought it was kinda cheating to be wearing a shirt from the US for St. Paddy’s Day on the day, in IRELAND. But hey, I didn’t pay for it, so… no complaints other than the fact that in small but nevertheless obviously legible writing on the front it says “get lucky.” Mixed messages here…
Ok, the actual day. Was crazy fun. I was invited to start the day at a group of girls’ apt. downtown so we could easily go to an from the apt to the parade, and leave our stuff and come back. They said they’d be starting early. So Breakfast was the first thing on the menu. I was even made a special batch of peanut butter balls that were gluten free, so that when everyone was enjoying rich French toast, I could have something sweet and utterly bad for me too ☺ We also had eggs, sausages, potatoes, hot chocolate and coffee with Baileys, apples, grapes, and sautéed peppers and onions for the eggs. It was a great morning and a great meal. And it was only the next day when I realized it was really the only meal I had that day.
Starting the Day right with a Breakfast of Champions
The rest of the day consisted of
helping other kids in the apt. complex we were at (since they were all students and we all made friends) go to the store for more alcohol (I actually had to hold a few people’s hands, because they were already rolling and I was not),
Beer Run. I was Chaperone.
going to the train station to pick up more friends who were visiting my friends,
Annie and Patrick, from the States
going to the parade (which was not as awesome as I expected-mostly kids dressed up and a few marching bands and a school’s Chinese dragon?),
The Paddy's Day Parade
Chinese Dragon? For Paddy's Day?
having my irish friends explain rugby to me,
watching the matches,
Felix Cheering-someone scored!
copious amounts of laughing,
Steve, Niall and Matt Jar-Look at Matt's Face!
making loads of new friends from all around the world (including a guy from Switzerland who taught me about my knife and how it’s really only a handy tool, not for combat because of the way the Swiss are taught to fight),
getting hit on by various men from various parts of the world at various states of tipsy/drunk,
Savage and Matt-both of their shirts are excellent.
and, the best part, more drinking but not getting too drunk!
I was hanging out with mostly my closest friends on the Frisbee team-Eoghan, Niall, Steve, Annie, Matt, Felix, and the rest of the gang kinda came and went as they pleased. If I’d bothered to notice, my face was probably sore from laughing so much.
Annie, Eoghan=fantastic friends
Then the night began. Wow, what a night. I don’t think I’ve ever been to that many pubs in one night. It was so much fun! We headed out on the town maybe around 7? 8? We wandered the streets in a pack and let me tell you, the people watching was incredibly entertaining. The youth of the world seemed to be out and living like this was the last night. There were packs of guys jeering and trying to flirt with the girls of our group, there were people I knew grabbing at me to say hello, numerous hugs from people I knew and people I was just meeting. And then there were the crazies. The ones who had been hammered since 10am, who were responsible for the epic pitch of the night, the pools of sick on the streets, the scowls on older people’s faces, the screeches from protesting girls as they attempted to flirt.. but I was well surrounded.
We stopped in at the Quays, The King’s Head, Taafes, The Roisin Dubh. All these places were mobbed with people-we either stood around talking, mingling or, as at the Roisin, we danced for a while, before moving on. The larger group of us broke down at the Roisin, since not everyone wanted to dance.
I decided pretty much at the beginning of the day, I’d stay with Eoghan, since A. he is my best friend for life, B. he knows Galway better than most since he’s from here, C. he’s easy to keep track of especially when he’s also keeping track of me, D. I knew we’d go to better places and I might get to meet more of his Irish mates.
He got a text from his kayaking friends to come to the Cellar Bar, which I’d never been to, since it looks super classy and I thought older people went there for the most part. But tonight would be different than any other and I was up for anything. Four of us broke off from the group of Frisbee kids & their American friends (three boys, one a friend of Annie’s, the other two were friends of Conor’s, who’s from New York and I recall them both being a little handsy at moments in the Roisin, but I ignored them) and we took to the streets to find the Cellar Bar.
It IS very cool in the Cellar Bar. It was also packed (like everywhere else). We found Eoghan’s friends and I got to meet a good few of them. They were all very nice, and there were more girls than I expected. One of them, Cathal (Cah-hall) who has ridiculously curly hair, asked Eoghan and I if we wanted to do a shot. What kind of shot? I ask, since I am dying to try new things every time I’m out. It’s called a Brain Hemorrhage. It’s some sort of Strawberry liquor with Baileys on top. And it is delightfully delicious. It was also pretty much the only drink I paid for all day/night, except I bought the Bushmills whiskey I was drinking at the girls’ apt. Cost less than 5 euro, but I didn’t see change fro Cathal.. not that I wanted anymore brass coins. Then we went downstairs-yep, hence the name 
Downstairs in the Cellar there is a sort of dance scene, with a DJ, few places to sit and apparently, more friends from frisbee! Paddy, Luke and Wally(another Owen-Eoin Wallace), who have all graduated, but still play were there. Wally is from Limerick, now, but I think he went to NUIG for a while and I know he’s played with the guys for years and he was down for the week, staying with Paddy. Paddy and Luke are both fairly young grads of NUIG and they are all three very tall and in Wally’s case just big all around. They came up and said hey and told us that the dancing and music weren’t great. Wally said he wanted to go to the Roisin and since Eoghan and I love the Roisin and I had no qualms with walking the streets again, we said sure. Luke and Paddy stayed though.. We said bye to the kayakers-who liked me without question, despite being an American ☺-and took to the streets again. We danced in a group for a good while, Eoghan, Wally, Steve, Lj and me, then Lj and Steve left. I definitely felt the alcohol wearing off from all the walking and dancing, and so did Eoghan so he got us Supersplits and I was almost done with mine when Wally accidentally, but no less violently, smacked it out of my hand to the floor. “WALLY!” I yelled at him instantly and he went off to replace it.. But he came back with Jaeger. I think it was a double shot. And one for himself. I despise the stuff, but since he paid for it as an apology, I drank it, only after he had gulps of both his and mine… that man was going all out that night. Rather than have him spill it again, and since I just don’t’ like the taste, I chugged the drink and put the glass down on the DJ’s stage where it would be safe. I told Eoghan “You’re walking me home” and he just nodded, like he knew this already. Wally was going pretty strong by this point and was sort of throwing his weight around. This had been happening from all sides already and Wally and Eoghan were doing a fairly good job of protecting me, which I was very grateful for. It also deflected a lot of unwanted male attention ☺
Then the Jaeger really hit Wally and he started to dance a little more old school, grabbing my hands and swinging me around, twirling me. I had no control and I was flying all over, but Wally seemed to always manage to keep me out of harm’s way. Eoghan and I shared a few hilarious whispered comments about our friend and Wally seemed to think that we should get together. He looked like the happiest, funniest rogue matchmaker I’d ever imagined. But, we both just laughed it off and kept dancing. More random people filtered through our little group, and Wally bought us all a round of Supersplits before the night was up. I saw a fair few of my own friends in there, but I was having too much fun with my guys-we were dancing and dramatically acting out/mouthing the words to the songs we knew, and generally enjoying the craic.
We left when the Roisin closed, but wandered the streets for a few hours, lost Wally, narrowly avoided stepping in gross unmentionable things on the streets, saw the best and worst outfits, were presented with a ridiculous brightly coloured hat, and managed to make it through downtown alive. I’ll be honest, I was drunk, but I was happy, functional, and safe. I convinced Eoghan to come up to my apt. so he could use the bathroom and maybe have some water or just hang for a bit, while we sobered up. I dunno when we got to my apt. but we were talking and laughing about everything from childhood bedrooms and memories to good music until about 5am at least.
It was easily the best night I’ve had here. The only thing missing was seeing Hallie, my friends from Linfield and the Minnesotans. One of my favourite memories already.
We talk about everything-the most random things and tell so many stories-I could talk to him for ever and not even realize how sleep deprived I am. He also insists on paying for things, in the most casual manner-which is not something girls generally expect from Irish boys. Obviously I found a keeper. But lately I haven't been able to see him as much because he's been studying all day for his exams. But the last one is today! Next week, we're going to Cork together. There is a restaurant called the Idaho Cafe in Cork. They have GF stuff. So that's happening. Also, Blarney Castle. 
