Póg mo shón

I am officially living in Stockholm for two months now and the hardest day has passed, St Patrick’s Day. The ultimate day to be Irish and it was my first one spent away from  the Emerald Isle. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this event, as I had gotten into a yearly routine of drinking all day, wearing green and generally making an ass of myself. I decided not to let this little tradition go no matter what country I was in.

So the two new Irish girls (myself and Sinead) decided to throw a party to show all our new multicultural friends just how the Irish celebrate their heritage. Decorations were posted from home and boy did they do us proud. By the time we were finished with the apartment it looked like a tacky Irish bar that a leprechaun had thrown up in. Perfect!

We decided to ease our guests into the day by starting the party at a very late 2pm. It is suffice to say that very few shared our thirst for the celebrations as most of them didnt turn up until after 5pm. That of course did not stop the rest of us getting in the mood as early as we did. Everyone got into the spirit of things and all wore green enjoyed getting ‘tattooed’ and enjoyed painting their faces of course some more than others!

People embraced the fun of the Irish culture in a way that I didn’t think they would. Many wanted to know about St Patrick and I spent a large part of my night regaling them with the legend of the snake vanquisher. Another part of my night was spent shouting at a laptop as I watched the Ireland VS England rugby match but that is best saved for another post.

All in all it was a great night and I loved celebrating my national heritage with those from other countries who were so willing to embrace it and join in the fun. Of course nothing will replace the feeling of celebrating this one day of Irishness with your own kind but this was a great replacement.

And to all of my friends also on Erasmus spread far and wide I hope you all felt the same way that we did on St Paddy’s Day.