When I came back to Boston from Spring Break, I had to stay at my friend’s dorm for a while before my dorm reopened. During the weekend that I was staying there, I had a chance to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with my friend and her American friends.

St. Patrick’s Day is actually a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, but it is also widely celebrated around the world by people of Irish decent. It is officially celebrated on the 17th of March, which is the death date of the most commonly recognized patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick. Boston is known as a city with a large Irish population, so it is quite a big deal to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Boston. People wear green on this day and enjoy music, Irish food, drinks, etc. It’s like a big festival. An interesting fact is that most people actually start celebrating St. Patrick’s Day during the weekend before March 17th. What they usually do during the weekend is ‘bar-crawling’, in other words, a bar-tour – going to multiple pubs or bars to drink. It sounded fun to me, so I immediately joined my friend and her American friends to go bar-crawling and headed to an Irish pub nearby. We wore green shirts and put on some green makeup to fully experience St. Patrick’s Day.

There were so many people in green lined up in front of every Irish pub we went to. It was really fun to watch people wearing all kinds of green clothes, hats, and makeups. Inside, the bar was full of excited people holding beers in their hands. We enjoyed our days talking and drinking together over loud music. It was my first time celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in my life because we don’t celebrate it in Korea. It was a pretty fun experience for me to be part of such an excited crowd.
On the actual St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, I went to an Irish pub again with my exchange friends after class ended around 9pm to celebrate the day together. There were lots of people inside wearing green shirts as well. We didn’t order any Irish food or drinks, but the fact that we were having our late dinner together was a key part of our celebration in it of itself.