Pretending to be Irish in South Korea

St. Patrick's Day has always been an interesting holiday for me. In college it usually fell during spring break, and who wants to stay in the cold Northeast when there's warmer climates waiting? Even though Syracuse supposedly holds the 2nd biggest St. Patrick's Day parade in the northeast - and only 2nd to Scranton, PA (for some odd reason) I never attended. And usually I had to work during St. Patrick's Day when in NYC.

So, words cannot even explain the insanity that was St. Patrick's Day celebrations in South Korea. It was my best one to date, and I believe that to be so because of 3 reasons - 1) It was an absolute gorgeous spring day 2) I have surrounded myself with excellent humorous alcoholics and 3) Seoul has a very large authentic Irish population that know how to do it right.

The Koreans got into the spirit of the day and held a parade near the Cheoggye Stream in downtown Seoul. Started at 2pm, and went until about 3:15 followed directly afterwards by various performers including b-boys and bands until about 6. It seemed like nearly every Foreigner I knew was in this 5 block radius, and it was an incredible day of happy go lucky drunkeness.

Pictures can only explain the fun: