Rag Week

Every college town in Ireland is currently celebrating Rag Week. Though it started as a fundraising initiative, with college kids collecting money for charities the entire week, Rag Week has developed into a week of heavy drinking. For all you Illinois-ers out there: think 7 days of Unofficial. My introduction to Rag Week was Monday at work. I was working at the till and heard yelling from outside at about 10am. A huge group of guys, probably 17 and 18 years old, were walking (staggering) by, singing, yelling, and playing drums. Each one had a can of beer in one hand and were dressed from head to toe in Hawiian apparel. One of my coworkers informed me that they were on their way to a foam party (a bar fills one entire room with soap foam and people dance and play in it). Later on, during my break, I sat in Eyre Square and watched hundreds of kids chug beers, yell to each other, and make rude comments to passers-by.

So, in the spirit of Rag week, Erin and I went out that night with Sheila and our friend Eimear (who also went to Res and currently lives with her family outside Dublin). Every bar was packed with a line down the block. We stayed out until about two, and then found a GREAT late night food place called Charcoal Grill (our roommate, Wash Wash, used to work there and recommended it). Unfortunately, Erin spilled our fries all over the street. (Nice job, Er.)

Eight A.M. came REAL fast the next morning. I worked for five hours, came home and napped, and then we went out again. We feel obliged to go out every night of Rag Week. Ya know, experience the youth culture. We made our way to The Quays, my favorite bar yet. There was a band doing covers of American songs, a lot of Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day kind of stuff. We LOVED it.

This morning, when I got to work and felt like death, my boss said, "Kathryn [they call me Kathryn], we need you to work until close today. Is that alright?" Ummm NO that's not alright... but with the rapidly shrinking booze budget in mind, I agreed. I am currently on my lunch break and not looking forward to an additional six hours at River Island. They STILL haven't changed the soundtrack. One full week of Lady Gaga songs is driving me crazy.

In addition to Rag Week, yesterday was a national holiday called "Pancake Day." It coincides with Fat Tuesday, and every restaurant in the country (that might be an exageration) serves pancakes. People get really into it. The Irish TV station had pancake recipes scrolling at the bottom of the screen all day. Erin and I did not have pancakes. We were very disappointed in ourselves, but after a long day of work, neither of us felt like going out to buy the ingredients. So, it was another pasta night (surprise, surprise).

I'm not sure if our bodies can handle another night out, but we'll certainly try! It's Rag Week- we owe it to the country, right?

Katie