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Today is St. Patrick’s Day! Happy St. Paddy’s Day to All Irish. St. Patrick’s Day is an annual feast day which celebrates the patron saint of Ireland. I actually just sent an email greeting to my Irish partners. Do you know that the Chicago River is dyed green each year, to celebrate this day? I dunno how they dyed this, but this is really fascinating about Ireland and Ireland culture.

Irish might be a little aggressive and direct in a way, but I like them actually (specially the accent). A few months ago, I was given the chance to explore the country, the people and taste a little of their culture. I found out, it’s undeniably interesting and definitely worth knowing.

Anyway, since it’s a special day in Ireland, I’m giving this credit on naming my Top 10 Things I Love About Ireland.

#10 National Color – I love Green. This is the most enticing color behind my eyes. When I went to Dublin’s Famous Gift Store, Carrolls, I wanted to buy everything. They are all green. Green tumbler, green shirts, green keychains, clocks, coaster and other things.

#9 Cool Weather — Well, definitely it’s really cold in Ireland. The last time I experienced, winter is about to start, so the weather is about 6 degrees. It was my first time actually to be in a cold country like Ireland (previously I was in a dessert, somewhere in the Middle East, and then I lived in a tropical country and then transferred to a humid-slash-rainy-weather country)

#8 Expressions – The first Irish expression I heard from them is “That’s a Grand!” and they laughed afterwards. I laughed too… but I’m wondering what they mean about this. This is really one of my ridiculous experiences. It only means, “That’s fine.”

#7 Irish Food and Guinness Beer – Who doesn’t love fish and chips and the Guinness Beer. Well honestly, these are the only food and drink I know and they are the most known.

#6 Irish Accent – I love British accent. Irish accent is kinda stronger than English though. However, it’s still nice on my ears. I sometimes mimic them saying ‘Oh lovely’, Bugger, or ‘Ab-so-lute-ley’……….

#5 Pub – in some other countries, PUB is some sort of a night club, with profanities and all those illegal stuff. Well, in case you haven’t heard of that, in my country, that’s how they mean for PUB. Anyway, in Europe, pub is life a normal getaway, right after school, work, or any exhausting day. When you had a chance to go to an Irish Pub, this is actually part of their culture which simply means that it is a norm to a typical Irish to habitually go to pub bars and of course, drink an Irish beer.

#4 Irish Artists – As we all know, there are a lot of Irish singers, actors and actresses are making so big on Hollywood and Music Industry. Colin Farrell, the Corrs, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Pierce Brosnan are all Irish to name a few.

#3 Irish Symbols – aside from the color ‘green’, they have few unique symbols that distinctively identify Ireland or Irish. They have leprechauns, Shamrock and three-leaved-plant. Of course, all of ‘em are green!

#2 Religion – Most of the people are Catholics. I didn’t know this. I thought aside from Rome or Spain being the central Roman Catholics, Philippines as next to them, and then nothing else. So, I found out, even if Irishmen are speaking a different accent, still we speak the same language on our own faith. I’m happy they have Holy Trinity too.

#1 Amiability – The Irish for me personally is synonymous to amiability. They are really friendly. If you want to genuinely know them and befriended, it’s worth the effort. They are might be stubborn sometimes, but definitely they are one of your friends that you can count on.

So, here’s my list. I hope everyone is celebrating the ‘Irishness’ on them.