Irish Stereotypes

I wake up and open the curtains to another gloomy, rainy day. It is pouring outside which is nothing new. I walk outside with my rain jacket and umbrella and run into the local coffee shop. "Top o' the mornin' to ya!" says the little, red-headed man behind the counter as he hands me my order, knowing it by heart. I pass by a group of red-headed students, unable to tell who has the most freckles, and they are all wearing kilts and drinking beers. At almost every table in the coffee shop, there are Guinness beers on the tables. You would never be able to tell it's only 11 a.m.  I feel out of place with my brown hair and tan skin. I walk outside and see a rainbow in the sky. It's the third rainbow of the day!

After class, I walk to a local pub with my classmates in the pouring rain. I hear bagpipes and Irish music the entire way there. I look at the menu and there are three options: Mashed potatoes, Baked potatoes and Sweet potatoes. There is such a variety today! I go to order and I lay out my hand. The small leprechaun bartender climbs into the palm of my hand and I lift him up. After potatoes and beers, I'm ready to go back into the rain.

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After three months of living in Ireland and taking a glance at the title of this blog, I realized how wrong the stereotypes of Ireland are. That story is an exaggerated version of what people anticipate Ireland to be like. In reality, almost every Irish person has dark hair and no freckles. If it rains, it rains for 10-20 minutes and then the sun is back out. An Irish person said it best, "When have you EVER heard someone Irish say 'Top o' the mornin' to ya?'" I have seen one rainbow since being here and there are no leprechauns. The food here is mainly American. While they do offer mashed potatoes, french fries or "chips" are a lot more common. Drinking is also heavily exaggerated. Cork is a college town and while there are students going out every single night, I know the same thing happens in Baltimore.

There is a lot more to the Irish culture than drinking, potatoes and rain. Cork had a big festival dedicated to Jazz music where people came from all over Ireland to listen to the jazz artists. Certain pubs have live Irish music, with guitars and banjos, almost every night of the week. Sports are a huge factor of Irish culture as there are places packed watching football (soccer), Gaelic football, and hurling matches. Irish boys are raised to play one of these sports and they train nonstop, all of their lives. The Irish girls are very tan and wear a lot of make up. My friends and I have become friends with them while they do their make up in bathrooms at pubs because as soon as they hear our American accent, they want to talk all about the U.S. One Irish girl took a picture with me because she said it was the closest she would ever get to the Jersey Shore. They consider going to college a privilege, not a right, and they work hard to get there. The Irish culture and Ireland itself should not be categorized under the stereotypes that have been developed.