St. Patrick's Day on a College Campus

I'm a college student, and while the college that I go to is by no means a "party school" (in fact, we actually get teased for being boring), it seems like everybody's suddenly ready to party 'til the sun comes up once St. Patrick's day comes around.

I have a couple different ideas of why everybody on campus is so nuts about this holiday, so here goes.

1. We just had midterms, and our brains are fried. Therefore, pulling stupid stunts for the heck of it suddenly sounds a lot more logical than it would have a couple weeks ago. Your buddy thinks it's a good idea to get loaded, dress up like leprechauns, and stage your own parade in front of the campus security shed? Sure, you are .008% Irish after all!

2. Some of us actually are Irish. The more time I spend in college, the less I associate St. Patrick's day with being Irish. It seems like everybody uses this holiday as an excuse to get drunk and sloppy with a side of shame (heavy on the sauce). Personally I prefer a low key chillfest complete with some corned beef and cabbage like Mama used to make (she still makes it, I'm just stuck at school). Some of us are really Irish and really proud of it. I'm not sure why Irish is one of those nationalities that comes with a lot of pride, but I think it might be because we know there's the sterotype about us being good-for-nothing drunks and scoundrels, so we embrace it and we don't mind poking fun at ourselves.

3. Everybody's bitter coming off of Valentine's Day. I'm not kidding when I say that on February 15th a girl down the hall from me played that song by Leona Lewis called "Bleeding Love" for THREE hours on REPEAT. I never disliked Valentine's Day until that moment, and that's when I realized we were in need of a real holiday: one that has nothing to do with whether or not you have a boyfriend or girlfriend and where you can act like a fool and party your cares away.