This year my friends decided to go up to Donegal for St. Paddy's long weekend. We rented a cottage in Ballyliffin, a place in the middle of nowhere in the Innishowen Peninsula located in the very north part of Ireland. The cottage was amazing, well kept, comfortable and cozy. On Friday we drove up there and arrived at about 10pm which was the prefect time to drown a bottle of rum that came all the way with me from Venezuela. That kicked off the weekend break on a good start and helped me to sleep on the couch cause all the beds were occupied.

The following morning I was in a slow and mellow mood so I allowed myself to be dragged to Derry in Northern Ireland which was about an hour and a half drive from the cottage. My stomach was protesting a bit about my lack of consideration on the previous night so I volunteered not to drink till the evening and drive back from Derry. In Derry we went to the Derry museum which had a free entrance since it was St. Patrick’s day. The mad lady at the reception asked us to sing an Irish song but we didn’t know the lyrics of any song so then she made us sing a song from the dot. I wasn’t in the mood for the museum so I idled about and feigned interest until the time for the rugby match came.

We went to watch the match at a crowed pub in Derry and there was a good vibe between the festive celebrations and the enthusiasm for the rugby. It's a pity that Ireland didn't win the six nations even though they thrashed Italy. The French managed to steal the shield by scoring an extra time try overcoming the Irish with points difference. I regretted volunteering to drive back home cause I had to drink Fanta for the whole afternoon. After the matches we went for an early Chinese dinner with some locals we met at pub but then returned back to the cottage. At night we played some improvised pictionary and spent the night chatting again.

On Sunday we went to Glenveagh national park near Letterkenny but it was too windy and cold for any outdoor activity. We went up to visit the castle in the middle of the national park and after a quick tour headed off to an Italian restaurant. As soon as we came out of the restaurant all the streets were covered in snow and we couldn’t drive up the road back home because the cars kept skidding downwards. At last we managed to find a different way back home and made it safely inside. In the evening back at the cottage we did the same stuff as the previous nights. Before returning back home on Monday we went up to Marlin Head for a scenic visit.

It was a good weekend and I enjoyed it. This is the second year I missed St. Paddy's in Dublin but apparently I didn't miss much since the weather was horrible and the fireworks display was cancelled because of the strong winds.