Study Abroad Blog: The Irish Love Jesus, But They Do Drink a Little (Tales of Dublin Pub Life)

Students of St. Norbert College:Put down your cans of Keystone and listen to my drinking stories.

Here I am in Dublin, Ireland. It's a Tuesday night, and what are we preparing to do? Why, go to the pub, of course! Before I scamper off, let me tell you something. Drinking is different in Dublin, Team America.

First, it's more expensive. A mixed drink will cost you about _8, or $12. A pint is not much cheaper at about _6, or $9. The obscene cost of alcohol means that on most nights, we American students only have a pint or two.

But here's a secret: if you get a mixed drink in Dublin, chances are it will be mostly drink. Which is nice. And a single pint of Guinness is more than enough to get you happy.

Also, I think one can sort Dublin pubs into two different groups: traditional pubs and dance clubs. The dance clubs are wild and crazy, and most of them stay open well into the early hours of the morning.

Most of them play a hilarious combination of American Top 40 Hits and American Top 40 Hits from 1981. The Irish have a strange affinity for our old tunes, which makes going out quite entertaining.

Personally, I prefer the atmosphere of the traditional pub, which is often dark and crowded, but still comfortable.

The Brazen Head, Ireland's oldest pub, usually has a few musicians sitting in the corner, playing traditional songs. Once, I saw a guy play the spoons. He was rapping them against his knee and the table- top and the edge of his chair. I'm not easily impressed, but this was amazing. Mind blown.

Just a few blocks away from our flat is a place called Dice Bar. Well, the red neon sign outside says, "Dice Bar Phat Joint." For obvious reasons, we just call it "Dice."

Every Tuesday night, we pop in here for a drink or two. I like to think that I am a close personal friend of the bartender's, a rotund bearded Irishman.

He controls the music playing over the sound system from his iPod, which is a great selection of Irish, American and World music. And on the nights that there's a DJ in the house? "Then we have two iPods," he says.

On the walls in Dice, the bartender has tacked up items that patrons have left in the bar--everything from American dollar bills to rosaries and earrings. There's also a poster advertising The History of Contraception Museum. Oh, I do love it here.

Here's the best part about drinking in Dublin: you actually get to talk to people. You can have a conversation with your bartender and the people sitting next to you. Chances are, you'll see those people week after week, so you quickly become good buddies.

So in Ireland, maybe you go out and only have a few drinks, but you meet plenty of new friends and dance the night away to Lady Gaga and 80's hits. Meanwhile, back in the States, there's a college student somewhere in Wisconsin keeping track of all seventeen of last night's shots with pen marks on his left arm. Let's be honest, he probably woke up the next morning in someone else's bathtub wearing only one shoe and hugging a shampoo bottle like a teddy bear.

Let's just say that if we want a night like that, a flight to London costs only _20.