Does the Craic follow the Irish or do the Irish follow the Craic?

We’ve all felt the same old mundanity of a familiar routine in our hometown. We have that itch that we are not reaching our full potential, as we are stuck in the same bubbles for the rest of our lives and into the foreseeable future. It can be a slow, suffocating road when our company is the people who have seen us from our wild, immature adolescence and can’t seem to get that image out of their head.

How do we grow as people and find our ‘true selves’ if we are in an environment we’ve outgrown?

Which leads us to what seems to be a canon event for the average overthinker or just your average young adult…the life-changing…necessary…calling to book a one-way ticket to Asia.

Where in Asia? Does it matter? You’ll end up in an Irish pub anyway.

Before you start getting mad at the messenger, there is a real unique talent to the Irish who, no matter where they end up going in the world, always find themselves among the people they claimed to ‘outgrow’.

For a world of people who leave their hometown and go to Asia, many of them seek out to be in environments where they do not speak the language of their company, or they seek out a new perspective on the world as a whole. The whole idea is finding your place in the world, seeking out an internal reconnection.

And as a non-Irish who has lived abroad for years, not once has the thought occurred to me to seek out an Irish pub in any of the cities I live in or have travelled to. However, as a current Dublin resident, having travelled with many Irish, it seems to be something instinctual for them to be drawn to an Irish pub one way or another.

“That’s where the craic is” is their go-to justification. But instead of a justification for running back to their roots. Maybe the point of the Irish finding themselves is actually a reconnection with identity.

For a culture that has fought for its right to exist, reconnecting with your roots is the least shameful thing the Irish can do. While many locals of popular Irish destinations such as in Spain, Thailand, and those alike are not the biggest fans of tourists who come with no intention of immersion, there is not to say no kind of immersion exists.

While at home, many Irish locals roll their eyes at the mention of Temple Bar, the leprechaun stereotypes fed by American media, and this can be misunderstood as a rejection of their culture and community. It is important to look at the Irish identity through the lens of community rather than any external validation. Because if there’s one thing about the Irish, it is that they aren’t here to please.

So let’s take a look at what the Irish find outside of Ireland…

Many land in a new country, faced with a new language, food, and way of life. It’s fascinating and something the Irish thrill in. While the Irish go looking for the craic, don’t forget who invented it. They’ll jump into whatever it is that’s going on. A song in a language they don’t speak? A dance that they’ve never learned? No worries, an Irish person is gonna try whatever it is they need to try at that moment!

So when an Irish person is abroad, and they stumble upon an Irish pub they may or may not have looked up beforehand, there’s something magical that happens. They find themselves among a decent pint of Guinness that reminds them there’s nothing like Ciss Maddens or their local pub.

They find themselves looking past their shoulders, sure to find a familiar face among the crowd. Oh, there’s your neighbour's cousin who went to the same primary school as you. You run up to them and hug them to find yourself reminiscing over milestones not yet shared. You find yourself swaying to the same old trad music you blocked out with your headphones on Camden Street the other week.

These Irish pubs provide a little space of Ireland that most people often overlook. The saying you don’t know what you have till it’s gone has never been more true than in this moment. Where the Irish leave the pub thinking how disgraceful that pour was and laugh about how they can run that bar better.

There’s something hereditary about the Irish culture that exists within those walls, and once you leave the pub, you are back in another country, ready to walk through the airport gates welcoming you home.

Written By: Sophia Arceo

Edited By: Malini Jayan