Every year on St. Patrick's Day, South Boston throws a parade to honor its strongly Irish history. This event is free to attend and is a fantastic spectacle to be seen and heard! Strongly recommended! If you go: DRESS FOR THE OCCASION! THe weather is crazy in Boston and can go from cold to decent to snowing in 20 minutes. Such was the case for me and my girlfriend. Dress in layers and bring plenty of batteries and film! Also, some money for souvenirs and beer would be advised During the night time, Southie can be a rough neighborhood, and stealing someone's parking spot will often net you four flat tires!

Riding the T is the fastest way to get places in Boston, and to save some money while riding around Bean-Town, buy yourself a Charlie Card and put $20 on it. That should last you the whole day! With a Charlie card, fares are $1.40 per trip, regardless of distance. Also, be advised that things are labeled as inbound and outbound. Inbound goes towards the city, outbound away from the city and the directions change by stop... so be alert!

When I first arrived in Boston last April, I had nowhere to live. Luckily, one of my friends who I'd be living with in Boston had cousins living in South Boston, and we were able to stay with them for a few days until we found a house or apartment. They were kind enough to invite us for breakfast on Easter Sunday, and promised us an Irish breakfast, without the black and white pudding!

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, and we met a lot of their family, all of whom were very keen on finding out more about Ireland. The Lees have deep Irish roots and have visited their family in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary on several occasions. While the breakfast wasn't a typical Irish breakfast, it was damn good! It was a glorious day so we spent some time playing some form of baseball with a plastic bat and throwing an American Football around.

It was great to live like I was part of an Irish-American family, celebrating the same traditions as we do at home, but in a different way.