Paddy's Day is not as big a deal here as it is in other parts of the world, since there's only a small Irish community in Edmonton. My day will go like this.
I'll get up about 7 a.m. so I can go to the local club to watch the GAA club finals from back home. It's kind of surreal to be in a pub at 8 a.m. with a bunch of Irish people watching hurling while it's 25 degrees Celsius outside. These Alberta winters are pretty severe, not like Tuam, where I come from.
They'll probably open the bar at about 11 a.m. when the games are over, but I won't be drinking as I'll have to go to take my seminars at uni.
After I'm finished at college, I have an ice hockey game: hurling, Canadian style. This is the Canadian equivalent, of the GAA which they are obsessive about. Then it's on to the pub to drink green beer until late.
Last year, I tried to persuade the barman that I deserved a free pint on the basis of being Irish, but he refused to believe that anyone with a name like Cruickshank could be from the Emerald Isle - he also thought I had an Australian accent, which didn't help.
James Cruickshank (26) is a PhD student. He has been in Alberta for four years.
