the story behind ireland

I realized I've never really wrote about how I came to be living in Ireland and since I've had a few people ask about what I'm doing here and why I'm going back to the US.

So I studied abroad in Cork, Ireland in the fall of 2005. I had a few fabulous months frolicking around my little city along the Lee, hiking with the club in Kerry, traveling around Ireland and Europe (Berlin, Paris, London, Barcelona) and I also was dating an Irish guy. I found my research interests in Irish American domestic servants and fell in love with the country. I had a really hard time leaving in December and wanted to find a way to come back after college.

So I went back to WAC and had a really rough spring semester my junior year - my classes and stuff at the high school was insane, crew was frustrating me more than anything, and I was going most days 6am-1am with classes, crew, sorority, friends and high school. I missed Ireland and my boyfriend was 3000 miles away. To keep myself happy I was busy looking up different grad school programs in Ireland and planning M's visit during the summer. So when I found out in July he had been cheating on me for 5 months (and that is a whole other story) I was even more determined to go back. At the same time UCC announced that one of their options in their History MA was the Irish Diaspora! I was starting to do research on my thesis which was on Irish American's Domestic Servants and wanted to continue this in grad schoool so I was beyond ecstatic!

I started senior year of college omg busy. I was student teaching at a HS 45 minutes away, captain of the crew team, on exec board of sorority, thesis writing and was going through emotional hell. It was the looking at the calendar and being like a year ago I was frolicking on the mountains in Kerry, or we had our first date a year ago and missing Ireland like whoa. Luckily I was so busy my emotional rollercoaster was quite well hidden. And so it was around October when I decided to tell my parents I was applying to UCC for my Masters in History and I had a whole list of why this was a good idea to convince them. So I survived student teaching and only had 1 major freak out and after December 20th passed I was a much happier person. So over winter break I applied to Cork for grad schoool and nervously awaited a response. I found out I was going back on March 16th, I was in Florida with my crew team on our last day and checked my email on a friend's computer and I still remember screaming and waking up all the girls who were napping and just jumping up and down, tears streaming down my face I was SOOOOO excited. I WAS GOING BACK TO IRELAND! The rest of spring semester was amazing and I couldn't wait for September.

So I came back to Ireland in September 2007 to start a year long masters in history. I loved being back, the first few weeks were weird, because I couldn't believe I was back in Cork and I was facing a lot of personal ghosts. But I wasn't letting that stop me, I quickly found a part time job at the college, continued hiking with the club and was loving my classes and research. So I absolutely loved my first year, I finished classes in April and handed in my thesis in September. And then it was decision time. I had an amazing visit home in July and was torn on what to do. What did I want to do? Did I want to stay in Ireland? for how long? could I find a job? It had been my dream to live in Ireland and by graduating I was able to take advantage of a 6 month permit to live and work to find a job. So in September I made the decision that as much as I love Ireland and living here, I didn't think I would be able to find the type of job I wanted, and I was getting really frusterated with being so far away from my friends and family. I made the decision in September 2008 to stay until the end of March 2009 (though my permit is until the end of May), it gave me a few more months to stay in Ireland, I could travel around a bit more, and the end of March seemed like a good time because it would be a good time to find a teaching job.

So I've been really luckily to have the opportunity to live in Ireland for 2 years total, and this year to really experience it by working, almost all of my friends are Irish and to live past the honeymoon stage of being abroad. I had a few really rough spots especially in the summer when it didn't get about 65 and it rained every day and right after I came back from visits home were always the worst. But I've gotten to experience some amazing things, I've been able to travel (London - 4x, Wales, Edinburgh, N.Ireland, Greece, Spain, Italy and all over Ireland) and I was able to turn a dream into a reality. As sad as I will be to leave, believe me I'll be a wreck. I am looking forward to the future and the unknown. 2009 is really my year of adventure and transitioning from a student to the real world. So I'm making the best of my last few weeks here with lots of traveling and trying to fit in as many things as possible and drinking as much tea as I can.