Living in Ireland: Practical Advice for Americans
I realize most of my readers are not expats, but I have to get this information out of my head before I forget! If it saves just one person a tiny bit of anxiety about their move to Ireland, it is worth it. On with the show… We spent two years living in Ireland. I don’t say this lightly. It was the opportunity of a lifetime! People say about our experience, “That must have been amazing. Ireland is so beautiful.” Yes, it was. Yes, it is. However, this is real life and real life under normal circumstances can be freaking hard at times. Throw in a foreign country and you’ve upped…
Living in Ireland: When to Move Back to the U.S.
This was a hard article to write. If you’ve been living in Ireland, how do you know when it’s time to move back home? In our case, home is the United States. If you are an American citizen who moved to Ireland for work, then you probably entered Ireland in one of two ways: on a contract or as a permanent hire. If you were on a contract with a set end-date, then you know when you’ll be leaving. If you entered Ireland as a permanent hire, then your end date (if there is one) is more ambiguous and something you’ll have to determine for yourself. My husband works for…
Living in Ireland: Surviving a Snowstorm
Surviving a snowstorm. Yes, that’s a bit melodramatic. However, snow is not something I thought I’d be writing about while living in Ireland. This island is supposed to have a temperate climate, after all. But every decade or so conditions are just right to deliver a weather wollup to the country. In this case (March 2018), it was in the form of Storm Emma colliding with “The Beast from the East,” which was a disruption to the stratospheric polar vortex that normally stays right where it belongs – up above the Arctic Circle. (And, yes. I had to google that.) When these two meteorological forces combined over the country of Ireland,…
Living in Ireland: Life Without A Car
As I type this, our family has lived in Ireland without a car for 21 months. Almost 2 years. No car. So what’s that like? It’s interesting. How is it possible? It’s complicated. Will we ever get a car? Not sure, but my kids ask everyday. How do you get stuff home? I have strong muscles. Doesn’t the weather suck? Yes, usually. Do you miss driving? Not as much as you’d think. First, some background. We are an American family who moved from Atlanta, Georgia, to Dublin, Ireland, for work. Our kids were starting 1st and 4th grades when we embarked on this adventure. To say we have learned and grown from this experience of not only living…
Living in Ireland: Inside My Kitchen
I find it fascinating to see how people truly live in their homes. If you leave your curtains open at night when I’m driving by – I’m going to look! I know you guys do that too! Don’t worry. I won’t make you admit it. If you’re moving to Ireland or if you do that thing you’re not admitting to this post is for you. If you come here for pretty pictures…uh…you might want to skip this one. I’m flinging open the cupboard doors so you can see inside my kitchen in Ireland. Who knows what might fall out!? Handy Husband and I have lived in a lot of homes…
Living in Ireland: Festival of Trees
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Before we say goodbye to 2017, I thought I’d share one last holiday-themed post. One of the things I’ve enjoyed or found the most interesting about living in Ireland is seeing how the locals celebrate the various holidays. Ireland doesn’t have the Christmas markets that other European countries are famous for, but it does have plenty of other events for locals (and visitors!) to enjoy. This year a friend invited us to see the Festival of Trees at Christ Church in Bray. Bray is a cute seaside town south of Dublin. It’s one of the farthest points south that you can live from…
Living in Ireland: Christmas in Retail 2017
We are counting down the days until we celebrate our second Christmas living in Ireland! Last year I didn’t know what to expect as far as the holidays go and I was pleasantly surprised to see that everyone – including retailers – really get into the Christmas spirit here. This makes sense given the heavy Catholic influence in Ireland. There is no “buffer holiday” between Halloween and Christmas in Ireland, so the holiday decorations starting going up in early November. As an example of how early festivities start, the tree lighting event in our town was on November 18. Santa arrived on a Harley Davidson (why not?) to turn on…
Living in Ireland: Storm Ophelia
I had planned to share a delicious recipe with you today, but food isn’t on my mind. Coming from me, this is pretty shocking, I know! I’m always thinking about food. Storm Ophelia, the remnant of Hurricane Ophelia, pounded Ireland on Monday. It was predicted to be the worst storm in 50 years to hit the island. The island, which includes two countries, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, is the size of Indiana in terms of land mass and approximate population. If you’re thinking it is extraordinarily rare for a hurricane – even one downgraded to a tropical storm or depression – to make it this far north, you’d…
Living in Ireland: That Time A Tree Came Down
In mid-August the Irish village I live in started replacing sections of sidewalks (aka footpaths) on our street. It’s now October and they are still working on it. One might assume I live on a really long street. Nope. Not at all. There are probably 14 houses along this stretch of road. One might also assume this construction crew is juggling projects all over the area. Wrong again! I know this because I finally broke down and asked. Anyway, the point is I like to judge things I have no expertise in I don’t understand why, but it’s taking a really long time to replace the sidewalks. So imagine my surprise when…
Living in Ireland: Back After a Month in the U.S.
It’s flat out STRANGE to visit the United States after living in Ireland for a year. I tried to put my finger on why exactly. In part, I think it’s because I’ve changed. Evolved, shall we say? How could you not after moving to a foreign country? But when I went ‘home’ I realized how much HADN’T changed. There is something comforting in that though. I also realized that I’d gotten used to being slightly uncomfortable ALL. THE. TIME. while in Ireland. You can try to look and act local in the face of constant new experiences, but as soon as you open your mouth you see a flicker of…
