While travelling with my mom and cousins during my last week in Ireland, we stopped at the South Pole Inn between the towns of Dingle and Killarney. The pub was the home of Thomas Crean, an Irish explorer who was second officer on Earnest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition. As we were seated at the pub, I started to cough. Six months of daily rain eventually starts to affect you. The publican, a sweet, put-together older woman, assured me she had the perfect remedy. Moments later, she appeared with a cup of coffee and a double shot of Jameson. "I was generous with the Jamey," she said reassuringly.
This experience sums up Ireland to me: endearing, matter-of-fact, and unconditionally welcoming. I considered myself relatively well versed in Irish culture: my cousins own the Irish pub in my hometown of Warren, Ohio, I took Irish step dancing throughout my childhood, and my family actually has an Irish singing group. Kind of like the Von Trapps, but with fiddles. Even so, I was not sure what to expect of the homeland.
Sophomore year I researched study abroad opportunities at Seton Hall and was disappointed that the only exchange to Ireland was for business students. However, I approached Dr. McCarthy who helped me arrange a journalism exchange with the Dublin Institute of Technology. After many e-mails, and even a phone call to the University of Missouri, I was looking up flights to Dublin in January.
Even after the stress of finding a bank, converting dollars to Euros, and registering with the government as a visiting student, Ireland was simply wonderful. However, the Ireland I came to love is not the Ireland of my American childhood. Living in a country for half a year allows one to see beyond the stereotypes and media perceptions of a nation and experience real people, real places, and real culture. This is one of the reasons I highly recommend study abroad to every student.
During my six month stay in Ireland I passed through every county in the country, stopping at cities such as Galway, Belfast, Cork, Killarney and Dingle as well as countless others I had never heard of before stepping off my transatlantic flight. I was also lucky enough to visit Amsterdam, Brussels, and make a Beatles pilgrimage in Liverpool where I had tea in Ringo Starr's childhood living room with Margaret, a self-proclaimed Beatles ambassador who has lived in the home since Ringo's family moved out in 1963.
The Irish people stole the show as far as my study abroad experience is concerned. From Belfast footballers who were pretty sure I knew their friend Chris in Chicago, to Irish-speaking lads on the island of Inis Mor, to the many fantastic local musicians I met along the way, the Irish are just downright friendly and welcoming. I now have friends from the southern harbour town of Kinsale and all the way north to the surf instructors from Dunfanaghy in Donegal.
Although arranging a study abroad through Seton Hall is difficult, I promise the struggle is worth it. If you are considering going abroad act now: research a program, contact international faculty that may be able to help you, and document the whole process. The application process is almost entirely independent and may take a whole semester, but it is good preparation for some of the road blocks you may face when studying in a foreign country.
It is strange to be back in New Jersey, which I constantly defended across Europe thanks to "Jersey Shore." The transition back to the states is much harder than the transition to another country, but I am sure I will go back to Ireland soon; in fact, I'm already drawing up plans for an alpaca farm in Inis Mor.
Meghan Dixon can be reached at meghan.dixon@student.shu.edu
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