While every Tom, Dick, and Patrick will tell you about what to do when traveling to Ireland and how they are actually 5% Irish themselves, not many people talk about what mistakes to avoid. If you are planning a trip to Ireland in the near future or maybe even think about moving there, you are on the right page. Here is my list of mistakes to avoid when traveling to Ireland - or how to avoid looking like a fecking eejit.
In my previous post about 10 Words You Need To Know As An Expat In Ireland, I already featured 10 words and phrases you should know when moving to Ireland. Even though Ireland is a predominantly English-speaking country, it sometimes feels like people here speak a different language due to slang and Irish phrases added into the mix. Have a look below if you feel like a feckin’ eejit when Irish people talk to you!
Being an expat is not always easy. You have to battle homesickness and culture shocks. Not to mention your family and friends, who - we know - love us and want what's best for you but keep asking when you are moving back because - let's face it - what is even the point of living abroad during a global pandemic? Yes, living abroad during a global pandemic is especially hard. When all things hit the fan, it is time to give yourself an expat pep-talk.
I am a self-proclaimed expat. If someone asks a room full of people who is an expat, I raise my hand. I publish blog posts in an 'expat' category and use #expatlife on my Instagram posts. Unfortunately, the word expat has an image problem. I don't really have a negative association with the word expat, but some people do. I also sometimes get the question 'Why do you consider yourself an expat rather than an immigrant?' and sometimes I ask myself the same. This is my fourth year not living in my home country and I think it's time to peel back the layers and look into the expat vs immigrant debate.
I haven’t lived in my home country for three years now and recently wrote an article about the things I love about living abroad. And I do! I love living abroad (otherwise I wouldn’t still be doing it, right?) and I encourage everyone to give it a try if they are thinking about it. However, I don’t want to pretend that everything is all sunshine. Living abroad can be hard. I want to give a realistic picture of what it’s like living in another country, so I guess it’s time to shed more light on the downs.
Naturally, I would answer the question ‘Should I move abroad?’ with ‘Yes, absolutely, thank you very much!’ I have lived in the US, moved back to my home country Germany, moved abroad again, and have now been living in Ireland for almost three years. But is Ireland a great choice as an expat? There are many pros and cons regarding which country to move to and the answer will ultimately depend on what you want and what is realistic. Since I have moved to Ireland myself, the pros of this list have obviously outweighed the cons but I will try to give you a holistic view about what it is like to move to Ireland and what you should consider before making a decision.
For a year I have been working from my bedroom in an apartment in Dublin. I don't have many exciting things to report, because I have barely left the city due to the lockdown radius the Irish government implements during high lockdown stages. Being an expat during a global pandemic is hard. Here are some tips that helped me cope with >12 months of a global pandemic and several lockdowns.
I have been living the expat-life in Ireland for almost three years now. Ireland became a predominantly English-speaking country at the turn of the 19th century. However, it sometimes feels like people here speak an entirely different language. The Irish have managed to make English their own by using their very own slang words. This is actually called Hiberno-English (Hibernia is the Latin for Ireland). To unleash on all unfamiliar with the lingo, the Irish love to drop some actual Irish in between their sentences. So if you need to brush up on your Irish local skills. Below you find my favorite Irish slang words and expressions.
A global pandemic has been hitting the world for more than a year. Traveling - if possible at all - is a small nightmare with COVID tests, quarantines, and calls from local health authorities. Restaurants, shops, pubs, museums are still closed in many countries. The highlights of my day are the walk to the supermarket and a walk along the canal in my neighborhood. Over the past couple of months, I have lived through various degrees of lockdowns with a radius of 2 km, 5 km, curfews, and police controls. Don't get me wrong - I understand why all of this is necessary. But locked away in my shared apartment in Dublin is certainly not how I envisioned my life as an expat in Ireland.
I have the Big Day app installed on my phone, where you can count days up or down for a specific event. I realized last week, that I had moved to Ireland 1000 days ago. Wow, 1000 days, that’s quite some time - two and a half years. For those of you who don’t know my story, I left Germany in 2016 and moved to the States for a year. After returning to Germany, I lived in Berlin for a year before packing my bags again to move to Ireland. Of course, there are some things that are difficult when living abroad, but here’s what I love!
When moving abroad, things will most likely not be all sunshine. In this post, I wrote about the 5 phases of moving abroad. Today, I would like to give you some tips on each of them and how to overcome feelings like homesickness or culture shocks. I have moved from Germany to the US, back to Germany, and then to Ireland. While I know, that some of these tips might not help everyone, they definitely did the trick for me and I hope that one or the other might find them useful.
There's a difference between people who travel to a country for a limited amount of time and people who actually chose to live in a foreign country. And while I absolutely encourage everyone to pack their bags and travel the world whenever they can fit it into their busy schedules, I salute all of you who board a plane and take the leap without having a return ticket in their pocket.
There's an emotional roller coaster coming with moving abroad and actually living in another country. Making that decision is always nerve-wrecking. You probably feel excited and nervous as the same time - particularly if you've never done such a huge step before. And it can drive you crazy. So a thing to definitely keep in mind when you are considering moving abroad is, that it won't all be sunshine. But another thing to keep in mind is that it is definitely worth it, because you will for sure learn something.
If you've never lived in another country you might never realize that you and your folks have some weird behaviors, other cultures think are weird. Of course, the specifics depend heavily on the cultures you are comparing. When I moved to the US though I didn't really realize that there are quite a few things Germans do that Americans would find weird. Mostly because I thought that the differences wouldn't be that big. After all - it wasn't Japan, Saudi Arabia, or the Congo - right? I grew up with American movies, TV shows, and music. I know stuff about American geography, climate, and history.
Once you have lived abroad and come back home to your country, you might start noticing some things you did not notice before you left. I find this a particularly odd experience, since when you live abroad, you tend to only miss the good things about your home country. Returning to Germany, I found there were some annoying things I did not notice before, but I also started to cherish some stuff that I used to take for granted.
Kate Rebel is an expat, travel and adventure blog sharing stories from abroad, my everyday life and the books my nose is currently stuck into. Feel free to reach out to me - I am always open for questions and comments!
