I moved from the US to Ireland. Here are 11 things that surprised me most.

21.02.2024 - 20:12 / insider.com

I first fell in love with the idea of moving abroad five years ago after spending a semester in England.

I met incredible people, tried new things, and focused on what I wanted most out of life while temporarily letting go of everything stressing me out at home. But after I returned to the US, the stress came back, and I realized I'd do anything to make my dream of living abroad a reality.

Picking up and moving to Ireland on a spur-of-the-moment decision two years ago has presented many challenges, but I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. 

Read on for some of the things that surprised me when I first got to Ireland. 

From the Irish names that no one outside of Ireland can ever seem to pronounce to the varied accents that I need live subtitles to understand, it's been a real personal journey getting where I am today with Irishisms.

I thought a lot of the phrases in Ireland would be similar to what I heard in the UK. But the Irish have their own national language, and it tends to bleed into everyday conversational English.

For instance, the national police force is called An Garda Síochána, which translates to "Guardians of the Peace," and officers are referred to as the Gardaí. 

To better explain the complexities of Irish slang, here's an actual conversation that occurred in my group chat when I first moved:

Person 1: "Are you coming out with us tonight or not?"

Person 2: "Sure look, put me down, I'll pop along. And I better not get the vid of anyone. Scooops! Also shurrup, Person 1, ya bleedin' tick."

They had me in the first sentence. After that, I was frantically and unsuccessfully searching through Irish pages on Urban Dictionary.

But I knew I finally adapted to the language when I found the words "thanks a million" (or "thanks a mil") and "bye bye bye … bye bye bye bye" after any phone call slipping off my tongue.

Ireland is home to RyanAir, meaning we have cheap flights to nearly any European destination at our fingertips. This results in the urge to take a weekend abroad as often as possible.

Ireland itself is also packed to the brim with stunning natural landscapes.

Although the Republic of Ireland is pretty small — it's a little smaller than the state of Indiana — its 26 counties all vary greatly from each other, leaving many wonders to explore. 

Trek the breathtaking Cliffs of Moher in County Clare; explore the Neolithic monument, Newgrange, in County Meath; and spend a week (or a lifetime) in my favorite part of the country, County Kerry, while driving through the spectacular Dingle Peninsula.

The Irish pride themselves on being "great craic" (fun), but, unfortunately, this way of life often leads to losing track of time.

If you find yourself perpetually late to everything, you'll feel