Submitted by Kristina Demou on the 2017 spring semester program in Rome, Italy…
This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to visit one of my childhood friends who is studying abroad in Galway, Ireland for the semester. It was so nice to be with a piece of home even if only for a few days. But even more, it was incredible to see Ireland. Since I’m living in Rome, a fairly crowded and busy city, it was so refreshing to visit a town that had an abundance of grass, fresh air and open space. I must have said “Oh my God, it’s so green here,” at least 50 times during my visit, but I just couldn’t get over it.
I didn’t expect much culture shock in Ireland because they speak English there. However, I was surprised by how many differences I recognized between Irish culture and that of America or Italy. I was drawing many comparisons to how things are done “at home” versus in Galway. The one thing that stood out to me the most was how friendly and nice everyone was. I don’t think I encountered one rude person the entire weekend and I was a little disappointed honestly in how much that shocked me. The norm shouldn’t be rude and gruff and yet between growing up in New York and living in Rome for about three months now, it’s what I’ve come to expect. It’s good on the one hand, because I’ve been dealing with it for my entire life and I’ve built up a thick skin to it, but I still wish that the world as a whole leaned more towards friendly being the norm.
While I was in Ireland, I got to visit the Cliffs of Moher, which were absolutely breathtaking. I also was lucky because the weather was unusually beautiful and I got a sunny, warm dry day that reached about 62 degrees Fahrenheit. I’ve already put Ireland on my list of places to visit the next time I’m in Europe, but until then I made sure to take many photos to remember it by. The luck o’ the Irish was really with me this weekend!
