That’s right. After a mere 9 ½ months in New York City, I am on my way to another adventure. An Irish adventure! I absolutely loved my time in the city, but when I learned that I qualified for the Irish work holiday visa program, I knew that I had to take the leap.
Well, to be honest, I didn’t know right away. There was a lot of internal debating. Is this responsible? Should I be trying to focus on a career? Do I want to spend all of my money on this? Is this really what I want to do? As you can obviously tell, I went with my heart. And suddenly, I’m here. I am leaving my home country yet again. It snuck up on my this time, let me tell you.
I don’t really have a plan. The visa lasts for one year, but I don’t even know if I will be there that long. Moving to Europe was an amazing experience, but I had a nice set up in New York: a fun group of friends, a pretty good job, a network of favorite places to hang out. And right as I hit my stride, I decided to throw a wrench in the whole thing. Spontaneous and adventurous, or impulsive and dumb? There’s only one way to find out.
I am planning to hit up a few major cities over the course of my first week in the country, namely Dublin, Cork, and Galway. Then I am meeting up with a friend for a week in Italy. After that mini-vacation, I have to get serious. As much as I’d love to slowly work my way through every little town across the country, I do not have the funds for that.
Hopefully my preliminary tour will give me an idea of where I want to set up shop. Then I just have to find myself a job and spend all of my free time (and money) traveling to all the parts of the country I can. Easy, right? (I feel compelled to tell you that was sarcasm).
The plan could use some fleshing out, I know. But I am so looking forward to the freedom to do whatever I want whenever I want. If I like a place, I stay. If I don’t, I can leave. I’ve never traveled completely solo before. Maybe signing up for a year of it is a little extreme, but I see it as a challenge. Can I make it totally on my own in a new country?
More than anything, I think this will be a trip of self-discovery. I may not enjoy everything, but I will definitely learn something. And hopefully I’ll meet some cool people and have some fun as well. And you know I’ll be posting all about it here.
Wish me luck!
