Three beers deep, I’m in the Philadelphia airport anxiously waiting for a delayed flight to come and whisk me away to the land of potatoes and leprechauns. Constantly checking my phone to see the score of the Penguins game, I am a little pissed at the fact that I will be missing the playoffs for the first time since my youth. A wave a panic washes over me and I’m regretting my decision to leave. I start wishing I could just hop back on my fixed gear and ride back to my little oasis at 7th and Fairmount. My flight is called. I’m off to Ireland.
I wake up 6 hours later to find myself groggy and in need of a strong, very strong Americano. The first libation station I find has exactly what I’ve been craving: Guinness and caffeine. Sighing loudly, I think, “OK, I can finally relax – I’ve made it”.
I’m off to Archway Courts, which later becomes where I call home in this foreign land. Hesitantly I allow myself to open up to a few of the other girls on the trip and we head out to grab a pint and orient ourselves with our new habitat. Like anyone in a new city for the first time, we are clueless and are each wearing a huge neon sign that screams “TOURIST”. It takes some time, but this sign gradually dims from neon, to florescent, to 40-watt bulb, to nothing.
Once the initial sadness and homesickness passes after 2 weeks, I am finally able to fully dive headfirst into Ireland. It seems almost impossible to sum up exactly what has happened to me over the past 6 weeks, so the best I can do to describe it is to simply say I am different now. I have picked up a new pair of lenses I never expected to acquire while here. Before this trip, I was completely consumed with America and the American way of life. I now appreciate America more but love my country in a different way. I have realized that despite how intelligent I once thought I was, I am so small and my mind is so feeble and all I can really do is learn as much as I can.
Darren Kelly, my Irish professor here, has been one of the greatest influences in my academic life. He has opened my eyes to different cultures and the way cities work. As someone who has lived in two cities prior to my arrival in Dublin, I was already extremely interested in the anthropology of city life, but was never able to discuss the issues intellectually until I was given the knowledge and resources provided by Darren (Thank you Darren).
He inspired me to think of my trip less as a vacation where I would spend the majority of my time in pubs, trying to get picked up by Irishman and more as a learning experience where the people I meet in these pub could educate me. I became interested in the Irish psyche and figuring out why these people act as they do.
“Why is this a drinking culture? “
“Why is the food such ‘shite’?”
“Why are these 13-year-old girls wearing cropped tops and booty shorts?”
I found that the answers to these questions came down to a number of things that I would have never learned simply by spending my time in the classroom. I made myself go out on the streets and seek answers to questions seemingly simple, but that were actually more complex than I could have ever imagined. The years of British oppression and the subsequent yearning for freedom was one cause that explains the nature of the Irish youth. The constant questioning of national identity explains the food and unfailing desire to drown out sorrows in a pint.
In this sense I found myself connecting to the Irish and their way of thinking. During my many walks around St. Stephen’s Green, I realized that Ireland was helping me figure out who I am both as a person and as an American. No longer was I okay with going through life not knowing political issues and what other places around the world are like. I realized that America is a great nation but is in no way the greatest nation.
In all, Ireland has humbled me and made me appreciate everything I have. Just six weeks ago all I could think about was how quickly I wanted to get back to the States and now that my journey is ending, I could kick myself for even momentarily taking this all for granted. I will forever look back at my time spent here and recognized it as the biggest learning experience I have ever had and how I will never be the same Hannah again.
-Hannah Conrady