After our third long week of work, my friend Emily and I decided to unwind by taking a 20 mile hiking trip in Howth, about a 30-minute train ride away from Dublin’s city centre. As soon as we got off of the train and saw the turquoise sea, brightly colored houses, and miles of rolling green hills, I knew that this was a place that I would never forget.
Before I came to Dublin, I knew very little about it (or anywhere other than the US really, which is embarrassing to admit). My sister studied abroad in Dublin and loved it and I knew that they spoke English here, and those were basically my only criteria for picking it as my place to study abroad.
Professionally, I really had no idea what to expect. I began researching my internship site as soon as I got my placement, but that was it. I figured it would all fall into place, and it did. But looking back, I wish I would’ve opened my mind sooner to learning and embracing the Irish professional and cultural scenes instead of just expecting everything to work itself out.
If you had asked me a month ago what I wanted to do after college, I would tell you that I 100% wanted to attend the University of Michigan for law school. And that is still true, to an extent. University of Michigan would be a dream school for me. But my trip to Howth made me realize that I would absolutely love to live in Ireland and pursue my law career here.
Before coming to Ireland, I expected that the United States was the only place I would ever work or live. But after being here for a month, traveling and exploring different parts of the country, planning other trips around Europe, and loving my internship, I am discovering that I would love to call Ireland home. As I told Emily on our trip to Howth, this is the first place apart from the place that I grew up that I really felt like I could call home.
I can hardly believe that I am looking into applying to law school here and potentially moving thousands of miles away from I grew up, on a completely different continent even. But I am beyond thankful for the professional and personal growth that this trip has already given me in one short month. Home to me has always been more about a feeling than a location, and I definitely feel like Ireland could be my next home.
