Let’s go to Ireland: Tips from the podcast

Yes, please. Let's go to Ireland! 6 years ago I spent about 5 months living in Dublin, and Ireland is one of the countries that I most want to go back to. Check out this week's episode for my attempt to squeeze an entire country into less than an hour without gushing too much about …

Solo female travel: Tips from the podcast

Women hitting the road alone! At Going Out Your Door, solo travel is the ultimate freedom. You can do whatever you want when you want to, the trip itinerary is up to you (and you can chuck it out the window if you want!), and you don't have to take anyone else's preferences into consideration. …

Where is Home?

When I was 20 years old and studying abroad in Vienna, I traveled with my friends to Turkey for spring break (not the most quintessential spring break vacation, but in addition to history, culture, food, and hiking, it was full of plenty of beaches and beers). Naturally, we often found ourselves talking about home. Meaning …

“Because of Star Wars” (or, a trip to Donegal)

In my post about my trip to Sligo, I mentioned in the caption of the map that Sligo is in the north, but not as far north as Carndonagh. Well, now I've been to Carndonagh as well, and even further north to Malin Head, on the Inishowen peninsula.        In addition to being …

Oileáin Árann – The Aran Islands

I thought it only appropriate to put the name first in Irish, as the Aran Islands are part of the Gaeltacht: the Irish speaking regions of Ireland. While Irish language classes are required in school (and all signs and public announcements throughout the country are in both English and Irish), the adults I've talked usually remember …

An American’s Guide to Irish Slang: Part II

After covering some of the more colorful expressions in a post about Irish slang, I continued to hear new words and phrases being used all around me, and I realized that I'd have to write a Part II. -When referring to another person: In the plural: "Yous" (or maybe youse, however you want to phonetically spell it). Eschewing the …

Trip to Sligo

Every once in a while (well, ok, often) I get the urge to travel. This might seem ridiculous, since I'm living in Ireland, so you might think, "You're constantly traveling." But there's a difference between having a temporary home base in a foreign country and actively being on the road. I got such an urge on …

Northern Ireland

I will be the first to admit that I only know the general basics of the relationship between Ireland and Northern Ireland. I'm in the midst of trying to find a non-boring book that covers the history (most look like incredibly dry textbooks), but I do understand enough to know that being able to safely travel …

Embracing Irish Culture

When you spend such a large part of your life moving to new places by yourself, you inevitably get pretty good at meeting people and getting involved with things. If you don't, you'll go crazy. In Dublin, I've had to be even better about it, because I didn't move here for a specific job where I would …

Put a Cork in it

With four days until I could move into my apartment, I decided to visit Cork. I picked it on a bit of a whim, but it’s a really lovely city. Of course, it’s also conveniently situated near Blarney, Blarney Castle, and the Blarney Stone. The town of Blarney is very small, with just a couple …