Experiences and advice from Courtney Greene

Interview conducted on January 3, 2016

Courtney’s father grew up in Ireland and his family still resides on a farm in the midlands of the country.  Year after year she would visit them there and soon she became more familiar with the Emerald Isle’s culture, traditions, and people.  A Waltham, Massachusetts native, Courtney is currently obtaining her Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacology at the University College in Dublin.

“I’d be a fool to not try Ireland,” she said.  “If I don’t like it, I’ll stay for a year.” It was a great comfort to her that her family was only about an hour’s train ride away.  Furthermore, her cousin is going to the same school in the same year, providing a safety net, just in case she ever feels homesick.  Fortunately, she said it has never come to that point and she has never once regretted her decision to move across the Atlantic.

Courtney was hesitant to stay in Boston for several reasons.  She wanted to make new friends and have new experiences.  Specifically, she wanted a clear distinction between her life and friends from high school and college.  She always saw herself going to college close to home, where the phenomenon of “homesickness” might have been less forceful.  But as she spoke to her high school friends about their fears of moving away from home, regardless of the proximity to their parents, she realized that everyone was worried about living without their parents.  She thought to herself, “Well, I might as well just go abroad and try something new!”

“When I graduated from Waltham High School in 2013, I was lucky enough to be asked to do the closing remarks at the graduation commencement ceremony. In that speech I quoted one of the world’s greatest novelists, Mark Twain, with a quote that influenced my decision to start a new life at a university in Ireland. In the speech I quoted Twain by saying, ‘Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the one’s you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, dream, discover’. At the end of the day, home is home, it always will be, but what I didn’t expect was the new appreciation for home that I only discovered upon returning there after my first semester abroad.”

She still remembers the moment when she realized that everything was going to be just fine abroad.  It was a few weeks into the first semester and she was living with three other girls in her apartment.  “All this,” she recalls, “this is independence.  I am perfectly fine.”  At that moment, she was no longer homesick, very uplifted, and surprised how delighted she was with everything in Ireland.  Courtney settled in so much more than she thought she would.  She found that the Irish people were so much more kind and welcoming than she remembered from her childhood visits: “Only the accent was different!”

Courtney allowed herself time for introspection as well.  She began to see things differently abroad and felt like she found her niche.

GO EXPLORING BY YOURSELF

“Careful now, I don’t mean go backpacking alone in the middle of the night here. I mean go into the city centre and wander around. Take time for yourself. Some of the most remarkable sights can’t be found in a tour guide. With that said,  I’ve found the best things the country has to offer can only be seen when you make a trail of your own and step off the grid. The busses, trains, and tours will take you to all the postcard landscapes and touristy locations, but a drive or walk on your own will bring you down little shop lanes or sometimes even to the ocean bay. I find it incredible how many different routes I have found to get to the same end location just by exploring down different lanes around the city on a sunny Saturday afternoon. It’s made me realize that sometimes getting lost isn’t always a bad thing.”

Her greatest fear was that she wouldn’t make any friends.  This seemed strange to me because Courtney’s personality seemed to bubble with happiness and comfort, no matter how little she knew the person in her company.  So it wasn’t a surprise when she said it turned out to be no issue at all.  She clarified: “I knew that the fear of making new friends would happen anywhere, so I wasn’t worried about that in general.  I just didn’t want to have only American friends.  The goal was to always have a big group to Irish friends.”  In reality, this goal wasn’t too much of an issue either.  She said that out of the the 33,000 or so total student body at the university, there are about 5,000 international students, and only about 20 full time Americans students.  So while at the university, she was definitely in the minority.  She said the [local] students didn’t treat her any differently, but being American was somewhat of a conversation starter.  Courtney very quickly was accepted and thought to herself, “This is you–you’re going to do this.”

She did, however, meet a few groups of Americans that studied for a semester at the university.  In her opinion, many of them had a very different attitude towards experiencing the culture.  “So many of them went the whole semester without really meeting any Irish students,” she said.  For Courtney, the whole point of studying abroad was to interact with the people and culture, and she has become more understanding of the cultural differences in the process.

GET TO KNOW THE LOCALS

“Never have I been to a country where the people are so welcoming and kind. Whenever people ask me what I love most about Ireland, my answer is always the people. It’s hard to feel homesick in a country where the people are so eager to engage with you. Walking down a street you won’t be surprised to walk by people, who tip their hats to you and greet you with a “How are ya?” This is the norm across the country, and many other cities across the world. I couldn’t tell you the last time I walked down a street in Boston and a stranger greeted me. There’s such a camaraderie between the Irish people, and a sense of kindness and happiness that is somewhat infectious. So when I hear people are studying abroad in Ireland I say, make Irish friends. Go to small towns and villages and chat  with the person next to you at the bar. Say hello to the person next to you on the bus. Ask your waitress how her day is. You could have nothing in common but still find some kind of common ground over which to conversate. The point of being abroad is to immerse yourself in the culture, and that is largely made up by the people. I think that’s why so many people come back– for the people. To be fair though, the miles of rolling green picturesque landscapes and medieval castles might factor into their return as well…”

After her third year studying abroad, Courtney feels like she has a life in two places–one in the US and one in Ireland.  “This is something I didn’t think would happen until my professional life,” she said. She told me that it’s almost like time freezes in the U.S. when she’s in Ireland and vice-versa: “I never thought that after three years I could see myself living there [Ireland].  I feel like I’m living at home, but it’s on a different continent with different people and a different culture.  I feel so comfortable”.

Now with only a little more than a year left until she completes her degree, Courtney is thinking of the future, and whether or not that will include Ireland.  She is toying with the idea of enrolling in medical school after completing her undergraduate education.  This decision, though, makes her think, “Who am I going to leave behind?”  Undoubtedly, medical school or even a professional career in Ireland would not allow for as much time off, like during summer or winter vacations.  She worries that because she has friends and family in both places, it will be hard to decide where she will ultimately set down permanent roots.  But this is certain, Courtney is truly happy and has strong support systems in both countries.  And this would not have happened unless she took the chance to study abroad.

“I am a firm believer that life can’t be lived in one place, whether that means a semester or more abroad for school or work, or even just packing up your things and going to a lesser known country for a month and living freely. Just be spontaneous. Life’s too short to be lived contently in one place. How are we supposed to know as people that we’re living in our “happy place” if we don’t go out and explore the world. Time is of the essence, and the future is now.  The world is such a big and diverse place, and though we’re all people who may share common interests and beliefs, none of us are the same. We’re all our own little entities living with one another in this big beautiful world. Television, books, news, and social media won’t tell you that. They might portray it, but you’ll never know the true feeling of understanding the outside world if you don’t explore it yourself. I’ve learned that cultures and landscapes shape who we are. Human interactions and experiences allow understanding of the things around us. More importantly, they help us find ourselves and appreciate all that we have. It’s such a cliche, ‘Go travel and explore to find yourself’, but it’s the most validated cliche I have ever heard.”

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Do you have a similar story or experience you’d like to share?  Please message us or leave a comment below!

[accordion_tab title=”Graduate Correspondent: Tanner Knorr” default]

Tanner Knorr is a graduate from Boston University for both his Bachelor’s in Archaeology and Master’s in Administrative Studies, concentrating in Economic Development and Tourism Management.  He has been to 11 countries and guarantees there will be many more to come.  After visiting Santorini and Menorca in 2010, he noticed differences between the tourism products on both islands.  This experience made him want to learn more about tourism and work towards positive change for all stakeholders in the industry.  He looks forward to sharing his stories of traveling and studying abroad, as well as discussing various topics relevant to the tourism industry today.[/accordion_tab]