Open Arms

I always seem to be calling my mom in amazement about all the little things people do above and beyond my normal expectations.

The Meteors club, the team Meg and I play for, has been good to us in so many ways that I didn’t expect. The program is run on a volunteer basis, so no one in the club has a real obligation to look after us, but yet they all make such an effort. Obviously Meg and I are adults and can fend for our own (for the most part), but little things like inviting us for dinner, or having us over for a glass of wine, truly make the biggest impact when your in a different country and outside of your normal comfort zone.

Everyone in the Meteors club has their own busy life; with families, boyfriends, jobs, and a social life outside of the club. But everyone from our Manager, Maeve, or our coach, Mark, to teammates like Eileen and the Meanies, make that extra effort to help us feel more at home.

Mark, or more so his wife, Broma (can’t give Mark all the credit on this one), made time to host us for a great Christmas dinner around the holidays, knowing we wouldn’t have one otherwise. Maeve has hosted us for countless dinners as well, and also welcomed us into her home for nights at a time prior to moving into Trinity. Eileen not only drives us to practice all the time, but has gone out of her way to take us for weekend excursions or have us over for dinner and drinks. Fiona, one of the Meanies (they’re the 3 sisters on the team, last name Meanie) always invites us over after our weekend games just to have a place to chill out. 

It may sound so simple and easy, but I often think about if people in America would treat new comers as well as they do hear. It’s not that Americans aren’t nice, but we often become overly consumed in our own lives and would find fitting other people’s lives into our “agenda” stressful. Here it seems like these people actually enjoy welcoming us into their homes, or at least I hope they do! 

There’s not enough thanks that can be said to the people who have shaped this Irish experience for me, I can only hope that someday they will come and visit me in Philadelphia or New York (or wherever I end up) so that I can truly show them my gratitude. We may still have tea and biscuits (cause I’m totally bringing that back with me to the states) but for dinner we’ll have some homemade cheesesteak egg rolls or chocolate chip pancakes (the big fluffy kind NOT a crepe).

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