Hey everybody!
I’m starting this blog with a tribute to one of my favorite movies, The Parent Trap. In one of the scenes towards the end of the movie, in the midst of the awkward reunion of the long-separated family the movie’s about, Meredith Blake says something along the lines of: “Wow, what a small world”, to which Nick Parker replies, “And getting smaller”. So why am I quoting one of the best romantic comedies of all time? I want to dedicate this blog to my (warning: second sappy blog in a row) overwhelming feelings of all the clichés involving destiny and everything happening for a reason after these past six months in Ireland.
From trivial things like having a running path right next to my apartment building that reminds me of my favorite trail at home, Cork conveniently having its own gourmet sausage company that fulfills the void left by Fenway street sausages, to one of the pieces of street art in town being a Boston Red Sox display, I have encountered so many random parallels and connections to MA that both make the world feel very small and make me realize that home does not always have to be an address.
This weekend in particular made me appreciate this sense of comfort I’ve found over here, most notably with my friends. As I mentioned in one of my blogs from earlier in the year, while meeting my cousin who owns a pub in Dingle (Kennedy’s if anyone’s looking for an adorably authentic spot), Ireland being a small town of a country really came out as Miriam (one of my classmates) realized while chatting with my cousin that her granddad once bought Corgi dogs from my distant relatives back in the day. Since this weekend was Miriam’s birthday (HBD!), a bunch of her friends and our classmates came to Kerry to celebrate. As if the Corgi story was not enough, after talking to her mom I quickly learned that her grandmother was actually born in one of my favorite places that I consider a second home – Worcester, MA of course – and while she eventually ended up moving back to Ireland, her uncle still lives in the 01610.
These small world moments culminated when at some point during the birthday celebrations, we all recognized the diversity of our group. Our untraditional group consisted of me, the hopefully not so stereotypical American, our classmate Jean from Malaysia, Martha from Spain, and my Irish classmates Grace and Bernadine along with some of Miriam’s hometown friends. Never did I ever imagine I would be meeting people from all over the world, let alone making life-long friendships.
Ultimately, I am so beyond thankful for the relationships and memories I’ve been fortunate enough to form so far this year. As I’ve already said, these weird small world connections in addition to the people I have met have made Cork feel like home. To CIT and SCL for bringing our random, hilarious, and amazing crowd together, thank you.
