The plan for the rest of 2024 and a good chunk of 2025 is to base myself in Ireland and use that as a jumping off point to explore Europe some more.
Why Ireland? Emotionally, because I haven’t been. Practically, because as a New Zealand citizen I can get a working holiday authorisation (WHA) which allows me to live and work in Ireland for 12 months, as long as I get there before my 31st birthday…which is happening in October (I’m writing this at the beginning of July).
Last time I immigrated I was almost nine, so I didn’t appreciate how much admin goes into moving countries. Here is a non-exhaustive list of the admin I am still working through in no particular order;
- Apply for a new passport
- Apply for WHA
- Tell flatmates tehy need to move out
- Engage a property manager to rent out my house
- Update house insurance
- Get storage unit quotes
- Book movers
- Get medical records
- Pack up the house
- Resign@
- Get my recently completed cross stitch project framed
- Set up a PO Box
- Get this blog up and running
- Book flights!
- Book acoomodation for at least the first week
- Buy a suitcase
All this for what will in all likelihood be for just a year! And it doesn’t include what I have to get done once I get to Ireland…
Beside the admin, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have some reservations about what has been a rather spontaneous decision – three and a half months from decision to execution is about as spontaneous as a full time working adult with a house and mortgage can be about this sort of thing.
My anxieties revolve around three main areas.
1. Finding a job
I have negotiated an arrangement with my current job that will see me continuing to work for them on a part time, remote basis for three months. This is perfect for me, the reduced hours will allow me plenty of time to explore my new locale while still providing a bit of an income so I don’t have to dip into my savings too fast. It works for my employer too, giving them time to find a replacement and have a very thorough hand over. Everyone wins!
Until November I have income. After that I will be living savings which isn’t ideal because, again, this has been spontaneous so I don’t have a lot of money put aside. Every spare dollar I’ve had I’ve been putting towards the mortgage. I don’t want to dip into my emergency fund or fund my adventures with debt. I have enough that, if I stick to my budget, I can live in Ireland for another three months off my savings, giving me until the end of January 2025. If I haven’t found some sort of work by then, I’ll need to come home. Six months of travel isn’t exactly a terrible compromise, but I’d like to see the year out.
I have never looked for a job outside of Auckland, the city I grew up in. I know how to give a good job interview…in Auckland. What if the Irish have a totally different outlook on work things? What if my humour doesn’t travel well? What are the attitudes towards disabilities on that side of the world? Research can only get me so far, and I can only hide my blindness until I walk into a glass door or I’m asked to sign in on a tablet.
Logically, I know I’ll probably be fine. The job market isn’t great right but I’m flexible about the kind of work I’m willing to do. We speak the same language (allegedly). I’ve met Irish people before, they found me funny – I’m sure they were laughing with me and not at me. But those are logical head thoughts, which doesn’t always help with the 3 a.m. gut thoughts.
Also…what website do I even look on for job listings??
2. Making friends.
Being an adult is hard work, you’re tired all the time, there’s always laundry to be done and the commute to work sucks up all your time. It’s easier to stick with the friends you’ve had for twenty years than make new ones. But…I’m going to need a social network in my new (if temporary) home or who will go clothes shopping with me and steer me clear of yellow pants?
I’m a friendly person, but fairly introverted and comfortable with my own company. If I’m not careful, I’ll spend a year wondering around Ireland’s cities never talking to anyone. Making friends is something I have to consciously decide to do (ask me about how I made my one uni friend).
I have a plan for this! Activities! I’m thinking a dance class (I know Irish dancing would be appropriate, but I’m quite keen to try out swing dancing…) and Toastmasters.
Toastmasters is something I’ve done before at home and not only is it a social activity that got me out the house on a regular basis, it’s a great learning opportunity! My biggest takeaway from Toastmasters was active listening, rather than public speaking. Although I do now always count how many times someone says “um” in a speech. It would be good to get back into Toastmasters and it’s a really good place to meet people and make friends.
Dancing is fun. I did belly dancing for years before I got tendinitis walking across Spain (I’ll write about that one day, I’m sure). It’s a good way to meet people, especially if there’s a show. There’s something about the backstage camaraderie at an amateur dance show that is just *chef’s kiss* lovely.
I also want to learn to play bass guitar but I don’t know how that will help me meet people…
Obviously I’ll be meeting people at work (assuming I find a job) and at home. Because when you’re living on a tight budget, you’ll never live alone! Some of my best friends were once my flatmates. Well, I’m still friends with one person I used to flat with. I’m sure that’s a reflection on the intense type of situational friendship that comes from living with people, and not at all a reflection on me.
Mostly I’ve combated my anxiety around this aspect of relocating to the other side of the world with very specific plans. The biggest question I still have is, how much do I need to hide my weird?
3. Fairy circles
The myths and legends of the Emerald Isles all revolve around fairies. Stories of trickery, of changling children, of losing a hundred years in a fairy realm.
I’m blind enough that I will not see the perfect circle of mushrooms. Or perfect circle of flowers. I tend to avoid forests (that much nature makes me sneeze), so I’m unlikely to stumble into a perfectly circular clearing. But still! If I accidentally cross into a fairy circle I’ll end up in another world! I am not equipped for that! And I’m not talking about my sight. I can’t handle the politics of fairy courts! Or their trickiness! I assume people say what they mean. And the fashion! I like skirts as much as the next girl, but only one skirt at a time! Not six hundred at once! Also, I really, really like indoor plumbing.
If I fall into a fairy world, I’ll be dead in days. DAYS, I tell you!
Although…if you think about it that could be a comfort. What would be way, way worse is if I cross into a fairy circle, notice nothing and then cross back out into the real world, only a hundred years from now. At that point, the apocalypse will have come and gone. And again, I am not equipped to thrive in a post apocalyptic world. I don’t like my odds much better in this scenario…
If starvation doesn’t kill me, then the fashionable plague of 2124 will.
Fairy circles aren’t something I can plan for. The only comfort I can take is that I won’t survive long. These are the kinds of adventures I like reading about, NOT something I want to experience.
I’m sure it’ll all be fine….
The admin I’m working through. The job thing I’ll have to figure out as I go. With enough grit and determination, I’ll find friends. I’m just going to have to accept that falling into a fairy trap is a risk I’m taking. The uncertainty and nerves are drowned out by my excitement at the prospect of experiencing a new land as more than a tourist. I’m looking forward to finding the nooks and crannies that exist in a city as old as Dublin. I think it’s going to be a year of discomfort and learning and so, so fun.
