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| It would have been harder to blog without that as well... |
I've always wondered what my blog would have looked like if I had started it as soon as I moved to Ireland. This is completely hypothetical of course, for the simple reason that blogs didn't exist in 2002.
I could have seen myself writing about how I found a job in Ireland and quit after a week, how my then boss was completely crazy, and how inefficient recruitment agencies were. There would have been stories about how I landed a new job after a 6 weeks frantic search. I would have written about the stress of being unemployed, money running out but the desire to stay in Ireland.
I would have talked about my lovely host family, about the time I went to the Cliffs of Moher, how I woke up in an empty bus, or how disappointed I was about the Guinness factory visit.
I would have shared my disbelief in public transport or road signs and the many times I got lost in Dublin. I would have share my utter pleasure at going to the first Tesco Extra in the neighbourhood and almost feel like I was in a proper French supermarket.
I would have written about looking for an apartment, how my landlord was the best in the world or the day my Polish neighbour installed a satellite dish the size of County Dublin on the outside wall. I mean, we had to move our own dish to get a signal again...
I would have written about my French neighbour, the friends I made, the ones I lost, my colleagues, my call-centre crazy stories, my wild house parties... I would have told the story of the week-end I spent 16 hours driving just to see my best friend in West Cork, my hen party in Temple bar, the dozen leaving parties I attended...
In fact, I would have written about all the little discoveries I made over the first few weeks, months and years. All the little struggles I overcame and all the moments that made my experience unique at that time. Things that have now become the norm and are not novelty anymore.
I'm pretty sure there would have been a lot more funny stories. But Ireland is my life now. Things that I thought were strange or funny 13 years ago don't even register in my head now.
I sometimes find hard to write about cultural differences because I don't feel the differences as much now than I did back then and I almost get the reverse culture shock when I go to my parents on holiday.
Although I'll always be French (and Breton, let's not forget that), a big part of me has become Irish.
And as the years go by, the Irish part is taking more and more space.
