Why Ireland?

I’ve barely slept in the past three weeks. When I do finally drift off, I’m plagued by anxiety-induced dreams. For example, I have a recurring dream where I arrive in Ireland and the only currency they use are wooden coins (that I don’t have) and therefore I’m (wooden) penniless in a foreign country. The other night I had another dream about visiting Venice, Italy, (I’ve never been there), and after being asked to take a photo of a wedding party, a great white shark chomped through the floating platform they were standing on and devoured the entire group. (According to Google, there are indeed great whites in the Mediterranean). My mind is a wonderful place.

On February 7th, 2018 I was accepted to study abroad in Galway, Ireland for the spring semester in 2019. If you can’t already tell, I’m nervous. My family will tell you that I have been buzzing with nervous energy this whole winter break. I’m starting this blog to document my journey, do some self-reflection, and share a part of my life with my family and friends. After all, adventures are more meaningful when shared with the people you love.

In an attempt to make myself feel better, I’ve done some intense googling trying to gather the numbers of my journey:

• Galway is 5,011 miles away from my hometown of Gilroy and 4,569 mi away from UP.

• Ireland is 32,595 mi², California is 163,696 mi², and Oregon is 98,466 mi²

• This means that California is six times larger than Ireland, and Oregon is three times larger.

I’m a little less than a week away from leaving for Ireland (my flight is on January 8th). In order to calm myself down, I decided to reflect on why I am going to Ireland and what I hope to gain from the experience.

Why Ireland? A short question that warrants a long-winded answer. To answer this question we have to go back, all the way back. Imagine me, on the first day of school, in third grade:

“Mary Lowney”

“Here! I actually go by Molly.”

“Is that your middle name?”

“No, it’s the Irish nickname for Mary.”

“Oh, ok then, moving on.”

My full, legal name is Mary Ruth Lowney. Nobody actually calls me that. Since I was born, I’ve been called Molly, and I’ve had to correct every teacher during every roll call of every first day of school until I was able to put Molly as my preferred name when coming into UP. I'm named Mary after the Virgin Mary, Ruth after my Mom’s Grandmother, but called Molly because my parents decided to call me the Irish nickname for Mary because we are irrevocably, emerald blooded, both sides of the family, Irish Catholic.

My Mom’s side of the family is Irish and so is my Dad’s. The Lowney’s are from County Cork. My Great Great Grandmother Sullivan left Ireland and immigrated to the United States, ending up in Butte, Montana where she helped raise my grandpa. On my Mom’s side of the family, our ancestors lived in Limerick, County Carlow and County Waterford, before eventually making their way to St. Louis, Missouri.

I chose Ireland because I want to feel more connected to my heritage. The program allows me to become fully immersed in the country. I get to attend classes with Irish students and go on excursions that let me see the whole country. I also can’t wait to go to mass and experience my faith through a different culture.

Ireland has been a part of me my entire life, but remains a mystery to me. I’m excited to solve this mystery, to explore who I am and broaden my worldview by experiencing how other people live. I’m so lucky to have this opportunity. I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without my family, especially my Mom and Dad. Thank you to everyone that has been here for me. Also, thank you to Ed Sheeran for writing the song that named this blog and will be my anthem of 2019. Welcome to Galway Girl.