Learning the Language: Social Context Clues For Expats
One of the first things my wife and I noticed when we arrived in Dublin was that being American (or presumably from anywhere else) was kind of a mixed bag of good and bad. On the one hand, as long as...
View ArticleForeign & Domestic: Expat Loyalty & The European Union
Shortly after moving to Dublin, as I started to learn more about the EU, I began to hear locals speak of the U.S. and its Federal Reserve banking system in lofty terms. It seems that out here on the...
View ArticleThe Company you Keep: Celebrating Immigrant Differences
In the ex-pat community you often hear people say that to have a true local experience you shouldn’t hang out with other immigrants, particularly your own kind (Americans if you’re American, the French...
View ArticleThanksgiving in Ireland: The Importance of Sharing Old Traditions and Making...
Each year around Thanksgiving I’m amazed at how many of the Irish I meet are familiar with American Thanksgiving traditions. I know that’s not a typical immigrant experience. Ireland and the U.S. are...
View ArticleGetting On With It: Lessons in Making A Life
One of the things that simultaneously aggravates and inspires me is the Irish notion of, “It’ll be grand”, of just getting on with it, and making do. It seems so casual and whimsical, but “getting on...
View ArticleDublin Versus Paris: An Immigrant’s Guide to Choosing A City
For those of us who are predisposed to emigration, I think there is a danger that we’ll always live with one eye fixed on distant shores. I’ll admit that “where to next” is always on my mind in some...
View ArticleEverything Is Ireland’s Fault: Or Why I’m a Bad Immigrant
Hey, Ireland, I’ll let you in on a little secret. As much crap as you talk about the immigrants within your borders, we talk about you too. Even after nearly five years of living in Dublin, a town I’ve...
View ArticleMulticulturalism and This Immigrant
Apologies for taking so long to post something, but it’s been a busy couple of months. In August I returned to filmmaking, my first love, and was fortunate enough to put together an amazing team of...
View ArticleA Global Village: Why We Are All Immigrants in a Village of 196 Citizens
First of all, let me be clear. This is NOT a post about Donald Trump or the recent American Election. To me, in many ways, that situation is small potatoes, a mere symptom (among many) of a much larger...
View ArticleI Thought Having the Paper Would Help: Meditations on NOT Being Irish
First, my deepest apologies for not writing sooner, and particularly for not writing in the lead up to my naturalization ceremony (originally postponed due to the hurricane, and ten rescheduled and...
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