Rachel Dobbins
Staff Writer
The idea of emigration is now synonymous with the belief that Ireland has once again become a land with few jobs and even fewer opportunities. The notion of emigration conjures in the mind several different images of how different one’s world could be. On one side of the spectrum there is the hope that upon one’s arrival in a new country one will become immersed in a new culture and welcomed by new friends. However alternatively there is the fear that far from the reach of one’s friends and family one will be easily forgotten and almost entirely alone, in a world completely alien to what they have come to know.
Two of my good friends emigrated during the summer. They both graduated with first class honours in their degrees; for them emigration was a choice rather than a necessity. One of my friends migrated to Seattle while the other boarded a flight to London. My friend that went to London is one of the most outgoing and assertive people I have ever met. I pictured him swanning around London, gathering up herds of young analyst friends and going on wonderful adventures now that he was earning real cash. That, sadly, is not how things worked out. It seems a young analyst must pay his dues. My friend gets up at 7am, works until 7pm, comes home and holes up in his overpriced room because his flatmates don’t talk to each other. It’s proving difficult to make friends because most people he works with are in competition with each other, there’s also the fact that they barely have time to spend doing anything besides work. On the weekends he stays inside his room watching his favourite TV shows or messaging friends. The work he is doing is incredibly difficult and though he is a hard worker he constantly doubts himself. He has no mentor over there and though people say that England is only across the ocean but when you are struggling in all aspects of life it can seem as though you are a million miles from home.
On the other end of the aforementioned spectrum is my friend who flew 4524 miles to work in a job that he applied for on a whim. When he got the job he took it because he wanted to experience a new culture. My friend is a really fun guy but he is a somewhat reserved person. He only talks when he has something to contribute and he would in no way dominate a conversation. A few of us worried that it would take him a while to come out of his shell and that the loneliness would get to him when he was so far from home. However his American colleagues have been nothing but friendly. They recognise that he is far from home and have gone out of their way to invite him to various social events. He has been in the country less than three months but recently moved into a new apartment with three new friends. I asked him if he missed home and he said he missed it a bit but that he wouldn’t go back. He too is struggling with work, finding the full time lifestyle hum drum. But at least he is out there doing what he went all that way for: he is experiencing a new culture, making new friends, learning a new way of living. It is in stark contrast with my London friend that I watch his life progress. Two young lads, two very different cultures.
Emigration is not always a necessity, but it also isn’t the easy answer. We can never fully know how things are going to work out for us but when we live in a country where the weather is more miserable than our financial situation we might as well give it a go.
