Is my obsession normal?

crfcaio · 07-08-2011 10:49PM #1

Hello, everyone!

I'm an American born, Brazilian raised student currently living in California. This is my last year in high school and I'll be applying to colleges here in America.

Now, what does it have to do with Ireland?

EVERYTHING, because I'm OBSESSED about Ireland!

This is how my obsession started:

During the 2002 World Cup, in elementary school, we were randomly assigned a country to make a drawing. I wanted the U.S., but my teacher gave me Ireland instead. I didn't know where or WHAT was Ireland at that time (remember, I was in elementary school!), so I just drew a guy with a soccer ball under his right foot wearing a green, white, and orange shirt. This is when I first got to know about Ireland.

As I grew older, I learned bit by bit about Ireland through TV shows (I fell in love with the red-haired protagonist from Foreign Exchange :P), music (The Cranberries and recently Ash, although the latter is Northern Irish), movies, and what my dad would tell me (he knows a s***load about history from EVERYWHERE, it's incredible). And the more I learned, the more fascinated and obsessed I became.

It came to the point that it influences my decision on where to apply for college and what to study, with my top choice being the University of Notre Dame, the only university in North America with a Irish Language & Literature department, and the only place where I can actually MINOR in Irish Language & Literature and Irish Studies.

I love Ireland. I don't know why.
Maybe it's because of its red-haired women (I know, I know, there aren't just red-haired women in Ireland). Maybe it's because of its literature (I really enjoyed reading The wild night company: Irish stories fantasy and horror by Ray Bradbury, but stopped in the middle of Dubliners by Joyce 'cause it got really boring... and I also prefer novels over short stories collections). Maybe it's because of the image I have of Ireland, of an ideal place for me in the future for its people, culture, lifestyle, etc...

My plan is to graduate from Notre Dame, then move to Ireland (hopefully get a PhD from an Irish school), then get a job doing what I love (a.k.a. writing), then marry an Irish woman (*-*), then live there and be happy.

I know there will be difficulties and stuff (economy is not doing so well over there, yup, I read your newspapers :P), and I know my plan sounds naive, but this is what keeps me motivated to do my best now so I can be in Ireland in the future...

I love Ireland for no apparent reason; I just do. Is this craziness of mine too much? Should I be more careful before going on with my plan? Does anyone believe that things will be better 5, 6 years from now? And where should I start to learn more about Ireland (this forum, but where .-.?)?

Thank you for reading this biiig post!
p.s.: if it's posted in the wrong area, please move it, mods

Biggins · 07-08-2011 10:51PM

O' oooo... here we go again!
Has our new Canadian friend got relatives?

BBDBB · 07-08-2011 10:51PM

Your views intrigue me, Im sending $5 to subscribe to your newsletter

crfcaio · 07-08-2011 10:52PM

^what?
foreigners are not welcome over here?

stupidusername · 07-08-2011 10:52PM

I enjoy the effort put into this one

mattjack · 07-08-2011 10:52PM

second one of these threads today...

Latchy · 07-08-2011 10:53PM

You may have falling in love with an image of a country and it's people which may not live up to your expectations but you wouldn't be the first and sure we all go through periods of loving other countrys and nationalitys,even if we haven't visted them so to answer you question yes ,it's pretty normal .

Unless your a troll ...?

languagenerd · 07-08-2011 10:54PM

crfcaio wrote: »

p.s.: if it's posted in the wrong area, please move it, mods

Oh... If you're looking for actual answers...

Just don't believe 90% of what'll be posted here! :P

c-note · 07-08-2011 10:54PM

ehhh.. its not that great. seriously.
but if you want to come so badly, your welcome:).

BBDBB · 07-08-2011 10:54PM

I love foreigners.....as often as they will let me

laugh · 07-08-2011 10:54PM

See these foreigners not only take our jobs and our wimmins, they plan it for years in advance.

:pac:

mattjack · 07-08-2011 10:54PM

anyone available to do the "legal,medical,financial,relationship" advice talk ?

crfcaio · 07-08-2011 10:54PM

^oh, I didn't know...
I wrote it with the best intentions...

joshrogan · 07-08-2011 10:55PM

Ireland is just a bunch of cynic's, stick around AH and you'll know what I mean bud.

laugh · 07-08-2011 10:55PM

dbl post.

TheZohanS · 07-08-2011 10:55PM

So the monkey inhales this misty stuff and managed to say the word "no"...he looked fairly pissed off too.

Moral of the story: Lock your fridge.

mattjack · 07-08-2011 10:56PM

languagenerd wrote: »

Oh... If you're looking for actual answers...

Just don't believe 90% of what'll be posted here! :P

pfft....90% ? its 96% these days

PseudoFamous · 07-08-2011 10:56PM

It's not that great here.

languagenerd · 07-08-2011 10:57PM

crfcaio wrote: »

^oh, I didn't know...
I wrote it with the best intentions...

Oh I know, just this a forum rarely gives serious answers, don't expect much! :P:)

mattjack · 07-08-2011 10:58PM

are the executions of "left handed" people finished for the day ?

Saila · 07-08-2011 10:59PM

hang on Im just getting this in now, Ill be back after Ive read the rest

mattjack · 07-08-2011 11:00PM

Saila wrote: »

hang on Im just getting this in now, Ill be back after Ive read the rest

just leave your pet ostrich at the door..?

BEASTERLY · 07-08-2011 11:01PM

You're going to love it, this is a must visit:
http://www.aidenoreilly.com/img/ballymun.jpg

mattjack · 07-08-2011 11:02PM

crfcaio wrote: »

Hello, everyone!

I'm an American born, Brazilian raised student currently living in California. This is my last year in high school and I'll be applying to colleges here in America.

Now, what does it have to do with Ireland?

EVERYTHING, because I'm OBSESSED about Ireland!

This is how my obsession started:

During the 2002 World Cup, in elementary school, we were randomly assigned a country to make a drawing. I wanted the U.S., but my teacher gave me Ireland instead. I didn't know where or WHAT was Ireland at that time (remember, I was in elementary school!), so I just drew a guy with a soccer ball under his right foot wearing a green, white, and orange shirt. This is when I first got to know about Ireland.

As I grew older, I learned bit by bit about Ireland through TV shows (I fell in love with the red-haired protagonist from Foreign Exchange :P), music (The Cranberries and recently Ash, although the latter is Northern Irish), movies, and what my dad would tell me (he knows a s***load about history from EVERYWHERE, it's incredible). And the more I learned, the more fascinated and obsessed I became.

It came to the point that it influences my decision on where to apply for college and what to study, with my top choice being the University of Notre Dame, the only university in North America with a Irish Language & Literature department, and the only place where I can actually MINOR in Irish Language & Literature and Irish Studies.

I love Ireland. I don't know why.
Maybe it's because of its red-haired women (I know, I know, there aren't just red-haired women in Ireland). Maybe it's because of its literature (I really enjoyed reading The wild night company: Irish stories fantasy and horror by Ray Bradbury, but stopped in the middle of Dubliners by Joyce 'cause it got really boring... and I also prefer novels over short stories collections). Maybe it's because of the image I have of Ireland, of an ideal place for me in the future for its people, culture, lifestyle, etc...

My plan is to graduate from Notre Dame, then move to Ireland (hopefully get a PhD from an Irish school), then get a job doing what I love (a.k.a. writing), then marry an Irish woman (*-*), then live there and be happy.

I know there will be difficulties and stuff (economy is not doing so well over there, yup, I read your newspapers :P), and I know my plan sounds naive, but this is what keeps me motivated to do my best now so I can be in Ireland in the future...

I love Ireland for no apparent reason; I just do. Is this craziness of mine too much? Should I be more careful before going on with my plan? Does anyone believe that things will be better 5, 6 years from now? And where should I start to learn more about Ireland (this forum, but where .-.?)?

Thank you for reading this biiig post!
p.s.: if it's posted in the wrong area, please move it, mods

would you be interested in running as a presidential candidate..? you got all the right qualities

Solair · 07-08-2011 11:02PM

OP:

The economy's kind of in two halves at the moment. The IT sector, pharma, biopharma, high-tech companies, the food industry and most of the "productive economy" is doing better than it is in most of Europe and even the US.

The large scale unemployment problem is largely confined to the construction sector and support services like civil/structural engineering, architecture, law, banking etc. There is also a problem with anything that is directly state-funded, and that includes universities as the state is a tad financially embarrassed due to a combination having to bale out the banks and having based some of its more lavish public expenditure on windfall taxes on the housing bubble.

The only thing I would have concerns about is that Irish-language / culture / heritage related courses will tend to be ones that are very dependent or entirely dependent on state funding. As such, doing a PhD over here might not necessarily lead to a teaching job in the short/medium term anyway.

Check out the kinds of skills that are in demand here and perhaps aim towards those. There are plenty of serious job prospects here and the economy is actually pretty good, if you are not dependent on state funding or construction industry related things.

PseudoFamous · 07-08-2011 11:03PM

BEASTERLY wrote: »

You're going to love it, this is a must visit:
http://www.aidenoreilly.com/img/ballymun.jpg

Pfft, not as bad as Wexford, anyway. At least they have swings in Ballymun.

Saila · 07-08-2011 11:03PM

mattjack wrote: »

just leave your pet ostrich at the door..?

no the bears will eat her

07-08-2011 11:03PM

Few questions to ask:

Are you female?

If so, how old are you?

If you are old enough, are you hot?

And if you're hot, will you ride me?

One of these days it'll work ...

decisions · 07-08-2011 11:05PM

mattjack wrote: »

would you be interested in running as a presidential candidate..? you got all the right qualities

We don't need a dreamer, we need Mary. ( new Mary not old Mary )

A few hail mary's wouldn't go amiss either

Saila · 07-08-2011 11:05PM

your country is fooked right about..................................now
so it wont be much worse here than when the **** hits the fan over there

the groutch · 07-08-2011 11:05PM

you want to move to Ireland with the state the country's in?

<insert facepalm>

Is my obsession normal?

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