Little Things I Miss About Growing Up in Ireland

Entry #4

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I lived in Ireland from 2001 to 2011. My family moved there because of my dad’s work. His company was building a factory in a small county called Sligo. Unlike most foreigners moving to Ireland, we didn’t live in Dublin, Cork, or Galway. Sligo isn’t exactly tiny in size, but as a town, it’s definitely small.

And I loved it.

We lived in a place called Calry, right by Hazelwood. There’s a little forest path there, and if you walk along it, you’ll catch a view of the Isle of Innisfree. W. B. Yeats, the famous Irish poet, even wrote about it.

Sligo had everything a sporty, game-loving kid like me could want. There was a GameStop, Lifestyle Sports, and what I still think is one of the best burger spots in the country, Four Lanterns. As a young boy, you really couldn’t ask for more.

Open Green Fields and Football

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One of my favorite things about Sligo was how open it felt. There were green fields everywhere. That’s where I really got into sports: football (for the Americans, soccer) and Gaelic football (GAA). I never really got into hurling. The sticks and helmets honestly scared me as a kid.

Those big green fields were where I started playing football seriously. I played for several teams: my school team during secondary school, the Sligo-Leitrim team where the best players from both counties joined up for an all-Ireland competition, and for Calry as well.

Football wasn’t just a hobby. It was what all the boys did. It felt like the one thing everyone had in common. Around that time, Ji-Sung Park, a South Korean player, joined Manchester United. Naturally, I became a fan right away.

School and Friends

School life in Sligo was always fun. I went to the same school that Westlife — yes, that Westlife — had attended. Oddly enough, one of their nephews enrolled at the same time I did.

School wasn’t just about studying. We played football, rugby, GAA together. I had friends who were as into gaming as I was, so there were plenty of afternoons spent on the Nintendo DS or PlayStation 3.

Moving to Dublin

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Later, I moved to Dublin. And Dublin felt like a completely different world compared to Sligo. Suddenly there was public transportation everywhere, things felt bigger, and there was even a Starbucks.

Settling in wasn’t easy. I was Asian, but I also had a Sligo accent. Everyone in Dublin sounded a little posher to me back then.

The people felt different too. Sligo had more of a community feeling. People looked after each other more. Dublin, like most big cities, felt more anonymous. People mostly kept to themselves.

That’s something I really miss about Ireland. In smaller places like Sligo, people say hello to strangers. It’s just normal. Living in Korea now, I often hear people say I seem outgoing or easy to approach. Honestly, I think that’s just my Irish background showing.

The Pace of It All

Another thing I miss is Ireland’s slower pace.

Korea is incredibly convenient. If I order something online at 9 p.m., there’s a good chance it’ll arrive the next day. Food delivery is everywhere. Buses in the city show up every ten minutes, and the subway system is basically flawless.

Back in Ireland, at least when I lived there, things moved a lot slower. If you ordered something online, it could take a couple of weeks to arrive. Food delivery barely existed.

But I kind of miss that. Life felt less rushed. People weren’t always in a hurry. And now, as I’m thinking about relocating back to Ireland, that’s part of what I’m looking forward to.

Getting back to that pace where things aren’t about getting everything the fastest, but just living a little more quietly, a little more calmly.