I am a native New Yorker from Queens. I generally go to college in Manhattan, but I knew that this semester I wanted something different. I needed to experience more.
In addition to being a New Yorker, I'm a multi-generational American. This means that my family has been in the United States for generations such as my parents and my grandparents. However, like many others, if I look back to my great-grandparents, I have two who came from another country. They both came from Ireland.
Knowing of my Irish heritage for as long as I could remember, I had always dreamed of visiting Ireland. Once I got older, and by the time I reached college, I realized that there were ways for me to see Ireland. At first, I took a vacation, but being in Ireland for such a short amount of time made me realize that I needed to find another way. Studying abroad was the best solution. Although there are different options of where in Ireland I could study, like Dublin for instance, which is Ireland's capital, I wanted a smaller city feeling. So, I turned to Galway. Galway is where my great grandmother was from and this is the year that Galway was selected to be the European Capital of Culture for 2020.
It seemed to me that all signs pointed to Galway so all that was left was to apply.
