It’s hard to believe we’ve now been in Dublin for six months (as of this past Monday March 2nd)! In some ways the time is flying by and in others it feels like forever since we got here. I think back on all that we didn’t know about our new city and what our lives would be like here when we stepped off that plane 6 months ago.

The truth is we really knew very little about Dublin or Ireland before packing up our lives and moving here! We’d never visited here, didn’t really know many Irish people, didn’t know much about the history or culture, or the different regions of the country, or really anything beyond St Patty’s Day and Guinness 🙂 I recommend doing a bit more research about your future home than we did before we left…oops :). But it’s all been working out and we are learning a great deal as we go. Even if we had learned and planned extensively before arriving, I still don’t think it would have really sunk in or meant much until we got here and started living the experience.

I still feel new here, but when I think of where we were when we first arrived and what we’ve accomplished in the past 6 months, I feel we’ve come a long way. Finding a house to live in, a school for Isaac (both for this year and next year), a doctor. Getting a car and learning to drive on the other side of the road. Jeff settling in at work with a new group within his company and making friends at work. Figuring out all the bureaucracy for registering with immigration and visas. Traveling. Making friends. I remember it was such a strange feeling filling out the form for Isaac’s preschool and when it came to putting down an emergency contact, realizing “I don’t actually know anyone here to put down. Like, literally no one.” So just meeting people and finding a bit of sense of community feels like a big step!

I’m sure within another 6 months, I’ll reflect back and think about how far I’ve come since now and how much more we will (hopefully!) learn and experience between now and then.

We have an exciting and busy month coming up, with my parents coming to visit (tomorrow!!) and then some good friends of ours coming to visit in April. Stay tuned for further adventures from Dublin and beyond!