Ten Years in Ireland!

So, on this scorching Saturday here at the Costa del Cork, I can’t get over the fact that, come Tuesday, it’ll be ten years since I moved to Ireland. Ten Years! Where has the time gone? Sometimes, it still seems like yesterday that I stepped off the plane on that rainy, windy Thursday evening. Yet, so much has changed. I’ve long since moved away from my position at Apple, which had turned out to be just as much of a curse as it was a blessing. That’s not to say that things have gone the way I’d originally envisaged, with me using my position at Apple as a jumping-off point for a move to the US but given how the US have regressed and degenerated as a society since 2012, that’s probably a blessing in disguise! On the other hand, I’ve moved to a position in a company that I could not have dreamed about when first came here, am blessed with a great team and my opinions actually have an influence on the way my employer, a 2000 strong cyber security company, is run. Not bad for a school drop out without any fancy business school credentials, eh?

In these ten years, I have visited places that I never thought I’d get to see. I’ve lived the life that I’d wanted to live ever since those early days sitting in my parents’ apartment after dropping out of school in Austria. From Dubai to Providence and a number of places in between, I’ve seemingly made up for all those years grounded in Germany in the early days of my professional life. What’s more, I’ve had the chance to live in a place that many people pay hundreds, if not thousands, of Euros just to visit. I haven’t seen everything I’ve wanted to see, but it looks like my flight log is going to fill up considerably over the next year alone.

From Dubai...

... to Rotterdam...

...to Providence, the last ten years have allowed me to see places I never thought possible.

That’s nothing to say of the history that has unfolded in the time since I left Germany. For starters, my name is currently on Mars, whilst the upcoming Artemis I mission will also take it to the Moon. Not massive in the great scheme of things, I know, but to even have this opportunity is remarkable, to say the least. I’ve lived through some highlights and also through some disappointments, Brexit and the election of Donald Trump being major examples of the latter. And of course, the last couple of years have unearthed a massive collection of dumpster fires in the shape of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine, which may well be the opening phase of World War 3. When I was a kid in the 1990s, I always felt like I was living in the most boring decade of history, the doldrums of history. Looking back, I really should have been more careful what I wished for.

And of course, the biggest change of all hit me in 2017, when I lost the two people who meant more to me than anyone else in the world, my parents. It’s a strange twist of fate that on this tenth anniversary of my departure for Ireland, I’m also dealing with the fifth anniversary of my parents’ death. I feel like a part of me died back in 2017. I’ve celebrated some of my biggest successes in the years following that abysmal year, but I regularly catch myself wanting to ask them about so many things that I never got around to asking while they were alive. I guess I’ll never know now. All that is left for me is to try to live my life in a way that honours the trust mom and dad always put in me. I think they would like if they saw where I’m at in my life. Mom, Dad, I love you.

Words still can't describe how much I miss these two lunatics!

But I’m not willing to let this blog post descend into dejection, gloom and depression. Ten years here in Ireland is honestly something to celebrate. I’ve met amazing people along the way here in Ireland, many of whom were, or currently are colleagues of mine, and some of whom I’ve come to call friends. This has honestly been the most humbling part of my whole emigration experience. For all its faults, and believe me, they are legion, Apple was a great equalizer and brought many people from various walks of life together. My other employers have been equally eye-opening. It’s really the people I’ve met that have made this experience as special as it has been.

What comes next? Honestly, I don’t know. Given that the last five years have been replete with loss, professional upheaval, a pandemic, galloping inflation, and a massive land war in Europe, I really need some stability to sort myself out and prepare the next steps, whatever those may be. I certainly haven’t experienced all that I want to experience. Whether these experiences will be here in Ireland or further afield is something that I can’t say at this point, not least because of the massive upheavals of the last few years. Living in a geopolitical backwater does have its advantages, after all. Whatever the future brings, if the last ten years have been any indication, then I’m nowhere near the end of the road yet. Here’s to the next ten years!