Hello and Goodbye Ireland

Adam Guinane was only 17 when he left Ireland for the fist time. He sips from his Coke and leans back into the leather seat of the pub when he narrates the story of his life. He has short hair, a precisely shaved beard, is of lean muscular build and wears a grey hoody over his black t-shirt.

Adam before he went to Germany, Photo: Adam Guinane

Sean Cannuy (name has been changed) was 23 when he first emigrated from Ireland. Sean has curly brown hair, a wildly grown red beard, is tall and wears a dark shirt paired with blue jeans. He stirs his cup of tea and settles himself in the living room of his house to tell his story.    

Adam and Sean have more than one thing in common. Both were born in Ireland, one in 1969 and the other in 1970, studied in Galway, and then worked abroad for several years. Both have lived in more than one foreign country, they have said ‘Goodbye’ to Ireland and eventually ‘Hello again,’ although the two are sure they will leave the country once more one day. On the surface at least, their stories are very similar. They have never met.    

"It was a tradition to go to Australia, America or London," Adam explains. He decided to choose London and started working therein 1986. The late 80s blew his mind in the English capital. Adam explains his experiences in London were the first step in becoming a more open and tolerant person.

Sean finished his studies in mechanical engineering before he also left for England. “I wanted to save the world,” he says. Sean worked on a nuclear fusion research project in Oxford to develop cheaper and safer energy. After four years he left the United Kingdom. “I wasn’t happy with my career direction,” Sean explains; “I wanted to do something more meaningful. I wanted to answer meaning-of-life questions.” The look in his eyes appears lost in his own history: “In England it was the hardest to make English friends,” he remembers, even though there was no language barrier.

Sean wants to remain anonymous, Photo: Tanja Goldbecher

After their first experiences abroad in London, both Adam and Sean returned to Ireland for the first time. Adam was homesick and went back to Limerick for a short while before moving to Dingle and then to Galway. The small Irish community  brought him back into the traditional Irish music scene. Sean stopped only briefly in Galway. In addition to England, he had already also been to Germany for three month and then to Spain to teach English for four months.

In 1991, 21-year-old Adam met a German girl who was on holidays in Galway. They fell in love instantly and Adam decided to go to Essen, Germany instead of India, which he had been thinking about for his next overseas destination. Ireland was in recession and this made it easy for him to leave. "Because I didn't speak any German I couldn't get a job," says Adam. He decided to busk on the streets instead, beating his drum the best he could. About 500,000 people live in Essen. The city is in the West of Germany and known for its industrial appearance.

While love took Adam to Germany, love lead Sean to leave Galway for the United Stated to study psychology. Chicago offered the greatest number of opportunities for him and, with a scholarship, Sean finished his Master’s degree overseas. “In some ways America feels a bit more like a jungle, less secure. I noticed inequalities more in the States than in other counties,” says Sean. 

"No one spoke English, only body language. It was really tough," recalls Adam of the time he spent working on a German farm. Adam stayed with his girlfriend though and very soon they became parents to their first daughter. "I asked my father for money then. He said, 'Are you coming home, are you getting married? No? Then you don't get any money.' That was the best thing he has ever done for me. I had to survive by myself without relying on anyone else," says Adam.

Adam today, Photo: Tanja Goldbecher

Adam found other Irish musicians trying to make a living in the central European country he had made home for the time. Together they brought Irish tunes into German society in Essen. They played in bars until they started working in Essens' first Irish pub. Adam managed the pub for four years. "You end up living on an Irish Island," comments Adam. He found it impossible to learn German with his Irish friends around him and the Germans very enthusiastic about speaking English when they came into the pub. "We were selling Irish culture," explains Adam. It worked. The pub was successful and Adam felt like everyone in Germany loved the Irish people.

"After a couple of years I got sick of it," he states. At this point, the Irish man enrolled in a German language school. He thought he was very fortunate when he started playing music with other Germans. He had to use his language skills, no matter how broken they were at the time. "I stopped using English at all and practiced German. In the end I got it," says Adam proudly. His band released an album too and he started to work with the sound system Geistesblitz. Adam found his way into electronic and funk music and began to dj in German clubs. He organized illegal parties at a disused helicopter base in Essen. Adam's eyes glimmer when he talks about these memories. "That is one thing I liked about Germans: they are well organized," Adam remarks, even when we were only putting on illegal parties.

Meanwhile, after eight years in Chicago, Sean returned to Ireland for the second time. He wasn’t able to finish the PhD in psychology which he had started there, and considered this his greatest life failure. Sean was disappointed he didn’t have more academic success in the United States and believes he changed personally after this: “I became more cynical because I wasn’t having as successful a life as I thought I would have.” The desire to have a clear purpose in life has stayed with him until now.

Adam playing the drums, Photo: Adam Guinane

After Adam’s second arrival back in Galway, he explains, “I couldn't speak English properly anymore.” He had adapted the German language structure and formed sentences like, “Can you please the salt pass to me?" He loved to be back in Ireland though: "You must first go away before you realize the beauty you have left." Adam had missed Irish people and their friendliness. Still, Ireland could not hold him for more than one year. The desire to see his daughter growing up was stronger and drew him back to Germany. After returning he noticed very quickly that he didn’t want to work in pubs anymore. Adam became an English teacher instead: “I became pretty good at it because I also studied psychology.” He taught in the Aldi and Hoch Tief headquarters and made friends all over the country. “I understand the cultural differences between Ireland and Germany. The German language is very functional. They are not unfriendly people, but different,” comments Adam. Still, he never intended to spend his life in Germany.

Sean, on the other hand, has stayed in Ireland since 2007. He has worked at the university in Galway in health departments. He knows what really interests him now: “I want to understand spirituality scientifically.” He has recently focused on this interest and started to work on writing papers in the area. “I suspect my career will take me to away to the UK or America again,” says Sean.

In 2008 Adam returned to Ireland for the third time. “I bought myself a van and drove home.” He became a mature student at the NUI Galway. Like Sean, Adam had a great interest in psychology. His life changed upon starting his studies. He found himself among young students still playing Irish tunes. Now he is doing his TOEFL degree, the certification for teaching abroad. Adam wants to leave Ireland again and this time to start a new life in Hong Kong, South Korea or Japan. “I’m always torn: I want to experience Asia, I love Ireland and I miss my daughter in Germany.” 

The similarities between Adam’s and Sean’s life trajectories are quite apparent. Both men have seen the rise and fall of the Irish welfare system. Both have studied psychology, spent more than 10 years outside of Ireland, taught English in a foreign country and returned to Ireland several times. Both Sean and Adam went to England, the United States and Germany and can imagine leaving Ireland again. Neither of them is in a relationship at the moment and both have friends from all over the world.

Sean balancing, Photo: Tanja Goldbecher

Despite all these similarities, each of them has come to his own conclusions on living abroad. Adam believes that the experience has made him truly independent and that he can make a living wherever he goes. “I suppose you lose the fear of talking to people,” says Adam reflecting back on his travels. For Sean, living abroad has helped him refine his academic and personal interests; he knows what he wants to spend his time on now, although he hasn’t yet found his way into his preferred career. “The thing about living abroad is you are forced to meet new people. It is not necessarily that living abroad makes you more open but it gives you the opportunity to be more open,” he concludes.

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