Update – (yet again – I need to re-do this page, lol):  In September 2012, I married Mountaineering Man in the beautiful hillsides of Tuscany. And in July 2012, I left the digital creative agency in Dublin to take a job as Social Media Specialist for Kellogg’s Europe. Again it’s just mindboggling – so many amazing things have happened since moving to Ireland in March 2010 – Ireland, you’ve been amazing to me!

Update – again! In February 2012, I got engaged to Mountaineering Man and we’re now planning an intimate wedding for later this year (in Tuscany – a dream come true!). Moving to Ireland is the one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life….it’s hard to believe how much has happened since I moved here in March 2010.

Update! In May 2011 I upped sticks once again and moved from Drogheda to Dublin. You can take the girl out of the city but it’s hard to take the city out of the girl! But that’s not the reason why I left small-town Drogheda for Ireland’s capital; I chose to go up to the “Big Smoke” to move in with Mountaineering Man, who I met and fell in love with last year. So here begins a new chapter of my life in Ireland – thanks for joining me on this fantastic adventure! I’ve also taken a job at a digital creative agency in Dublin working in social media.

An American in Ireland is a blog dedicated to my new life in – you guessed it – Ireland! In March 2010, I moved from Los Angeles to Drogheda, a town about 35 miles north of Dublin. Why? I wanted a change. I was growing weary of life in busy LA and was feeling very unfulfilled. I figure there’s no better way to shake things up than to put myself in a completely new environment, far away from everything I know. While visiting friends in Ireland last year, I fell in love with it. I’d been looking for a place to venture off to for a while, and this just felt right.

I am a freelance copywriter and journalist with a slight infatuation with all things food. Though my experience has allowed me to write about everything from celebrity profiles to education issues, what interests me most are food and travel. I’m lucky enough to do it for a living, and luckier still that the Irish government has granted me a business permission to pursue my freelance writing here. Please note: I get a TON of emails asking me for information on how to get permission to live in Ireland. To be honest, my Specific Crafts permission is just that – very specific – and doesn’t apply to most people. I don’t have time to respond to all the emails about how to move here, or about tourism information (where to eat, where to go, etc.); please refer to the various Irish government agency websites and Tourism Ireland for that information.

I hope you’ll share in my adventures as I settle into my new life abroad. It’s not always going to be easy; I may be crying myself to sleep on occasion from missing my friends and family. But change always brings challenges, and I’m ready for it. Here’s hoping that I’ll write some good stuff, learn how to make the perfect boxty and brown bread and have the time of my life doing it all. What was that saying about the road less traveled? Well, here I go…

Contact: clare@AnAmericanInIreland.com

Read my previous food blog here.