Hrvoje Smolic, his wife, Ana, and their young son, Vito, toured Ireland in 2017, visiting Dublin and Co Wicklow before continuing on around the country. As soon as they arrived in Killarney, in Co Kerry, their trip changed from being just a holiday. They discovered a feeling of home.
“We felt the energy as if we could live there for some reason. Basically that was it. We just knew,” Smolic says. The family relocated to Killarney the following year.
Smolic, who is originally from Sveti Kriz Zacretje, a small town in Croatia, has always wanted to explore other areas. “You have some kind of yearning, like something rubbing, that maybe there will be more opportunities somewhere else,” he says.
Growing up, he found the former Yugoslavia, a federation made up of Croatia and five other republics, to be a very progressive country. “We had abortions in the 70s, human rights, the school system was pretty great. Yes, there were problems if you spoke wrongly about communism, but for me that was just a bedtime story, because I never saw it as a child. In my head, it was picturesque,” he says.
Croatia’s subsequent war, in the 1990s, for independence from Serb-dominated Yugoslavia was more keenly felt. “I’m still kind of checking my interior, how that influenced my emotions, because you never know, but the war was tough. War is war.”
Smolic studied physics at university; he says the lack of opportunities in his home country meant it was difficult to earn a good salary. He spoke to a friend who was also a physicist but went in the direction of development, where the pay was better.
“I was about to make the decision of physics or software development. I decided on software development in data and data analytics. So I never worked as a physicist.”
He worked first as a software developer in Croatia, later becoming a team leader. This spurred the idea of starting his own company.
“I thought maybe I could really organise people, so let’s start my own company. In 2010, without really knowing anything, I didn’t even know the word start-up, I decided to just try that. That was my first company. I’m still the owner but I’ve exited that company now,” he says.
About six or seven years later, he wanted to try something new. He wanted, he says, “a more mature start-up, somewhere in the West [of the world]”.
“I was looking for work-life balance. In Croatia, we were in the capital, so it’s smaller than Dublin but, with commuting time, it was just too much. Professionally, I wanted to move West but also as a human being,” he says.
“I have everything [in Kerry]. I live in nature, I love trekking and going to this hill or that hill, and cliffs. That’s where I clear my head, where I have new business ideas. We love nature. And I have everything from a work perspective.”
Following his move to the West, he opened the headquarters for the company he owned and worked for at the time. Two years ago, he set up his second company, Graphite Note, which transforms raw data into clear, visual stories.
Smolic enjoys his life in Ireland, but one thing he noticed straight away, upon his arrival on the 2018 June bank holiday, was the nation’s obsession with talking about weather.
“If you remember, it was one of the hottest summers ever in Ireland. And I was wondering ‘what are they talking about? This is perfect. It’s amazing. It’s just 32 degrees,” he laughs. “I noticed that Irish people are constantly complaining about the weather. What you see here, it’s very dynamic. There are three seasons in one day.”
The people, he says, are very “warm and very helpful”, though there were some difficulties making friends in the early days of their relocation.
“Sometimes, there was a barrier. It’s easy to establish first contact, but to scratch deeper ... Maybe it’s not Irish people, and it’s just people in general, it’s not easy to make friends,” Smolic adds.
“It took a year, two or three, but today we have a few friends and families that we talk to and hang out with. Generally, Irish people, immediately, their first impulse is they want to help.”
The family moved without “any agenda” and decided to just “go with the flow” in terms of future plans, but have settled well in Ireland.
“Interestingly, because of Covid there was a two-year gap when we couldn’t go back to Croatia, and we went in summer last year. When we went back [to Ireland], I saw the reaction of my son and I was soul-searching myself,” he says.
“I was like ‘I’m home now’, which is interesting because we were just in Croatia where I grew up. But we parked near our house in Killarney and at that moment I realised that this is our home now.”
His son was almost three when he moved to Ireland, meaning English is Vito’s first language and he plays with other children through English.
“We talk in Croatian at home usually, but he has trouble pronouncing things. It’s like his little jaw has adjusted to English words, even with a Kerry accent. He’s teaching me how to pronounce things,” Smolic adds, laughing.
Overall, the move was fairly seamless, he says, other than the “usual challenges” of moving to a new country.
“Generally, you need some time to adjust to know people and get to know community. But we wouldn’t still be here if we didn’t like it. We are living proof that we like it here,” he says.
“My son loves this part of the world. My wife is the same as me in terms of nature and that kind of balance. So in short, we’ve never looked back.”
We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland in the past 10 years. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or tweet @newtotheparish
