On the basis of a one-week student exchange aged 15, Sarah Thomas’s future was partially mapped. Thomas, from Roscoff in Brittany, exchanged with a student in Wesley College in Dublin 16. The family lived nearby in Ballinteer, a five-minute drive from where she now lives in Rathfarnham. “I like the idea that 15 years later, I’ve actually ended up living very close to where all it started.”
She still remembers “the first time I went to Dundrum shopping centre. It was love at first sight! I kept in contact with the Irish family through the years. They were extremely nice and I really had an amazing time with them. I remember going to Glendalough, and tasting my first sausage roll. It was delicious. If I hadn’t had such a great experience the first time, maybe I would not have come back. I will always be thankful to them. I lucked out and just fell in love with Ireland.”
Thus years later, in September 2014, when she took a gap year after a law degree in Anjou in France, she returned to Dublin. She stayed for a month with the same family, finding her feet. “It was already very hard to find accommodation.” She did a diploma in English and law at Griffith College. “I had good experiences there. It was very international, cosmopolitan”, and then she found a three-month internship with a criminal-law firm.
“When I finished my gap year, I told myself: I will come back. I just had that strong feeling this was where I wanted to live.”
Back home she did a master’s degree in international/European/comparative law and another, a master of laws, in Toulouse and Dundee. “By that time I thought I was done with studying.”
She applied for jobs in Dublin and worked as a paralegal in a litigation firm for a year. “It really got me a foot in the legal industry in Dublin.”
She moved then to Icon PLC in Leopardstown, an Irish clinical research organisation supporting clinical trials globally. She’s a manager, legal associate. “The industry is very fast-paced and the role can be challenging but we have a very supportive team” of lawyers from around the world working here. “There are very few opportunities in France to work in such an international environment, especially in the pharmaceutical industry.”
The Irish system differs from France, and to qualify as a solicitor she has to complete a Professional Practice Course with the Law Society. Before that there were eight “very tough” entrance exams. “I had to do it on the side, studying in the evening, with a full-time job.”
Daily interactions through English are one thing; managing law’s specialised precision is another. “For any law student, you learn new vocabulary, a new language. It is challenging for sure. It’s years of practice. I found my English just got better by working. You deal with clients, so they need to understand you. I have a French accent, I had to adjust for people to understand.”
“I miss France. I miss pastries but found an amazing baker whose pain au chocolat tastes like France, on my doorstep in Marlay Park.”
“Bretons have a similar heritage to Ireland. Brittany is also a Celtic nation, and we have our own language,” which she learned in school (it’s not compulsory). “We don’t speak Breton in the street but the new generation really want to make sure the language is passed on.” Other similarities include the weather, music and an agricultural heritage. “We also love and produce beer.”
The big challenge, the only negative, is accommodation: finding it, affording it, the poor value. “It’s way, way too expensive.” She used to spend two-thirds of her income on rent. “It was a struggle.” Now rent is nearer a third of income; she earns more, but also is more alert to value. “Those new-build flats are extremely expensive, and I wouldn’t pay that type of money.”
She moved here aged 25, and had to share a house with strangers for years, dismayed that “when you get a bit older and you have a job, you still can’t find your own studio or your own apartment. Even when you’re a young professional, in your early 30s, you’re still renting house-shares. I had very bad stories. Sometimes it just ends up being dysfunctional. I don’t know anyone who has had only good experiences sharing accommodation. Someone decides to stop paying rent, or doesn’t want to clean the house. I wish there were guidelines, or more control. Nothing is done to make sure everybody’s living in places which are secure. Everybody feels a bit left out in these circumstances.”
She now rents with a friend, which is working out well.
We help each other and we don’t feel we’re in competition. There is great camaraderie compared to France
After renting for a few years she wanted to buy – “all my friends in France already own their house since they are 25″ – but it has proved impossible. She tried to buy over a year and a half. “The process was difficult. I was outbid all the time. It really put me off buying property in Dublin for the time being. In France you never bid above the asking price, you either bid under or at the asking price. And comparing the price asked with the place, it did not always feel like a good thing.” For now she has given up. “I don’t have the energy.”
She is an only child, and her living abroad is “tough for my parents. But I think they also understand I really like the country.” She goes to France often. With multiple flights daily and the ferry, “it doesn’t feel that far away”.
She enjoys living in Dublin. “It’s a big city. There are many activities, and cute neighbourhoods, but at the same time, [I am] not overwhelmed” by huge crowds. “It’s a combination of small and big. You can do a 15-minute drive and you’re in Ticknock, and you feel outside the big city.”
Irish people are “much more open-minded and friendly. That’s not something you always find in France. We have a bit of a bad reputation for being very critical.” At work, “people are here to help you, and you don’t have this competitive environment”. That applies to study too. “In university in France it was very competitive. In my PPC group, we help each other and we don’t feel we’re in competition. There is great camaraderie compared to France.”
Making friends was tough initially. She has good Irish friends from her previous job, and old friends in France love to visit. “Having French friends here is helpful, especially when you feel lonely. But I think it’s important to immerse yourself in the community and just not re-create a French group here. I really love Irish people, so it’s a pleasure. I am not in Ireland to meet all the French people in Dublin.”
She’s here long-term. “I see myself staying permanently. Each time I go on holiday, I’m always so happy to come home, to Ireland. I know I will do my life here. I will definitely stay.”
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
