Jack Connolly moved to Galway in 2023 before finding a job in DublinJack Connolly: 'There’s a romanticised view of Ireland.' Photograph: Bryan O’Brien Hosanna BoulterTue Jul 07 2026 - 06:00 • 4 MIN READJack Connolly, who moved from Boston to Ireland in 2023, sometimes feels “not quite Irish enough for Ireland and not quite American enough for America”.The 27-year-old initially thought he was going to take a career break and move to Galway for six months on a J1 visa. At the time he was feeling burnt out and disillusioned after working in politics in Washington for a few years. “I realised that I needed a break from the toxicity that permeates everything right now in the American political environment,” Connolly says. “I chose Galway because I had relations there and I’d been before. It was a natural place for me to land.”His grandparents had emigrated from Connemara to the US, but some of his extended family still live in the area. Connolly worked in a coffee shop in Galway and quickly made friends through work. He especially enjoyed how walkable the city was compared to American cities he had lived in. “The best and worst thing about Galway is that you can walk down the street and see the same 10 people every day.”After his J1 visa expired he went back to the US but found it hard to readjust to life there. “I quickly realised that I missed Ireland. I missed the craic. I missed the people. I even missed the weather, God forbid.”[ ‘My family and friends said, if you can stay in Europe, stay in Europe’Opens in new window ]In the end he applied, and was accepted on to, a master’s programme at the University of Galway and returned to Ireland after six months. While he really enjoyed his degree and made many new friends on his master’s course, by the end of it he began to feel he had outgrown Galway. Luckily enough he was offered a job in public relations in Dublin as soon as he finished his degree.Jack Connolly: 'The west is completely different than the Pale.' Photograph: Bryan O’Brien “Boston and Dublin are roughly the same size geographically and population-wise, so I’m very familiar with a city of this size with this pace of life.”In Dublin, Connolly found he had to make more of a conscious effort to make friends and develop a community but has found it a rewarding process nonetheless. His friendships in Dublin are more disparate and don’t overlap with one another like they did in Galway. While he has found his new life here incredibly fulfilling in many ways, he struggles with feelings of guilt of having to miss out on family events back home. “I call my grandmother who is approaching 90 every day, which I do for both her and for me. She’s getting old and it helps with companionship. I’m very close to her.”Connolly has felt the same way when he was living in the US but away from Boston. “I actively remind myself that people are there at the end of the day and that as long as you make that effort you can still maintain those relationships.”‘There’s a romanticised view of Ireland, which is not bad, as it pumps up the economy here with tourism’Growing up in Boston, Connolly was brought up in a community that celebrated its Irish roots and felt, to a certain degree, Irish. Moving to Ireland made him realise how American he is. “It’s been almost three years cumulatively, but I’m still reminded that I’m a foreigner.” Since moving here, he has realised the disconnect between Ireland today and the Ireland that Irish-Americans grow up hearing about: the Ireland that was passed down to them was the Ireland that their ancestors left – not today’s Ireland. “There’s a romanticised view of Ireland, which is not bad, as it pumps up the economy here with tourism.”For him, one of the biggest culture shocks was how different the different regions of the country are from one another, given Ireland’s small size. “The west is completely different than the Pale. That goes to history and to the cultural influences and the UK’s influence in different parts of the country.”[ A US couple in Clonmel: ‘America is me-me-me-me. Ireland still has that community feeling’Opens in new window ]A lot of the time when Connolly meets new people, and they hear his accent, he is immediately asked about Donald Trump. While he understands why people are curious, he finds having to regularly answer this question tiresome. “I didn’t vote for the man and I’m not a fan of his, which I think is kind of evident given the fact that I am living over here.”Sometimes he feels that seismic events in American politics are trivialised in Ireland. An example of this would be how Irish people talk about the storming of the US Capitol Building on January 6th, 2022. For Connolly it was the moment when he realised that he wanted to get out of US politics, and a catalyst for his later decision to move to Ireland. “While Irish people may have the same opinions as I do about certain political topics, there is an inherent disconnect as you cannot understand it in the same visceral sense that I do because it’s not your country.”However, when Connolly goes back to the US, he he is reminded of how well he has acclimatised to Ireland. “I’d say that moving here is probably the best decision I have made in my adult life, but I don’t know if I will stay. I don’t think anyone knows if they will stay somewhere. But for the foreseeable future, this is where I want to be.”We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or send us two lines about yourself using the form below IN THIS SECTION