Ah summer in America, something many of us can relate to. A summer never to forget, and many experiences we wish to forget. With the summer season approaching and many Laois students prepare to jet off across the broad atlantic foam for the summer months.
We decided to reflect on the things all Irish can relate to when we were over there. With the help and suggestions sent in from many people, this list is bound to bring back some nostalgia for many of you. And a list of do’s and dont’s to those about to jet off in the coming weeks.
1 – If you come home early, you make up some reason. But you definitely don’t say it’s because you couldn’t get a job.
2 – Or because you failed exams and had to come home for repeats.
3 – Don’t crack a joke with the lads in customs. There’s no messing with those fellas.
4 – You will most definitely come home in debt. If you’re going out there to save money, you won’t be doing it right.
5 – Never in a million years would you walk around a city in Ireland wearing a pair of GAA shorts. But in America you do it on purpose just to show off where you’re from.
6 – You’re more than likely to have lived in a one-bed apartment with eight other people. The craic was great but the smell wasn’t.
7 – Actually, using the phrase “great craic” can get you into an awkward situation. Be careful with that one.
8 – You’ll brag to everyone about some county hurler or footballer you played against when you were in America for the summer when in reality it’s glorified junior you’re playing. With even more beer.
9 – You’ll work labouring on the buildings for a couple of weeks and then never shut up about it. You’d swear you were a developer.
10 – A few cans of Four Loko will send you wrong altogether.
11 – You will spend every night in a dodgy Irish pub, called something like The Mean Fiddler or O’Malley’s.
12 – Going to work steaming from the night happens more often than not
13 – You’re better off going over single. The J1 has signalled the end of many a relationship.
14 – There’s always one lad who is filthy and smelly at the best of times at home. Send him to America in the sweltering heat for the summer and he goes to another level entirely.
15 – You play up your Irish accent to the absolute last to try and get the shift. But end up with someone from your course in college or just down the road from you at home.
16 – There’s always one friend who just can’t be trusted to drive the rental car.
17 – Somehow, you’ll end up friends with someone you absolutely hate back home.
18 – There’s always a drunken eejit nearby to sing Amhran na bhFiann in the middle of the night in Time Square. They won’t know most of the words but they’ll have plenty of backing vocalists.
19 – Out of pure frustration, many a girl has given up on the hair straightener – the f***ing humidty.
20 – Even though you only spend a couple of months there, you’ll come back a complete authority on all things American. You’d swear you were the first person ever to go on a J1.
21 – If you come home with even the slightest accent or slang, you’re a complete tool. End of.
22 – If you go to San Francisco you’ll end up working in Pier 39, scooping ice cream or putting chains on rental bikes
23 – Arriving over in a big group with nobody knowing where they’re going or what they’re doing is certain to lead to an almighty row. Before you even leave the airport.
24 – You’ll be telling stories about the experience for the rest of your life.
