Nerves frayed but good times await

It’s been a whirlwind few days for Ireland U18 captain Rebecca Barry. There was barely time for the Limerick girl to receive her Leaving Certificate results last Wednesday and celebrate with her peers before she had to pack up her life and leave for a new start in the USA, having received a scholarship to play hockey at the University of Richmond in Virginia. The 18-year-old former Catholic Institute starlet will be keeping a diary for the Southern Fried Hockey Academy about her experiences Stateside; in her first entry, she describes the nervy build-up to the big departure day.

“The trouble with life isn’t that there is no answer, it’s that there are so many answers.” – Ruth Fulton Benedict Ryan Elliott is the assistant coach of the Richmond Spiders, and a native of Bangor in Co Down, He was the person who started all of this off my contacting me via email in early April. I expressed my interest to him, and in the middle weekend of the Leaving Cert I accepted this incredible offer of a sports scholarship as a field hockey athlete to the University of Richmond (UR). A few weeks ago, I headed up to the American Embassy in Dublin to begin sorting my visa. I’ll return home the first week in December for three or four weeks before I’m back over in time for the second semester. Everyone I meet wants to know how I’m feeling about it. The worst thing about this question is that I’m not too sure how to respond. Of course I’m excited, but I would be lying if I were to say that I was not somewhat apprehensive at the same time. It involves moving to another continent for a few months but, in my opinion, opportunities like these are there to be embraced, not feared. I will be trying out four classes: diverse learners and their environments, environmental studies, science meets fiction, leadership studies and the humanities. The American third level education system is far removed from what we have here in Ireland, in so much as they study things very generally in their first year, almost the equivalent of doing an Arts course here, and then they specify a major in second year. In a way, this is a very good idea as it allows 17-19 year olds an opportunity to experience a vast variety of subjects, rather than having to choose one specific one straight after secondary school. It was announced to the girls on the Richmond team that I will be joining them towards the end of the month, and since this announcement I have received numerous Facebook friend requests and mails all expressing their excitement and wanting to help me in any way possible. They seem like lovely girls. In the meantime though, I have had the small matter of receiving my Leaving Cert results. Most people have said to me, “Well, surely if you’re going to America it doesn’t really matter what you get in the Leaving Cert”. However, this isn’t the case. I have applied for PE teaching in UL and the best case scenario is that I get an offer for this course and I’m then able to defer it a year. In this case, I then have a decision to make in the summer of 2012 about what I am going to do for the following year. If I don’t get PE then I will just have to take my time and re-assess my options. I am undecided as to whether or not I will stay in UR for the full four years but I will, most definitely, take it on a yearly basis. I may go over and fall in love with the place… who knows! At the moment, the laptop is the next item to create (yet another) big void in my parents back account. Having said that, it really is a “must-have” so I can stay in touch with everyone back home, which is very important to me. I am staying in a single room in one of the residence halls on campus in the university. I am told that I am very lucky to be in a single room. It will be nice to have my own space and to be able to contact people via Skype without worrying about disturbing anyone else. For the most part, I am excited about opening this new chapter in my life. Here’s to all the good times to be had ahead!