Today, I’ll be chatting with Emer Maguire. Emer is my colleague here in the Celtic Studies Program at the University of St. Michael’s College, having received an award from the Ireland Canada University Foundation to teach Irish in Toronto. Emer has been here since September 2023 and will be going back to Ireland before the beginning of the summer.  I wanted to get Emer on the podcast to chat as in contrast to most of my other guests so far, she has a definite end date on her time here in Toronto and may provide a different perspective.

In this chat, we discuss Emer’s journey from Louth to Toronto, including a year as Fulbright Scholar at Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts. We discuss the importance of new experiences at a young age, the benefits and disadvantages of living in a city as large as Toronto and the challenges which every emigrant faces such as being far away from a loved one who may be unwell. Emer was extremely candid during our chat and I appreciate her for that.

I would still encourage people to download the episodes and to share them with friends and family. Downloads are the easiest indicator for me to gauge how many people I am reaching with these conversations so I would really appreciate it.