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Susan of Vibrant Ireland joins Eoin for a chat on the Bitesize Irish Gaelic Podcast. She has lived in Ireland for the best part of twenty years. She’s from the United States, but ended up moving to Ireland. Listen to her great Irish accent! She now lives in rural east County Clare – a beautiful part of Ireland that doesn’t get so many tourists.
What you’ll hear:
Click the audio player above, and you’ll get to hear:
- How hard it was for Susan to decide to move to Ireland, which we did in the end, in the late 1990s.
- The best times of the year to visit Ireland for your next trip.
- Life for Susan in rural Ireland.
Mentioned in the show
- Vibrant Ireland – Susan’s travel blog. Look for her Thanksgiving 2015 post about spending Thanksgiving in Ireland.
- Feakle and Scariff in County Clare, Ireland. Susan lives around Feakle.
- Feakle traditional Irish music festival
- The Burren – a rocky landscape in County Clare. It’s the result of early farming in this area, which lead to the stripping of the land’s shallow soil.
- The Wild Atlantic Way is a marked driving route along the west coast of Ireland. Beware, some of the roads included are what we might call “quaint”. And Limerick city should be included!
- Savour Kilkenny – festival of food in October
- Burren Winterage festival in October
- Start to learn Irish Gaelic today to make a real connection with your Irish heritage. The Bitesize Irish Gaelic program lets you learn to speak some Irish Gaelic, in easy Bitesize lessons. Our free trial is no-obligation.
This episode is 20 minutes, compared to our previous episodes of around 30 minutes. What do you think about this format we’re experimenting with? Leave a comment below (comments are open for the first couple of weeks after the episode has been published).
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Eoin

Gaeilge Gach Lá
17 thoughts on “20 Years in Ireland with Susan FitzGerald (Ep. 55)”
Wonderful show. It’s at times like this, whilst listening to the podcast that I wish my ancestors had never left Ireland. Thank you for sharing this interview. It makes my heart sing as I continue to dream of living a life in Ireland someday.
Hi Brigitte,
Thank you for your kind words.
It’s never late to visit or come back 🙂
Le meas,
Ana.
Loved heaingr this podcast! It would be my dream to live in Ireland where my roots are. I love hearing her Irish accent!
Hi Rena,
Thank you for commenting.
It is nice to hear that you had a nice time while listening to the podcast 🙂
Le meas,
Ana.
Hi Rena! I’m really pleased you enjoyed the podcast and my Irish (mostly!) accent 🙂 Irish roots really seem to pull us back to Ireland, don’t they- hope you get to Ireland and love every minute!
Susan
Sorry, Whats her page again? I´d like to give it a look. I speak Spanish so its kinda hard sometimes to listen quite well the spelling..
Hi Melissa, so glad you enjoyed the podcast! Ireland is special 🙂 You can find Vibrant Ireland on Facebook under Vibrant Ireland and Travel. Hope you get to visit Ireland again soon & maybe even make the big move one day.
Susan
Hi, I truly enjoy listened to Susan; my dream have always been to live in Ireland, I wish i had the same courage to do it!I`ve been in love it Ireland since I was 17 🙂 such lovely story! thanks for sharing it!!!
Hi Melissa,
We are glad to hear that you have enjoyed this episode 🙂
Hopefully one day you will be living in Ireland.
Le meas,
Ana.
Dia dhuit. I really enjoyed getting to listen to Susan’s experiences in moving to Ireland from the U.S. It is always good to hear about the different areas of Ireland.
I listen to the podcast while at lunch, so the 20 minute length works for me.
Eoin – Thank you to your and your team for putting together these podcasts. I look forward to each new one.
Hi David,
Thank you for your feedback.
We really appreciate it.
Le meas,
Ana.
Thanks a lot, David. And I look forward to your episode 🙂
Hi Eoin, so glad you enjoyed! All of you avid ‘Bitesizers’ are making me want to learn some more Irish. I find the spelling the hardest!
Happy Irish chatting,
Susan
Oops that comment was for DAVID not Eoin! Lol ?
Susan
Dia dhuit, Eoin! What a nice welcome it was to hear my name mentioned on the show this morning. I’m so happy to be a part of the Bitesize family! I enjoyed listening to you and Susan talk about her decision to relocate to Ireland. My husband and I will be visiting for the first time in May of next year, and I’ve already warned him that I might not want to come back to the States once our holiday is over! To answer your question about the new podcast format, I find 20 minutes to be just the perfect length of time to listen as I get ready for work in the morning. Keep up the good work! Slán go fóill! Phoebe
Haha, I get you. Thank you for listening, it’s great to have you as a listener.
Thanks for your feedback on the 20-minute format vs the 30 minutes we’ve had until now.
Hi Phoebe,
I reckon you are going to love Ireland! May is usually a gorgeous month, with the hedgerows blossoming and the trees’ fresh new leaves making Ireland even greener – – have a fabulous time! ?
Susan