Corkonians Abroad: 32 years in Sweden... but Cork is part of me

Tell us about your early life in Cork, Deirdre:

I am originally from Cork. I grew up in Boyne Crescent in Mayfield. My parents moved there when it was newly built in the early ’70s when they had four kids. Then my brother came along, and then me.

So, as the youngest of six, I was called the baby and my older siblings had the delight of always minding me.

There are some funny pictures of my siblings playing in the field, and I am being held like a ragdoll when I was too small to walk, or toddling after them when I could.

Parents were completely trusting then of the child-minding capabilities of the older kids - hilarious when you think of it as the eldest was only seven years older than me - but I survived and am rarely sick so probably was exposed to lots of germs that toughened me up.

Growing up in Boyne Crescent was special. It was a poor neighbourhood with lots of social problems back then but it felt safe to us.

In our little world, so many kids were out playing on the greens. Our door was always open, the key sat in the door, so friends and family could come and go as they pleased. Our house was always full and noisy.

I loved being out, but, to be honest, there was not much to keep me indoors back then. We had a couple of channels on the telly but as the youngest I never got to choose.

So it was either being bored senseless looking at snooker or darts (yes, I have three older brothers) or, dare I say, football, which back then I had no interest in, or go out and explore the world.

My mam tells of how difficult it was to put me to bed as a toddler as I always tried to get out again if I heard someone at the door.

So already, as a little one, I wanted to be out in the world exploring. Restless, curious and never wanting to sleep.

Both my parents are from Cork, generation after generation of Cork born and bred. I would say I’m very ‘Cork’. We have a way about us, don’t we? The friendliest people I would say on this planet as well as being blessed with a great sense of humour.

I use humour a lot in work, to ease the mood when colleagues are very stressed. If I can make them laugh, it removes a lot of tension, and creates a friendlier environment so that we can actually start focusing on fixing the problem.

I have lived longer in Stockholm than I have in Cork, but I still very much channel the Cork values, always willing to help out when I can, never short of a joke to lighten the mood, and love a spontaneous conversation with a stranger.

Where are you living now?

I have been living in Stockholm, Sweden, since October, 1993.

Before that, I had spent a year in Washington DC and was planning on going back to the states, but I met a Swedish guy while out in a bar in St Luke’s and love struck.

After a bit of travelling back and forth to Sweden, I decided to throw caution to the wind and test living in Stockholm.

I discovered quickly a thriving Irish community here that embraced me and gave me an instant network.

I became involved in the Swedish Irish Society and all their social events. It was the warm embrace I needed to feel connected and not lonely.

Finding work was also quite easy as a native English speaker. You can get by here without learning the lingo, but I was determined to pick up the language and quickly enrolled in language classes.

That also was a great way of making new friends.

Tell us a little about your career?

I have been lucky with my career. I had only completed one year of college in Cork and a summer college course in the States and knew that I wanted a degree at some point, so I took evening classes in Stockholm to satisfy my thirst for knowledge while working during the day.

Then I went on to have a baby, and then I knew it’s now or never so, pregnant with baby No.2, I applied to Stockholm University to study a business degree.

Sweden has amazing childcare that is state- run so knowing my babies were in good hands I was able to study full time and achieve a MSc in Business and Economics.

It was not easy as a new mum, but I had no plans to waste the opportunity to study so there was little sleep during those years.

I am quite determined and result-orientated so failing was not an option for me. My degree was the lift I needed to progress in my career and since then I have had some very interesting jobs like tax auditor, project controller, internal auditor, and now I work as a Strategic Risk Manager for the largest bank in the Nordics.

I love my work because I am presented with problems daily and must suggest solutions or workarounds. I also must ensure that we work in a compliant way and follow regulation.

You can say that is maybe a long way from playing in the fields in Mayfield and Whites Cross, but I remember as a young child instructing my friends on the dangers of climbing trees and suggesting alternative games that we could play that were less likely to cause injury, so my risk manager mindset was always there.

What is life like now?

My own kids are teenagers now and out exploring the world. My youngest is in high school in Spain and my eldest has just started university in the north of Sweden. So my evenings and weekends are spent with friends.

Lots of dinners, hikes in the beautiful woods and lakes around Stockholm, going to the gym, committee work, and event organising with the Swedish Irish Society.

And I also like to travel, but at least four times a year I get back to Cork. I love going back to my mam’s house and the lovely feeling in the park.

It is still full of wonderfully friendly people and the park is lovingly maintained by the residents that live there.

If you were back in Cork for one day, what would you do?

I love walking into town, listening to the street musicians, going for lunch in the English Market or Marina Market.

Having a pitstop in Henchy’s in St Luke’s on the walk home from town, all uphill walking. Or heading to Kinsale and having fish and chips on a park bench looking at the sea.

It’s the feeling of home that, no matter how many years you live abroad, can’t be replaced.

It’s this incredibly difficult thing to describe that combines the feeling of belonging to a place, the recognition of local humour, stories, history, buildings that nourishes the soul.

Cork will always be a part of me and I will always be a proud Cork woman.

Tell us a little about the culture in Stockholm?

So, people ask me what Stockholm is like. I usually say beautiful, clean and fairly safe.

It’s both a lovely place to visit, but also to live. Things work very well here like getting a doctor’s appointment or dealing with schools, authorities, etc.

There are also good job opportunities for expats as it’s very international, and you can get by with just English in a lot of large international companies.

Swedes don’t have the same pub culture. It is more restaurant-based socialising here. You can’t get the same cosy feel and craic that we have in Ireland.

They don’t mix as easily with strangers and tend to take time to get to know. Once they are your friend though they are very solid and reliable.

The culture here is also a bit different and they tend to celebrate all the big holidays with big tables of food that always seem to contain pickled herring in various sauces washed down with lashings of snaps accompanied by drinking songs.

And they like to dance around Maypoles singing songs about small frogs, but apart from that they are grand :-)