I'm from Santa Catarina, one of the most beautiful states in Brazil. Our capital is called Florianópolis and is also an island. Many people wrote songs and poems to show how strong and deep their love is for that small piece of land. One of the songs that I like most is "Rancho de Amor a Ilha", and I took the idea for the title from this song. "A piece of land lost in the ocean. A piece of land of unrivalled beauty". Floripa is known as "Ilha da Magia" but it was on another island that I found all the magic from the world. Land of the leprechaun, endless rainbows, Cailleach and Celtics legends, Ireland is also a magical island.
I always had a big love for travel, getting to know other places, cultures and people, but I never felt for another place, the love and connection that I felt at first sight in Ireland.
Probably it is a love from another life. Probably, I was Irish at another time.
There's not enough rain in Ireland to explain how much I felt at home in this place. All the green, all the stones, all the love that I found in this place and that changed me completely.
Dublin with all the lights and people. Dingle with all the tones of blue in your sky and sea. The green of Kerry. Doolin and your traditional music. All the medieval faces of Kilkenny. The beautiful and colourful Galway, Cork, Ennis, Killaloe, Connemara and many other places gave me big sighs. No doubt, beautiful sites, but the one that stole my heart was Limerick.
As Denis Allen claimed, ‘Limerick is a lady’, like a mom who cared for me, the city made me fall in love with the golden waters of the Shannon, with the dark colour of Guinness, and the wind messing my hair when I was walking in the O’Connell Street. The lady is full of charm and sweetness that made me feel at home.
To my surprise, Limerick was not the sad, poor and cold place that Frank McCourt showed me in his novel Angela's Ashes. Limerick is an unbelievable city, a place full of flowers, with happy people, filled with opportunities and generosity. Limerick was my place in Ireland.
And it was as if The Cranberries made my soundtrack: "Oh, my life "was" changing every day, in every possible way" while I lived there for more than one year. I arrived in Ireland with only two small bags, my courage and my passport. The biggest adventure in my life.
Limerick is for everybody. Doesn’t matter if you are looking for peace in a church or for relaxing in one of the city's many pubs. You will find what you are looking for. I went to Ireland looking to find knowledge, but I found so much more than that. I found inspiration and myself.
Like Floripa, Ireland has people who wrote songs to show love, and I will borrow some lines to finish my text. It is true that "the Isle of home is always on your mind", and Ireland has become that for me. I will always say to Limerick: "The beauty that surrounds you, I take it with me love wherever I go."
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