Irish interns make the most of their New York Minute

Staten Island Advance
Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Seven-week program brings them to Staten Island for a little work experience and a lot of hospitality

They arrived with preconceived notions of New York: Obnoxious Americans at every turn, random violence on the street, a subway system they would never understand.

Seven weeks later, they have become true New Yorkers picking up the slang, subsisting on fries and burgers, taking Broadway by storm.

And riding the subway like pros.

In between, 17 young Irish men and women have been working as interns all around Staten Island.

Some mingle with the sheep at the Staten Island Zoo in West Brighton. One hangs with the tots at the Staten Island Children's Museum on the grounds of Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Livingston. Another sees the law up close in the district attorney's office.

"I held a snake on my first day," said Jonathan Salley, 19, a Zoo intern hailing from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. "It was weird. I was afraid at first, but then I held. It's not too bad."

Others spent their time with elected officials, giving reporting a shot at the Advance or testing their skills in the kitchen.

The crew is part of the Wider Horizons Program based at the College of Staten Island which attempts to bridge the divide between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland while providing work experience abroad.

On Staten Island, the visitors have stayed with host families who have provided home cooking, sightseeing and an understanding of the fast pace of New York living.

After a graduation ceremony on Friday and a few more good hours in the city, the crew will board a plane for the return flight home.

All miss their families and friends, but most admit that they now want to stay in New York despite their original perceptions.

GOING HOME

"My only dislike will be going back," said 19-year-old Willie McDonagh, who came from County Leitrim in the Republic of Ireland and works with Salley at the Zoo.

When the pair aren't breaking model crabs as they set up exhibits or spooking sheep in the barn at feeding time, they are hitting Manhattan with their cohorts, now a group of fast friends.

They saw "Stomp" last night, took in the view from atop the Empire State Building even if one Mary Sheridan from County Tyrone insists on calling it the Eiffel Tower and shopped Fifth Avenue.

"We went shopping for fake Burberry bags," said Ms. Sheridan, a 19-year-old originally from Dublin, who interns at the Children's Museum and who, incidentally, has never been to the Eiffel Tower. "We went to Old Navy. I love that shop. We don't have that back home."

Back home, for most, are rural towns with miles and miles between stores.

"I live out in the country, in the middle of nowhere," said Anne Quinn, 22, of Ardboe in County Tyrone. "I live out on a farm. New York is always pictured as Manhattan, but you forget about the rest of the areas around it."

Like Bloomfield, where Ms. Quinn has worked in the sales office of the Hilton Garden Inn, wining and dining clients, assisting guests and monitoring the phones.

In front of her host family's home, Ms. Quinn took advantage of New York's first winter storm.

"I built a snowman," she said, describing his cookie eyes, the lollipop in his mouth and NYPD baseball cap. "It's really classy-looking. He's called George. He's very coldhearted toward me, but what can you do?"

Across the Island, Letitia Pearson is already moving up the ladder.

Working in the Sex Crimes Unit at the district attorney's office only since October, the 19-year-old County Tyrone native already has her own office with a view. OK, she is borrowing the office of an assistant district attorney out on maternity leave.

"I am claiming this office when I come back here or maybe I will take the front office," said Ms. Pearson, who might one day make a good district attorney, after studying law and economics in college.

COMING BACK

Ms. Pearson's only problem with America: The money.

"Your 10 cents are smaller than your five cents," she said. "That throws you off everything. I hold my hand out and the shopkeeper picks the coins and I am thinking, 'I know you're taking more money than you should.' "

Other than the money and the food none of them took to it well all were amazed at the friendliness they encountered in the Big Apple.

"I have not met one grumpy person, even in the middle of Manhattan," said Kevin Mc Cabe, 21, of County Leitrim, an intern at Snug Harbor Cultural Center. "It's grand. I love it."

As they get ready to go home, they all are talking about when they can come back for a visit or maybe even a career.

"The atmosphere," said Salley, "and everything about New York is classic."