So…, being that I’m a little behind on pop culture, I just discovered what YOLO meant last summer during the Irish Life Experience. For those of you who don’t know, YOLO is the acronym for the phrase, “You Only Live Once,” which is often used as a hashtag on Twitter to bring attention to exciting events.
The acronym first started popping up around 2004, when Adam Mesh, from the NBC reality show, the Average Joe, launched a clothing line called YOLO. Since then, it’s been used in a few places sporadically. On Urban Dictionary, for a promotional website for San Francisco’s nightlife, and by the American Indie rock band-The Strokes. Then in the Fall of 2011, Canadian recording artist Drake, used the acronym in his new hip hop single, “The Motto.” On December 16th, 2011, The Huffington Post published a photo of American actor, Zac Efron (My future husband.) with YOLO tattooed on his right hand and in March of 2012 a Facebook page for YOLO already had 3,725 likes. Impressive to say the least!
So…, when the Irish Life Experience landed in Ireland last summer, there were many YOLO’s said as every day was exciting. However, a few amazing students (The Dream Team) coined a new motto. YOIIO-You’re Only In Ireland Once. How perfect! Now, we know that many of our alumni will return to Ireland again, and again, and again. However, if you study abroad in Ireland with the Irish Life Experience, #YOIIO will forever be your new motto.
