There is a sentence from an Irish proverb that says, “The longest road out is the shortest road home.” For freshman tennis player James McGee, the long journey from his home in Ireland landed him in his new home in North Carolina, a home he has been watching since he was little. “I remember when I was with my coach and one of my teammates and remember just thinking, ‘Oh my God, Oh my God, I’m in America.’ Like, America is such a big deal growing up,” McGee said. “Since I was about 5 years old just watching America on television, watching the Home Alone one, Home Alone 2 — just seeing these types of typical American films and seeing the houses because the houses are a lot different than they are in Ireland. I just kept telling myself, ‘I want to go.’ Just being here, you know it’s really good.”

For McGee, who is currently out with an ankle sprain, it took him years to decide he wanted to come to America to play the game he loved.

“I wasn’t sure at 5 years old what I was going to do,” he said. “But once I was about 9 or 10, it became like an ambition of mine to come here and train here and come to college.”

McGee is friends with a former N.C. State tennis player, fellow Irishman Conor Taylor, who in 2004 was an All-ACC selection. Taylor told coach Jon Choboy about McGee while Taylor was still playing for the Wolfpack.

“Ireland is a small place, so any player that you have is going to know the next players coming up,” Choboy said. “I had another really good player from Ireland from when I was at Brown, and he kind of told me about Conor. And then also at this time four years ago, he told me about James. So through that you kind of knew these guys coming up, so you kept an eye on them.”

Choboy said he was fortunate to recruit the two players who are from the same region.

“When you are fortunate enough to have a good group from a certain area, you tend to go back there,” Choboy said. “[There’s] just a super competitiveness about them. They are super competitive.”

Before coming to America in 2003 to play in the World Junior Championships, McGee had his own misconceptions about the States.

“When I came here to Miami in 2003, all those went away. But before I came here, I just thought that everyone was extremely loud and that everything was a lot bigger,” McGee said. “But it kind of is true — like the cars are bigger compared to Ireland. I thought the people were going to be rude, but people are actually really friendly.”

McGee had many positive thoughts about America, including the weather and the attitudes of many Americans that he has encountered.

“In Ireland it’s always dull, and it’s raining and it’s quite cold. As you can see, the sun is out and the sky is blue. In Ireland, the sky is gray. I think that I prefer the attitude as well,” he said. “The people are so friendly and positive as well. When you do well at something here, they praise you. They say, ‘You’re doing great.’ It’s not like that in Ireland. People tend to be jealous or whatever, so that’s a big comparison between Ireland and the States.”

Despite his love for America, unlike some college students or even some college athletes, McGee has to go a long period of time before he sees his family and friends. He said he misses them a lot.

“Apart from that, I don’t miss very much … In Ireland, every day it’s such a grind, whereas here it’s nice and easy. I live right beside campus. I live right beside the tennis courts, the gym and the school,” he said. “I miss mainly just family and friends.”