So true. As an Irishman living in Canada, it does not surprise me in the least when I bump into a fellow Irishman and we know some of the same people.

My Canadian friends always think this is strange.

Kind of ironic, since I'm a Canadian living in the US and and every time it comes up, people tell me about who they know that lives in Canada. I realize they are just being polite, they don't expect me to know these people, but I can't help but feel that it's a little ridiculous. How the hell would I know Frank?

My girlfriend always does this to people when she finds out they went to x university. "Oh do you know this or that person". A university with 100k students.

Some people's brains don't consider scale/space when hearing a familiar connection. :p

It happens. I was once in SF talking to a total stranger from LA (pop ~4m) and when I mentioned I grew up in Dallas (pop ~1.3m), she said "oh, do you know [X]?" And I did.

Especially smoke.

I graduated last year and got offered 34k to work in one of IBM's offices outside Dublin.

I ended up moving to Canada where I earn the equivalent of 36k euro working in a startup. I would say that living expenses are comparable.