Top o' the Mornin' to Ya

Welp. My study abroad experience is now officially over. However it still doesn’t feel real.

…I’m going back after Christmas, right?

I’ve been back in America for barely three full days, and already my friends are trying their darndest to “re-assimilate” me back into American culture. For instance, on my first full day back in the country, I was participating in just about the most American thing you can do on a Sunday in December: I went to a football game. Unfortunately, it was the Bills, and obviously, they lost. By the car before the game, I had mittens on (it snowed—hoorah!) and therefore, I couldn’t exactly put my hand in the bag of Cheetos and grab a delicious morsel for myself. Consequently, I had to ask my friends to just pop one into my mouth for me. However, the requirement for such deliciousness on account of my re-assimilation was to declare my love for America. So pretty much the afternoon consisted of me saying, “I love America” whenever it was asked of me…which was quite often.

The next day I had to face the harsh reality of unpacking and laundry and unpacking and laundry. My goodness, there was a lot of laundry. Although, I guess that’s what I should have expected when both my bags were a mere half a kilo under weight at the airport. Thank goodness that they were under, because I didn’t have 200 euros to spare for the ridiculous overweight fee!

Today however, I had a baking bonanza! We made so many wonderful and creative Christmas cookies, and it was the perfect way to get into the holiday spirit.

I’m very excited for Christmas and seeing the rest of my family (ALL MY STEP SIBLINGS ARE COMING OUT THIS YEAR!), but I can’t help but still miss Ireland…

…no one is speaking in an accent, people look at me funny when I say craic, or shite, or shift, and worst of all, there is no emerald green grass. It would be one thing if we had some snow here, but unfortunately we’ve just got dead grass and mud. joy.

Ireland was a wonderful experience. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. It was the semester of a lifetime, and I would do it all over again if I had the chance. I grew up a lot this semester, and I think I’m a much stronger person now. (Look at these guns… *flexes arm muscles and kisses biceps*). Sorry, I’m not good at being serious, and instead I just crack jokes.

But really. In all seriousness. Ireland was amazing. I’d go back in a heartbeat. I met some great people…met some not so great people…but nevertheless had so many more than great times and have made so many wonderful memories that I’ll hold with me forever.

Moral of the story: if you even have the tiniest inkling to go study abroad…DO IT! It’ll be the best decision you’ve made so far.

Thanks for following me and my adventures on my blog!

So long! Farewell! & Top o’ the mornin’ to ya!

Okay. This post is proving to be much more difficult to write than I thought it would be. I just don’t know what to say. How on Earth am I supposed to sum up my feelings about spending the past three and a half months in Ireland? Well, for starters, it was a million times better than fantastic. I’m trying to describe it…but I just have no words. So here’s a sad attempt at doing this semester justice: it was great, it was fabulous, it was awesome (so American), it was class (so Irish), it was thaste (so Marty), it was wonderful, it was spectacular, it was absolutely positively better than anything I ever could have imagined. However, there is less than a week left.Today is my last Sunday. Tomorrow is my last Monday. Then my last Tuesday. …You get the picture.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m definitely excited to get home to my friends and family for the holidays, but I’m going to miss this little green island like crazy! I’ve done so much this semester! I’ve seen so much of Ireland—Dublin, The Cliffs and the Burren, Connemara, Blarney and Cork, Dingle, the Aran Islands, Belfast, the Giant’s Causeway, Sligo, and we can’t forget about Galway, of course. I’ve also seen so much of the rest of world! I’ve been to Belgium, Scotland, Northern Ireland, France, England, and Spain! I’ve tripled the number of countries I’ve been to! I’ll probably never have another opportunity and experience like this ever again. Therefore, I better enjoy it while I can, rather than wallowing about the end.

It will be hard to wallow with such a busy week ahead of me; I have two exams to study for and two papers to turn in, not to mention markets to attend and plenty of pints to drink. Oh my gosh, and bags to pack! I completely forgot about that…obstacle.

All too soon, it will be Friday the 16th. I’ll wake up, take my Probability final, eat one last delicious Wards sandwich, walk into town for a pint, hopefully manage to fit everything into my suitcases, and then at 3 am I’ll get on my last bus to Dublin airport, with the only an excruciatingly long plane ride standing between me and America.

I just can’t believe it’s over. I’ve been here since August, but in some ways it still feels like I just arrived! I think that if I keep writing, it will just turn into a depressive and rambling mess. Therefore, I’m going to quit while I’m ahead and go have some craic.

See you in six days!

Born and raised in the comforts of Upstate New York’s suburbs, I never had a need for public transportation. Therefore, I never learned anything about it. However, studying abroad comes with a completely different set of requirements, and using public transportation is definitely an important one on that list. With no car, we’re pretty reliant on subways, buses, and trains to get ourselves anywhere. For example, this is how we got to our hotel in Spain last week:

• Walk to Galway coach station
• Get on the 5 am bus to Dublin airport
• Fly on a plane to Malaga, Spain
• Take a train from Malaga airport to Fuengirola train station
• Find Fuengirola bus station
• Wait for a bus from Fuengirola bus station to Marbella bus station, getting off at the small and unmarked stop for Elviria
• Find hotel

This pretty standard for any of our trips, not the mention the need to get  around during the trip, but time we also had the added burden of being in a non-English-speaking country. Three months ago, this would have been impossible. Now, it’s no problem.

I’ve improved leaps and bounds this semester in terms of my self sufficiency and just overall adultness (besides my tendency to make up words such as “adultness”). I can cook myself meals, manage my own finances, and most surprisingly, successfully use public transportation all over Europe.

Six days in Spain was awesome, just as you may have guessed. However, how’s this for a turn of events? I’M NOT EXHAUSTED! This trip was pretty much the complete opposite of all my other European adventures. First of all, our accommodations were free thanks to a certain friend’s mother letting us use her extra-bonus-timeshare-thing. In addition, they were not only free, they were also completely fabulous. This was no hostel. This was a full blown resort! With a beach!

It was also completely different from my other trips in that the only things on our agendas were to rest, relax, and maybe write a paper or two…but only if we felt like it. It was absolutely wonderful, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t spend the majority of my time lounging in a hotel bathrobe…

However, to answer any accusatory questions about how I chose to spend my study-week, let me first defend myself and say that I was quite productive in that bathrobe. I wrote one and a half final papers, and read three books for pleasure.

[Hunger Games. So good. We were all obsessed. Read them now.]

It was so wonderful to just enjoy the warmth and the sunshine. We had to laugh though, because the Spaniards were bundled up for 67 degrees,  and we were all wearing sun dresses. However, pale and silly me did not have any sunscreen (I was going to Ireland for the semester—who’d have thought I’d need it??), and therefore was always very watchful of how much time I spent with that sly Mr. Sun.

One of the days, we decided take a break from our sloth-like life of luxury, and travel to Granada for the day. Only one word could possibly describe Granada: absolutely beautiful! Yes, yes, that was two words technically, but you get the picture. I took about five zillion pictures, all of the same two scenes. I really couldn’t help it though; the beauty of it all was just causing my finger to spaz over and over on the take-a-picture button.

It was just absolutely gorgeous, and we had lots of fun wandering around the city for the day.

It was only too soon that our six days of rest and relaxation were over and it was time to head back to the Emerald Ilse. Don’t get me wrong, I was more than happy to get back to Ireland (I was especially thankful after our poor friend Sam had the terrible misfortune of getting stranded in Spain for an extra night after she had to get off the plane and attempt to retrieve her laptop, which she forgot at the security checkpoint), it’s just that returning to Ireland meant I was just one step (a mere two weeks) closer to having to return to reality. That is, my life in the United States.

I probably talk about this every week, and I know I probably sound like a crazy person, but the concept of time just baffles me. In exactly two weeks, I will be sitting in the Newark airport, eating an Auntie Anne’s Pretzel, and waiting for my flight to Rochester. How on Earth did that happen? Didn’t I just arrive in Ireland, all disheveled because of Irene? Didn’t classes just start? Weren’t my parents just here? Isn’t it still September?

Nope. That was all months ago.

Let’s try and straighten out the facts then. It’s December 3rd. I’ve been in Ireland for over three months. I’ve cooked a Thanksgiving dinner.  I’ve traveled all over Ireland. I’ve visited six other countries. I’ve mastered most forms of public transportation. Classes are over. Final exams start next week. Packing isn’t in the all too distant future. Real life is headed straight for me…& it’s coming fast.

These past three months have been absolutely fabulous. Let’s hope that the next two weeks maintain that record and I don’t start wallowing too early. There will be plenty of time left for that later. As for right now, I better get off the computer and go enjoy the rest of my time here!

Sláinte!