As of tomorrow, I will have been in Ireland for two months! I really have been having the time of my life here, and these are some of the things I’ve learned about
myself, Ireland, and life in general:
-Tea is a
wonderful, wonderful thing. After walking through the cold wind and rain,
nothing is better than a warm cup of tea.
-The chocolate
here is amazing. I’ve eaten far too much of it!
-I actually
enjoy the rain. Well, I enjoy the mist. Not the downpour. But most of the time,
the rain is just a mist.
-I really
enjoy my own company. Some of my favorite moments include walking around the
city, listening to buskers, browsing shops, and drinking tea and reading in
cafes. And of course walking along the water.
-The Irish
are so laid back and friendly.
They’re never in a hurry! I have to keep reminding myself that I don’t need to speed walk everywhere, or
grocery shop as fast as possible, or respond to small talk questions with
one-word answers. People say hello out of genuine interest in having a
conversation, not just out of politeness! I spent an hour talking about American football with a guy working in a shop today. It’s a great way to live. It just takes some getting used to!
-Modern
technology is wonderful, but only necessary in small doses. Not always having
access to wifi and not having a data plan has forced me to only text/ tweet/
instagram when I’m at home or school, which means the rest of the time, I can
be much more in the moment. We’ve all experienced going out to eat when
everyone at the table spends the whole time on their phones, and even though
I’d never say no to free wifi if it’s
available, I’m definitely not as dependent on having everything accessible at
the touch of a button as I used to be.
-I really,
really love nature. I’d much rather go for a hike than visit castles and
churches! (Not that castles and churches aren’t cool!) Ireland is the perfect
place for me to be for this, and I know some of my favorite memories from this
experience will be from the Mountaineering club!
-It may
rain a lot here, but I’ve never seen so many rainbows in my life!
-I love it
here, but I could never live this far away from my family. I text and email my
parents multiple times a day and am counting down the days until they come
visit!!! (6 weeks!!!!!)
-Good
friends really are hard to find, and are invaluable. I came to Ireland knowing
no one, which was pretty scary, and to be honest, it took me a while to find
people I really clicked with. But now I have, and it’s absolutely been worth
the wait :]
I haven’t posted anything about what I’ve been up to for the
past few weeks, so here’s a quick recap:
-Classes: I
only have 4 weeks left!! That’s crazy! But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a lot
of work left- most of my grades are based entirely
on a final paper. So that’ll be fun…
-Travel:
I’ve spent most of my time in Galway, but I’ve been out to Connemara a couple
times in the past month to go sightseeing and hiking! I went on a bus tour to
Kylemore Abbey, and then went hiking with the mountaineering club a couple
weeks later and got to see the Abbey from up high! Connemara is such a gorgeous
area. I’ve now gone hiking with the mountaineering club twice, and I’m
convinced that seeing Ireland from the top of a 1,700 ft tall mountain that you
just climbed is the only way to truly see Ireland.
Kylemore Abbey
The Twelve Bens
Notice the gorgeous color of the ocean and our view of Kylemore Abbey!
More hiking adventures- couldn't go over it, couldn't go around it, had to go under it!
-Leisure:
I’ve been enjoying my favorite pubs and the live trad music with my friends! We
also went to the Connacht vs. Treviso rugby game which was so much fun! I’ve
never seen rugby before, and it was such a weird sport, but also really fun.
There were some fans next to us from Italy (where Treviso is from), and they
were screaming thing in Italian the whole time, which was quite entertaining!
They also photobombed us so I guess that means we’re friends!
What is this sport?!
Italian friends
Well, I’m off to the Swiss Alps tomorrow so stay tuned for a post
about my first weekend trip outside of Ireland! This has been my desktop background all week and I'm pretty much ecstatic about it:
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Elise
