"It Does Not Do To Dwell On Dreams And Forget To Live"

The study abroad team from Western Michigan held a mandatory orientation at the end of spring semester so all study abroad students would be prepared for their journey. They talked a lot about what is going to happen while you are abroad, whether that be traveling, meeting new people or just living somewhere new. Something that really caught my attention was that I would be going through something called "peaks and valleys". Now I'm sure most, if not all of you know what peaks and valleys are, but if not here a quick little description. According to Webster's dictionary, a peak is "the top of a hill or a mountain ending in a point" and a valley is "a low point or condition" or "an elongate depression of the earth's surface usually between ranges of hills or mountains". With those two definitions within themselves, you should be able to piece together that what the study abroad team was trying to tell all of us that we will hit many highs and many lows while studying abroad.

To sum up what they told me, I would hit a peak with just arriving, getting so excited for this experience, then a valley about a month or so in with culture shock and how much I miss being back home. Next, I would hit a peak again with me telling myself that this is such a once in a lifetime experience and that I have 3 or so months left so I have all the time in the world, then another valley explaining that I would be upset that my time here was coming to an end, but then another peak telling myself that I'm going to make most of the time I have left here. Of course, then there comes the last valley, which would explain how I feel when I get back home, where I will inevitably hit a culture shock because my routine was set for 4 months, but I would then have to get back to my at home routine. It is a very complicating cycle, and yes, of course it makes sense when you think about it, but it is weird to have all these feelings already set in stone that I was going to experience. I was never one of those people who believed that whatever one person was feeling in the same situation as me, I would feel the exact same. I always liked to have my own mind about some things and I am honestly very thankful that hopped over the pond with me when I came to Ireland.

Starting out on the high parts of my study abroad experience so far, one was a very high point this past week and weekend. My Aunt Cheryl came to visit me for about 10 days. It was such a fun time to be able to show her everything I've been doing, whether it be taking her on a tour of my campus, or going to my favorite part of downtown Dublin, but all together it was a fantastic trip. I'm so thankful that she was able to come visit me, especially around my halfway point while spending my time here. It was a nice little piece of home that I was able to be with for a little bit. The first few days she was here weren't the best. Of course spending time with her was awesome, but I had a major headache from that Saturday til that Tuesday, so we didn't do as much as I would have liked, but we did get to explore and as I said I showed her my favorite part of downtown. For Saturday, it was completely down pouring so we pretty much walked around Grafton street, got some dinner at the Bridge, where my mom and I went while she was here, got some cocoa chai, which I will talk about soon, and then we went back to my dorm. Sunday on the other hand was a beautiful day. We got on the bus and headed back for Grafton St. We wanted to make it in time to go to this bakery we found the day before to get another cocoa chai before it closed. See, I told you I would mention it again. Okay so pretty much we discovered this cute little lunch/bakery place called KC Peaches, and it serves this hot chocolate mix with chai and it is my new favorite drink. It isn't super sweet, it's just sweet enough and both Aunt Cheryl and I immediately became obsessed with it. After that, I took both of us to a burger joint I found with my roommates a few weeks back called Bunsen's and it is still the best burger I've had while being in Ireland. After a very late dinner, we took the bus back and got to my dorm. Now since I am still in school, I had class on Monday, but then we went and checked into my aunt's hotel. I spent the next two nights in my aunt's hotel, which is called the Radisson Blu St. Helen's and it is right off of campus. The reason why she booked that particular hotel was because it was perfect walking distance to school and it also helped that the hotel was beautiful. It is a historic building that they turned into a hotel and the grounds in the back were absolutely gorgeous as well. Tuesday we ended up walking from the hotel to Dublin Bay. I hadn't been to see that side of Dublin yet so it was cool to go. It wasn't the best day out weather wise so the tide was low and the sky was cloudy, so we walked back to the hotel pretty quickly. We ate dinner at the hotel Monday and Tuesday night, I then went back to my dorm Wednesday because I had some homework and an early class Thursday, but after my classes were done Thursday, we went back to the hotel, got dinner and got ready for our weekend.

Now going more in depth of our weekend, it was such a high point. My aunt and I have always talked about taking a trip to London for as long as I can remember. We ended up talking to a travel agent a few years ago, but because I couldn't afford it, the trip never worked out. Now with me being across the ocean already and her willing to come visit me, it worked out well to the point that we booked a roundtrip flight to London for the weekend before she left. It worked out so well because we were able to cross something off of our list that we have been wanting to do for years.

Going off of that, I'm going to point the obvious out. I am a huge Harry Potter fan, emphasis on huge, and this past weekend as I said above, I traveled to London with my aunt. Now because we booked our flights so far in advance, there was something that both she and I wanted, well more like needed to do while in London. The Warner Brother's Studios Tour is in London and anyone who knows me, knows how excited I was to even just say I was going.

Okay so to start it off, we arrived in London on Friday. We took a very expensive taxi cab to our hotel, checked in, then started wondering. We wanted to go find the train station we needed to take for our adventure happening the next day, ie. Warner Brother's Studio Tour. On our way to the station, we realized that we hadn't eaten in hours and we were starving. I have always heard of this place called Nando's in the UK, and as luck would have it, it was directly next to the train station. We decided to stop in and see what the fuss was all about. Let me just tell you that it lived up to it's name. The restaurant was a chicken based restaurant where you could get chicken in any style or form and add a spicy sauce to your dish. I chose a chicken on a pita with mango lime sauce added to the sandwich. It had just the right amount of spice and I highly recommend it. After that, we decided to walk back to our hotel to save our legs for our next two days, so once we got back, we hung out in our room and went to bed as the night got later. Saturday on the other hand, now that was a day for the books.

Waking up on Saturday I have to say, I felt kind of out of it. I wouldn't say that I was in a bad mood, but I just didn't feel that excited, and once I realized that I wasn't excited for something I've been looking forward to for months, it was a weird feeling. As I said I do not know why I wasn't excited, but I knew I needed to get out of the funk that I was in. Aunt Cheryl and I got ready for our day, made our way to a Starbucks for a quick, but small breakfast, then ventured to Kings Cross Station to see the "original" trolley going into the platform 9 and 3/4. That within itself put me into a better mood because why not start out a Harry Potter day with something else Harry Potter?

From Kings Cross on, we walked back to Euston Station. We got there about an hour or so early so we just hung out and people watched while we waited for our tour guide and group to arrive. Around 11:30 our guide got to the meeting point, we got our train tickets from him, and then after giving the group some information around 12, we ended up making our way to the platform so the train could take us to Watford Junction, which is the station we got off at the catch the bus to the studio. Once we got off the train, caught the bus, got the studios and got through security, the experience was so close I could actually physically touch it. I got out of my funk almost instantly upon arrival and I'm so glad that happened. Being in a funk can really screw with your brain and I didn't want that to ruin my time, or my aunt's time for that matter.

The studio tour is something that I would encourage even non-Harry Potter fans to visit. I do not know why you wouldn't be a Harry Potter fan, but that is a different argument for a different day. The whole aroma of the studios was truly breathtaking. Being able to have someone give you a tour, tell you little secrets from the cast, crew, sets and everything related to this amazing wizarding world was something I will remember forever. A few of my favorite parts were to see all of the detail that was put into these films and into the specific characters, creatures, etc. It was truly jaw dropping because you could actually see the life that these characters lived. Throughout the entire tour we were able to stop and take as many photos as we wanted, but something that I'm glad we did was we bought the VIP tickets. What the VIP tickets entail is we were allowed to go back throughout the tour and walk through it again, but this time just by ourselves, no tour guide needed, so we were allowed to stay in certain places as long or as short as we wanted. We were able to buy butter beer and food throughout our first tour so when we went back, of course I got more butter beer if anyone is surprised. Over all, it was such an amazing experience and it really hit the spot of witnessing magic at its finest.

With our Harry Potter day taking a lot out of us, it was a very tiring bus and train ride, as well as the walk back to our hotel. I don't know about Aunt Cheryl, but I slept very well that night. Now with our London trip coming to an end, our last day we specifically booked a later flight in the day so we could explore the major attractions in the center of London. Since we walked around and stood for such a long period of time on Saturday, both Aunt Cheryl and I were feeling it the next day, which didn't help the situation that we had our luggage to carry around with us the entire day, but we managed. We took a red double decker bus from our hotel to right in front of Buckingham Palace. It was pretty good timing because we were able to witness and hear the changing of the guards ceremony which was super cool. We walked past Buckingham and made our way to the Birdcage walk. From then on it was a straight shot from there to the River Thames. We made it to the river, which we saw that Big Ben was under construction, but we were still able to see the clock as well as the House of Parliament next to it. It was still beautiful to see. From then on, it was around lunch time and we didn't eat breakfast, so we crossed the bridge and stopped at this restaurant called Westminster Kitchen. We both had pancakes with berries and I added on some hashbrowns to my meal, but that meal hit the spot so hard. I haven't had pancakes in such a long time and it was just what both of us needed at that particular point in time.

Once we were done eating, we started walking the pedestrian walkway next to the river because we had a pretty packed itinerary. Although due to both our legs not feeling the best and the luggage we had to carry on our backs, we opted for a better option. We decided to take a River Thames river cruise which brought us to all the major points of interest we wanted to see. For you Harry Potter fans out there, I know you will recognize my middle photo below this paragraph. Anyways, once our cruise ended, we got off the boat and found our selves this other boat that was docked on the river and that was coincidentally a bar. It had a beautiful view, sitting across the river, opposite the London Eye and because of the perfect weather we had, it was a great way to end the weekend. After each of us having a drink, we made our way to the Underground station and boarded our train to the airport. Once we got to the airport, we got through security, got some food at a restaurant there, which I had rigatoni pasta and that was very delicious as well. After dinner, we sat down for a bit while waiting for our gate to appear, then went to our gate, got on our flight, arrived back in Dublin, took the aircoach back to my campus, then went to bed.

Tuesday morning was when Aunt Cheryl left, so because of her leaving so early, Monday night we went out and celebrated her last night here. I went to my classes during the day, but after they ended, we both got ready and made our way downtown Dublin one last time. We tried getting one last cocoa chai, but I guess God was trying to tell us that we've had enough because when we got there they had run out of chai. Never fear, we walked around St. Stephen's Green one last time and then made our way to get some dinner. We ate at Davy Byrnes right off of Grafton St. and although my dinner, which was a misunderstanding, wasn't the best, I would still go back there because my soup and drink were absolutely delicious. I got a carrot vegetable soup, so did Aunt Cheryl and then I got a strawberry cider and Aunt Cheryl got a pear cider. They were both a Swedish brand of cider so I now need to remember their name so I can get it again. After dinner we went back to Gino's where I decided to go with something different. Since I didn't eat that much, I got a crepe with nutella, bananas and strawberries. Something else I recommend. After that we made our way back to my dorm. Since it was later, we both got ready for bed, I talked to my sister on FaceTime for a bit, but then we went to bed. We both woke up Tuesday morning around 4, 4:30 and then Aunt Cheryl made her way to the airport. I then continued on with my classes that day, but let me tell you, it was very bizarre coming back to my room and not seeing my aunt's stuff as well as just not seeing her. I am so thankful that she was able to visit me and it will be a trip that I remember forever.

Back to the nitty gritty subject. Experiencing the "valleys" is something that I will talk about as well, so be prepared. Don't be prepared in a bad way though. As I said in my second paragraph, I'm thankful that I still like to think of things for myself and not let what other people tell me to impact my opinions or decisions. With that being said, I have felt little things that could be considered as me going through a so called "valley". Not to the point of me crying calling my parents saying I want to go home, but I have witnessed a few things that I haven't been able to do here that my family and friends have been able to do back home, and that they have been able to do them together that I have of course have not been able to be apart of. I haven't really experience culture shock that much since arriving in Ireland because I didn't make my host country a foreign language speaking country, which has helped so much.

I used that particular quote as the title of my blog for two reasons. One, anyone who knows Harry Potter knows that Albus Dumbledore says that quote when Harry dies and is in a clean Kings Cross Station. Two, because it really puts into perspective for me that I shouldn't dwell on the things that I can't change. I shouldn't obsess over the fact that I can't carve pumpkins with my family or go to haunted houses with my friends or even watch Christmas movies with my roommates. Of course they are little things that someone wouldn't really think about, but if you know me, then you know these little things mean the world to me. I wouldn't necessarily consider myself to be a home-body because I do like to go out and have a good time, but I am a very family and friend oriented person. I love spending time with the people I love and care about. Whether we are all just sitting in silence, enjoying each other's company, or whether we are all out at a party dancing and singing very poorly to blasting music. These are the little things that I am missing with being so far away from home for a longer period of time that I am used to. Now with me getting that off my chest, I have continuously told myself that Fall and Winter are reoccurring seasons. I will be able to do these things with my family and friends next year. Yes, I get somewhat upset and "misty" as my sister would say, but they are things that I had to pick and chose with when deciding to study abroad. I would never trade this experience for anything, so now I can just enjoy my remaining two months here and look forward to seeing my family and friends soon. To those of you that are my family and friends, just know that I do miss you and I look forward to when I can hug each and every single one of you.

Now, onto the next adventure. Look forward to another lengthy blog post coming to your screens soon!