Leading Up To 4 Months Away From Home

This has been the adventure I have been waiting for my entire life.

Ireland has always had a special place in my heart. I am part Irish and it plays a somewhat big role in my family. We don't do a lot of traditional Irish things, but we are proud of our heritage. When deciding where I wanted to study abroad, it was almost practically a given. My top two choices were Greece and Ireland. Those were the two places I could see myself thriving and when I checked out Greece first and found out it wasn't going to work, I was glad. I was almost relieved because it made my decision between the two amazing places easier.

While thinking about going to the beautiful island to live and study for a semester, there are of course things that I am nervous about. One of the main things is being away from family and friends for four months. I obviously know that four months is going to fly by, which I am relieved and upset about at the same time, but it is still that uneasy feeling that I will not know a single person while I'm there. Luckily my mom is coming with me for the first few days so I'm not completely alone. Of course being alone isn't always a bad thing. Physically sometimes it can be a good thing, which is what I'm looking forward to. I'm looking forward to getting out of my comfort zone. With being on my own, making new friends from different places across the world, it is scary to think about, but when I leave, I hope those friends I meet will remain my friends for years to follow. It is a thought going through my head that since I really am not the type of person who comes out of my shell frequently, that this adventure will force me to which will end up being the best thing for me. It is an experience that I want to look back on and not regret one single moment, and being alone and finding a deeper version of myself, is a good way to get started in the next chapter of my life.

There are so many things that are making me so excited for this new experience. Just a few to name off the top of my head is the ability to travel where ever I want to go while I'm there because it is so easy to hop from plane to plane to different places. It makes me very excited because I already have one of my roommates, who I have never met before, who wants to go travel everywhere with me. It is a different feeling realizing that since I've always wanted to go travel and go see different places, I now have the means to do so which is what makes me look forward to this experience so much more! Aside from the traveling, just getting to know more about the Irish culture and their traditions, is something I am looking forward to a lot. I want to learn more about what my heritage consists of and to learn straight from the source is pretty cool in my mind. 

When I first told my family that I wanted to study abroad, it was a great day. I wasn't too worried about how they would react or if they didn't want me to go because my entire family, including my parents, have always pushed me to do my best and to learn everything I could ever want to know. My mom was the person who really influenced me with deciding that Ireland was such a great choice. She has been to Ireland before and from all the stories she has told me about her experience while in Ireland, it makes me want to be there already. We are very similar so just by her telling me about the architecture she saw while there and witnessing all the authenticity of everything, made me seal the deal with this decision. My family believes that you learn from your own experiences, mistakes and adventures, which I believe as well. This experience is something I will remember for the rest of my life and I am hoping it will help shape me into the woman I hope to become one day.