Living The Life Across The Pond

When I first decided to study abroad, it came as a shock to me. I wasn't normally one of those people who wants to step out of their comfort zone, go on adventures, especially if those adventures were half way across the world for half a year. It was just something I wasn't expecting. Now that I am here and have been here for almost 6 weeks, I can't believe that was my mindset at one point. Just spending the short amount of time I have already experienced while living here, I know I would have regretted it so much if I backed out. It might sound so stupid because no one can change "that much" in such a short period, but I can already tell I've become more confident. I feel okay doing things on my own, even if it's small things such as going downtown by myself, but it is still a small step in the right direction. I'm learning to let go and enjoy myself more.

Of course with how amazing these past few weeks have been, there are certain things that I miss being so far away from home. I miss things like doing Fall activities like carving pumpkins and going to apple orchards and corn mazes with my family and friends, enjoying watching Halloween movies, walking into my house and having my dogs greet me, as well as little stuff just like enjoying a cup of coffee while sitting on my porch watching the rain come down. It is the little stuff that really makes me realize I won't be able to do that here with the people I love. After I think that though, I convince myself that this is such a once in a lifetime opportunity and I should not dwell on the things I cannot do, but to embracing the things I can. With Fall leading into Winter being my absolutely favorite time of the year it forces me to realize that it is an annual thing, and next year I'll be able to do what I'm "missing" from doing back home. It puts into perspective that I'll see my family soon and I shouldn't waste the time I have here.

Going off of that, I have been doing different things and keeping myself busy, in a good way of course, to take my mind off of missing the little things. Since the last time I wrote I haven't done many different big activities, but I have kept busy and have enjoyed my relaxation time. Classes have been going pretty good still. I can still say that I enjoy the material I'm learning which is good. My daily schedule is pretty ordinary. I wake up, eat breakfast, go to class, come home, eat dinner, do homework, watch some Netflix if I have time, then go to bed and repeat the next day. I'm okay with this routine because it is steady and it forces me to do my homework right away and not continuously put it off.

Last week, I did break from routine though because I met some family friends from the states for dinner. My deacon from my church back home and his wife, Deacon Tim and Mrs. Deacon Tim, were traveling all around Ireland the last week of September and the first week of October. They ended up flying out of Dublin, but the night before they left, we met up for dinner downtown Dublin at Chamber's. After dinner, we ended up going to get some gelato from Gino's, if anyone is surprised because by now it is my favorite food place here in Dublin. While eating our Gino's, we walked around Grafton street late at night. I have to admit it was very bizarre showing someone where I have been, being comfortable and confident walking around showing them and telling them what my life has been like since arriving in Ireland. I felt like a sort of tour guide, except for my life. It was a weird experience, but I liked it. I loved being able to get excited about talking about this little parlor right around the corner that has amazing gelato, as well as recommendations for dinner because I've been there before and really liked it. The only thing I wasn't able to show them was St. Stephen's Green and that was just because it closed at dusk and it obviously was dark out when we were done with dinner so it didn't work out. I did though, before meeting DT and Mrs. DT, I walked around Grafton street to run a few errands, saw some gorgeous flowers that were being sold, then walked through St. Stephen's Green on my own time because it was sort of on the way to the hotel we were meeting at. Walking through it, I realized that it was even prettier than the first time I went there. Since Fall was arriving that particular week, the leaves were changing color and some were starting to fall. It was a gorgeous view and I'm glad I took that slight detour before dinner.

I got back to my daily routine after that, but then the weekend came. My roommate Nicole and I weren't traveling anywhere because we wanted to have a bit of a break, so we decided to spend the day downtown, shopping and then we bought tickets to go to a rugby match that Saturday. It was super fun because as I said above, we walked around downtown, ate some food, then made our way to the match. We got off at the bus stop and didn't really know where to go, but apparently it was a big game because we followed a huge crowd wearing the rugby team's athletic gear so we put two and two together and assumed they were all going to the match. We arrived at the match, went to our seats and the game immediately started. Nicole and I related rugby to a mix of football, soccer and wrestling. In my opinion it is a spot on explanation because although I have watched rugby before, this game was different. It looked like there were barely any rules, but that made it so much more fun. The first half was 40 minutes and because of the game barely ever stopping, the time flew by. Same with the second half, which was also 40 minutes. The match was so fun that I would highly recommend people to go to at least one in their life. The team we were rooting for, which was Dublin's team, Leinster, ended up winning 30 to 22 so that was also super cool to witness. After the game, Nicole and I decided to go get some ice cream to end the night and everyone can guess where we went. Gino's has to be the best gelato I've ever tasted and because I've gone a few times, I'm trying to get a different flavor each time I go so I can try them all before I leave. It is a challenge I have accepted and the passionfruit sorbet that I got that night has to be one of my tops so far.

This upcoming week and a half my aunt is coming to visit me and it is also the middle mark of my semester classes so after that I will be writing more. I will have a lot to talk about so look forward to it!