Fleeting Fantasyland

What I really owe all you readers and myself is a long update on what I've been doing over here in Ireland, but I'm going to write today about something else related to my study abroad experience and to my life in general.

Ever since I've been here, there has been a ticking timer, ready to go off at any second that will signal the end of my Irish adventure and the return to my American one.  Never in my life have I had such a defined deadline for the end of a chapter in my life.  In grammar school, I had eleven years in the same place so it never seemed that the clock was really ticking... when it was time for graduation, I was ready to be gone.  In high school, I had four years... but at the end of this time, too, I was ready to move on.  Of course at the end of it I was frustrated with the fact that I still hadn't gotten to know everyone in my class, but I knew that I needed to get out and live on my own.  And even before I came to Ireland, I wasn't ready for my time at SLU to be over... I knew I was going back there, but I was thinking about all the things I would be missing out on there while I was gone.  And now I have this time in Ireland... this four month period where I am supposed to assimilate into the Irish lifestyle, make friends, learn about a culture, do schoolwork, travel, have fun... all this in four months???

This time in Ireland is passing so quickly; I now only have a month and a half left here.  I know I need to focus on the present, on enjoying every last bit of time I have here, but it is so hard to do when I know that I have met so many awesome people and have had such a short time with them.  If they are meant to stay in my life, we will stay in touch, right?  From past experience I know that I am terrible at keeping in touch with my friends when we are far away.  This time I have here with them is so temporary and so beautiful and so happy and so sad.  We can only stay here for a short period of time and then we must move on... and it is that way with all of life, I suppose.  So maybe my time here abroad is a life lesson in more ways than one... it is showing me the volatile nature of life... nothing is permanent.  And love and experiences can still be strong even if they are over in the proverbial blink of an eye.

So after all that wisdom and whining I've shared with you here, I'll treat you with a quick rundown of what has been going on in my life. 

I know I teased you with the thought of another post on my second round of adventures with the Irish cousins, but I ended up getting sick and not being able to go to Westport!  I was so sad and disappointed the whole weekend and for the next few weeks after that.  Luckily I was able to go see them again!

So I had a lazy weekend in Galway while I was sick, feeling miserable not only that I was missing one of my few chances to see the Irish cousins but also because I was sick in the most unwelcoming apartment possible, without the comforts of home.  The next weekend, however, was a huge improvement.  It was my first international travel since I'd been to Ireland--BELGIUM!  I was going to see two of my best friends, Erica and Joey, who are studying in Brussels.  Honestly, this weekend was exactly what I needed.  At this point, after being in Ireland for a little over a month, I was getting really homesick... more people sick than homesick, but you understand I'm sure.  And getting to see these people who are like home to me, who know me and understand me and accept me was SO WONDERFUL.  Like unexplainably wonderful.  We were of course in Brussels for most of the time, but the first day I was there we also went to Bruges, this beautiful medieval city.  Ahhh honestly, I felt like it was the town where Belle (Beauty from Beauty and the Beast) lived, even though she was from France.  I mean, Belgians speak French, too, right??  Haha even though in Bruges they actually speak Dutch.  But I digress. 

The next weekend, I had hiking adventures in Sligo, a county in Ireland.  I was traveling with some new friends... two American girls, Victoria and Emily, a German boy, Norman, and two French boys, Remi and Florian.  We didn't know each other all that well at first, but by the end of the weekend we were all very close.  It was the perfect group of people--we all were up for adventure and were in no hurry to get anywhere.  We climbed up this hill called Knocknarea, where Queen Maeve is buried.  It was one of the best weekends I've had in Ireland.  We got to sing songs, tell stories, see the most beautiful scenery... and once we got to Sligo it didn't rain all weekend!  That is an honest-to-God miracle in Ireland.

The next weekend I got to go see my Irish cousins again =] This time I stayed with Fiona the first night and Sinead the second night.  It was a very relaxed, very fun weekend.  One of the things I've loved about being in Ireland is that people take the time to go visit each other without an occasion, something I haven't really experienced in America.  I guess this also stems from the fact that Padraig's kids, all seven of them, live in the same neighborhood so it is a lot easier for them to visit each other than for my family to visit each other at home.  Nonetheless, I've really appreciated this close proximity of family here.

Two weekends ago, I went to visit my friend Claire in Leiden, the Netherlands.  It is a beautiful city and I loved all the bicycles.  When we went to Amsterdam we went to Anne Frank's house, which was a particularly special experience for me as I have always loved Anne Frank.  I used to read all about her, watch movies about her... I am basically and Anne Frank buff.  I got chills when I was in her bedroom.  The rooms aren't furnished anymore because Otto Frank, Anne's father and the only member of the Secret Annexe to survive the Holocaust, wanted it to always remain unfurnished like it was after the Nazis came there and arrested everyone in hiding.  But they still had the pictures that Anne had pasted on the walls, the map that Otto Frank used to track the British invasion, and the marks on the wall of how tall the girls had grown while they were in hiding.  After that trip I was inspired to reread Anne Frank's diary and am actually currently working on it.

So this past weekend was my first in Galway in four weeks... I was glad to be back but I was also feeling restless because I'd become so used to traveling.  It ended up being a much-needed relaxing weekend.

And now, this weekend, I will be in Galway again.  I am looking forward to the next few weeks since my parents are coming, Erica and Joey are visiting, and the week after next my friend Clare (studying in Rome) will be coming to visit!  I am going to soak up as much of Ireland as possible in the next few weeks!  I need to make the most out of my temporary adventure, this fleeting fantasyland.  I'll post pictures soon!