What I have learned...

So as my time here is quickly coming to an end I figured I would reflect on my past three months while in Ireland..
When I first arrived in Carlow, Ireland I was scared and completely out of my element. Though things haven't went exactly as I expected them to I have no regrets in my decision to study abroad. When looking back I remember having some bad times such as being terribly home sick and missing my family. But besides my personal emotions we also had issues with our living situations..one difference between American and Europe teens is Americans are a lot more mature. Living in a student complex and being with first year students has been challenging.. we have had rocks thrown at our windows and through out letter hole that night resulting in us having to call the Grada to make the situation better. Then there was the time our dinner got stolen because the boys who live here think its amusing to steal food. Oh and the boys favorite thing to do is egg people's windows thankfully that only happened once. Though situations like these have occurred here I am pleased to say that I can look back at laugh at what I have witnessed here. Also I am happy to say that I made a lot of friends with the Irish students around me. Thankfully my Irish roommates have been absolutely amazing and I couldn't imagine my time here without them. I have also made friends with two other girls and I am so grateful I did. These girls really made my time here enjoyable.

Some things I have noticed between America and Ireland...
1. Ireland does not have Ranch dressing!! Very depressing but thankfully my mom sent me some!!
2. Common dinners for my Irish roommates consist of bacon or chicken stir fry. But the chicken stir fry is in a white sauce and completely different than what you would expect it to be. My normal dinner was tacos or a chicken salad or some form of pasta. My Irish roommates were amused but the dinners we made because they were so different that ours.
3. It is very very common to walk miles and miles daily while in Europe. Having my car when I go home is defiantly going to be the best thing ever. I will never in my life take cars for granted or the fact that I don't need to walk a mile daily to school.
4. When people drink here they drink to get completely drunk.. Americans I feel understand the meaning of limits and not over drinking here it is about having good "crack".
5. Tea is the number one drink! I have never drank so much tea in my life!! They use electrical tea kettles and when I get home I will have one in my house to make tea hopefully daily :) Oh and they put milk in their tea which I have never saw until here and I am proud to say that I started doing it as well.
6. Instead of bars like Southside has to offer Ireland has a large amount of pubs. These are what Americans would call dive bars back home. But the pubs environment are awesome there is always some Irish band or some kind of Irish music playing in the back ground.


All in all my experience hasn't been what I expected and at times it has been very difficult but I will forever cherish the moments I have had here. This experience has been way more than I have expected. I have been to Ireland, Germany, Italy, France and England and I am only twenty years old. How many people at my age can say they accomplished that in a short three month time span. I am very grateful for what I was able to do in my time here and I feel I have grown to be a better person. I am able to live on my own away from my parents and survive. I am also able to deal with my own obstacles and not have to rely on my mom to get me out of situations.

My time here has went by very fast but 96 days is a long time away from your family and loved ones and I am pleased to say I am ready to go home and resume my life back in the states :) The fact that I am going home still hasn't fully hit me everything seems so surreal and I can't even begin to imagine what my feelings are going to be when I step off that plane and walk towards my family.

Well I did it I have made it to December!! Nothing new and exciting has happened in the past few weeks until last weekend December 8 through the 11. Chrissy, Shawna and I went to London and Paris. We left on Thursday had a day in London then early Friday morning was on the Chunnel to go to Paris for a day and a half.

London was beautiful. While we were there we went on the London Eye and got to see the whole city. The views were incredible. Growing up I remember seeing London and movies and think how magically and pretty it was. Well being able to see it for myself I am pleased to say it lead up to my expectations and more. Along with the London Eye we saw Big Ben, Winchester Abbey, and went shopping on Oxford Street (which reminded me a lot of a street in New York). All in all it was an amazing experience.
Then there was Paris! Ugh I can't even begin to express how beautiful the Eiffel tower all lite up was. I will forever remember standing on the sidewalk counting down the minutes until it was five till the hour and the Eiffel tower came to life!! We wanted to go up and get the full experience of the tower but when we arrived there was actually a bomb threat! So when they reopened the place was ridiculously busy and myself being exhausted from all the traveling and freezing just wasn't up to waiting in line. My favorite thing we did was putting a love lock on the love lock bridge for my boyfriend and I to go back and take it off together sometime in the future. Though Paris is full of bridges with locks we went to the originally bridge called L'archeveche it is located behind the Norte Dame.
Though our time was limited in both places we manage to get a lot accomplished. I saw way more than I could ever dream of in my time there in London and Paris and being able to experience each place was the greatest thing to ever happen to me. I can't wait to go home and share my stories but also to be able to come back to Europe and visit London and Paris again and hopefully have a few days at each location.