A life Inspired

As the dreaded flight home approaches all to quickly (just 2 sleeps away), I’ve been thinking a lot about this experience and what I’ll miss the most. Not everybody gets to spend four months in Europe and I want to appreciate all the things I’ve gotten out of this experience. I know I’ll be back some day, but realize that in all likelihood, I won’t be spending this long of a period in Europe again, or at least not for years. 

Here’s what I never want to forget. (there are tears in my eyes right now.)

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If it were up to me, I’d stay in Europe for another month and hit up all the spots I missed, buy beautiful clothing, enjoy the legal purchase and consumption of alcoholic beverages, and overall have the time of my life. 

BUT

I’m about to face a mega reality-check: my time here is nearly up and I’ve started to think about some things that will be GREAT about being home. Later on I’ll do a post about all the things I’ll miss!

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Ok- I’ve definitely neglected this blog for the last couple of weeks. You know the story, I’m busy, slightly overwhelmed by everything I need to accomplish, and trying my best to make the most out of the precious week I have left in the UK. I still want to be able to look back on Ireland and remember stuff, but I’m not going to do it in narrative form this time since it’s already been a week and I’ve already forgotten some things, sadly. Here are 10 things I do remember and love about Ireland. :)

 1. The accents, of course. So charming, yet so hard to understand. Especially when both speaker and listener have consumed a pint or two. 

2. Dublin’s pub crawls are best of the best. Katie and I had a blast at the one that our hostel invited us to, it started small but picked up probably 50 people. We went to four pubs, drank Irish beer (and whiskey, of course), and met some great people! It’s so fun to travel and just see who you run in to. Lots of Canadians and Aussies. 

3. EXPENSIVE. Despite that Ireland’s economy has basically completely dissolved, food, clothes, flights, and souvenirs all added up to.. a lot. 

4. Ireland is so beautiful. I say this about every place I go, but when you’re in Ireland you feel like you’re in a really special place… it just looks so quaint and untouched and just like you would imagine. 

5. Guinness is disgusting. It’s gross, I’m never going to like it, and I don’t see why anyone does. Enough said.

6. I remember feeling realllly lucky to be there (or maybe that was just the luck of the Irish??). It was the last big adventure of my time studying abroad and it was so perfect. And so beautiful.

7. I did a cartwheel in Killarney National Park overlooking the tallest mountains in Ireland. 

8. The Irish are actually very superstitious! There are something called “fairy rings” that are like big circles of oak trees that they believe is where fairies live and should therefore never be disturbed. Even in the middle of a crop or pasture, they fence them off, preventing cows from getting in, etc. They also believe that the Kennedy family once disturbed a fairy ring and was cursed for five generations. 

9. The food was slightly better than that in England. A little more variety, a little more carefully made, and the chips (french fries) weren’t soggy. What a treat.

Ok, that was actually nine things, but I might revisit this later. I have lots of work to do and lots of fun to be had so I’m signing off!

Cheers!

Well tomorrow I’ll officially hit the three-week mark for time left in the UK! Which means I’ve already been back in Winchester for nearly two. Which means.. I better get my ass(ets) into gear and work on some essays. But since I have three weeks left I thought it would be a perfect time to do something I had wanted to do.. well, at the beginning. So every day for the next 21 days I’ll be posting a little visual delight to this blog! I’ll be uploading my favorite photographs from my time here and they could be from just about anywhere or in any order (just wanted to keep you on your toes). I’ll call it my “21 project.” Clever, I know.

Cheers,

Lydia

Well here I am, back in Winchester after a month-long spring break! It was probably the best month of my life and I am so happy to have been able to do that while I’m still able. I’m going to try to recall everything with as much detail as possible but its just so much! Anyway, here goes nothing!

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Michael: Do you need your death trap machine?

Lydia: …Oh you mean my eyelash curler?