Now that I am half way through college, I have grown accustomed to airports. The hassle of traveling from Chicago to Newport has always been well worth it for me because I love school. I would call Salve my home now as well, which makes traveling easier. However, there is nothing harder than saying goodbye to the people and places you love for moths on end. When I left for Ireland, I knew I would miss home in the same way that I do when I am at Salve, but recently I experienced a new kind of homesick. I was homesick for Ireland.
I am well into my semester in Ireland now and have started to travel outside the country. A few weeks ago I went to Amsterdam for two days on my own before meeting family friends in Germany, and I experienced the most surprising feeling as I left Dublin airport. I felt the same kind of ache that I sometimes feel when I leave Chicago. A significant part of studying abroad for most people is having the opportunity to travel through different parts of the world, but I have grown to love living in Ireland to the point where I was sad to leave for a few days! I did not fully understand how much I loved living in Ireland until I was leaving that weekend. It was a bitter sweet moment to be feeling this kind of sadness as I was leaving for an exciting trip. It made me happy to know that I have found a place that I love living in just as much as my home in Chicago. I will continue to travel and see other parts of Europe with the remainder of my semester, but I will spend the bulk of it in Ireland so I can truly say that I wasn’t just a visiter.
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