One month left???

Hello again everyone!

So a few days ago I woke up and realized I only had one month left in Ireland. It was the weirdest feeling I think I've ever had. One, I'm really excited to go back to the states and see my family and friends and start a great summer again on the Vineyard. But two, I really don't want to leave at all and it's going to be so sad leaving this country. Really. It's such a bittersweet feeling and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to handle it...(Here's a picture of the light shining down on one part of a hill in Connemara..also very weird!)

I feel like I saw and did so much but I still need to see and do so much more. I went on amazing trips to London, Paris and Italy. And I especially love that I got to see and do so much in Ireland, the real reason I went abroad. Everytime I went somewhere, it was so nice to be able to come back to my my FAVORITE country and I realized I really did pick the perfect place for me.

Another "weird thing". I've been around the friends, my roommate, and the people in Galway since January. It's going to be so different to just go back to our own schools, go back to life in the US and not see them every single day.

And of course I'm going to miss Ireland life. The friendliness, Irish humor, and most importantly, Garlic sauce for my chips (fries). Oh and seeing cows/sheep on a daily basis...

Although I'm looking forward to summer, I feel like I have another "home" here to add to my list. I have my home in Sagamore Beach with my family, my St. Michael's home that I've missed so much this semester, another summer on the Vineyard-a homey place that feels so familiar, and now my abroad home, Ireland. Each of those places give me the same friendly, homey feeling and I wonder if its possible to call four places home. So if someone asks me where are you from? am I supposed to give the long winded answer, "well I'm from Sagamore Beach, I go to college at St. Mike's, I spend summer on Martha's Vineyard, but I also lived in Ireland?" I guess I can just accept that no matter where I go, I have four favorite places in the world (so far) and I can call each one of them home. Whenever we went some place, a friend would say "I could have studied here!" or "I feel like I could live here!" but the only place that really did that for me was Ireland and it made me realize each time how lucky I was to be here.

So here I am within my last few weeks and since I've been back in Italy I've been finishing up my last few final essays and trying to do as much as possible. I finished my last essay just this morning which means I have less than a month to cram everything in and take full advantage of my family coming in two weeks! :)

In the next month, I have a trip to Dublin planned with my family and we are also going to go up North to see Belfast, where my family is from. I also want to try to take some day trips and make sure I see all my friends one last time in Cork, Limerick and Dublin. I was talking to my Aunt from Galway at Easter, telling her how much I didn't want to go home of course and she told me that I can at least try to go back once a year. Now it's a stretch and I'm not sure if my financial budget will allow me, but I think it would be a nice goal to try to come back once a year or as much as I can. My friend who studied abroad in Galway two spring semesters ago, has been back 8 times already. I guess its just that kind of place. :)

So now that I'm officialy done with school, I'm going to take advantage of everything Galway has to offer. My roommate turns 21 in a few days, we're going to take trips to the Salthill beach not to far away now that the weather is nice and just spend as much time in Galway as possible. And then eventually, my study abroad trip will have come to a close. So, I've included some little pictures along the way here of Ireland. I'll keep everyone updated and talk to you soon!