SLÁN, ÉIREANN.

Dec 7, 2016
4 min read

Here I am sitting in 3A Moy in the River Apartments at my computer for one of the last times. I have been so excited to go home and have been looking forward to it for so many days but now that I am down to the last few days I am actually here, I am looking back and realizing how much I am really going to miss Maynooth.

I am eighteen years old and I decided to study abroad for my very first semester of college. A lot of people thought that I was crazy for it but many knew that I would be able to do it and encouraged me to go. I remember when I got the letter in the mail about the Maynooth program my mom was not so fond of the idea, but in the end she was the one really encouraging me to go.

I moved into Moy 3A a little over three months ago. I was in a brand new country, and I had never been to Europe before. I knew a select few out of the 22 other Americans that came from UNCW. One of them being my best friend Christian. I was so incredibly lucky to have Christian with me. We have experienced so many new places and met so many new people together and nothing can ever replace the memories we now have from living here together. I am forever grateful to have Christian by my side.

Shortly after arriving in Ireland we adapted to the Irish lifestyle. We learned that Monday's were for the Roost and Wednesday's were for Brady's. Being able to drink here made everything so different. There were no college house parties or frat parties it was simply bars, pubs, and nightclubs. I now have an appreciation for nightclubs and their coatchecks because walking in the freezing cold when you're dressed to be as cool as possible inside a sweaty nightclub is one of the greatest things in the world.

I also have a strong appreciation for my poor old Jeep Grand Cherokee that I love so much. I have literally walked EVERYWHERE. I walk to the grocery store, I walk to the nightclub, I walk to the pizza place, I walk to the train station, etc. And yes, I walk in the rainy 30 degree weather home from the nightclub with my drunk friends at 2am. Those will be some of the best nights I will remember from here. And of course we cant forget the late night trips to Pizza Dog. For those of you who had not seen my snapchats of Pizza Dog, its a pizza place in Maynooth that is basically a nightclub after 12pm and is a really great snack after a night out.

I now have a playlist on my phone that consists of about 30 songs that I have strictly listened to since I have gone to the clubs here in Ireland. Don't ask me what any of the top songs in the US are right now because I literally could not tell you.

I have lived in Ireland all this time. I have travelled to Paris, France; Santorini, Greece; London, England; Frankfurt, Germany and Geneva, Switzerland. That is six countries. More places in the last three months than I have traveled too in my entire life. Many of you know that my bucket list of places to go is never ending and I am always up for traveling to new places and that will never change. This experience has made me want to go to even more places.

I am so thankful to have met some really great friends here that I am so sad to be leaving behind. You don't know how it feels to become such great friends with someone and then have to leave them and you can't wait to come back and see them again until you have done it yourself. I just sad my first goodbye this morning and I did not realize how sad it was going to make me until it actually happened.

I have learned to cook my own meals every single day, manage train and bus times, get up without my dad waking me up every morning, do my laundry when I have run out of clean clothes, get my assignments turned in on time with out being told a hundred times, managed my own money, and learned how hard it is to stay in contact with people at home when you are five hours ahead.

Now before I end up in tears anymore than I already have been about leaving my home here, I threw together a slideshow of some of my favorite pictures from here at Maynooth.

Thank you all for one of the most amazing experiences I will ever have. I can't wait to be back.

All 22 Americans. Jack. Rachel. Cathal. Tom. Ellen. Taghd. Seamus. Kathryn. Sean Tully. Dimitris.

Cheers, Nikki