I am staring down the home stretch of my abroad experience. I am so excited to finally see my family and friends again, after these four months without them. There are so many different things I am excited for, from hot showers, to groceries that last longer than a day, and my big comfortable bed. In just two short weeks I will be back home and starting the everyday routine I have mastered so well over my life. Eventually I will start waking up, going to class, homework, going to bed, and then repeating. On the weekends I will have a great time with all of my friends, but then start the week again. I will have the same Loyola experience I have loved for two years. I will realize even more how fortunate I have been to have the experiences that I have had here in Ireland, and Europe in general. I can look back and see how on Sunday morning instead of staring up at Father Jack in mass, just a few short months ago I was listening to the Pope giving me a similar blessing. I was able to explore so much of Europe in four months, and learned endless amounts of life long information that will travel with me forever.
As much as I love home, I will forever have a soft spot for Ireland in my heart. The abroad experience coming to an end has reminded me even more of why I love Cork so much. In Ireland it simply all comes down to the people here, that truly is the charm of the country. The people here constantly surprise me with how kind and genuine they are. For example, the other day in Starbucks there was a blind woman in the coffee shop, one of the workers took time away from what she was doing to personally escort the woman from station to station so she could get her coffee with no issues. The worker was looking for nothing in return, just simply wanted to make getting coffee for this woman as easy as possible. Another situation that happened yesterday really reminded me why I love the Irish so much. We emailed a woman who worked at the Pro Shop at Old Head Golf Course and asked if the shop would be open because several of us wanted to buy our Dad's stuff from this legendary and beautiful course. The woman emailed us back and said the shop would be open until 5:30 on Friday, but just not on the weekend. So we hopped on the bus to Kinsale, then took a cab out to the golf course. (It was the most beautiful golf course I have ever seen. It sits on a peninsula so you are over looking cliffs into the Atlantic Ocean from every point on the course) We walk out of the cab, the driver very skeptical about the course being open. We make it around to the main office and the woman tells us that she will double check, but since the course is closed she doubts we will make it to the shop. Next thing we know we are led into the beautiful club house, and another woman, Rose, leads us right into the shop. There is little on the shelves, but she took out many different shirts in many different colors and sizes to show us. She helped each of us personally pick out the perfect shirts for our Dad's. Then when we were done she took us on a private tour of the whole club house, just because she wanted us to get to see as much as we could since the course was closed. This is one of the best experiences I have had in Ireland, we were given an opportunity to visit one of the best golf courses in the world, because the woman chose to help us out. Both of these people are why I am going to miss Ireland.
These two weeks come as a bitter sweet moment. I am so excited to be home, but I do not know if I am truly ready to say goodbye to Ireland. This place has taught me so much. With two weeks left I just don't know how I am going to come to terms with the phrase "Until We Meet Again." Luckily I do still have two weeks and instead of thinking about leaving, I will enjoy the time I have.
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