I don't have a picture from today so I'm not posting one for this blog entry - sorry. I'll try to stop this too, I promise! This is just going to be some random thoughts, okie dokie smokie? Cool. Here goes.
Thought Number One.
In case you haven't noticed, which I'm thinking is highly unlikely because this is pretty obvious, but I number my posts based on how many days have elapsed from the time I've started my blog. And for some reason, since I started doing this, I had this specific number in my head. I have no idea why, but whenever I would think about that number it was always something like, "When I've posted this many times, that means I'm really far along on this trip." I would think about what I would be doing and how I would be feeling about being in Dublin when I finally reached that specific day. Well anyway, that number was 27. Don't ask me why, it was just the number that popped into my head one day. And that was yesterday. And it's weird because I guess I'm not really where I thought I would be when that day came.
But it's confusing because I don't really know where I thought I would be on day/post 27. I think I thought that I would still be super excited to be in Dublin and I would be smiling all the time and acting how I was acting when I got off the plane. And...I'm not. Which leads me to my next thought.
Thought Number Two.
The Study Abroad office back home was really adamant about the fact that all of us would experience culture shock. First would be the honeymoon stage, next would be the "homesick" stage, and lastly would be the "adjustment" stage. After a couple of weeks of being in a new place, the honeymoon phase starts to fade and next thing you know, you miss home and really want to go home. And while I think that I've already passed that stage, I think I'm somewhere in between the homesick and adjustment stage.
I don't think I'm homesick, but I think I am more excited than any of the other girls to get home and get back to the familiarity that home provides. And I don't think a day has passed that I haven't thought about home. I get excited to get off work so I can go back to the apartment and spend a lot of time on Facebook talking to people from home, emailing people from home, and I keep thinking about what things are going to be like when I get home and what foods from the US I am missing and what I am going to eat the minute I get back.
Even though I am thinking about home and my family and my friends constantly, I don't miss them to an extent where I'm not comfortable being here. Because I am. I am very comfortable here and I really love Dublin - I could see myself moving here one day. And now that I have figured out the lay of the land, and how the bus routes work and which way the cars are going to come from, I'm comfortable walking around town by myself. So it's not that I'm uncomfortable being in a foreign country....I think I'm just anxious to start my life again in Fort Collins. And maybe that's just a feeling that I get during the summer or I really am homesick...I don't know.
The other thing that I think adds to this, is that I've been working for three weeks now, and I've been here for about a month. And I get up everyday, catch the bus, go to work, have a lunch break, get off work and catch the bus home. The things that are unfamiliar to me that categorize my surroundings as a foreign country are turning TOO familiar. But it isn't the familiar that I am used to from Colorado - it is a different kind of familiar (sounds contradictory...). The honeymoon stage is definitely over, because everything is....banal.
I keep forgetting that I am in a foreign country. I am in IRELAND for goodness sakes! And I'm not taking advantage of that. I'm going to look back on my two months spent in Ireland and be resentful of it because I'm not doing the things that I can't experience in the US. I spend my weekdays working and then coming home and staying in because I need to get up early for more work the next day and because I want to talk to people from home. That is silly. I need to go out and EXPERIENCE experiences. How do I expect to enjoy my time in Ireland if all I am doing is working and sleeping?!
For example, Tuesday night's "pint" turned into more than one pint and we went downtown and experienced pubs and a really great Irish restaurant. And yes, I was tired the next day, but I had a really fun time that night. I am going to miss out on those things if I don't do something while I'm out here.
Hmm...worked through that pretty well, huh?
Anyway, now I'll update.
This weekend the girls all went to Galway, and they left right after they got off work. I decided to opt out for a couple of reasons...
1. I have a 20 page paper I need to work on.
a. I haven't started yet
b. I want to finish it by the time my Mom gets out here
I. I want to enjoy traveling around Ireland WITHOUT worrying about my paper.
c. It's due in less than a month
d. Did I say I haven't started it yet?
e. I. NEED. TO. START.
2. My Mom and I are going to go to Galway when she gets out here. And hopefully we'll stay there for two days. So I don't want to spend money on something I'll be seeing twice.
Unfortunately, I'm all alone :( For the whole weekend :( And I'm missing out on what the group is doing :(
It'll be lonely this weekend...but hopefully that will motivate me to actually research. Hopefully I'll be so bored that I won't have an excuse to NOT do my paper. We'll see how that goes.
So...my plan for tomorrow is a good one. I still need to find a library I can use so I can actually write my paper. If it isn't pouring tomorrow (which I really really really hope it isn't) then I'm going to get up early and head to the Trinity library and see if I can access their resources. I'm thinking I won't be able to, but it's worth a try. If that doesn't work then I'm going to head down to DCU and try there...so hopefully that works. If I have luck somewhere then I'm going to spend my day researching, and if it doesn't work out then I'm going to walk around Grafton street, maybe go shopping (those shoes are SO cute!) and hang out down in the City Centre so I'm not trapped in the apartment all day. I'm going to clean on Sunday too. Oh and I need to go grocery shopping.
I finished my book the other day! I'm so glad I was able to finish it. I wouldn't necessarily say that it was good...the writing wasn't that great but the information is good to know. Really good to know. But I also don't know if I would recommend that book to other people honestly. If you want to learn about rape then read it but just be aware that it's really tough to read.
Alrighty. I think that's it. Sorry for the long-winded post with no picture. I'm misleading you all. I'm going to stop procrastinating and find a speech to write about. I'll definitely post tomorrow because I'll have time...but hopefully it won't be because I'm bored! Have a good day everyone (mine is almost over!).
