That reason, ladies and gentlemen is that on Friday evening my parents will be boarding a plane to IRELAND!!! They are coming for my mom's spring break, arriving on Saturday morning and leaving Monday a week later and we are going to travel all over Ireland together. I am so excited for them to come. Not only do I miss them and will be happy to see them, but I am so excited to get to see more of Ireland. I have been here for almost 3 months and have pretty much stayed around Galway. Other than exploring Galway (what I like to think of as "my" city), and a 3-day stint in Dublin when we first arrived, I have only done a day-trip to the Aran Islands. So, needless to say I am excited to see more of this country which I have called home for the past 3 months. And, my mom has been planning an exciting, all encompassing, well-researched itinerary so all I have to do is tag along (and skip a few classes).
I cannot believe they are coming on Saturday. When I left the States back in January, March 26th seemed so far off. Back then I had still never been off the North Atlantic continent, and the majority of my travel experience consisted of the eastern seaboard of the US. I hadn't yet fallen in love with Barcelona, visited Victoria at her home in London, or toured the conflict rich areas of Belfast. I hadn't learned how to "have the craic" (not the drug) or that things could be "grand". Yet since I am still here in the middle of it, it often doesn't hit me how life-changing and awesome this experience is.
And, it is about to get even better! My parents come, and we travel together for a week and then on the 5th, my friend Courtney and I leave for spring break. For a week. In ITALY! We booked this trip a while ago, but it still isn't hitting me that I am going to ITALY. I have always wanted to go to Italy and take pictures and just BE there. I can't believe I am actually going. FOR A WEEK. That's one of those crazy things about being abroad. You can just go to Italy for a week. We start in Venice (which I am soooooo excited for), then Florence where we both have friends which will be AWESOME! and then we are heading to Rome. It is going to be incredible, I am so excited!!!
From there I head to COPENHAGEN to visit some friends and then back to Galway on the 15th. Then, the work starts. I have 5 exams sprinkled over the next month and will pretty much be studying/taking exams non-stop. There is a little weekend trip to Bath, England to visit Kelsey sprinkled in there, but it is going to be a whirlwind of academic activity. I hope my brain can handle it after all of this time doing relatively nothing.
But, after all that I finish my last exam on May 10th, take a day to pack and say goodbye to Galway and then fly out of Shannon early in the morning on May 12th (that is, if I hear back from the travel agent confirming that I can switch to that flight). So, I will be home in NJ in just 1.5 months time. And this life-changing, awesome experience will be over. I can't believe it has gone so quickly.
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