I don't wanna leave, but I have to go

Here's my list of things that I will miss, and won't, when I leave my temporary home

I will miss:
How green everything is
People's kindness and their accents
The ability to drink in pubs (I won't turn 21 until late this year)
The fact that pretty much every pub has my preferred drink (hard apple cider)
Taking a bus to the ocean ( I'm going from an island to being landlocked)
Generally preservative free food-it tastes better
Irish Tea
Living in a city

Things I won't miss:
Smoking (people smoke everywhere, it drives me mad)
Food going bad in the blink of an eye (lack of preservatives is a double edged sword)
Boys wearing track suits

There's so much more but nothing else is coming to me at the moment.

Between here and there

Over the next week, I will be preparing for my exams. I have no classes, which is a luxury that I'm not used to. During this week, as a break from studying I'm planning on writing about the things I've learned, my trips, the highlights, the lowlights, things I miss and things I will miss. So be prepared. The following list has things both material and emotional components.

Things I've missed being here:

My family, my friends
My pets
Mexican Food
Chinese Food
Food that is not bland in general
Looking at the mountains every day
Sunsets over said mountains
The smell of pine trees
Having a car (it's frustrating not being able to drive sometimes)
Listening to the radio
Food that doesn't spoil in a couple days
The deep blue color of the sky (it's literally different color, there's science, go look it up)
My bed
Skiing
Having a job and the job I do at home (I know, its weird)
Seeing the lilac bush at our family farm bloom
Playing the violin
Playing the piano and messing around on my guitar, anything musical really


Things I haven't missed:

The smell of weed (I really, really haven't missed this)
American accents (I live with Americans so I hear them anyway)
Snow (with the noted exception of skiing)
Drama (it takes something big to cover the 4000 mile gap)
My classes
The mass of students trying to get between classes
Tax not being built into prices

There are more on both lists but that's what I can think of at the moment. I'll post another set of things love about Ireland and things I won't miss up tomorrow.

Where is the Queue?

I do not have an Irish accent. I'm not even sure I could fake a passible one, it's much harder than you'd expect. However, the words and the way people talk here seems to have invaded my brain. Cheers, class, craic, whats the story, queue...all these things have become a part of my new normal and are something I will likely bring back. I'm going to miss the ability to suggest a night out by simply asking people if they want to go grab a pint. I was reading a book yesterday and for some reason it used the word tornado. In my head, I read it as tore-nah-do instead of tore-nay-do. I stopped reading for a minute in shock. I also found myself questioning why Italians couldn't make an orderly queue over the weekend, which is so incredibly Irish/British of me I'm not even sure how to deal with it.

I'm still alive

So I'm the worst blogger ever. I left you hanging for more than a month. My apologies. It's been a bit crazy so here's the quick and dirty on what's been going on:

Upon my return from Portugal, which feels like forever ago, I wrote 4 papers in 2 weeks and basically didn't go outside. I ate, slept, and did homework. When I finally came up for air it was Friday March 6 and I was leaving for a somewhat spontaneous trip to Germany over part of spring break.

I left at the god forsaken hour of 4am to go the airport to get to Berlin. Everywhere I went in Berlin and Dresden, I met interesting people. It is one of the benefits of traveling alone- you actually meet the locals. I had a blast touring around Berlin. I went to so many museums and saw the coolest stuff. I also enjoyed the beautiful sunshine that so rarely happens here in Ireland. A couple of my German friends helped me get a train ticket to Dresden. Dresden was nearly completely destroyed in WWII but you wouldn't know it looking at the city. The Old city has been reconstructed and the New city is prime example of Communist architecture. While there, I also saw Raphael's Sistine Madonna. It supplanted The Transfiguration (also by Raphael) as my favorite painting (and I've seen a lot of art). Go google them, right now, the post will still be here when you come back.

The Reichstag, Berlin

The Old City, Dresden

Welcome back: I flew back home on Friday the 13th (dun dun dun) because my parents were coming in the next day. The city had been overrun with tourists in my absence and suddenly green St. Patrick's Day (or Paddy's Day as it's known here) stuff was everywhere. I had a blast taking my parents all over Dublin for the second week of my break. They were very much tourists while I was the mildly (or terribly) embarrassed semi-local. It was great craic (fun). Paddy's day was about as crazy as you'd expect. We ended the week on a bus tour to Wicklow, on Dad's birthday no less. He got an extra shot of Jameson and sung to by a bus of tourists. My parents went off to explore the West and Cork, leaving me to go back to class. On Friday the 27th, they came back to Dublin. Dad had to go home the next morning but Mom was staying for a few days more so we headed out to Dingle.

St. Paddy's Day Parade

Dad getting in the spirit

Mom and I had a grand time in Dingle. We walked the beach and took a ton of pictures. We also drank in the pubs while listening to live music. It was hard for me to come back on Monday. Because Mom left Wednesday, she had one more day in Dublin, so I skipped my one class to hang out with her. We went all over the place and even saw a movie. I said bye to her on my way to class Wednesday  morning.

Mom on the Dingle Peninsula

The next day brought about the last and most crazy adventure since you last heard from me: I flew to Rome for Easter. I was part of a tour group with Weekend Student Adventures (WSA). It was 75 students who were studying abroad in Europe that came together for the tour. I think it ranks up there as one of the best weekends I've had in my life and not just because I was in the second row at Easter mass with Pope Francis. I saw all the big tourist things, got sunburned and was completely drenched. More details will be coming along with some pictures.

The Vatican