Reflecting on last semester I am so glad I decided to stay the entire year. If anyone is debating between studying abroad for one semester or the academic year I would encourage you to choose the academic year. I think if I had gone back to the US and back to UF after the Fall semester I would’ve had so much reverse culture shock from not just the academics, but the way of life. My life here in Dublin has become the new “norm”, I now know what it means to call another country home.
Over the five week holiday we had for Christmas and New Years I met my family in Amsterdam and we got to spend the two week US holiday in Europe which was an amazing opportunity and experience. I did, however, keep wanting to go back to my new home, Dublin. As much as I miss my friends from the US, I felt myself missing my friends from Dublin just as much.
Last semester was nice and I got to learn and live all while experiencing the ups and downs of being in a new country. Upon receiving my results for the fall semester last week I became less stressed with the academic side of this experience as I now understand the grading system and how harshly or nicely exams can be marked. This semester I have no classes with my friends from last semester, and many of them have gone abroad themselves, but so far we have been able to study together, go get breakfast together (Breakfast Club with Chloe going strong!), and just hang during the day. I’ve even gone to some of their classes even though I’m not enrolled! Having that community of people this semester has made me feel solid in the foundation I have layed here in Ireland, but it makes me melancholic when I reflect on my friends here who have left to go abroad themselves as it leads to thoughts about the end of the semester and having to say goodbye to the people I see every day of the week. Reflecting on my academics further, I have realized how amazing of an opportunity I have been given with the research position I have at Trinity with Ciaran Simms. I am working on a biomechanics-based project and through it I have been able to gain hands-on experience in tracking kinematics, writing abstracts, and human-subject data collections. Ciaran has become an amazing mentor for me academically and I would have never met him if I didn’t take the chance to study here at Trinity.
I have also found some of my favorite places to get tea, coffee, and meet up with friends. During the weeks I was in Dublin after the holiday I took with my family and before classes started I was working on my research project, reading academic research articles, drawing, thrifting, and meeting up with some of my best friends here to catch up. I frequented two coffee shops and found my favorite spots to sit and chill during the mornings and afternoons. The Cake Cafe is one of my absolute favorite spots (I haven’t been able to go recently due to my laziness on the weekends and school) and has amazing cakes, teas, and brunch. Along with that cafe, I love to go to Shoe Lane and get a matcha to sip while I read and draw. Recently, my bestest friend Chloe and I have made a pact to go to breakfast once a week – we call it Breakfast Club – (and lunches occasionally) to just have that time where we can catch up due to us not having classes with each other. I have found some amazing new spots to go to from doing this and have enjoyed slowing it down on those mornings we spend together.
As promised in one of my previous posts, below are some pictures I’ve taken since last posting.
The Global Gator 