How is it possible that it’s already week nine and my time here is almost over? It seems like it just began. I apologize that it’s been a few weeks since I’ve last written, some weeks there just not much to report on.

When I made the decision to study abroad, I was prepared to just stay in Ireland. I didn’t have any expectations of visiting other countries, that way I wouldn’t be disappointed if I didn’t. I wanted to fully submerge myself in Ireland and soak up every piece of it before I even began to think about traveling. However, I did take a trip to London this last weekend and it was phenomenal. On the first day in London my friends and I saw all of the touristy things such as Big Ben, London Tower Bridge, London Bridge, and Buckingham’s Palace. The second day my dream came true and I saw the performance of The Lion King at the famous Lyceum Theater in London. I could have died that day and been a happy woman. Later that evening we met up with my friend’s cousin who lives there and he showed us some of the less touristy parts of London. It was a great experience to see the best of both worlds. We were there for two full days and I really feel like we covered a vast majority of London. Standing in front of these famous places didn’t seem real. I’d spent so much of my life seeing these monuments on television, hearing, and reading about them that to finally see them in person was surreal. There’s so few words to describe what it was like to see those monuments, the only thing I can say is that it really did not feel real: it was phenomenal.

The two things that took some adjusting two in London was the transportation and currency. I’ve almost mastered the bus schedule within Ireland, however public transit in London is a completely different story. They have trains, the tube, busses, etc. It was a chaotic mess. I’m thankful to have been with friends who have traveled internationally before and actually understood how it worked. The currency was also a bit of an adjustment. I’d finally gotten use to  Euros when all of a sudden I had to switch over to pounds. The exchange fluctuated between 1.5 and 1.9 during my time there, which made everything so expensive.  All in all though, it was an incredible trip!

When I left to study abroad I left my boyfriend behind. Because of that, I’ve spent the vast majority of my time counting down the days until I’m reunited with him. I think that I’ve been very preoccupied with the idea of coming home, that I missed out on otherwise fun opportunities. I’m thankful for great man who I have in my life, but sometimes I can’t help but wonder how different this experience would have been if I didn’t have one-if I wasn’t so focused on coming home.

I’ve had incredible adventures and opportunities while I’ve been here, but looking back on the last 9 weeks, I don’t think I’ve taken as full advantage of the experience as I necessarily “should” have.

On a less depressing note, I have not managed to get sick while I’ve been here which is an absolute first, seeing a last year along I had the flu 3 times. It also hasn’t rained NEARLY as much as I expected, in fact, it’s been clear skies almost every day. My red rain boots won’t be coming into use after all. I also booked a trip to Scotland AND I changed my plane ticket to come home a week earlier as I’ll be done with finals. Two things I’m very excited about.

Here are a few pictures of my trip to London

Buckingham’s Palace

I’m probably the only person who thinks this, but I absolutely hate hostels. Instead we used Air bnb and got this adorable little room. For three nights it was only 64$ for each of is.

Buckingham’s Palace

Big Ben

London Tower Bridge

As mentioned earlier, trying to understand the tube was absolutely chaotic. I think I’ll stick to my car.

Lyceum theater where I saw the performance of The Lion King

If there was one thing I was missing more than Starbucks and my boyfriend was Chipotle. I made it my mission the moment I stepped off the plane to find one AND I DID! It was the best 17$ burrito I’ve ever had.