For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to travel to Europe. Greece was always my destination, and maybe I will get there soon, but I ended up having the opportunity to study in Ireland for four and a half months. I took that opportunity and ran as fast I could with it. For the last few months, all I have been talking about is studying abroad in Ireland, or telling people, “Oh my gosh, cool, those are super cute shoes; I could totally see myself wearing those in Ireland!” I’m sure I got real annoying, real fast, but I just couldn’t help it. I was excited to finally be going to Europe, I was excited to have the chance to discover a new city and university, and I was excited to make new friends. The fact that the drinking age here is only 18 was also enticing, but not my whole reason for coming to Ireland.

I left the US from Orlando, Florida. The flight was pretty long, but we didn’t hit much turbulence, so that was good. My only problem with the flight was the airline that I had taken, Aer Lingus. They had lied to me (on record), which caused me to not only be forbidden from bringing my emotional support animal abroad, but also ended up costing me thousands of more dollars to find housing. I spoke to a representative before I made my flight reservation and was told that I could bring my ESA with me on the plane, and that the fact that he was a cat was not an issue. So I booked my flight and made the arrangements in Ireland to have Phoenix with me. That was already a burden because not only is housing fairly scarce, but most are also not super pet friendly. Then to have the company turn around and say that no, I wasn’t allowed my ESA because he was a cat, made me beyond angry. Phoenix was going to have to stay with my mom. And as hard as it may be, I was still going to Ireland.

From the airport in Dublin I took a bus ride to the train station, where I caught a train to Cork. (I later found out that a bus also went to Cork from Dublin, and it would have saved me about 40 euro, but here we are.) The train ride was fairly spectacular, though. I had never been on a train before, so that was a novel experience all on its own. I met a nice woman who gave me an orange, and another who offered to buy me tea. I saw so many fluffy sheep grazing in the rolling green hills, and I saw a double rainbow that almost made me tear up. I then took a taxi to my apartment in Cork. The apartment I’m staying in is a very small studio, just a five minute walk from campus. My landlord was also very sweet, but she was a bit sad that I didn’t have my cat-- she had been excited to meet him. After a day’s worth of traveling, I finally got to sleep.

The first full day I was in Cork, I didn’t get to do much exploring. I had orientation and then pretty much went home and went right to sleep. We had orientation again the next morning, and afterwards some of the students took us all out to a pub to get to know the area a little better and maybe make a few friends. That was a totally blast. The friends I made were so nice and great fun. I found a cool pub to go out to sometimes, and I was able to navigate to other places easily. We got into a small debate with some locals about politics back home, but that was half the craic! (Craic is an Irish term for fun!) The next day I made some more friends at breakfast, and we explored the city until all of our feet hurt.

We saw Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral.

And we went along one of Cork’s “Cork Walks” through the woods and by the river.

We also explored more of downtown, but those areas weren’t quite as photogenic (i.e. I couldn't get a good photo, or I couldn't get one without there being strangers right in the middle).

I still have a lot of places to explore and people to meet, and I sometimes forget that I’m even in Ireland, but I know this semester is going to be grand. Our classes are starting in just a few days, and I look forward to seeing how they differ from the classes I have taken at home. In the coming months I am going to try and take more pictures than I ever have in my life. I know I will be traveling and seeing spectacular and new things, but that doesn't mean I will have my camera with me at all times.