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Nov. 23rd, 2008 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
themegalooLiving in Ireland: Part Holy Hell Time Flies, or, I Don't Want This to End.
I came to a startling realization this morning. I'm really, really happy here. Which I sort of knew, but it's generally one of those things you just don't think too hard about, you know? I didn't come here expecting to manufacture a new community of people that I genuinely care for, but it seems to have happened. Which is problematic because it's only for a year and then we're all going out separate ways but it's not like undergrad where people (except lunatics like me and the group of people that went to Hong Kong) don't usually go too far for a while at least and mostly stay in their comfort zone and work there to build up money before really going off...Ugh. You see what I'm trying to say, right? Everyone here IS out of their comfort zone- we came from all over the world to be HERE, but we aren't really going to STAY here for any real period of time. After it's over, it's just over. You can't prolong it. It's off and on to the next degree, the next job, the next place. Which is really quite odd when you consider it. Also there's the international aspect. In undergrad I was surrounded by people from my country, from generally ACCESSIBLE places that one could hop in a car and drive to if you had enough gas.
I was talking to my flatmate, Kali, yesterday about the holidays. Most of us are going home, which I AM looking forward to because I've missed my family and friends dearly but it's one of those odd things again. Like I said, we have a little community here now and we're all pretty cozy in the roles we've taken on. But it's like a halfway stop-off point. We dropped our lives back home, often in medias res of something or another--friendships, relationships, family...Poof! And we're not there anymore. Just gone for a while. So for hols we get to slide back into those holes for a while before leaving all over again. I can't decide what I think of that, really. Coming here was a bit like running away for a while, though I didn't realize it at the time. It's like a little paradise. Yeah, it's hard work with the goal of furthering education, but it's also a vacation from life as it was. A taste of something different. A completely, utterly clean slate in a brand new place.
I just can't believe I only have two weeks left of term, really! It feels like just yesterday that I was getting off the plane, losing my luggage, getting constantly lost---oh wait. I still get lost. Damn you, Dublin streets with your lack of visible signs of NAMES! and being completely incapable of understanding half the accents around me. Taking the bus for the first time and being completely sure it was going to get me more lost (it didn't), making that first walk back from Tesco to halls and realizing that is, actually, about a million miles away when you have a duvet, two pillows and a package of toilet paper to deal with. Joining the city-wide search for COAT HANGERS and ranting about the size of the bathroom. Discovering Murphy's, making the giant mistake of going to Copper's, dancing until they turn the lights on at Flannery's. "Yeah, these were the best days of our lives" very frequently playing in the background as we screamed along in huddle on the dance floor. Learning all the words to Galway Girl because dear god they never stop playing it.
Time flies. I don't want to lose this. So I've got to make every moment count! And hopefully when all of this is finally over, the relationships will be of a lasting nature and the people I've come to care for very much will be people I still care for in years to come.
Okay that said. Yesterday was Jess's birhday! She's one of my coursemates and is indescribably sweet. She ran the Dublin Marathon a few weeks back which is. Well, pretty insane but also hella impressive. We had a surprise party for her, which she very nearly sabotaged by trying to have a party on her own! But it worked and we made signs and hid behind a line of chairs and couches and lept out at her shouting "SURPRISE!" as is necessary. And then went in town to Tripod because Laura had a stack of free entry tickets, which was good times! Actually a very odd places because it was like, a SERIES of bars, each one with its own music. Very loud place on the whole, but the dancing was good fun!! If a little hazy on the memory side.
I got to return a rescue favor too! We look out for each other. I really do love it here.
Ugh, long. Sorry about that!
PS- contemplative Lambo is way cute.
I came to a startling realization this morning. I'm really, really happy here. Which I sort of knew, but it's generally one of those things you just don't think too hard about, you know? I didn't come here expecting to manufacture a new community of people that I genuinely care for, but it seems to have happened. Which is problematic because it's only for a year and then we're all going out separate ways but it's not like undergrad where people (except lunatics like me and the group of people that went to Hong Kong) don't usually go too far for a while at least and mostly stay in their comfort zone and work there to build up money before really going off...Ugh. You see what I'm trying to say, right? Everyone here IS out of their comfort zone- we came from all over the world to be HERE, but we aren't really going to STAY here for any real period of time. After it's over, it's just over. You can't prolong it. It's off and on to the next degree, the next job, the next place. Which is really quite odd when you consider it. Also there's the international aspect. In undergrad I was surrounded by people from my country, from generally ACCESSIBLE places that one could hop in a car and drive to if you had enough gas.
I was talking to my flatmate, Kali, yesterday about the holidays. Most of us are going home, which I AM looking forward to because I've missed my family and friends dearly but it's one of those odd things again. Like I said, we have a little community here now and we're all pretty cozy in the roles we've taken on. But it's like a halfway stop-off point. We dropped our lives back home, often in medias res of something or another--friendships, relationships, family...Poof! And we're not there anymore. Just gone for a while. So for hols we get to slide back into those holes for a while before leaving all over again. I can't decide what I think of that, really. Coming here was a bit like running away for a while, though I didn't realize it at the time. It's like a little paradise. Yeah, it's hard work with the goal of furthering education, but it's also a vacation from life as it was. A taste of something different. A completely, utterly clean slate in a brand new place.
I just can't believe I only have two weeks left of term, really! It feels like just yesterday that I was getting off the plane, losing my luggage, getting constantly lost---oh wait. I still get lost. Damn you, Dublin streets with your lack of visible signs of NAMES! and being completely incapable of understanding half the accents around me. Taking the bus for the first time and being completely sure it was going to get me more lost (it didn't), making that first walk back from Tesco to halls and realizing that is, actually, about a million miles away when you have a duvet, two pillows and a package of toilet paper to deal with. Joining the city-wide search for COAT HANGERS and ranting about the size of the bathroom. Discovering Murphy's, making the giant mistake of going to Copper's, dancing until they turn the lights on at Flannery's. "Yeah, these were the best days of our lives" very frequently playing in the background as we screamed along in huddle on the dance floor. Learning all the words to Galway Girl because dear god they never stop playing it.
Time flies. I don't want to lose this. So I've got to make every moment count! And hopefully when all of this is finally over, the relationships will be of a lasting nature and the people I've come to care for very much will be people I still care for in years to come.
Okay that said. Yesterday was Jess's birhday! She's one of my coursemates and is indescribably sweet. She ran the Dublin Marathon a few weeks back which is. Well, pretty insane but also hella impressive. We had a surprise party for her, which she very nearly sabotaged by trying to have a party on her own! But it worked and we made signs and hid behind a line of chairs and couches and lept out at her shouting "SURPRISE!" as is necessary. And then went in town to Tripod because Laura had a stack of free entry tickets, which was good times! Actually a very odd places because it was like, a SERIES of bars, each one with its own music. Very loud place on the whole, but the dancing was good fun!! If a little hazy on the memory side.
I got to return a rescue favor too! We look out for each other. I really do love it here.
Ugh, long. Sorry about that!
PS- contemplative Lambo is way cute.
