Final Thoughts

I’m officially back in the US now.  I’m not home, home, but I’m in the JFK airport in New York.  I can’t believe that my abroad experience is over, but more than that, I can’t believe it happened.  I learned more this summer than at any event that I can remember.  I learned from the people of Ireland, with their positive attitudes, senses of humor and helpful nature.  I learned from the people on my program, who, although were all from the US, all had such different experiences to share with me and things to teach me.  And as cliché as it sounds, I really did learn a lot from myself.  I’ve never lived far away from my family, and I’ve never lived in a big city.  I learned exactly what I was capable of, and I became confident in a city that was completely unlike anywhere I had ever been, let alone lived.  It made me a lot more confident in myself, more confident than I thought I could be.

I have two shoutouts to give.

First shoutout goes to everyone in this picture:

My heart goes out to you beauties as the most adventurous fun people that I have had the pleasure to meet.  I’m so happy I didn’t get stuck with some annoying, boring, low lifes who were afraid to take risks.  I can’t believe that you guys go to school so far away, but trust me, I’ll be seeing you all again.  I wanted to get the most out of my abroad experience, and because of you biddies, I did.

Second shoutout goes to my favorite foreigners I’ll ever meet:

How lucky I was to get stuck with these two fools.  The Adfaces team, repping Ireland, Germany and the USofA kept me smiling in frustrating and often tough times.  They made me feel at home, and together we accomplished a lot.  They are two really important people to me now, and they both know they ALWAYS have a home in North Carolina when they want it. And they better want it soon, because I miss them already!

When I left the US it couldn’t have been a better time to go, I had been through two quick and dramatic relationships, a car accident and without being too specific, a bit of an identity crisis.  There was nothing holding me back when I left, and to be honest, I couldn’t wait to escape my problems and get as far away from them as I could.  Now, to my surprise, I can’t wait to get back to the US.  Not because I want to dive back into the problems I left behind, but because I’ve realized that what I thought were problems before, aren’t really problems at all.  Ireland put a lot of things in perspective for me, and now, more than ever, I feel so lucky to be the person I am.  Ireland, this summer, and the people I talked about above helped me realize that, and I’m so thankful for that.

I will be back to Ireland.  I don’t know when, but I have to go back to that beautiful countryside and 1,000 shades of green that I called home for that summer right in the middle of my college career.  I’ll never forget the beautiful scenery, the amazing people and the way that Ireland changed my life.

Cheers, forever

Sophie