One Month

Do you remember the scariest moment of your life?


I do. Vividly.

Although now it’s not so scary but at that moment, I felt so sick and scared.

One month ago I landed in the Shannon Airport. It was my first time flying outside of the United States and I was essentially alone. As I waited to get my passport stamped I couldn’t help but feel so scared. I was 3,000 miles from home surrounded by strangers. I was in a country where I knew no one. The only people I sort of knew were the kids in my program that I’d met 7 hours before.

That was the scariest moment of my life, realizing I was alone with no help from familiar people.

On the bus ride to campus I sat quietly staring out the window at the landscape and morning traffic. Everything was so different. From the cars to the green rolling hills. It made it even more apparent that I wasn’t in Jersey anymore. I prayed that I wouldn’t be back on a plane in a few days because I wimped out. Although I knew that even if I was totally alone and afraid to be here I wouldn’t go home early. That’d be too embarrassing. After all this was going to be the start of a grand adventure for me.

And it has been one hell of an adventure this past month. Since I arrived I’ve made a lot of friends, only a few of which are American. I’ve traveled about Ireland and taken hundreds of pictures. I’ve learned to cook better. I’ve also attended classes. It’s funny because the reason I came here was for school and it seems that school is only a side note. That applies to everyone.

Sure we go to class but that’s not a huge part of the day. The thing that means the most to us here is what we do at night. Usually around 5 or 6 each night everyone starts hitting facebook or texting people to figure out what’s going down that night and where people are going. This is the most social I’ve ever been. Back home I didn’t go to parties and I didn’t really drink. Here I go out almost every night, sometimes to friend’s houses and other times to the pub. As I’ve said before drinking is a social thing so I usually have a pint while I’m out. So that’s a huge step for me, I’m social now.

The shock and fear I had my first morning in Ireland has long since faded. But the fact that I’m in Ireland hasn’t and I hope that it doesn’t.


Cheers,