Today marks one month until I return to the United States. What a whirlwind these past couple months have been. The first month in Dublin, I spent acclimating to the culture and getting settled. Since then, I have made many friends, most of which being other study abroad students! Since I am in a direct enroll program, I have all my classes with students at University College Dublin. This has allowed me to meet plenty of Irish students and form relationships with them. The past two months however, I have spent lots of weekends traveling. Ryanair, a popular budget airline in Europe, is based out of Dublin. So while Ireland is an island, it is super easy and affordable to reach the rest of Europe. My longest flight was three hours, to Vienna, Austria. Compared to the US, this is shorter than lots of cross country flights. Being in Europe has helped a lot with conceptualizing sizes of the world, and made me see how big the US actually is. My favorite trip so far has been Switzerland. Most trips I have gone on with friends, but this one was solo! I was so nervous. I visited Zurich and Lucerne, and went up Mount Pilatus from Lucerne! I love nature, and really wanted to go hiking and see Switzerland. Most of my friends only wanted to ski there, so I decided to just go for it! I am so glad I did, because it truly was the most green place I have ever been. The architecture in Zurich was beautiful as well, not to mention how yummy the chocolate was! As a student, I was budget traveling, so I had a bunch of picnics as well as stayed in hostels. Traveling alone has made me much more confident in myself, and I would recommend it for anyone, as it is a huge challenge. I was so proud of myself for navigating a foreign country alone!
