Student Bloggers

In about three and a half hours (as of writing this sentence), I will load my luggage into my family’s car. We will drive for an hour through freezing, snowy Massachusetts from my home town of Chelmsford to Boston Logan International Airport. After some checking in of luggage and some airport security lines, I will board a plane bound for Dublin, Ireland, where I will be living and studying for the next five months. I still can barely believe it.

Of course, one of the reasons I can’t believe I’m really leaving is that up until a few days ago, I was barely packed. I’m a perpetual procrastinator, so this didn’t surprise my family, even if it did make them a bit nervous. As late at New Years’ Eve, I was still unsure how I would fit all my stuff in one large and one small suitcase, plus a backpack. But after some help from my twin sister and a few travel compression bags, I managed to fit all my clothing and belongings in the appropriate amount of space.

Well, almost all my belongings. One thing I was originally planning on bringing was my violin, but after much confusion, it seems this is not only impractical (it would mean I couldn’t bring a carry-on suitcase) but impossible. I play Irish fiddle, so it seemed only fitting that I would bring my fiddle to Ireland so that I could play traditional Irish music in its birthplace. Unfortunately, violin cases violate the dimensions regulations of my airline, Aer Lingus (violin cases are too long). So I will just have to try to somehow procure a violin in Dublin – stay tuned for how that goes.

Although the fact that I can’t bring my fiddle may seem like merely a side-note, it actually has a lot to do with why I chose to study in Dublin. Although I am not Irish, Irish music and culture have been a passion of mine since I was a child. I started taking Irish dance lessons when I was seven, and when I started playing violin in the fourth grade, I always wanted to be a fiddler. When I started thinking about studying abroad, Ireland seemed like a natural choice. As an English major, I wanted to travel to a primarily English-speaking area, and some of my favorite writers are Irish. Arcadia’s Trinity College program also stuck out to me – how could I resist getting to attend the same college as Samuel Beckett and Jonathan Swift? I was thrilled to be accepted to Trinity’s selective School of English, and can’t wait to experience all it has to offer.

As I finish packing up my backpack and prepare for a final sweep of the house to check for anything I may have forgotten to pack, numerous worries and anxieties crowd my mind. I’m thinking of the friends I will miss at Skidmore, the social uncertainty that awaits me in Dublin, and Dublin’s absence of both snow (which I love) and extreme cold (which I do not love). I’m worried about how I will learn to navigate a new city, a new college and education system, and a new life living in an apartment, which I have limited experience with. I’m worried about flying alone, jetlag, the possibility of flight delays, and whether I will be able to sleep on the plane. But all of these worries are outweighed by excitement. As I get ready to get in the car to the airport (now two and half hours from now), I’m ready to take on this new challenge, this new adventure. Dublin, here I come!