Last state-side post
Unless the Philly airport has free Wireless and I don't have to spend my whole layover in customs, I can't imagine that I'd have time to do another post until I get all settled in to my apartment in Dublin. And I'm not sure precisely when that will be. I'm getting in around 7:30 or 7:45 in the morning, and I'll be heading to orientation from there. Not sure if I'll have any downtime in my apartment, or even if the internet is up and running yet there, but rest assured that I'll update as soon as I can.
In fact, I'll probably take notes in my journal and some pictures on my trip over, so it would be in my best interest to get those posted ASAP.
How am I feeling on my last night here? Excited, definitely, and a little nervous, but that's mostly because I don't really have any idea what to expect. Nervous in the first of day of school kind of nervous. Oh, and also, I hate flying. So that ought to be entertaining for my seatmates.
My B-town roommates are definitely at the front of my mind tonight...I worry about how Mike and Jill will live without me :) Hopefully, though, the time will fly and they won't miss me too much.
Mom's not going to handle it well. The end. She's already been crying today, and I expect she'll do so the whole way up and at the airport and the whole way back tomorrow.
Everyone expects that I will change significantly while I'm gone, and perhaps I will. Or perhaps everyone else will change while I'm gone. My little booklet says that reverse culture shock is sometimes worse than the initial one. That after being abroad, you start to view your own life and the people in it through radically different eyes. I wonder if I will feel alone and isolated when I come back, having had such a big experience that I'm unable to share with anyone currently in my immediate circle of influence. Hopefully I'll be able to reconcile my new self with my old self fairly easily.
I need a mantra.
In any case, I am looking forward to this three month interruption of my normal life and routine, but also excited to find out who I am when I return, and how that progression occurs. And that, my friends, is why we have this journal. To be the recorder of my journey, the medium in which I am able to objectively observe myself. Good night, all, and if you pray, pray for me tomorrow. If you don't, spare a thought that my airplane doesn't blow up over the ocean. I love you all.
In fact, I'll probably take notes in my journal and some pictures on my trip over, so it would be in my best interest to get those posted ASAP.
How am I feeling on my last night here? Excited, definitely, and a little nervous, but that's mostly because I don't really have any idea what to expect. Nervous in the first of day of school kind of nervous. Oh, and also, I hate flying. So that ought to be entertaining for my seatmates.
My B-town roommates are definitely at the front of my mind tonight...I worry about how Mike and Jill will live without me :) Hopefully, though, the time will fly and they won't miss me too much.
Mom's not going to handle it well. The end. She's already been crying today, and I expect she'll do so the whole way up and at the airport and the whole way back tomorrow.
Everyone expects that I will change significantly while I'm gone, and perhaps I will. Or perhaps everyone else will change while I'm gone. My little booklet says that reverse culture shock is sometimes worse than the initial one. That after being abroad, you start to view your own life and the people in it through radically different eyes. I wonder if I will feel alone and isolated when I come back, having had such a big experience that I'm unable to share with anyone currently in my immediate circle of influence. Hopefully I'll be able to reconcile my new self with my old self fairly easily.
I need a mantra.
In any case, I am looking forward to this three month interruption of my normal life and routine, but also excited to find out who I am when I return, and how that progression occurs. And that, my friends, is why we have this journal. To be the recorder of my journey, the medium in which I am able to objectively observe myself. Good night, all, and if you pray, pray for me tomorrow. If you don't, spare a thought that my airplane doesn't blow up over the ocean. I love you all.
posted by Bookhead at 5:33 AM
2 Comments:
Erin:
Great (a descriptive word) Uncle Jim writing. Will read your blog often. You know that I have traveled around the world and have loved every experience. Dublin is a great city and I expect you to have a wonderful time there. Do it all. See it all. Experience it all. Are you at Trinity, or is this an IU extension. Please visit the library at Trinity. Have a great time.
Jim Coomer
Uncle Jim,
My programe is through IES, which is a school kind of thing that works in conjunction with a lot of stateside schools. So I'm taking classes with them, but also doing some classes at St. Patrick's College.
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