T-minus 2 Days -- Packing Part 2

After 6 hours of packing in my sleep, doing laundry, sorting, throwing all of my belongings onto the floor of my bedroom, packing some of them up, weighing my suitcase, saying 'hey, this isn't that bad, it's way less than 50 lbs', realizing I had a lot more I wanted to bring but can't, cutting *sob* a number of books out of my packing list, and eventually ending up with a suitcase that is roughly probably somewhere right around hopefully 50 pounds exactly... 

I'm very tired.

THE CHAOS (broad angle) maybe 2 hours into the packing process?

A close-up of the chaos, because I'm thorough like that

A very responsible-looking, well-packed suitcase, all ready to study abroad

 Tomorrow my mom and I begin the first leg of my long journey to paradise -- to the Twin Cities and the Holiday Inn Express. Hoo yeah buddy. You know you all wish you had my swag accommodations. I'll probably post there, too, just to get in the habit of alerting you all that I've arrived safely at my destined destination. It'll be a little one, though. Not as lengthy and ungainly as this one was. 

Toodles :)

-S

T-minus 3 Days -- Packing Part 1

I rock at finding ways to distract myself from packing. Like listening to 'El Camino' on repeat continually, and Facebooking, and cleaning out the contents of my memory card on my phone AND on my camera.

I really want to pack, but I also just want to do it in one big go tomorrow when I have everything I need... but there's a lot of laundry I need to do between now and then. First world problems, I guess.

So, to aid in my further distraction, I'm going to post some things I will and won't miss about being in Duluth, MN this semester.

THINGS I WILL MOST DEFINITELY MISS

Bulldozer, almost 12 years old, and full of ADORABLE

Mrs. Kitty, sleeping on 'her' (my) bed

Bellatrix, 'helping' me surf the Interwebs

My pets are a huge part of my life, and a huge stress-reliever. I hate not having them around *lots of sad faces*

My loving parents <3

My darling dearest brother

 Okay, enough with what I'll miss -- you all get the picture. I'm going to miss my pets, my family, and all of my friends, OF COURSE.

Now, what I won't miss!

SHOCKING

I can't even explain how sick I am of being shocked by everything I touch (pets, metal things, clothes, other people, me, electronics, things that shouldn't even conduct electricity, etc.) In Ireland, there will actually be MOISTURE in the air, so everything's not so fricking dry!!!! 

Well I have to go eat dinner with my family and think of more ways to keep myself from packing and panicking. Love to everyone reading this <3 

-S

T-minus 6 Days -- Freaking Out

Hey again friends. As the title of today's blog can testify, I'm getting a little anxious about Ireland. I've already had to say 'so long' to a bunch of friends and family, and have a very limited amount of time to spend with others.

I've decided 6 days is not very much time.

On one hand, I'm very anxious to get over there. I've been talking to so many people about it -- those who have gone, who want to go, who wish me all the best in going, who threaten to hide in my suitcase, etc. etc. I've been wanting to go since I was 11 and threatened to run away to Ireland (never even got out the front door, but I was pretty adamant about it for at least a week) and this has been a long-time dream. And now that it's less than a week away, I want to get there!!!!!

But this will be the first time I've been away from friends and family for so long, and that's making me a little anxious too. And by a 'little anxious' I mean I'm getting a little freaked out. As a rule, I'm a homebody -- I've been here in Duluth for 16 years, and I've only been on one trip without my parents (a week in Canada for choir senior year). And that was kind of hard. I've got some independence in me now, and the overpowering need to see the world is far outstripping the need to stay home... But when I start packing up my suitcase it's like the floor is opening up from under my feet and I have the need to throw all my clothes back on the floor and hide under my bed. 

I'm kind of weird like that.

Also, I loathe air travel. Airplanes bore me after the first half hour of being on one, and we're going to be traveling all day Wednesday. I'm going to be going stir crazy, and I know it. So that's adding to the list of anxiety. 

Whine, whine, complain, complain.

The interior of a Boeing 757 -- from Newark to Shannon. Woo. Hoo.

 Enough jibber-jabber. I said I would post a schedule of the trips we take as a class around Ireland! Here it is:

27 Jan.: actual arrival, at 7 in the morning
30 Jan.: classes begin
3 Feb.: Balintubber, Kylemore, and Clifden
10-12 Feb.: Galway
15-19 Feb.: Dublin and Newgrange
3 Mar.: Castlebar
10-18 Mar.: SPRING BREAK!! 
26-31 Mar.: Long Trip (to be announced)
5-9 Apr.: EASTER BREAK!!
13-15 Apr.: North trip (specifics to be announced)
4-6 May: Traditional Music weekend (I believe this is in Louisburgh or Westport, though I could be wrong)
10 May: HOME!!

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT!! We'll be seeing most of Ireland during this trip, especially when I go on Spring Break with my family -- more on that later.

I think that rounds off this post -- I'll try to post once more before I leave, and as soon as possible when I arrive and unpack. Until then, slán! :)


-S

T-minus 2 Weeks -- Waiting

Hey friends, family, and assorted acquaintances, this is The Ireland Project.

*insert fanfare here*

For those who lack details, I'll be spending a semester in Louisburgh, County Mayo, Republic of Ireland, along with 3 CSS professors and a rough dozen other students. We'll be living and learning in cottages in Louisburgh, but we'll be traveling all over the place in Ireland while there.
 

A cottage! Complete with required Irish rainbow

At some point next week I'll post a rough schedule of where we'll be when, but they're mostly weekend trips. 

I will be taking classes while traveling (hence the 'study' portion of 'study abroad'): Irish Lit and Drama, Intro to Art, Economics of Globalization, and Travel Writing. Just in case you were curious. We'll have class Mon-Thurs in the morning, and have the afternoon and evening to chill out and visit the pub (mostly where I'll be). 

And that will be my life for the next semester!

For those who would like to get in touch with me, I will be periodically checking my school e-mail account, sbauer@css.edu. I won't have a cell phone with me, so please don't call or text it, because it will be sitting in a drawer in Duluth with the power off until May 11th or so. But, e-mail is excellent, maybe I'll be able to Skype at some point...

And of course this blog will be hopefully keeping you all updated as to my life. I had a friend tell me that she only blogged a few times because there was so much going on over there, but I'm hopefully going to be able to at least do a few small updates a week. 

My plan is to write very little and just post pictures of what's been going on, complete with snarky captions, so that y'all are properly updated, and then I can get back to the pub.

I've been told the pub is kind of a big deal, and I'm not going to argue that.

So until then it's just me... Waiting... Here... Going a little bit crazy with a big suitcase on the floor of my bedroom and having nothing to put into it yet. I can't tell if 2 weeks is a long time or a very short time. I want to see everyone I can before I leave, which makes 2 weeks seem like a short time, since my parents are going to want me home as often as possible so they can hang out with me... But 2 weeks is 14 days, which is 336 hours. And that seems like a long time. 

But, we'll just assume that it's a very short time and that I should treasure every moment of anticipation until the grand day arrives... 

And that probably wraps up this very rambling and anxiety-ridden blog post. Here's to the future!

-S