the end

I've been meaning to write a final message about my trip to Dublin. I know it's been months, and I've started about thirteen entries to wrap up my travels. It's hard to put into words, and now so much time has passed. However, I feel like I've had words at the tip of my tongue since August about my final thoughts.

After some upsetting family news, I had to pull out of our presentation last minute. My group really stepped it up though, and the presentation went off without a hitch. I know the entire team of students felt great once everything was over. It was an amazing opportunity to work with the Digital Hub, but it was a ton of work, and I think everyone was a little eager to finish everything.

I was a little down for my last night in Ireland, but was eager to get back home and to my family to celebrate the life of my grandfather. I spent the last night figuring out travel plans to get to Maryland for my Pop's funeral and packing up everything sprawled around our apartment.

My flight out was not until later in the day when most of my roommates (and by most I mean all) were gone by 7:30 am. It gave me an entire day to my thoughts, on the past month and the difficult moments to come. It is needless to say I was anxious for my flight from Dublin Airport to Laguardia, New York. I was at the airport about four hours before my flight... woops. I was able to buy Twilight and (re)read the whole thing on the flight. Not too bad to pass the time.

I have never been so happy to see my mom, I felt like I was in a movie as we slow motion ran to one another and burst into tears. It was a difficult time, but being back with the family made me feel about a million times better.

Overall, my trip to Dublin was life altering. I had experiences that I will remember forever and the chance to share them with you. I made amazing friends, had an opportunity to work with dedicated and intelligent students on a great project, and saw a beautiful country with a fascinating past and an equally fascinating future.

I gotta say, I can't wait to head back to Europe in January!