Reminiscing about Ireland - Part I

Hey there!

So, it's Friday afternoon which is when I always make some time to take a break from homework. While I'll definitely get some done later tonight, my Friday afternoons are always my favorite times to relax and possibly get a nap in after a busy week! Unfortunately, I have reached the point in my college career where taking Friday off completely from homework is not a good idea. I've never been much of a partier anyways, so I don't really mind.

What better time than Friday afternoon to reminisce about my study abroad trip to Ireland this summer? I was there for just under three weeks with a group from my school and it was absolutely amazing! I could have spent a whole semester there but at least I have those wonderful memories from the time that I did have there and someday I will go back. It's gonna happen.

While there, we spent a week and a half in Dublin, then we went out west for a few days and got to spend some time in Connemara, Galway, The Aran Islands, and Sligo before heading up to Belfast in Northern Ireland  and then back to Dublin to fly out! Let me just say, I LOVED Dublin which is pretty impressive for me to say because I am usually not a city person. I go to college in the middle of nowhere and there's a reason for that! Dublin was different though; it's a medieval city founded by the Vikings in the ninth century that grew as time went on. You can still see parts of the original city wall in the middle of Dublin. It's relatively easy to get around... once you figure it out. Basically, once you realize that all streets going from north to south eventually will end up at the River Liffy, you'll be fine. The streets are small, there are some really awesome historical buildings (which this history major loved!) and it just feels so quaint and homey there. By the time we had to leave Dublin and move on to other parts of Ireland, I was genuinely sad because the city had started to feel like home to me.

Before moving on to my other Ireland adventures, I'd like to point out some Dublin Highlights:

I got to see THE BOOK OF KELLS! This is one of the most well known medieval manuscripts dating to the ninth century of the common era and it is housed in Trinity College in Dublin (which by the way, is a beautiful campus). After learning about it in my Medieval History class last year, I was so excited to see it. Unfortunately, the tours are timed at the Book of Kells exhibit since there are so many tourists who want to see it that we did not have very much time to enjoy looking at the book and the stunning Long Room that is also a part of the tour. Below is a link to images of The Long Room in case you'd are a book/history geek like myself or if you're just curious.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=long+room+trinity+college&go=Submit&qs=n&form=QBIR&pq=long+room+trinity+colleg&sc=0-0&sp=-1&sk=

Outside The Book of Kells Exhibit at Trinity College

I also went on a tour with one of my friends to the Guinness Storehouse. This was on our last day of the trip and it was a fantastic way to end our time in Ireland. I will not be twenty-one until next year so being in Ireland was fun for me since I could legally drink. Though, as I said before, I'm not much of partier, I am looking forward to the social aspect of drinking when I turn twenty-one and being in Ireland was able to give me a taste of that since the drinking age is eighteen there. Guinness is such an Irish tradition and it is really good... especially if poured right. My friend and I both had the opportunity to learn how to pour our own Guinness at the Storehouse and we then got "Official Guinness Pourer" certificates which was awesome!  For those of you who don't know, Guinness has to be poured a certain way or else it doesn't taste right. For all you fellow Americans who haven't been to Ireland, unless you've had the luck of having a bartender who knows how to pour it right, you probably aren't enjoying it at its full potential!

   Having fun at the Guinness Storehouse

My Goodness My Guinness!

My friends and and I also had the opportunity to go to The Old Jameson Distillery  and that was fun too! Oh, if you ever find yourself in Dublin YOU MUST GO TO BUTLERS CHOCOLATE! Seriously, their chocolate is amazing and they have the best hot chocolate that I've ever tasted! There are shops all around Dublin as well as in a few other Irish cities too. I made sure to bring some home for my family. All in all, Dublin was a wonderful place to stay. From it's thrilling cultural scene to the beauty of the city itself, I fell in love hardcore and can't wait to go back someday... when I'm not a poor college student. 

I should mention that I did also study in Ireland. This was a study abroad trip after all. I went with a Theater class and we studied at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin as well as having lectures by our professors on the road. We saw a lot of really fantastic productions throughout Ireland and I was surprised at how much I could learn about Ireland's culture and history through Irish plays. 

I have so much else to write about Ireland but I have a lot to do tonight and it is not longer afternoon (I took a break from writing and went to dinner so now I must get back to work!) Part two will hopefully come soon! 

Till then! 

At the Old Jameson Distillery! 

In front of 1 Merrien Square,
Oscar Wilde's home in Dublin!

Hanging with my good pal Oscar Wilde at
The National Wax Museum of Ireland in Dublin!

Thoughts on being an RA...

So, at my school we are actually called Community Advisers (CA's) but since RA is the most common title used for my job, I thought I'd headline my post with that.

Let me just say, I love my job; it's a job that you have to love to be in. Serious issues crop up that you have to handle as a CA, from busting residents for alcohol and drugs to taking care of more severe matters like a mental health issue on the floor. They aren't very fun and in some cases can be very scary, but it's vital that we respond to them when we become aware of them.

This is my second year as a CA, and so far this year is going much better for me than last year. Last year I was in a freshman dorm and so I expected my residents to be super excited to be involved on the floor and the greater hall community with programs and bonding experiences. However, they weren't;  they were very independent and didn't really want me to do a whole lot for them which I struggled with at the beginning of the year. I thought I was doing something wrong because I wasn't constantly programming and it took me a while to come to terms with the fact that my floor just wasn't interested in that kind of stuff.

This year my floor is the exact opposite. I am in the same freshman hall on a different floor and it has a completely different feel. While not needy, my resident love when I program for them and they are genuinely interested in getting to know me. One of the first days after move in, I made friendship bracelets with some of them and a little while later, one of them gave me the friendship bracelet she had made. I was completely astonished - that never would have happened last year - and it made me so extremely happy! Last night, I watched The Princess Bride with about five of them and it was just fantastic! To be able to sit down with them comfortably and watch a movie together was so much fun. One of my residents had never seen it before which made it even better since it's such an awesome movie - it's definitely one of my favorites.

I have a good mix of introverts and extroverts on my floor and I have a couple of residents who have already shown that they will be outstanding leaders - one of my residents was elected vice president of our hall council and two of them were elected to the freshman council of my schools campus assembly. I only have eighteen of them - my school is really small and my building has some of the smaller floors on campus - but I love that because it has and will continue to allow me to get to know them better than if I had a really large floor. This is the floor I dreamed of last year; even though my residents weren't bad last year - they were actually fairly well behaved - they just weren't looking for what I wanted to give them.

Long story short, I love living on campus and I love working for res life. I could spend way more time talking about this but alas, homework calls...

~Britta

Just a Little bit About Me...

Hello there!

This is my first post as a blogger; I've never done this blog business before but I thought it would be a fantastic place for me to start as I strive to find myself on this journey called life. I've always loved writing but struggle to find time to do so outside of academic writing for school. By keeping a blog, I hope to make myself write on a regular basis on whatever strikes me as worth putting into words!

Recently, I've been striving for happiness and contentment in life. This desire came to light as I was struggling through a relationship that neither I nor my significant other were happy in. I was trying so hard to keep us together more so because I was terrified of facing life on my own than anything else. As a result, I was extremely unhappy and was constantly worrying about my relationship; this made it difficult for me to enjoy anything else. It took me a long while filled with many tears and tissues for me to realize that my attempts to forage a better relationship would only keep me from the happiness that I so desired. After having a discussion together, we finally decided to end it, as hard as it was for me.

Since then, I have been much happier. The stress and anxiety I suffered from during those last few weeks of the relationship have completely disappeared. Though I'm still kind of sad about it - because break ups are never easy regardless of the situation - I've been trying my best to remain positive and I have been surrounding myself with wonderful, caring people. I've realized that instead of trying so hard to ensure that everything works out, I should step back a little bit and let my world fall into place naturally. This is where the name of my blog comes from and what I'm going to strive for as an individual along with happiness and contentment. As human beings, we have a lot of choices and decisions that we need to make in life, but not everything is in our control. I'm a college student with a whole life ahead of me - my world will figure itself out in time.

Now that school is back in session, I'm focusing on my studies which will keep me super busy. I'm also a Community Advisor at my school, so the wonderful world of res life is another commitment of mine. Though I have a lot going on, I hope to make weekly or bi-weekly posts though we'll see how that goes. I hope that whoever reads this, if anyone does indeed read this, finds something worthwhile in my writing. If not, at least I know that I'm getting something out of it!

So long for now! Until next time...