Sometimes a pint of true Irish Guinness truly can change your life. At least, that is what I learned while studying abroad on the Emerald Isle.
Looking at my name, you can probably tell that I am at least 98% Irish, so it is safe to assume that this destination was at the top of my bucket list. Whether it was my love for their written word, the fascination for their history or some other genetic (if you want to call it that) calling, Ireland was always someplace I wanted to explore.
When I was presented with the incredible opportunity to not only visit the country but study and traverse its beautiful landscapes last summer, I couldn’t help but to dive in headfirst.
As an Irish studies minor I would be attending Galway University in the west of Ireland for a little over a month. The only issue was, I had barely even taken a train by myself before, let alone hopped on a plane destined for halfway across the world.
In reality, I had done most of my ‘exploring’ in between the pages of a book and was a dedicated homebody. The idea of leaving everything I knew behind, if only for six weeks, absolutely terrified me. It scared me so much that even though everyone around me was asking questions and extending feelings of excitement on my behalf, I simply could not think about it.
Then the day came. Working off of no longer than two hours of sleep I walked into the airport with nothing more than a suitcase and the anxiety of a targeted prey animal. I shared a terrifyingly tearful goodbye with my parents before heading through security and boarding my flight. Having never flown alone before, I was surprisingly shocked at how simple the entire process was. Even finding my seat felt like second nature.
Already I felt the kindness of the people around me. Having a heavy backpack and being about two feet too short to reach the overhead bin, the Red Sox cap wearing man to the right of me offered to lift my bag. Once off the plane, this consideration continued through the airport and onto the bus I took from Dublin to Galway. Even the customs officer was excited to hear about my trip, definitely a different vibe from the intimidating atmosphere of Boston’s Logan Airport.
This is where I met the absolute bundle of joy that is Anastasia. After running into each other disembarking the bus and learning that we had not only been on the same flight but that we were going to be studying together at the University of Galway, we became instant friends. Anastasia and I were able to catch a ride together to our apartment building, where we met up with Junior Shea Burns who I had known previously from attending Fairfield.
Fighting intense jet lag and told we had a six-ish hour wait until our rooms could only “possibly” be ready, the three of us took on the town and explored everything we could. This was the first time I can recall not noticing how nervous I was. After returning home and passing out in our rooms, the next day we woke up for the first day of classes.
I have noticed that you can go your whole life thinking that you have already met your people and seen all the incredible diversity this world can hold, though this could not be further from the truth. That first day of classes was when this became abundantly clear to me.
Each and every person I met on this trip is someone I will forever be bonded to. The kindness, bravery, confidence, intelligence, joy, humor, wonder and honestly so much more that I can not describe in a measly (close to run on) sentence each person exudes is something I can only hope to mirror a percentage of.
There are so many countless memories I would speak to, from exploring in town to traveling to the Aran Islands by rocky boat, to grabbing the Sult before film class and attempting to find every pub in the city in the last three days of our trip. I not only pushed and found more of myself, but had the privilege to meet so many people who forever changed me in the most positive way.
If I could highlight one moment it would be almost impossible to pick, but as I learned in taking this step in my life, nothing is impossible. Our very last night in Ireland was one filled with many, mostly devastating emotions, but I can not help but to think back on it with such fondness. It is such an indescribably beautiful thing that in six way-too-short weeks a group of seventeen people could leave such a huge mark on each other’s lives.
From those across entire oceans; the astonishing Aussies Aspen, Izzy, Sophie and Rach, and the elegantly compassionate Emily, to those who span across the United States; the luminous Lilly, radiant Rachel, lovely Laura, steadfast Sean-Paul, amazingly humorous Abby, abundantly whimsical Alisha, nifty Nathan, joyous Joshua, spirited Sarah and sincere Shea, we will always be connected through our bevy. Even if we took the Chevy to the levee, it would never be dry.
When I asked Burns if he wanted to provide a comment for this article, he simply emphasized, “Sometimes in life there are people you never see again and sometimes there’s people you know you’ll see again. The faces you never forget in your mind and the lives that will always be a part of yours.”
If you are ever granted the opportunity to study abroad, go. I know that this is a message seldom left unheard, but as someone who used to be so terrified to explore her own backyard, it can not be more true.
You never know how sharing a pint of Guinness with someone can change your life, so why not take that first sip?