First off, I would like to apologize for my lack of posts recently. As much as I know documenting my experiences is important, having them at all is a bit crucial to the writing. Sometimes it is really difficult for me to figure out what to write. I ask myself "what do they want to know?" Throughout my time here I have experienced many interesting, shocking, different things and it complicated to choose which to tell you. I have done the cliche, the unusual, and along the way I have discovered a lot about myself. So I'm not going to tell you as much about what I saw, but what the experience was like instead. On April 13th the three amigos (Me and my two roommates) left for Ireland. The first day we were there we crossed the country from Dublin to the Cliffs of Moher and the second day, we conquered Dublin. Ireland was all that I could have hoped for and more. The people welcomed us warmly and the culture was comforting. I don't exactly know how to describe. It felt as if we were wrapped up in a blanket next to a fire with your best friends, a feeling I've had many times back home in fields of Plymouth with the high school gang. The entire time we were there all I could think about was how I finally understood why my grandfather was always so proud to be part Irish. Ireland made me feel a very distinctive connection to it's culture, something the Irish pride themselves in. This trip made me even prouder that my grandfather called me his little Irish granddaughter. On the next leg of our journey Carley and I went to London to explore the city and meet up with her friends from Brockport. The night we arrived, I found out that my grandfather had passed away. It has become unusually easy for me to pretend that it never happened. I can convince myself that I'll go home and he will be sitting in his chair and I'll ask him how he is. He will respond "Nice." There were many times I looked him in the eyes and prayed that he knew how much he meant to me. Of course it was difficult at times to be patient and listen to his stories, but sometimes I wish I had listened a bit closer. It was comforting that he knew I was in Ireland having a good time when he passed. It was surely a sign that we were with each other no matter how many kilometers were between us. As long as we have the love of our family here or in heaven, we will always be homeward bound. Despite the difficulties of losing him while traveling, London was incredible. Carley and I did all the things that we wanted to do and I was able to cross some things off my to-do list that I didn't last time I was there. Carley's friends were hilarious and it was nice to spend time with friends from back home, even if they weren't originally my friends. After our journey to two spectacular countries, we headed back to our dwelling in the south of France, a welcome site I might add. Leaving here will be one of the most difficult things I will ever have to do. This place, this life has changed me and when I come back I'm sure people will regard me as they did before I left. I believe that their are people we meet in life for however brief it may be, that truly change you in an instant. They say something or look at you in a particular way and you are never be the same person that you were before they stepped into your life or you stepped into theirs. May 8th Carley and I leave on our fabulous french fashion trip to Paris, an excursion we are both in desperate need of. That is all for now, but I promise there will be more soon.
