- When are you leaving?
- Are you going to bring that?
- What will the weather be like?
- Is your flight delayed due to COVID?
- How are you feeling?
- Are you nervous?
- Are you excited?
- Why would you want to do that? You know you can’t just come home for the weekend?
- You can still help out at church, you can fly back every week, right?
- Did that one thing you were waiting for work out?
- Are you ready?
People are driving me crazy. Don’t get me wrong, I love that so many people are interested and care about me, but I am a little whelmed, if not overwhelmed.
My flight leaves from Minneapolis on Saturday, January 15th at 1:00pm. I have a five-hour layover in Philadelphia. Then I arrive in Dublin at 8:40am on January 16th and will be transported to my new residence near the University of Limerick.
Will I bring it? Yes, if it fits. I have not packed it yet, but I will make it fit. I get a carry-on size suitcase, a checked bag, and a backpack. I’ll be fine, my grandma gave me bags I can vacuum all the air out of.
The weather in Limerick, I am told, is very cold, so cold that I will absolutely need my winter jacket. The forecast for Sunday the 16th is 8°, slight wind, and a 24% chance of rain. The last few days in Minnesota, it has been around -20°. We are measuring in Celsius. That means when I arrive in Limerick, it will be 46°F. That is warm, compared to the subzero Fahrenheit temperatures I am used to in Minnesota this week. There will be more rain than I am used to. Rain on cold days certainly does make it colder. I will bring my winter jacket, rain jacket, and boots.
My flight has not been delayed. It looks like smooth sailing for now. I won’t know until that day. I will pack that one in my suitcase to worry about when I get to the airport.
How am I feeling? Well, how long do you have? I could talk your ear off about how I am having dreams about airports, imposter syndrome, fear of being away from anything familiar, and no idea what to expect. I am excited. I am telling myself that this is something I need to do to grow as a person, develop self-confidence, and go somewhere farther than my two-hour trip to college. I am looking forward to taking ecology, psychology of learning, and a class about classical music. There will be a lot of new people and I am hoping to make friends with as many of them as I can. There will be many beautiful pictures I’ll need to take and share too. I am highly anticipating my adventure.
Am I nervous? Yes. I am deciding to be excited inside of nervous. Currently, it is more the stress of getting everything on my to-do list done than nervousness.
Am I excited? Yes!
I knew I wanted to study abroad way back in high school. I wanted to go to a public university to see how life outside of a WELS school is like. I have been actively planning to study in Limerick for two and a half years. I wanted to go away for college. I did, I went away to the town where all my grandparents live, many of my cousins live, and my aunts and uncles are close by. Going to the University of Limerick will more than make up for that. This is going to work. I know I can’t come back for the weekend. I will be okay. My parents are planning on visiting me, I can call my friends and family, and my heavenly Father is with me wherever I go.
I will not be able to fly back every week to help out at church. I will be happy to be a part of handbells if you come to Limerick to practice with me. Handbells at Martin Luther College and St. John’s in New Ulm are great. I will miss being a part of those two groups. I’ll be back.
Did that thing work out? Umm…which thing? Yes, sure, everything is all good. It will work.
No. I am not ready for my life-changing, super awesome, Irish adventure. I still need to find my boarding pass, pack my bags, cry about leaving everyone I love, scrapbook the 200 photos I am behind on in my college scrapbook, get tested for COVID-19 before my flight, and whatever else I put on my list. I may get everything done, but I will never be ready. I’ll just keep putting one foot in front of the other and telling myself, “Little by little, one travels far.”
