So...why Ireland?

I woke up this morning at an ungodly hour; yes, seven o'clock is ungodly. (Have you noticed that a lot of churches are making morning services later? Apparently lazy Americans don't go to church if they have to set an alarm to wake up on Sunday.) Anyway, I woke up ready to pack, ready to go lay on Lucia Beach, ready to go shopping with my grandma and go to lunch with my mom. I realized that I have exactly two days left in this country before I head off for Ireland, and therefore, I better make the most of my two days.

Ireland is all anyone has wanted to talk about with me this summer. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it-- hearing everyone's stories about their trips to Ireland back in the day; I did. I will just be happy to finally GET to Ireland and run around doing everything myself. I don't just want to hear that everyone else thought it was "really beautiful". I want to see it for myself. I don't want to hear that Guinness tastes ten times better in Ireland; I want to taste it. Let's GO; I'm ready.

Amidst these conversations, the same question comes up without fail, "So, why exactly did you pick Ireland?" The question always trips me up. I guess I expect it to be obvious. And, not only that but when was the last time that someone asked that question to someone studying in Spain? "So...why did you pick Spain?" Or France. Or Italy. Or Germany. Why do the reasons for studying in those countries seem self-evident, but my decision to study in Ireland makes people scratch their heads? It could be the language thing. If you take Italian in school, it makes sense that you are going to go to Italy. Same with French and France (although I guess you could also go to Austria or Quebec too.)

Regardless, you have to admit, it is a good question. One that I probably should have prepared a big long rambling answer to before I decided to study there-- in order to avoid the awkward pauses that have become routine as I try to find words to properly explain why I became obsessed with the idea of Ireland.

So, why did I pick it?

When I was in Ecuador, we took a seven hour bus ride to the coast. (Seven hours is a hell of a bus ride when the movies are Chinese comedies dubbed in Spanish, there is no bathroom on board and no rest stops to speak of, and the bus stops every few towns to pick up vendors selling fruit that we were cautioned not to eat although our stomachs were making sounds that resembled a thunderstorm.) As we got closer to the ocean, the air lifted, the smog disappeared, and you could smell a faint tingle of salt in the air.

I was halfway across the world, but it reminded me of home. It was the first time that month that I felt truly comfortable in my surroundings. This all sounds so silly writing it, but I swear the smell of the ocean had that effect on me. I was only in Ecuador one month, which ended up being long enough for only one homesick call to my mum. But a semester abroad is substantially longer. Five months-- give or take a little. I knew that I needed to feel really comfortable wherever I was headed. So I picked a place that would remind me of home every day-- a place where I could sit on a rocky coast and smell the salt tingle any time I wanted. A place that would feel like home regardless of the fact that it took a 12-ish hour flight to get there.

So, there you go. Thats why I picked Ireland. Cork, to be exact.

I hear they have surfing schools there. Game on.