Hello hello hello! So as not to disappoint myself, I had to squeeze one more post into February.
I have now been travelling for seven weeks – nearly two months – and it is much harder to keep up on my writing than I figured it would be! I am sure the only person really bothered by this is me though, so I will try to be at peace with that. Constantly moving, trying to make the most of the nice days and working on the cold and rainy days has been busy. Not busy like home busy though – it is more so that feeling of LAZINESS that you get when you don’t have a full day’s work, if you know what I mean. I find I can get a significantly fewer number of chores done when I am not properly busy. If I am going full-tilt working and studying full time and volunteering etc. etc. I am very much more likely to change my bed sheets than if I literally just have to fold my own laundry in a day. That laundry will sit there for ages, you best believe. Please tell me I am not the only person like this! Yikes.
I digress, because folks I am on the beautiful west coast of Ireland! I left the Scottish Highlands and my cozy home in Corran (which I will write a post about soon, I could never skip that month in the gorgeous highlands!) exactly two weeks ago today. I caught a flight to Dublin from Inverness where I stayed for a few nights, then I travelled cross-country to Galway for one night before I came to my next home-away-from-home of Kilronan (Cill Rónáin) for a while. It was a busy week, and it took me a good ten days of Ireland before I spent a night in. The Irish can drink man – I think I have met my match in these people. Should’ve known that before I started slinging drinking challenges. They are way too much fun – I’ve hardly survived this long.
I am working at a hostel here in Kilronan, which is the main town on the island of Inis Mόr, perhaps better known as Inishmore to some or for the collective name: the Aran Islands. Inis Mόr is the largest of the three islands which make up the Aran Islands, found off the coast of Galway – one of the best known Irish cities after Dublin. To get here you have to take a small ferry from Rossaveel (near Galway) to the port in Kilronan and it is a SERIOUS trip. If you had asked me before that journey if I ever get seasick, I would’ve said no, but I’ve changed my tune after that adventure! I arrived on the tail-end of Storm Dennis and it threw me for a loop. It took everything I had to not loose my lunch on the way over, especially because the horizon was difficult to spot in the pitch black. My advice if you ever come to the Aran Islands – take the ferry in the daytime and try and chat with someone else to distract yourself from the rocky journey!
I have been really, really enjoying Kilronan. The community here is tight-knit and I have met the most wonderful people. Spending a couple of solid days in the pub while riding out the storm was a good plan too right off the bat as I met all sorts of locals. A lot of the locals here still use Irish Gaelic in their day-to-day conversations, which has been an interesting revelation after spending so much time in Scotland. In Scotland, Scot Gaelic is largely a heritage language but is very rarely spoken amongst people. In my experience, it is always the oldest generation who still speak it and it’s almost definitely not used on a day-to-day basis. Younger generations study it in school and can therefore speak some, in an effort to keep the historic language alive. Here in Ireland, particularly the rural west coast I’ve been told, young generations are taught to speak fluent Irish and use it when communicating with others from the local area and their families. They can all speak English as well to be sure, but when it’s not necessary to speak English, Irish is used. I thought this was very interesting, and I have really enjoyed being immersed in the language. Complicated as it might be!
Aside from being stoked on the local culture, sites and experience, I have had some moments of homesickness after seven weeks on the go. Of course during my time travelling I try and get out of my comfort zone as much as possible, but that does get tiring after weeks on end. Frankly I was looking to build a bit of a community for myself as well, sick of the constant goodbyes… at least for a little while. I have found that in Kilronan, so I am going to try to stay here for a while. I didn’t realize how different this trip was going to be from my time studying abroad in Scotland in 2017. In Aberdeen (Scotland), we had a community and it was incredibly close right from the get-go. Comprised of other Erasmus and study abroad students from all over the world we were all craving friendships and comfort, and we found that in each other right away. We also had a permanent place to stay for our entire semester(s) and some semblance of a normal life (gym memberships, regular hang out spots, routines). I didn’t consider that when I embarked on this trip. I am sort of always living out of my suitcase besides the time I was staying in Corran for a few weeks and now here in Kilronan, I have met and left behind everyone I have met up until this point, and I rarely have any sort of routine. I have realized that I crave a bit of routine as much as I despise it occasionally at home, but I think that that would be the case for most other people who have been travelling like this. You want something to wake up for, and something to keep you busy. Realizing this and going through a period of figuring out why I was feeling so low even though I was in such epic places all of the time has been a trip in itself, and has taken a good deal of soul-searching. If you’ve ever been curious how you’d do on your own, travel alone in rural areas. It’s a mental challenge like no other I guarantee.
My point is – the past seven weeks have been crazy. I’ve been lonely, fulfilled, homesick, but have mostly just had a blast. I catch myself often walking around these amazing sites on the island and wondering how I got to this point, and I am glad I have this time to be really alone, but to also now have this amazing community. Study abroad was an incredible experience and will likely end up being the best year of my life in the end, but I feel like I’ve been able to come to terms more with who I am here than I ever have before. I feel like I apologize less, I own the fact that I am pretty damn cool, and I have become more empathetic to others. At home I am so set in my ways that I am not always the most caring person unless we are really close, and I just don’t think that’s the right way to live my life anymore. I hope I can carry some of this newfound empathy into my normal life back home… whenever it is that I go back to that, that is.
Well, how do you feel? If you’ve read this far, I am not really sure what to tell you my purpose was in writing this one. I suppose this would be one of my more “journal-entry”-esque posts, however I had no intention of my goal when I began writing which is contrary to my previous posts. It has been a rollercoaster of emotions along this trip and the past seven weeks have felt like a lifetime, but I do feel blessed to be riding it out. Negative experiences have fuelled a lot of the epic experiences I have had, which has been really positive. My self-talk is at an all time high too since I often just have myself to figure out a shitty situation, which will be the best thing that comes out of this trip by far. I think that will serve me for the rest of my life.
Make sure to take some time for yourselves away from your routines if you can! It’s healthy. Until next time friends <3