The Grand Finale: Saying Goodbye to Cork

Greetings Readers 🙁

You might be wondering why I prefaced this post with a sad face. It’s because my time is coming to an end! I just took my last exam yesterday and now I just need to pack (Get ready for Pack Attack Pt. 2)  and then I leave on Sunday. That’s right guys: there are no more exams to take or papers to write. I’m officially  a free bird and a rising senior! Can you believe that the year has gone by so fast? It seems like just yesterday that  I was writing my first blog post about the mix of nerves and excitement that I had for spending the year in Cork. After 10 months of soul-searching, chefing it up, and combating a pinch of homesickness, I have officially made it to the other side of my study abroad journey.

Much like when I first arrived in Cork, I’m feeling a mix of emotions. I’m excited to go home and see my family again in person without having to use FaceTime, eat all of the Nashville food that I love, and be reunited with my car again, but I’m also sad to be leaving Cork and all of the people that I’ve met while here. Cork is so familiar to me now and it will be weird to not call this place home anymore. There are so many things that have made Cork such a great study abroad location. While Dublin might get all of the shine, the Rebel City is by far the best location in Ireland (I know, I’m biased). There are so many things that I will miss about Cork. Like the bustling stalls of English Market, the packed streets of Patrick St., the hot chocolate at O’Conaills Hot Chocolate, the ability to walk everywhere, and the main quad at UCC. I will miss going to brunch with friends and laughing about all of the cultural differences between us ( they hail  from places like Wales, France, and Italy) but all of the normal things that we share despite our differing nationalities.

Through this experience, I have fundamentally learned how to live differently. Unlike at Holy Cross where most of my time is spent jumping from class to homework to extra-curricular meetings, my time at UCC and Cork has been slow-burning. I made sure to not fill my time with as many outside activities, focused on gaining new skills that Holy Cross could not teach me (COOKING), and taking advantage of everything that this new city had to offer. I’d compare this experience to making one of my now signature dishes: pasta carbonara. You only need pasta, pancetta, eggs, and cream to make this dish. With the right amount of preparation and a little bit of patience and effort, you can make something that is made of few ingredients but tastes delicious. With this process in mind, I’ve been able to whip up one of the best years of my life in a  city that I’ve come to love so much.

Well,  I could probably  go on forever about how amazing my experience in Cork was, I will not bore you with every detail. I will say that if anyone is reading this who is thinking about going abroad, do it! Yes, you will be missing things at HC, but if you don’t go, you will never know what you missed out on. Going abroad is more than just traveling around and saying I’ve been here and I’ve done that, it’s about experiencing new things and growing as a person. I can guarantee that if you go abroad with an open mind, you will come back with #noregrets. Don’t worry readers, this isn’t my last post quite yet. I’ll post one more when I get back to the U.S. Anywho, I’ll end today’s post with a different slogan from one of my favorite tv shows: Friday Night Lights.

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose

Elena

The Beauty of Cork

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 4th, 2016 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.