The Last Day

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I’m writing my last blog post about three weeks after I have left Ireland. I couldn’t do it before then because in all honesty it hurt too much. I had to focus on getting acclimated with my surroundings and fitting back into where I had left before I could reflect on my time abroad. However much Finn told us we wouldn’t quite fit back into the box we had left behind, I had to fit at least part of me back for my own sanity.

The trip home was a tough one. I had my only exam on the very last time slot of the exam period, meaning it was at 4:30pm at the Galway Bay Hotel in Salthill on Friday the 16^th of December. I had so much stuff going home, but not enough where it would have been a good decision for me to buy and check another bag. I refused to do it. So, I threw out a lot of stuff and tried so hard to pack everything in. The taxi we had coming to take us to the hotel where Erin, Brooke, and Mary Cate were staying and where Dennis was picking me up was getting us from Gort at 8:30pm. At 7:30pm I was struggling to get my belongings into my suitcase, and in seconds the zipper started to split. I thought I was done for at that point. I really thought it was all over. How was I supposed to fix that, or get a new suitcase in less than an hour?



I was lucky enough to be staying with my grandpa’s sister Maizie and her husband Dennis for the night because they live about a ten-minute drive from the airport. The entirety of Friday was a bit of an emotional ship for me. I would sway from sadness to anxiety to fits of tears to happiness at going home. I do not do so well with emotions so that was tough. I got to Maizie and Dennis’ around 10pm on Friday and I had a really nice dinner and tea with them. While my stay there was short, I am so grateful that I got to see them and spend time with them before I left.

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