Lessons

Lesson One. Dublin wins for the worst shower I have ever been in. Not to sound horrible and whiny but I can take a shower and pretty much sit on the toilet at the same time. It is very tiny. However it is something I am getting used to and I just wipe up all the water on the ground after I'm done and know how not to hit my elbows on the wall.

Lesson Two. Check my adapter before traveling to a foreign country. Just because it says it will fit in all European sockets, Ireland chooses to be different. Part of why I love it.

Lesson Three. Weigh my bags before I go to the airport or I will be leaving jeans at home and carrying my pillow on each flight. Which reminds me I need to change the pillow case... sorry Mom.

Lesson Four. Be prepared to not know what people are saying half the time. I may know German by the end of this trip. And even though the Irish people speak English, the accent is so heavy.

Lesson Five. People will buy a lot of drinks for you. Be prepared to smile and nod when you can't understand what the Irish man is saying but he is holding out a pint of Guinness for you. As I discussed with CG I may have agreed to marry him. Oh well.

Lesson Six. Also, call it a pint. If you ask for a glass of Guinness you will get half a pint and then have a Irish man make fun of you for having a baby Guinness. However that will then get you free drinks since you don't know how to order correctly... so choose what you want to do wisely.

Lesson Seven. Be prepared not to sleep. Jet lagged the first day. After that apparently Europeans stay out until 5 AM. Plattsburgh did not prepare me for this by closing at 2. I am so tired and apparently need to step up my game.

Lesson Eight. Be ready for no one to care about American Football or Hockey... so when the lockout happens and you are swearing at your phone you may get confused looks. Or on a Sunday when your phone goes off with Giants notifications just be ready to try to explain why you are so excited or upset. Luckily I have nice friends that listen to me go off about all of these things and attempt to talk to me about it. It is so kind since I am just learning soccer/football.

Lesson Nine. Be ready for some people to go crazy when you say you are from New York and then you need to explain you are from the state and live in a town 2 hours outside of it... and go to school by Canada...

Lesson Ten. Live every moment to the fullest.
Going out late, small showers, figuring out the transportation (which I did so take that family), having to play Netflix constantly since the school won't provide TV (Thanks Joe), meeting some amazing people, fighting a hangover to you can travel to a beautiful town, getting over anxiety.
All of it.
Live every moment to the fullest because I will never have that day back again.
Travel while I can, eat stuff I may not have eaten before, talk to people even if I look like a stupid American.
Do it all.
That lesson is different, I didn't teach that to myself. I learned all of that from my Dad. I can say every moment I have been here I have thought 'what would Dad do' and I do it. Maybe that is why I am so open and ridiculous.

And so Orientation begins tomorrow. When I will have to remember all of this and go into a room with people I don't know and hope to not get too much of an anxiety attack. It will be fine though, after all I have my new friends and the people from home on my mind. I'm just ready to learn more lessons.