Great Expectations (Or, Why I Have to Go to Dublin to Drink Beer and Get Drenched)

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After spending two and a half years at the same small school in Burlington, Vermont, I can walk from the student life center to the library with my eyes closed, know the exact amount of time it takes to get downtown, can dash off a list of the best late-night take-out in the city, and see the same faces everywhere I go. I have had various professors for multiple semesters and they remember my name when they see me on campus. The woman running the market across the street from my apartment recognizes me and knows I always want debit.  It’s familiar. It’s comfortable. 

It’s boring.

I love knowing where everything is and what I’m supposed to be doing all the time, but once in a while everyone needs to be shaken out of their comfort zone. A week from now I will be on a plane on my way to Dublin, Ireland, to spend the semester getting to know a new familiar. I’m not going to know where anything is or what to do, and I fully expect it to be scary. But it will be the good kind of scary, and when I make it to the other side I’ll be able to think, wow, I really did that. The soft, squishy familiarity I feel when I walk to class in Vermont is exactly the reason I need to go to Dublin. I need to do something different.  

The following is a list of everything I think I know about Ireland without having consulted Wikipedia:

• It rains most of the time
• People drink most of the time

Ok, so I don’t really know a whole lot about the place I’m going to be living for the next four months. But I’ve done some research and I’m working on gathering some more facts.

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But it doesn’t really matter how much I read from a guidebook or see from other peoples’ photographs, because every one of my preconceptions is going to be thrown down by my experiences. In other words, I don’t expect anything to be as I expect. Or something. Either way, I’m heading out with an open mind and ready to get my world shaken up. I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures!