8 Days

I can hardly believe I leave in 8 days!

This week has been my goodbye week. I celebrated my early 21st birthday and going away party last Saturday. What a great success! But it still feels surreal when I say goodbye... like is this really happening? Bittersweet is the best way to describe how I am feeling. The more I spend time with my friends and family the more I realize how much I have here and how much I will miss it. But I am SO excited for this adventure!!

Tonight I said goodbye to my best friend (sounds dramatic but were like sisters!) and I have been dreading this sad day! We spent all day together doing what we do best.. eating and shopping. It's funny because I thought I would have cried but I am so excited that all I could say was we will see each other soon enough! As she was crying I realized.. why in the heck am I not crying? I need to be sad I won't be seeing my best friend for months! But it dawned on me... it's not my time to be sad or be crying its my time to be happy and excited! I have a good feeling this will be the best thing that ever happened to me.

This coming up weekend is Christmas which is my favorite holiday ever! I am so excited to spend time with my family and take a small break from it all! I have plenty to do before I leave. I have been getting two emails a week from my adviser with instructions on what to do next. I would have never thought that it took this much work to leave the country... let alone live in another country. I have to show documents for EVERYTHING! I just received an email today saying I was able to to actually study in my major. In Ireland they are way ahead of us.. so essentially if you are a junior in college in the US you are barely a freshman over in Ireland. That doesn't make us look so hot.. but none the less I qualified to study in my major which was very exciting for me. That means more homework but I am excited to learn psychology from a different perspective.

I won't have time to write again until I get to Cork but I thought I would update you guys on whats going on. I fly out of Seattle December 31st. I have a long lay over in New York (6 hours!) then I will be in Ireland Jan 1st. It's funny because on my bucket list I have "Celebrate New Years Eve in New York." Whoever thought it would be in an airport. Ha. As Soon as I get to Ireland I plan on updating this as often as possible! So stay tuned and have a very Merry Christmas!! :)

-Britt