This semester, I had no final exams, just essays, which allowed me to travel during Reading Week and Exam Week. I spent a week with my grandparents in Eastern Europe, the first time I had been back since COVID. I planned long layovers in Amsterdam and Vienna and got to check out local food markets, parks, and bakeries. Once I got back from visiting family, I filled my last week and a half doing things I ‘always’ wanted to do like the wax museum.

My aunt came to Dublin to help me pack up my apartment, and we decided to visit Portugal on the way home. We took the famous tram, ate pastel de nata, and went to an Amsterdam-style fry shop. The day we flew home was when air traffic controllers lost contact at Newark, but we had no trouble with our flight.

I was ready to see my family and come back to my “real life,” but I miss Ireland now. I was home for only a couple of weeks, about the same amount of time I’ve been home now, during the winter before I went back to Ireland. It feels weird that I’m home ‘for good,’ especially when I’m still in group chats for the clubs I was in over there.

As a rising senior, studying abroad has given me new ideas of what I am looking for in a graduate program and career. I am very grateful for my experience and am glad I went.