Jennas Perspective

I'm On My Way


I started my journey this morning at 5:00am to fly 3,918 miles away from home to a place where they call a highway a ‘carriageway’ and a raincoat a ‘mac’. I depart to an unfamiliar place with an unknown path.  Over the next 4½ months I’m excited to take on the world as I travel to as many countries as possible and of course, explore my new country of dwelling, Ireland! I have no idea when I will have time for the actual school part of study abroad but I do plan on taking the traveling quite serious. 

 

I will try my best to blog as much as possible, although I make no promises.  Some places I hope to visit are:

 

  • Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • Budapest, Hungry
  • Bratislava, Slovakia
  • Vienna, Austria
  • Prague, Czech Republic
  • Lisbon, Portugal
  • Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • Stockholm, Sweden
  • Munich, Germany
  • Krakow, Poland – Auschwitz

 

Background on Ireland:

Not only is Ireland the homeland that brought us U2, The Script, Liam Neeson and sensational holidays like St. Patrick’s Day but they are also home to an incredibly rich culture, political history, and religious beliefs. 

 

Ireland is divided politically into the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland; the Republic consists of the majority of the land and people, populating more than 4 million citizens.  I will be living in Dublin, which is the capital of the Republic of Ireland. I expect rain everyday with a damp climate, BUT its no Minnesota or Wisconsin with temperatures around the 40s. The Northern end of Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and if you watch the Sons of Anarchy, includes the capital Belfast.  Both parts of Ireland are member states of the European Union. The two Irelands do have political and religious strain but all major modern political issues have had minimal tension since 2007. 

 

One of the biggest draws of Ireland for me was the people.  Irish people are known for there witty demeanor and a rich history of storytelling, poems and songs.  This and the rich custom of pub life and live music will be easy to become accustomed to. 

 

Their most well known sport is Gaelic football. It derived from traditional Irish games and is a mix of soccer, rugby and basketball.  I seriously couldn’t even picture what this would be like so YouTube says it is goes like this…

 

 

 

 

Wish me luck and cheers or as the Irish would say ‘slante’