Everything adds up and leads to this.

I'm sitting in my room in Ireland, sipping on a cup of tea and reflecting on the past 1.5 days (which seems like 3 days!) I feel so blessed at this moment to finally be here.

Here is my story so far . . . 

Morning feelings on the day I leave: Monday, January 21st. I woke up with an interesting feeling. I still didn't feel like I was leaving, but the over packed suitcase, lack of appetite, and last minute paper work was telling me that I was leaving. The night before I spent at least 4 hours packing - rearranging, trying to decide what I should bring, what I need more than what I want. Who knew packing would be so difficult?! I knew my bag would be overweight, but I decided to pay what the overweight so I could bring a quilt, pillow, and towel (things that I potentially could buy over in Ireland, but wanted to take with). My dad got home from the farm, I packed my bags into the car, Jacob gave me a hug, and we were off.

Leave it to Megan: To wait until the last day to "remember" that she needs to make a copy of her debit card.  To wait until the day of to plug in her camera and find that it's dead and the charger isn't working. Thank goodness I have a patient mother who stopped at her school on the way to make a copy of the debit card and Best Buy to buy a new charger and battery.

Regret: On the way to the airport, I start thinking about things I regret not bringing. My formal, nice wool black jacket. I started talking out loud and asking, "Why didn't I bring that? It would look so nice over in Ireland! That was silly. I should have brought that instead of the blanket and towel. Darn! Why? Why didn't I bring it?" My sister Libbie responds, "Megan. You're going to Ireland within hours and you're worried about the jacket that you didn't bring? YOU'RE GOING TO BE IN IRELAND! Don't worry about a jacket." I thank Libbie for knocking sense into me in times where I'm becoming hysterical about nonsense.

Simplifying moment: We weigh the bag at the airport and it's 68 lbs. (The weight limit is 50 lbs.) We find out that international flights cannot take overweight bags. Time to take stuff out. I wheel my suitcase off to the side and open up my suitcase. "I need all of this stuff! I don't know what I'm going to get rid of!" Thankfully I had my mom and Libbie there who can easily say, "You don't need this. You can get this over there. You don't need every single clothing that you love." I had a choice, I could start crying about it or I could simplify. Time to simplify. After about 20-30 minutes, I got my suitcase down to 50 lbs. I got rid of some clothes, underwear, quilt, pillow, shoes, and bible. My mom wheeled it over to a man to put it on the plane and the man says, "Is she done getting rid of all of things she thought she couldn't live without?" Comic relief. :) (In the picture, that plastic bag is everything that I took out of my suitcase and sent home.)

Time for security: Once I was through security, I was on my own. My mom said she would stand in the long line with me. My dad and Libbie stayed back. I gave my dad a long hug, and that's when the crying began. Then I gave Libbie a hug. I dried up my tears and got in line with mom. We had about 10 minutes together in line. About halfway through, she stayed at one corner. We hugged, I cried (of course), but only for a few seconds. I wanted to be stronger! Then I got to security and looked at my mom, with a look of, "What do I do now?" She motioned for what I do. A lady behind me also helped. I got through, and waved to my mom. That was that. No more calling my family up to ask questions, no more looking at my mom for what i have to do next. I was on my own. It was the beginning of becoming more independent - changing.

MSP-Chicago: I sat at the gate and began to journal. My mom gave me a journal that she took to Ireland, but didn't fill. I had a window seat! I ended up sitting next to an elderly man. I asked him what book he was reading. It was a book about the Civil War. Eventually I asked him where he was going to from Chicago. He was going home (New York). Then he asked where I was going, and he said he used to work in Ireland. So cool! I can't remember exactly what he did, but it was something with programs for children. He raved about Ireland and how beautiful it is. The last thing he said to me when the plane landed, "Blarney is in the blood of the boys. It gets triggered by Guinness." That was made me laugh!

We're in Chicago: For some reason when we got off the plane we had to walk about 50 yards outside to the airport. I found a girl about my age and asked if she knew where terminal 5 was and she said she was going to terminal 5. We found out we were both going to Ireland. She said, "I knew you were when I saw you at the gate in Chicago because you were wearing rain boots." I was overjoyed that I found someone who was on the same flight as me. The Chicago airport is HUGE. We got off of the plane at Terminal 2 and ended up having to take a train to Terminal 5. We then went through secruity and found our gate. We were the only ones there for a good couple hours. We talked and talked and talked. I found out she's from Woodbury (20 minutes from where I live!). Small world. Two boys showed up and we asked them where they were from and one of them commented on my Packer shirt, saying, "Go Packers!" I asked them what school they go to school and they said, "St. Norbert." Small world! I actually ended up sitting behind them on the plane too. We all had many good conversations and I also met up with a girl who I met through a Maynooth International Student facebook page. We all had good conversations.

Time to board! A few moments before we boarded the plane I actually remembered how I forgot to call my bank and tell them I would be studying abroad. I became very flustered and texted my parents immediately to ask them to call the bank. I was so worried about this. I probably spent an hour going over and over again in my mind how I should have remembered to do that. Now what was I going to do once I got over to Ireland? I can't use my card or they might freeze my account. There are things I need to buy! Like shampoo, pillow, blanket, towel, food! I finally said a prayer. Growing moment: I remembered that Dominic gave me 50E for Christmas. I would just buy things that I really needed. Okay. I'm fine. On the 8 hour flight, I got a window seat! I only slept for about 30 minutes the whole time. My favorite thing about the ride was that they served tea for free! I smiled about this and thought, "I'm going to Ireland." :)

We're in Ireland! It was about 8AM and we were in Ireland. The sun was just rising, so the sight from the plane was exquisite. After getting off the plane, checking in, finding our bags, we found two girls holding a sign saying, "Maynooth University". We sat down next to a couple other girls who were also studying abroad at Maynooth. We found out there was free Wi Fi! That was when I jumped on my computer and notified my parents I was safe and well. We took a bus to the school. I think there were about 10 of us. We got our rooms/apartment keys. Then after checking out our rooms all of us got together, walked across campus to get our internet information, then walked to Tesco.

This was a moment of growth: (imagine what a Wal-Mart looks like - that is what Tesco was like). We got our needed essentials. I knew I only had 50E, so I had to buy sparingly. I got oranges, a bag of Irish oats, a pillow, pillow case, a blanket, shampoo, conditioner, hand soap, a towel, hand towel, and wash cloth all for 45E. I did it! My train of thought while buying things was really thinking hard about what I NEEDED. I wasn't concerned about what was the best. Then I had this thought, "This is what I'm going to do while I'm over here. Spend very wisely. Learn that I don't need the best of everything. In fact, I don't need everything. There are people who survive off of way more little than I do. I think I can live without certain things." Simplify.

My roommates: I met 2 of my roommates, and instantly knew that we would all get together. We are all pretty laid back, easy to get along with. I just feel so fortunate!

We went out to eat that night: I didn't have any money left after buying a chord and buying my essentials. One of my new friends, Katelyn, offered to pay for me and I could pay her back when my card was okayed. What a sweetheart! We went to The Rooster. There were about 10 of us again. We were all SO HUNGRY since we hadn't eaten in a very long time. Katelyn and I were sitting next to each other and so exhausted we couldn't even think straight. Most everyone ordered their first Guinness, but Katelyn and I passed. With how tired/exhausted and out of it I was, alcohol was not a good idea. I ordered a chicken salad. After supper we Katelyn and I walked back to our apartments. A stray cat followed us part of the way.

Before bed: I unpacked and had a Skype session. Poor guy, I think he only got like a fraction of Megan since I was so out of it and exhausted. ha. I realized that I was so tired that I didn't miss home, I didn't miss friends, I didn't miss family, I didn't miss Eric, I didn't miss St. Norbert, I MISSED SLEEP. After being awake for 34 hours, I crawled into bed. I woke up in the middle of the night freezing! My heater was on, but it didn't really heat up the room. I e-mailed my mom, then tried going back to sleep. I found that if I didn't move, I could get warm. I woke up at 2PM. Woah! It felt like it was only 9AM. Gotta love jetlag. Katelyn and I went to the bank then Dunes. We bought duvet`s and I got a cheap kids cover for it. Polka-dots and hearts. Then we went to Aldi. Yes! They have an Aldi here!

Little things:
*We noticed that people here walk on the left side. We almost kept running into people since we would go to the right (when they are walking toward us) and they would be going their left. Oops!
*Are there speed limits? Cars drive so fast through this little town.
*Yes, the accents make you melt. I can't get enough of them.
*They don't bring us our check when eating out, we go up and get it. I wonder if it's because in Ireland it's about visiting with each other, not eating the food and going.

No homesickness, yet! I am so grateful for all of the wonderful people I have met so far and I've only been here for a day!

I realize I probably didn't need to add every single detail, but I think that's just the way my brain is operating at this moment on jetlag. Enjoy!

God bless you, all.