I can hardly believe my time here is coming to a close! I remember like yesterday sitting in the London airport (half asleep with an awful tooth ache) freaking out about what awaited me on the other end of my next flight. I thought for sure that immigration was going to tell me I had forgot the most important document and that they were going to have to hold me in jail 'til I found a way to get home which meant no school for the semester and behind a year in the program....okay maybe it wasn't that bad but I won't deny that most of those things went through my head during that layover. Now, classes are over and I leave for Venice in less than a week to start my crazy travel adventures with my Judson studio mates! Where has the time gone. While it will be hard for me to leave this beautiful country and the great friends I have made here, I am ready to move on. This has been an unbelievable chapter of my life, but one coming to a close and I am so excited to see what the next one holds.
So, all that being said I will move on to the point of this post. For everyone back home, and for my future self as well, I wanted to help you move past the magical veil of Ireland life to my reality. I decided the best way to do that would be to show you, as best I can, a normal day in my shoes. I guess to say "normal" is kind of incorrect since no week seems to hold the same adventures as the next, but this as close as I can get. So here is a day in my life through pictures. I must warn you, reading through to the end of this post may shatter the fantasy of the far off magical world I live in for you, but then again maybe the magical is in the reality and not the fantasy....Ok, here we go!
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| The first thing I see/hear every morning. This phone's main job is waking me up....having an Irish phone has made me way less attached to my phone and I like it that way. I'm honestly not really even looking forward to get an American phone again. I guess it is that old-fashioned part of me that still prefers human interaction over texting. |
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| My closet....what to wear? Might I add how little is in here. In my opinion I packed light when coming to Ireland. Crazy for a girl I know! |
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| European bathrooms...glad the water is warm at least. You just have to make sure you catch it at the right time of day... it's on a timer. 7:00AM = cold shower |
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| So I wasn't going to post this one but I could resist sharing our awesome mugs with you all. Notice the classy broken handle...ironically enough this is how all of our mugs are. Also, I always eat my cereal out of a mug...is that weird? |
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| A quick walk to my bus stop and then I jump on my bus to UCD. And yes, I ride on the top level just because I can...gotta love the double-Decker buses. |
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| 10:00AM - First class of the day-theory and design of structures. |
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| My professor in action...last day of this class and I finally get what she is teaching....well, kinda. |
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| This is my friend Lauren from Australia. Somehow the two study abroad third year architecture students found each other :) Going to miss this girl and suffering through this boring class with her. |
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| On my way to my next class/ my favorite class- history of planning. It's also only once a week which makes it even better. It's during this long walk I always question why I never decided to get a bike... |
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| Final class of the day....STUDIO! Four hour class-5 times a week. (Blah. AKA my least favorite class which is unfortunate. Not to be a Debby-downer but I will not miss this room.) A bonus is that we each basically get a whole table to ourselves. They also have awesome glue...you know you're an architect when you get excited about glue. |
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| My walk to my other bus stop....around a building, through a big field, through an alley thing, around a locked gate... |
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| ...and through a housing community to my bus stop.Needless to say it took me a while to figure out this shortcut. |
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| After my bus ride back it's just a short walk back to the house. Travel time from beginning to end: approx. 45 min. Now that spring has sprung the trees here are so beautiful. |
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| The rest of my day was FAR from interesting unfortunately. This was the extent of my fun from about 4PM to 2 AM...drawings, models and tea. This was the week of a critique so I had lots and lots of hours of work. Also note my desk is now permanently in the middle of my room to get light for my drawings.Thus is the life of an architecture student. |
So my life is often far from glamorous, but I hope you enjoyed a small glimpse into it.
Cheers friends!
