Home is Wherever I'm With You

And THIS entry's title is brought to you not by Josh Ritter (please, contain your shock) but by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.  Hooray for change!

I seem to be falling behind in my correspondence these days and for that I apologize!  It was now a week ago that I visited my friend Jenn in Ireland.  So let's talk about it now!

First and foremost, it was so wonderful to see Jenn.  The moment I saw her, a sort of calm descended on me.  It was like I could let go and just hang out with my best friend, who I trust with every minute secret in my life.  The first night, I arrived in Galway fairly late at night, hurriedly got dressed in my Halloween costume, and we went out to the club.  I really am going to miss being able to go to clubs when I get back to the states.  I mean, first of all I won't be able to legally drink for another 7 months, and secondly the clubs in the states gross me out.  Sorry, off topic.

Over the course of the next couple of days, we explored the city of Cork, wandered around Galway quite a bit, and did many classically Irish things (go to the Saturday market, eat fish and chips, walk along the water, get caught in crazy rain, have a guinness at a pub that has live Irish music, etc.)  I had so much fun.  It's funny, because Ireland is now the first place I have visited that was exactly what I expected.  I don't know if it's because Jenn described it so well or because we did all the cliche things, but the scenery, the people, the buildings, the activities, etc. were very much what I expected, which was really amusing and awesome.

Mostly, it was just so great to spend time with Jenn.  For all I cared, we could have spent the weekend in her apartment.  After spending so much time away from everyone I know and love, it was refreshing and invigorating to see her.  We spent a lot of time catching up and having deep talks about this moment in our lives.  It really feels like we're at such a juncture in our lives where we're living the dream and trying to figure out where to go from here.  It's a lot of fun, but a lot of pressure.  To talk to someone who so fully understands who I am, where I'm coming from, what I want to do/be, and the way I think?  It felt so good and relieved so much of the underlying stress I previously had not admitted to myself.  It was incredibly difficult to say goodbye at the end of the trip, knowing I won't see her again until January.  Hopefully the time will fly!


Back in Switzerland...we're in the middle of our ISP period, which is the month in which we have no scheduled classes.  It's all time for research and interviews and writing our 30 page paper that's due the day before Thanksgiving.  I have never devoted myself so fully to a subject before, and it feels good.  It feels good to dive headlong into a topic and to try to forge connections and provide analysis that is original.  It feels good to be so focused and so enjoying it that I know that I'm doing what I'm meant to be doing.

Everyday I go to the UN library to do research and work.  I flash my badge, go through the metal detector, and head to the library building, where I spend much of the day reading books and doing work online.  It's intense, but it's fun.  It's especially fun when I realize how much I feel I'm a part of the rhythm here.  I know some of the security guards, and we chat when I walk in.  I get annoyed on heavy tourist days, and find myelf hurrying along with other people (who are surely more important than I).  It makes me feel very grown up, which is terrifying.  But it also makes me feel like I'm playing dress-up in some more legitimate person's life, which is really fun.

This morning, there was snow on the mountains and the water of the lake was very calm.  I'm going to miss this place.  If I don't count days I'm spending in Norway, I only have 8 days left in Switzerland.  EIGHT DAYS.  It's absolutely unreal how fast time is passing.  And then I have to return to real life?  Yikes.