I'M GOING TO IRELAND!

that's right, my friends - my wanderlust alarm has rung, signaling the time for me to finally scratch my travel itch and embark on my next adventure.  the travel bug is this time leading me to ireland - limerick, ireland, to be exact.  through my college student affairs graduate program, i am required to complete an internship over the summer between my two years.  the majority of my classmates are completing state-side housing or orientation internships through national associations like ACUHO-I or NODA, but when this international opportunity popped up i could hardly pass it by.  and even better?  i'll be working in an international office at a small private school in ireland, working with incoming international and outgoing study abroad students as well as learning the administrative side of office summer preparation before the school year hits.  dreamy, right!?  i don't think i could have found a more perfect fit had i tried.

i depart in two weeks.  two. weeks.  fourteen days.  and between now and departure day all i have to do is complete a five day 45-hour summer course, pack, move home, be in a wedding, go to the dentist, cheer my sister on as she graduates high school, and eat lots and lots of pizza haus pizza.  i don't think i've ever been more giddy for summer and the eventful two weeks leading up to it.

as i mentioned, i'll be interning in an international office at mary immaculate college in limerick, ireland.  i will arrive in dublin bright and early after a red-eye flight and will take a bus through the irish country side to limerick, just in time to assist the office in hosting an international group from the united states.  the institution operates one of their residence halls like a hostel over the summer, so i will be renting a room long-term on campus and making friends with passersthrough from all around the world.  i hope to do some traveling around rural parts of the united kingdom as well as soak up all that limerick and western irleand have to offer.  i'll be saving most of my irish exploring for mid july... when my family comes to visit!  my mom and sisters are making their way across the pond to visit me at my internship site as well as do some sight seeing in ireland.  the girls' only request: go to mullingar, niall horan's hometown, and eat at nando's, niall horan's favorite restaurant.  #priorities

what can i say, friends?  my immediate future is bright... green.  and quite hilly.  and in just two weeks i will be taking my own photos in the irish countryside rather than having to pester my sister into photoshopping them for me.