Julia is Traveling

Yes, the rumors are true. I traveled three hours outside of Dublin, by myself. ALL by myself.  I taxi'd to the train station, all on my own.  Taxi'd to the other train station because I went to the wrong one, all on my own. Took a train, all by myself. Transferred trains, all alone.  Got lunch at the Curious Cat cafe, ALONE.  Checked into my hostel, (independently by myself). Then I did the biggest thing of all: I WENT ON A 15 MILE HIKE.  ALONE. I visited the Killarney national park last weekend. My hostel advertised that they were 1 minute away from the national park, but what they failed to mention was that the mountains, a part of the park, were FOUR MILES ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PARK. So I suited up in my cute hiking outfit with my cute hiking boots and cute rain jacket and cute hiking backpack, then set off four miles to the park. I began the journey a little unsure because the mountains did not seem to be getting closer. After about an hour of walking alo...

  The last two (three?) weeks  I've been busy. The last time we really chatted was when I went to Belfast. My mom informed me that even though my last blog post was great, it didn't tell her what I have been up to, despite the fact that I talk to her at least two (three) times a day and give her a complete recounting of every single thing I do. So this blog post is dedicated to my mom and will recount my past two weeks in great detail.  As you all saw in my last post, I went on a hike. Every Wednesday I have class until 11, so I have been trying to plan small day trips for after class. I have a friend who goes to another college in Dublin, UCD, and we have been making plans together every Wednesday. We've been slowly working our way through her expansive list of coffee shops she wants to visit, but last week we strayed from our typically plans and went to a small beach town in Ireland called Bray. My friend Flo joined us and we hopped on the 155 bus ;) and took a quick on...

1/25-30  So, it finally happened. Our first Dublin Covid scare. Well, a little more than a scare because five of my friends have Covid. But so far, I'm negative. I woke up this morning with a headache which could have been new Covid symptoms or my hangover from the night before. The last remaining girls hung out last night while the rest of our friends began their first night of isolation.  I've found a way to mention a different anxiety I have each blog, so today we'll talk about my Covid anxiety. It isn't really a fear of Covid itself, but more the anxiety of spreading it to friends. And the unknown of it.  Last night was in simple terms: wholesome. Flo, Paige, Annie, and I sat at my kitchen table (sorry Brenna) and spent the night listening to a Y2K playlist and drinking. When going abroad, these are the sort of moments I crave because you spend so much of your time socializing and trying as hard as you can to make friends and have fun. When you are making new friend...

1/21-23 I get grossed out really easily. I think it’s because I’m a highly sensitive person (google it), but I’m super sensitive to smells and tastes. If a smell doesn’t fit into my standard of pleasant or clean, I quickly become uncomfortable and grossed out.  On the other hand, I’m not typically a germaphobe. I can walk barefoot pretty much anywhere, and I don’t mind not showering for days on end. I’m currently going on day 3 ;). But my mom is a different story. From very early on, she’s instilled in me that anywhere I sleep besides my bed   is probably dirty and that I must wear long sleeves and long pants tucked into my socks. She taught me that top sheets in hotels are probably not clean so don’t use them, carpets are not vacuumed so don’t walk barefoot, and everything needs to be wiped down, so wipe it down.   My sensitive senses mixed with my moms aggressive opinions on hotels mean I get a weird sense of uncomfortableness when staying in new places. Why does this m...