Mission Impossible? Finding Friends Abroad

"Out of sight, out of mind" is a phrase that I have never particularly enjoyed, but I have felt the full weight of during the past few years. I decided to attend school in Denver, Colorado which is quite far away from my family in Cleveland, Ohio. During my time in Denver, and now since I am across the world, I have experienced the sensation of being "out of mind". Now, while I have never felt neglected or unloved, I can relate to this quote because I am often the last to know important things in the lives of my family or friends. I was one of the last to know about my family members health issues, and on one occasion, death. On a more positive note, I learned that my cousin was pregnant about a month after the announcement to the whole family. While it is no one's fault, this sensation is just a fact of being far away from home. During my first few weeks here at Maynooth, I felt as if my family and friends were doing just fine without me. Their lives were just as busy and wonderful as ever, while I was stuck in a tiny room across the world, wishing I was home in Cleveland.

For the first few weeks, I am sure you all remember me calling you to tell you how bored I was or how it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to find friendly people on this dang campus to chat with. My roommates NEVER left their rooms even though I could HEAR THEM SNEEZING AND CLANKING THEIR SILVERWARE!!! I KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE!!!!

Anyway...

I have much more free time this semester because I am only taking four classes, so before I knew what to do with my free time, I spent more time than usual in my room listening to hours of country music and the soundtracks to Les Mis and Wicked on repeat. I read a lot of books and called my sister Gretchen about every other day, and I was getting paranoid that I would never make friends at this school. So just before I reached the point of talking to myself, I quickly called up my good pal Bri. Bri and I were friends at Regis, but have become much closer during this semester abroad. So when I felt like I was losing my mind from isolation and boredom, I called her up.

Each Wednesday, Bri and I make dinner together and sometimes she invited random people that met in her classes or clubs. (I joined a soccer team and a few clubs as well, but I did not have as quick of luck as she did in finding such wonderful human beings.) So on Ash Wednesday, I encountered two young ladies named Bri and Janine for the second time in my life, friends of Bri from her class/volleyball. I had recently challenged myself to make one new friend each week, so during this dinner, I did my best to get to know these girls. Soon, we found out that all three of us were looking for adventure buddies, so I went on a limb and proposed that we take a trip to Howth, a small town on the coast. To my relief, they both eagerly accepted, and little did we know that this simple day trip experience would lead us to become much closer friends.

In Howth, I experienced for the first time:

1. Eating gelato at a castle

2. Eating magical Hungarian fried pizza

3. Hiking on a cliff

4. Racing kayakers (as we hiked up the cliff path, we noticed some kayakers speeding along the coast...naturally we tried to beat them to the lighthouse finish line, but they prevailed)

5. Feeling proud of myself for taking a LEAP outside my comfort zone and making new FRIENDS!

Something that I forgot about upon coming to Ireland is that the process of making new friends is actually quite slow. During my freshman year of college, it took at least 4 months before I found the kindred spirits among my hall-mates and classmates that I could call my friends. However, since I only have 6 months in Ireland, I was so scared that I would struggle to find new friends. And guess what?? It would have been impossible if I never left my room! Thankfully, I did leave my room to seek people out, and Bri introduced me to these lovely people! It can often be scary to take that initial leap and initiate conversation and propose activities, but it is so worth it when you find the right people!

After this trip to Howth, Janine and I started sitting next to each other in our Cultural Heritage class, and we began having meals together and realized we have very similar senses of humor and backgrounds. Bri and I did the same, and started to see that we both are eager to see the world and excited to see as much of Ireland as possible. We are now getting closer as the days go by, and I know that the little trip to Howth helped us become comfortable around each other.

Since this fateful day at Howth, Bri and I traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland together, and continued to share meals together with the rest of our friends. Janine and I have also shared countless meals and many movie nights, as well as lots of laughs and we have explored lots of Ireland together. We have expanded our little group of friends, and throughout the semester, I have met many amazing people from all over the world. We all adventured to Donegal for a weekend to surf in the freezing North Atlantic Ocean. Basically, since this initial meeting, we have grown much closer, and it is going to be very difficult to say goodbye!!

I am so thankful that I met these wonderful human beings, because they have made me feel like I am part of a community here at Maynooth, even though I am thousands of miles away from my family and friends. I have made friends that have changed my perspective of the world, and they have taught me the importance of courage, kindness, generosity, and LAUGHTER!! What a wonderful gift it is to have people here in this place that will make it hard to say goodbye to! But, I will stop thinking about that because it is too depressing. For now, I am just going to enjoy the last few months we have left, and never take a moment for granted.

Here are some pictures of the fun we've had since our first meeting in February :)