My last post told the tale of my up and down experiences with my abroad time at the two month mark. In a way, I kind of left it off as a cliffhanger as I never really gave any updates about my health status since then (whoops). As many as my close friends, family, and the rest of the SMC community may know, after not receiving any clear-cut answers from doctors in Ireland, I chose to go home and figure out my health. After years of planning to go abroad, I didn't picture my experience to end quite like that. But, just because it may not have ended on the perfect note doesn't mean that I didn't live the abroad experience and enjoy my time in Ireland.
If anything, going abroad was the best thing I've ever done. Of course, I was originally nervous, scared, and excited all at the same time as I was flying to the other side of the world embarking on this soul-searching journey by myself. I was extremely jetlagged the first couple of days and it wasn't until I adjusted to the time zone that it hit me-- okay, I'm in Ireland and let's do this whole abroad thing. So, the first couple of weeks were all about meeting new people, adjusting to different class schedules, trying to figure out public transportation systems, learning cool Irish phrases, exploring the campus and the surrounding area, trying new foods and drinks, and venturing off campus to do anything related to exploring the beautiful Ireland scenery. In the two months I was there, I was able to see some of the hot spots of Northern Ireland like the Giant's Causeway, The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, the Titantic Museum, the Crown Bar, and Bushmill's Distillery. Although my cool, crazy spring break trip around Europe didn't work out, I was still fortunate enough to go to Copenhagen with two of my very good SMC friends, Alex and Merrill.
Looking back at the experience, I'm not thinking of the "what ifs." I'm thinking more about the actual things I accomplished and the amazing people I met along my journey. Coming home sooner than expected was definitely challenging, but like going abroad, it was another great thing I did for myself. I've been figuring out a lot of things I need to work on in this interesting journey called life and it's cool to have the summer before my senior year be the time that I work on these things.
Senior year has a lot in store so far. A couple of weeks ago, I found out that I will be Co-Secretary of Programming, alongside one of my good friends, William. The Secretaries of Programming are mainly responsible for planning the larger events around campus such as P-day, the Spring concert, and the Fall comedian. We also work together with clubs of the Student Association and the rest of the Student Association E-board (which is full of a lot of great people that I'm pumped about working with!) On the academic side of things, I was fortunately able to gain credits from my abroad courses and with taking an online summer course through SMC, I will officially be all caught up with credits, so that is cooool!
I also will be wrapping up my Media Studies and Journalism major with senior seminar. As MJD majors, we have the option of writing a book, creating a film, or designing a website for our senior project. No matter what I decide to do, I just know senior year will require a lot of time in the good ole Bergeron. On the other side of things, it will require some time in some other buildings that I'm not so familiar with since I'll be taking an acting class and a dance class just to have some fun!
Anyways, I'll be posting more updates throughout the summer as other cool and exciting things come up. I hope everybody safe travels for those who are coming back from abroad and I hope everybody is enjoying their summer!
