tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet, did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day, then head back to the milky way

Well, it is my last night in Ireland, and this will be my last post. Thank you to everyone who has read my blog!

I partly can believe and I partly cannot believe that my time in Ireland is wrapping up. There were days that seemed to fly by when I was having a great time, and others that dragged on when I missed my family and friends.

But I think that's a good summary of my time here: it was good and bad. But it ultimately all worked out for the good. Every struggle I had or challenge I faced I learned from. I leave Ireland a lot wiser, more responsible, and more independent as an adult, yet at the same time completely dependent on my Lord and Savior.

It started off as a train wreck: missed flights, delayed baggage, stolen laptop, lost in a foreign city. I thought, what on earth have I gotten myself into. But you learn how to deal, you learn how to problem solve and how to get through it.

Even the worst of situations God turned into good. Just today I learned that my laptop was found by the Heathrow police and the man who stole it was arrested. The fact that my laptop is discovered on the very last day that I am here, when it was stolen at the very beginning of this trip brings everything full circle and is completely an act of God.

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." - Romans 8:28.

God keeps his promises. He's brought me through deserts: challenges with laptops, at work, with friends here. Why do I always doubt that when time and again He shows His goodness to me.

I've learned a lot during my time here. I've learned more about logistics, getting around cities, traveling around the world. I've learned about Irish politics, how to be proactive at work and find opportunities for yourself, and I've learned more about what I'd like to do in that crazy world of government after graduation.

Looking back, I ALWAYS wanted to study broad. It was a non-negotiable for me. It HAD to happen or I didn't think my life would have been fulfilled. But now? I would say I could've lived without it.

Don't get me wrong: I love Ireland, and I learned so much from this trip, but it also wasn't necessarily "the time of my life" that people advertise studying abroad to be. What I'm saying is, you realize you don't need everything you thought you once needed.

I've gotten a lot of comments from friends who say, "I'm so jealous that you're in Ireland this summer!" But don't think I wasn't jealous at times of you too. Don't think that I wasn't jealous of the pictures I'd see of you with your friends at the beach, or your Facebook status that you were grabbing lunch with your sorority sister. Being away makes you realize how special what you already have is.

It reminds me of that song "Drops of Jupiter" by Train.

Tell me did you sail across the sun

Did you make it to the milk way to see the lights all faded

And that heaven is over rated

And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there

God calls us into community. Into community with Him and with each other. I think it's the biggest blessing we have in life. No amount of glittering cities and fabulous internships could replace the relationships I have with loved ones.

Ireland taught me that "there's a time to change" and "there's room to grow," but it also taught me that maybe everything I was looking for God had already given me right at home.

With my mom and sister on Easter

My parents in DC to see the cherry blossoms

Clay and I at my sorority's date function

My best friend Nicole

With my friends on my 21st birthday

Now that she's back from that soul vacation, tracing her way through the constellation...

Blog post title - Drops of Jupiter by Train

here we are together again, dancing in the memories He began

Let's just start off this post by saying...

CLAY CUNDIFF CAME TO VISIT ME IN IRELAND!!!!!!!

Yup, I was excited about this as you can tell. Which is probably why I sprinted towards him and gave him a big hug when I picked him up at the airport. He said, "You know everyone stared at us, right?" To which I just said, "So?" ;)

Having my boyfriend come visit was such a wonderful gift from home. It was a nice comfort that made me excited to be going home in a week, but it also made me aware that I need to cherish this last week I have in Ireland.

Clay was able to go into work with me, which I thought was really cool that he got to see what the Dail and my office looked like. And he even knew that Parliament here is called the Dail! He was up on his Irish savvy before he even got off the plane.

After work, we headed off to the Aran Islands! This is one of my favorite places that I have visited in Ireland, and when I was first there I KNEW he would love it too. It captures Ireland's essence in its beauty and charm, and I knew he would appreciate seeing the countryside of Ireland more than just the city streets of Dublin.

So it was a trek alright, especially after pulling a 7 hour flight, but he went with me without one complaint and was a trooper through it all! Between bus hopping and a ferry ride, we were pooped and looking forward to our B&B.

We stayed at Kilmurvey House, which Clay picked himself before coming over here. As I have said several times to him, he did an amazing job with this selection! I absolutely loved this place. It's really more like a hotel, because it's so nice, but with a B&B charm. It was so nice to have my own room and bathroom with plenty of towels and space, instead of the cramped hostels I have stayed in while traveling here. Plus, the woman who runs the house used to cook at Buckingham Palace! So needless to say, the breakfasts were amazing. On Sunday morning she even got up early and made breakfast just for us, since we had to leave early for the ferry back. We both thought this was extremely thoughtful!

Clay in front of Kilmurvey House

While on the island, we enjoyed walking around, going to the cliffs...and bike riding. It was my idea, and in my naivete assumed that not riding a bike in, oh, 9 years, wouldn't be a big deal. I would just hop right on that bike and pedal down the streets, like I did when I was 12. After all, "it's just like riding a bike," right?

NOT. Whoever came up with this phrase is WRONG and I would like to have a word with him. I struggled to find my balance on the bike and was disappointed that what I thought would be a simple activity was turning into such a challenge.

Clay spent the next hour being a perfectly patient and supportive coach as he tried to re-teach me how to ride a bike. In 2 hours time I was successfully riding again! But I wasn't ready for the main roads yet with cars, so we just stuck with the back road.

Exploring the island

On Sunday we went back into Dublin and just spent the day in the city and he got to go to my church with me! And before I knew it, his visit was coming to a close and it was time for him to leave.

I kept saying to him during his visit, "I can't believe you're actually here!" To which he would always laugh. But it's the truth, I CAN'T believe he was here and was able to fly all of this way to see me. It was so nice to just be with one another again, to laugh with him again, and simply enjoy one another's company.

After dropping him off at the airport, I was a little sad to see him go, but I thought, I really have nothing to be sad about. I'm a blessed girl that my boyfriend can come all this way to visit me. And I know we'll be together again :)

The title for this post is part of the song that Clay wrote for me on Valentine's Day. And as you have probably figured if you have been reading my blog regularly, I like using lyrics as titles. So I knew using the song he wrote for me was perfect for this post. The lyrics have come more and more true for me as time has passed, and here are some of my favorite parts:

Here we are, together again

Dancing in the memories He began

Holding hands we're plowing through

Moving towards the truth

Together, with you

No matter where we go

Together forever

Or mutually severed

The time you were mine

Will always

Be remembered as more than just a time

Blog Post Title - Here We Are (Together Again) lyrics by Clay Cundiff and music by Robbie Forrest

london calling

Why hello london! What's that you say? You want me to come visit? Well if you insist, darling!

During my time in Ireland, one of my #1 "must dos" was visit London (ironic, I know). I've always wanted to go to London, and since it was only a hop, skip, and a jump away from Dublin, it was perfect! So I set off for three days to jolly good England to see what the Queen, the fashion, and the hype surrounding the Royal Wedding was all about.

I would describe London as the "NYC" of Europe. It's such a big metropolis that has become the hub for so many markets and industries, and there is so much to do and see here that it's impossible to do it all in three days. I could spend a whole summer in London and never completely know London (hey, sounds good to me).

But here is where London's got NYC stumped. Its steeped in a rich history of monarchies, parliaments, and royal families in a country that was historically one of the most powerful in the world, and its influence can still be seen today.

I walked down BOTH Albemarle Street and Lambeth Road. Um, hello Charlottesville, VA? UVA? Guess we know where our names for places come from!

As a student, I loved being in a country that I have learned so much about. I've read the writings of John Locke and how they influenced American's framework for government, I've analyzed Shakespeare's plays, and studied influential leaders such as Queen Elizabeth and Winston Churchill.

Now let's talk fashion: Boots, Harrods, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols. I'd only read about these British stores before (ahem, in Confessions of a Shopaholic I admit). In Ireland I've learned that any Irish girl that wants to pursue fashion moves to London - it's clearly the hub for design.

I was also surprised at how easy London was to get around. Just keep riding what they call the Underground or Tube, it's just like the Metro in DC, and you can get anywhere. Beforehand I was worried I'd spend half of my time in London just figuring out how to get places, but I was happy to find this task to be a breeze.

My two favorite things we did in London were the Thames River cruise at night and the tour of Buckingham Palace. We had passes to take a cruise around the Thames River, which cuts through the city just like the Liffey River cuts through Dublin (except much, much bigger). Along the Thames you'll see all the major sites - Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, and London Tower. The city was beautiful lit up at night!

We luckily arrived in London the day before Buckingham Palace would open for public tours, which it only does 10 weeks out of the year. Let me say that this tour is worth every penny! You get to walk through all of the state rooms and learn about the different monarchs that lived there (my favorite is Queen Victoria who inspired the Victorian style and was a strong, moral woman who championed reforms in social welfare, plus she has my birthday fyi) as well as the Royal Wedding. Now I wasn't a fanatic about the Royal Wedding before, but I must admit it was really cool to see where they got married, took their wedding pictures, and see her wedding dress, earrings, and shoes! England has William and Kate FEVER.

On top of the river cruise and Buckingham Palace, we walked along Westminster Bridge, St. James Park, Trafalgar Square, had high tea and went shopping!

London is definitely a city I would re-visit, because I know I could always find something new to do. I left so many stones unturned in this great city, and I would love to experience it more!

Cheerio chap!

Blog post title - London Calling by the Clash

but i did get to call his wife's office

While doing research on childhood obesity as part of my research project, I looked at what other countries were doing to tackle obesity and used those as case studies for my presentation.

One way the United States is responding to childhood obesity is the First Lady's Let's Move! campaign which focuses on encouraging kids and parents to make healthy choices by exercising and eating healthy food.

I had already done a lot of research on the internet and wanted to find out if there were any published progress reports. So I called the US Department of Health, and when talking to a customer service representative, she said, "Well let me just transfer you to the office of the First Lady."

Um, ok!

It's pretty cool what you can get access to when you are actually working for a government. On top of speaking to someone from the First Lady's office, which I found very exciting, I also got to speak with a policy developer from the Department of Health in the UK.

But I will say that while the policy developer from the UK was very helpful, all I got from the Let's Move! campaign, was an automated e-mail WEEKS later with information that I already knew. Nobody ever called me back. (although in their defense, if I REALLY needed the information, i could have been more aggressive in getting it).

Hmph, thanks a lot America.

;)

this is all anyone here asks me about

Photo courtesy of the Financial Times

"Ohh were you here when Obama was here?"

This is the question I always get when I tell Irish people that I'm from America (and ESPECIALLY when I tell them I'm a politics major working in the Dail - makes me a perfect target).

I always tell them, "No, but I did watch it on the news." To which I always hear some anecdote about how they tried to go see him, but the streets were too crowded, or they saw his car drive by, etc.

Ireland has caught a case of Obama fever.

It's understandable. If all you see is the media highlights of a young, inspiring man who is spouting the dream of "change we can believe in" and "yes we can." If you know the history of racism in America and this is our first African American president. So to anyone abroad, yeah, you would be excited that this kind of man was coming to visit YOUR country.

But maybe if they looked closer as to what was actually going on. Maybe if they saw that all he did on his visit was giving an inspiring speech with no real substance, no meat and potatoes (which the Irish love by the way), drank a pint of Guiness (and then declared that "the President pays his bar tab"), and played around with a hurling stick with Prime Minister Enda Kenny.

It was a whirlwind of a visit that was surrounded by the smoke and mirrors of excitement, press, and traditional Irish past times. Drink a pint of Guiness, wave around a hurling stick, and chant "yes we can" in Irish, and you got yourself a political visit.

But where was there any real policy discussed? Maybe a firm shaking of Kenny's hand, as Obama promised the United States will have a closer relationship with Ireland? But actions speak louder than words, and Obama's actions that day in Ireland left little to be trusted.

As this presidential rock star jetsetted away to another country, he left Ireland with some exciting memories, but no good 'ol fashioned meat and potatoes.

Father break my heart for what breaks Yours

Photo courtesy of Flickr

During my time in Ireland, I decided that I wanted to try to volunteer. I've always been interested in the plight of homeless people: how people become homeless, how do they survive, what are the stereotypes of homeless people and are they true?

My heart breaks when I see a homeless person asking for money on a street corner, and living in a city, you see that everyday. But then there is always the debate, well will they just use your money to go buy alcohol and drugs?

I honestly don't know. But I also don't think it's our place to judge that. We especially can't judge those outside of the faith. God can be the One to judge. He is the One who is omnipotent after all.

And how much am I really going to miss that loose change in my purse? Whether that homeless person uses it for alcohol or not, I'm not the worse off without it. But he might be that much better off with it.

God calls us to love. To love Him, and to love His creation. Who did Jesus spend most of His time with here on earth? It wasn't those who were socially considered to be the "right" kind of people. If so, he would have been hanging out with what we now see as the over-legalistic Sadducees and Pharisees. No, he spent time with prostitutes and tax-collectors. The lowest of the low. The poorest of the poor.

It's hard to see that God calls us to do the same. It's hard to step outside of our comfort zone. And it's not any easier for me, even though in my head, I know these people need my help and deserve my compassion.

So now I volunteer for an organization called Depaul Ireland, which runs several homeless shelters. The homeless shelter I work at is called a "wet hostel," meaning the residents are allowed to consume alcohol while they live there.

It's an interesting, innovative approach to combat homelessness that is also controversial. Most homeless shelters turn away the people Depaul Ireland accept. But maybe those are the people who need our help the most? Depaul puts their residents on a drinking plan and controls the amount of alcohol they consume every day. Their belief is that you have to lower the threshold and work with these people, understanding that alcoholism is a disease, instead of talking down to them.

My responsibilities are administrative work. I don't work directly with the residents, because you need a police background check, and I am not here long enough to really build relationships with them. But I have witnessed their interactions with other residents and volunteers.

It's so upsetting to see people get to the level that these residents are at. They do nothing with their lives except drink. It's amazing the lack of motor skills, daily functions, and mental capabilities they have. I saw one woman struggling to put gloves on without the help of a volunteer. Another had to be told to "hold it in" before she made it to the bathroom to pee. You have to coax them into taking a shower, and they wreak of alcohol and cigarette smoke.

My best summarization of them is they are honestly just "out of it." They really have no sense of how normal people live, what is socially acceptable, or what to even do with their lives. I hear the worst racist slurs being thrown at people, and fights over the most childish things. It's so sad to see people get like this. You just think: you all are supposed to be adults.

It's also extremely discouraging at times. You know that most of these people are so far gone that they will never leave this wet hostel, and they will be alcoholics for the rest of their lives. I feel suffocated at times with the smell of alcohol and cigarette around me. I feel dirty being surrounded by dirty people, and it makes me wish I could be back in my nice, professional office in Parliament, where everyone wears suits and greets you with a smile.

But there are the success stories. Like the men who sober up and are living in apartments on their own. And I also know this is meant to be an eye opening experience for me, and it's forcing me outside of my comfort zone.

I don't know what the answer is to help these people. But I thank God for people who have the patience to show them love and compassion day in and day out.

And I wouldn't have known any of this, if I hadn't stepped outside of my own little world.

Stopped at a red light looked out my window

Saw a cardboard sign said "Help this homeless widow"

Above that sign was the face of a human

I asked to myself "God, what have I been doing?"

So I rolled down the window and I looked her in the eye

Oh how many times have I just passed her by?

So I gave her some money then I drove on through

And my own little world reached

Population two

Blog post title - My Own Little World by Matthew West

what if there's a bigger picture? what if i'm missing out?

Two weekends ago, several of us took a tour bus to Northern Ireland for the day! We had to wake up really early, so early in fact that even the Dublin bus system didn't run early enough to get us to our tour bus, so I had made a reservation for a taxi van to pick us up that morning.

As we were all getting ready, the taxi company called me and asked if it was ok if they sent two taxi cabs instead of one van, to which I responded, sure! But Brian, one of the guys going with us, didn't realize this, and he immediately calls me as one taxi cab pulls up.

"Hey, there's only one taxi here, I thought you ordered a van?" he says.

He doesn't listen to my response as I try to explain to him the situation over the phone, and instead just turns straight to the taxi driver and bluntly says, "Hey. You're supposed to be a van."

I knew it would be a fun trip from right there.

As we arrive at the tour bus, they had trouble getting us all sorted into our right buses, because we all wanted to sit together. When the bus driver asked us where we're from, and we told him Virginia, he responded with "Ahh, the virgins!" and proceeded to call us that all day.

Thanks, Mr. Bus Driver. Thanks.

Our first destination was Carrick a rede rope bridge. While what the tour company highlights about this destination is the bridge you cross over, the real draw is the beautiful coastline. It's absolutely gorgeous! The water is so blue, similar to the Caribbean actually, which I couldn't believe!

Now the pictures from the tour company kept making a BIG deal outta this bridge. Like it was a huge, scary, rickety bridge that you crossed over open water to get his BIG thrill, to make you feel like some super adventurous world traveler.

Not.

This bridge was VERY underwhelming, and quite small. Clearly the pictures had been taken from far away for the brochure, to make it look like a long, scary bridge.

James, me, and Caroline crossing the supa scary bridge

Caroline said, "This has gotta be a joke."

To which I responded, "Can someone say TOURIST TRAP!?"

Which I think sums up that bridge well. But again, you're really there for the scenery, which is definitely worth it!

Next stop was Giant's Causeway - a natural phenomenon caused by volcanic ash that make the rocks by the coastline form perfectly geometric shapes. Or, if you'd prefer to believe the other story (which we did), the giant Finn McCool laid out the rocks to cross over to Scotland and defeat his enemy.

Creepy right?

As James aptly summarized, "Yeahhh, I'm believing the giant story over volcanic ash."

Me too.

Afterwards, we got to go into Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. We only got to spend an hour there though, because we ended up being pressed for time, but it was still cool to be able to see it!

Taking a quick shot from the tour bus of city hall

I later found out that right after we left Northern Ireland, several riots occurred throughout the country. It was due to the upcoming July 12 celebrations, which commemorate the Glorious Revolution of 1688 when William of Orange defeated the Catholic King James II of England, meaning England was now under Protestant control. That has always been what has come to be known as "The Troubles" between Ireland and Northern Ireland: Ireland is predominantly Catholic and wants to be independent,while Northern Ireland is predominantly Protestant and wants to be a part of the United Kingdom. Some groups, like the political party Sinn Fein, want a united Ireland, and the whole issue has been contested over for centuries. July 12 is a controversial celebration, causing the riots from the other weekend. It is interesting to see history come alive while I was there.

I had such a wonderful time exploring Northern Ireland, getting to see more of the Irish continent, experience more outside of my own little world of Virginia, as well as learn more about political issues in other nations.

What if there's a bigger picture?

What if I'm missing out?

What if there's a greater purpose, I could be living right now?

I don't wanna miss what matters

I wanna be reaching out

Show me the greater purpose

So I can start living right now

Outside my own little world

Blog post title - My Own Little World by Matthew West