And we wait...again.

Last night marked yet another of the many goodbye's endured by Richard and myself. After two weeks and five days of pure bliss (or as close as I can possibly get to bliss), he departed from Newark Airport...leaving me in pieces.

I'm always so unsure about his visits to America at the beginning. My house is far from a relaxing place to be, and I always feel a bit guilty having him over here only to be a total stress case the entire time. But as always, we managed to settle in after a few days, and life became significantly more tolerable when he was around. Highlights of the trip included: family vacation to Fenwick Island, Delaware, introducing Richard to his very first tiki bar (he is now a tiki-aholic and agrees that we should also holiday in Delaware in the summers), drinking a litre of Bushmills with my father at the kitchen table and being hungover for two days after, touring the Yuengling Brewery, attending mass at St. Pat's, going on a road trip through the Coal Region and showing him various family stomping grounds, and, of course, spending hours watching movies (or "fil-ums") in my massively cozy bed.

As always, as soon as I got used to him being around again, he went home. When we got to the Newark Airport, I mentioned to the woman at check-in that he has bad Asthma and may not be able to walk to his gate. Her solution: "do you want to go through security and walk him to it?" This didn't exactly solve the issue, but it did mean I got a few extra minutes with my fiance, so I jumped on it. We went through security and made our way to the gate (which wasn't very far away from security anyway). Unfortunately, the whole "maybe it'll make things easier" plan backfired, and it was a million times more painful to walk away from him at the gate. Any time we've been at an airport gate together, we've gotten on the plane together, so it just became painfully real that we were separating again when I had to turn around and walk the opposite way back through the security line.

So once again I'm on my own. He'll (hopefully) be back in October, but even the short waits are torturous now. I just want it to be next summer so I can go home.

Girls supporting Girls

Planning to pick up all aspects of one's life and move it seamlessly to a different country is certainly not easy. Especially when things like friendships, bills, jobs, citizenship, and moving personal possessions are involved. But I have found so much comfort in a lovely group of women on www.uk-yankee.com. These girls, who are all going through the same daunting process as I am (some have already finished it) have offered me such a tremendous amount of support in the past year or two. Because of them, I have a better idea of what to expect--both good and bad. I also know that even though this may seem like an impossible task right now, they have done it and I can too.

It is so comforting to know that there are still women in this world who are willing to offer each other support and encouragement. In a time where women seem to be constantly competing with each other, it was an unexpected and lucky thing for me to come across the ladies on the forums and I am extremely thankful.

Let's Start at the Very Beginning...

This blog quickly fell into disrepair after two posts almost a year ago, but I feel like I am at the perfect point to resume it.

I have been home from my 5-month study abroad in Belfast for about a week. During my time there I helped the boyfriend settle in to his first house. After months of scrubbing, painting, and sanitizing, the house finally feels like home to both of us, but unfortunately I had to leave quickly after getting it to that point.

The most positive thing to come out of my trip was definitely becoming engaged. He proposed on my last Saturday in the country (I left on Monday) with a lovely ring. It came at a perfect time because I had spent a few weeks prior to that freaking out about how I was going to get back to Ireland long-term after I went home. I would love to do post-graduate work over there, but I'm not prepared to take on even more student loans. I found some scholarships, but they are all very competitive and can't be relied on. His response to this whenever I brought the subject up was, "something will come up." Something certainly did.

So now here I sit in my bedroom in Pennsylvania. Suddenly home doesn't feel so much like home, which is good and bad. I'm having a really hard time fitting in where I grew up now, but at the same time I feel like this is just another necessary step of the moving abroad process. My fiance will be here in two weeks for a short 3-week stay. After that, we will resume the absolutely miserable long distance situation until I finish up with university in May. And then, I can relocate for good.

I've decided to bring this blog back to life to chronicle my last year in America, last year of college, and the daunting immigration process that I am about to tackle. I know it's going to be such a challenging year for me, but I honestly cannot wait to begin the rest of my life in Belfast.