The other Day at the bus stop café, I was paying for the usual- a green tea and a bowl of yogurt, and my server happened to notice I had a California drivers license.

“What are you doing all the way here”, he asked.

“Well, I guess it’s quite a bit different from L.A,” I replied. “But I think I needed a change of pace”.

“Yeah, but L.A., it’s got everything!” he said. “Nice weather, beaches, and sports cars. It’s so gloomy here”.

Holidays can be hard to be abroad for. Being alone somewhere unfamiliar while you’re reminded that your family is all gathered together and celebrating without you isn’t fun. I’m glad that many of my family holidays are the same routine. I know who will show up for Christmas, and I know who will be at Easter. I know exactly what dishes my family is making, which one of my cousins I’ll get to see and which ones I won’t. I could probably guess people’s outfits with decent accuracy.

Standing in the middle of my mismatched socks and forgotten bobby pins and crumbled up notebook papers, it hit me. Today is the last day I will get to call Dublin my home. No more running to Orange Tree ten minutes before class for a coffee and a muffin, no more popping into Blackbird on a whim because it’s across the street and nothing sounds better after class than a pint of chocolate stout. For three and a half months I’ve been lucky enough to call this city my home.

Ups and downs are a reality of life. Sometimes, they seem worse than they are and sometimes they happen when you’re traveling. When you hit a down and snag in the plan while traveling, getting a plan together and trying to stay calm is important.

Staying calm is also easier said than done and easier when you have food in your stomach.

Learning to not panic without cell data is a significant part of the abroad experience. Although I wouldn't necessarily say its one of the major challenges, traveling without the convenience of internet on your phone can be quite the nuisance. However, from my previous experiences I would say that dealing with international phone plans through Italian phone companies is an even bigger nuisance. After the first couple trips out of Italy, I decided that the best way for me to travel is without data. 

The south of Quito. This city looks like it never ends

The following are some small comforts as I am in the process of saying “goodbye and good riddance” to Dublin:

• Only having to go to the grocery store once a week rather than three because the produce is so organic in Ireland that it doesn’t last as long.

• Realizing that you have an unanticipatedly large amount of money left over due to being unreasonably frugal for four months and making friends with people who are also free activity enthusiasts.

Is this paradise? After walking around the West Lake in Hangzhou, we went to one of the pagodas surrounding the lake around sunset. We climbed up to the fifth floor and could see all of the West Lake and the city of Hangzhou on the horizon. In Chinese, “上有天堂,下有蘇杭” (Shàng yǒu tiāntáng, xià yǒu sū hang) means there is heaven above and there is Suzhou and Hangzhou below, and from the top of the pagoda, I understood what the Chinese meant. I could have stayed up there forever in awe of the view.