This morning I woke up homesick. I don’t even especially like thanksgiving but all I could think about was being farther than I’ve ever been from my mom and sister in a hostel with shotty internet no less so I can hardly even skype them. But I also thought it would be a good opportunity to take stock of everything here I have to be grateful for. Being here for four months, with plenty of time to get settled and even plenty of time to “do nothing,” I occasionally almost take being abroad for granted.

As a year-long visiting student, I was given two options for living in Dublin: live in IES sponsored housing with other programme participants, or live in Trinity housing, where ever they decided to stick me. I decided to live at Trinity.

A couple weeks ago, the entire IES Tokyo program went on a field trip to Nikko, a city located in the mountains of Tochigi Prefecture. In two days, we visited everything the area is known for: the Futarasan shrine, the mausoleum of shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, an onsen, and a gorgeous mountainside ravine located in Nikko National Park. Everything was absolutely gorgeous. Remember how in my previous posts I talked about the beauty of the nature in Kanazawa? Nikko is just as stunning, if not more so. You’ll see why!

Remember when I promised I’d go back to visit that contemporary art café and take myself on a street art tour? Well, I did both, and I have pictures to prove it (below). Unfortunately, I no longer have the luxury of telling myself “I’ll come back later.” I have only three days left until I leave Santiago to travel around the south of Chile, and then go back to the good ol’ EE.UU.

Since the settlers and Indians shared a harvest dinner in America and not in England, Christmas, not Thanksgiving, is the next holiday in line after Halloween. So lights and decorations are already adorning the buildings in the city getting ready for Christmas over a month away. Nevertheless, Thanksgiving is coming up for us Americans, and the IES Staff over here at Nido King’s Cross Residence Hall are organizing an old-fashioned American Thanksgiving dinner for the students.

To the shock and surprise of absolutely no one who knows me personally, I have not been a very good tourist during my time here in Dublin. This is due to a combination of factors, the strongest being that I have no actual desire to be a Tourist (initial caps fully intended). I visited Dublin two years ago and did my “wander around while looking up and not in front of you, to the regret of all in your path” stint back then.