Nostalgia

At the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland

To be honest, this semester has been pretty stressful. Going from the easy pace of a semester abroad to my regular, full Susquehanna schedule would have been hard enough, but I think this semester has been particularly busy.

I've been doing a lot of work since I've come back from Easter break--a travel writing essay, a term paper for my C.S. Lewis course, and a group presentation for Women in Biblical Tradition. In the midst of these late nights, I have felt particularly nostalgic my semester in Northern Ireland. I only had three courses, none of which started before noon. I had very little homework. I had time to just hang out, as well as time to travel. So often I was seeing beautiful things, and I was consistently surrounded by stunning landscapes.

The fact that I was working on my travel writing essay, a creative piece that is supposed to reflect on my time abroad, did not help matters at all in terms of nostalgia—especially when I was going through my photographs to help write up some descriptions.

Though I really miss that time abroad now, I should probably also remember how much I missed Susquehanna while I was abroad. I missed my friends most of all, but I also missed the familiarity. I missed not having to pay for printing and a campus that was sensibly organized. I even missed Susquehanna’s cafeteria.




Gorgeous sight in Republic of Ireland

It's really hard to ever be fully content in one place—or at least it is for me. On my Northern Irish adventure, some part of me wanted to be home, while here some part of me wants to go back to Northern Ireland for more adventures. Maybe the key here is that nothing is going to be perfect. My semester abroad was great, but I was homesick at times and it didn’t feel like the same ideal, never-want-to-leave experience many of my classmates have had. At the beginning of this semester, I remember people who studied away commenting how much they didn’t want to be back at Susquehanna and how sad it was to come home, while I was thrilled to be back at SU. Being back at SU is great in its own ways, but like almost everything else in life, it’s not fun all the time.

I hope that I will eventually be able to spend some time abroad after graduation. It certainly fuels the nostalgia that I had a little less than three months in Northern Ireland and I have no guarantee that I’ll ever make it out to Europe again! I’d love to spend some more time in Edinburgh or Dublin, two of the cities I visited. Maybe I should start viewing my Northern Ireland experience as if I am anticipating those future travels. 

A semester away doesn't have to be a finished story. It can be chapter one.