Another island day

So since I know many of you, or a few for that matter, look back and forth on this blog to kind of track my adventures, or out of sheer boredom, I decided to give you a little update. But beware, this is nothing fully exciting as not much has happened since the last blog.

This morning (Thursday) I went to Cork to do the same working abroad expo as in Dublin and left around 10.30 am to get there and set up. This expo is scheduled from about 1pm-8pm so it's a very long day of repeating myself and talking about the same thing, but hey what can you do? I got back into town a bit after 8pm, as we left the expo a bit early since we have to get up and do the same thing tomorrow morning.

It's a long day and gets tiring at times, but I do enjoy hearing and noticing the big interest in people wanting to travel and look for ways to make money while doing it. It kind of reminds me that I'm not so crazy to be over here and living this life day-by-day to see what it holds for me.

On the drive back into town I was talking to the coworker who went with me and she was explaining how she thought fate had a big role in where we find ourselves and the things we end up doing. Our conversation definitely made me start thinking and it really is pretty ironic when i think about how I ended up here.

When I was studying abroad in Australia I had picked up a brochure from the STA office (when we were planning our Easter break trip) and it happened to be an i-to-i brochure. I was originally looking at the volunteer travel opportunities, specifically volunteering in Honduras at a news station for Journalism. Being over there was kind of those moments when you feel a complete high in life, like no pain can get to you and everything is this great utopia. Imagine feeling alive and having control over your life again, during a time in which back home you seemed to be fighting to stay afloat, fighting to breathe. I had needed an escape from what cards where dealt to me during that time and Australia saved me. That's what being abroad was doing to me, and I was trying to plan ANY way possible to keep that high and not go dry and feel 'reality' hit me again.

When I came back to Chico State to finish my last year I had basically forgotten all about i-to-i and the opportunities through them. After graduation I was visiting a friend of mine in Sacramento and one of the most vivid memories I have is sitting in his living room with his roommate and that roommate's girlfriend, another dear friend of mine. The two had spent a share of time traveling on their own and together in the UK. Somehow Ireland had gotten brought up and it was right then that I had decided that there was something about that country that enticed me. Little did I know it would become my next savior. It might have been the idea of rolling green countryside, quaint brick cottages or Celtic castles- you know, the kind you see on Braveheart. But it was at that moment the Irish seed was planted in my head subconsciously, but once again I pushed the thought aside.

A few months later I found myself alive but barely breathing again, figuratively speaking of course. I had been so focused on wanting to create a life back up north, for the wrong reasons, and soon found out when a heart breaks it doesn't always break even. I suddenly found myself paddling to stay afloat. And no wise words were healing anything anytime soon.

And then like magic, the next week I came across the i-to-i internship online for ironically, Ireland. After applying on a whim I got a call back and within the few weeks time I had booked a ticket and bought a new suitcase. One strong enough to carry my baggage, yet spacious enough to hold a new life. I realized sometimes old scars will never fade, but by making new memories and new starts you learn to chance the opportunities. And one day you just may forget enough to not hold back anymore.

Some might say that I'm just running away from something...but how can you run from something that's not chasing you, or even existent for that matter.

So instead, I'd like to think I'm just hunting for something I have yet found.
But to be honest...I think I'm getting close, a littler closer each day. And when that day comes, I will cheers it with a Whiskey-seven in my hand.