Ever since I can remember, I always knew I wanted to study abroad. I grew up believing that Ireland is a country as green as it is full of wonder and magic. So, when it came time to decide where I wanted to study abroad, I didn’t think twice about my choice because I had set my heart on visiting Ireland for years. Before the end of the semester, I had the intention of returning to many of Ireland’s most beautiful destinations once more. But, as the saying goes, all good things must eventually come to an end. However, I was not prepared for the ending that life dealt me.
One of my greatest passions is traveling, because the opportunity to immerse myself in a new culture always proves to be very rewarding. Before I started traveling I never truly understood just how beautiful and vast the world is, but visiting new cities and countries has shown me the importance of appreciating diversity. Every destination has something unique to teach me and gaining awareness of new customs, places, and people is the best way to learn! Growing up, we often hear about foreign cultures in books, movies, and educational settings. Yet, the view these sources paint of other countries that differ from our own is often misleading and nowhere close to the real thing. In many ways, recognizing that ignorance is not always bliss is what motivated me to discover what other parts of the world are genuinely like.
On March 11, I woke up to an email from Siena College saying that study abroad students needed to return home as soon as possible. As I laid in bed reading the email over and over again, I remember feeling like my world had just come crashing down around me. Everything felt so wrong and unfair; I was not meant to fly back to America for another two months! My mind immediately raced with overwhelming sentiments of anger and disappointment. There were just three weeks left of the academic semester at University College Cork, and then I had plans to spend my last month traveling across Europe with my friends. Before flying home, I also intended to venture to some of my favorite places in Ireland so I could relish in the country’s picturesque scenery all over again.
Instead, Coronavirus came along and ruined everything, leaving me with feelings of regret about what could have been but never will be. As matters grew more severe with Coronavirus across Europe, there was a part of me that acknowledged it was only a matter of time before Siena required all study abroad students to fly back to the United States. Although the number of cases continued to rise globally, America remained relatively untouched by the virus. What angered me the most was that in early March, Ireland did not have many cases and the few restrictions that were in place were not severe at all. Initially, this was a very hard pill for me to swallow because I felt like I had been cheated in a matter that I had no say in; I never knew an unexpected circumstance to be so tormenting. I mean, what were the odds that the semester I resolved to live my life to the fullest abroad, the world would implode?
After this news, I had one day to book a flight, clean out my apartment, and pack the new life I had made into my suitcase. In a matter of a few hours, my apartment looked like I had never lived there in the first place. I spent my last day in Ireland buying as many souvenirs as humanly possible and walking around my second home one last time. Ironically enough, the weather was beautiful and sunny that day as opposed to the rain I grew accustomed to. The day/night before my flight home, I said my goodbyes to the friends I’d grown to love—this was by far the hardest part. The people I met at the beginning of the semester became a second family to me: we ate delicious food together, drank pints together, and traveled to new countries together. I had a very hard time accepting that it was possible I would never see these wonderful people again because, let’s face it, life happens. I cannot remember the last time I felt that kind of devastation because I was not prepared to say my goodbyes. I knew I would spend the next two months’ worth of potential lifelong memories self-quarantining and practicing social distancing at home, but acknowledging that only added more salt to my wound.
