Post-Program: Planning my Next Adventure
My mom, my sister, and I have a tradition whenever we leave somewhere we love. Regardless of the temperature, we go into the body of water we stayed near and dunk. Then, when we depart later that day, we go home with the lake or seawater in our hair. It’s our cheaper—and chillier—version of souvenirs. We did it last week when we left Lake Chelan, I did it the week before on a road trip to La Jolla, and I most certainly did in Ireland, thanks to going cliff jumping in Howth the day before my flight. Other souvenirs of my study abroad program in Ireland are much more long-lived, like the tiny black sheep on my desk from the Sheep and Wool Centre in Connemara, my Claddagh ring, or the bags of Tayto microwavable popcorn (which I should probably eat soon). Heck, even msn still provides me with Maynooth weather forecasts instead of Bellingham.