Wistful Writings and Wonderings

So, sitting here now getting ready to tell you how a slightly-more-adjusted human is dealing with the start of year two of grad school and Pittsburgh living, I realize I never told you all about the Dublin part of my Ireland trip. Which is for sure my bad cuz it was for sure amazing. I will not, however get into it right now as there are other things on my mind (but if you ever wanna hear about it, we can grab coffee and I'll talk your ear off about it for as long as you'll let me; my Ireland-talk has no end and no decrease in enthusiasm basically ever.) What is on my mind is that this time(ish) last year I was in a crazy-stressed, lonely, scary little bubble of insecurity from being in a new place facing a giant new challenge that I wasn't sure (and tbh am still not sure sometimes) will pan out in the end for all the trouble it's worth. And on top of all of that I was trying (very unconvincingly I now realize. like the worst.) to pretend that I was totally not feelin...

So, once again I have traveled to and returned from my favorite country, and once again I can't believe it has all gone by so quickly. It's been over a week since I touched down stateside and amidst getting back into my normal routine and all the research I've been doing for various papers, I've begun to miss the emerald isle as I did before, and wonder when I'll be lucky enough to find myself there again. Of course, while missing and researching and working and binge-watching Gilmore Girls, I am also outrageously grateful that I was able to take ten days to visit Ireland after two years of longing-filled absence. As expected, It. Was. Incredible. There were places I had been before that we visited, and I felt somehow like I was coming home; there were places I had never stepped foot and I was awed and humbled by the outrageous beauty of God's creation; and even after spending months on end studying parts of this country and its history, it still surprised a...

Ah life. Plans. Sometimes things just really do not go the way you want them to. Which is good in many cases: AKA my year is currently filled with uber exciting plans and trips with people I love and/or to places I love. In other cases, not so much.  So, if you have talked with me at all over the last 2-3 months, you'll probably have gotten a shpeel about my research on Londonderry and the Ulster plantation. I'll have told you about how difficult it has been to find even some of my secondary sources, not even to mention the hassle it is to even get in contact with people who could potentially help me with my primaries. You'll know that I have spent several hours every day, sometimes from the moment I wake up to the time I go to bed, doing this research. You will know I have complained and contemplated many times if perhaps quitting and becoming a stripper would be a better course for my life (that last bit was a JOKE for any family members or concerned parents, I promi...

Well, here we are. My last post I was starting what became my hardest semester of school ever and being kind of grumpy. On many occasions I asked why I would do this to myself and fretted that I was going to fail miserably and all my hard work would be for naught. However, happily here I sit in my Pittsburgh apartment, having achieved a 3.8 semester in the fall and looking towards the next several months with excitement. Christmas break, though shorter than I had in undergrad, was wonderful. I'm so glad I was able to be with my family- the last few months have been difficult, with moving to a new city, loads of schoolwork, and a constant over-criticism coming from my own head, but I've thankfully had some rather spectacular support in my parents, siblings, and friends. This coming year I have some really interesting classes and some truly exciting trips planned, so at this point in time, I'm generally pleased. I'm only in the second week of the new semester, choosi...

Okay, so I realize that my last post was kind of whiny and sad. I legitimately did not mean to make my roommate feel bad about leaving me all alone, so sorry about those things. After about two weeks of Pittsburgh, I think I'm feeling a little better about the whole thing, though. And also I'm still kind of a little hermit who is starting to forget what the sun looks like, I've just read nearly two hundred pages of history homework, and so I've decided to spend some time blogging. Anyway. There are still some big cons to being here: I swear I can hear everything that happens outside this building, and the windows and doors are all completely shut, I checked. I can't hear other tenants, but that group of adolescent boys walking down the street and being generally ruckusy, I can hear them and the car alarm across the way clear as day. And also bus passes are freaking expensive and make me a sad person, especially since the whole job thing has not happened yet. But...

So, here we are. I totally skipped writing about the part where I graduated. Welp, I did that, both majors complete. Summa Cum Laude, too. I felt superbly satisfied when I got to walk across the stage with SIX cords. But anyway, so summer passed, I worked retail, hung out with friends, was weirdly into Fall Out Boy, which is totally not my style of music, and had some fun times- OH I drove to Georgia with my sister to see a friend- and here I am about to start a masters degree in European History. Before you ask- because everyone always does- yes I have a plan for that. I want to work in museums, in a European History type setting, possibly in Europe itself. I would consider becoming a professor, but probably never anything at a lower level of education. I'd put the music video but it's actually super graphic. Still catchy though. I need a dance routine to this. While that whole shebang is super exciting, what is less exciting is that I have to find a job in the city n...

Happy 2015!!!! Hello, my loves! As I'm sure everyone who doesn't live under a rock without a calendar or internet access knows (the category of which I assume no one who is reading this falls into) it is the new year!!!! Woohoo! And as such I'm gonna do the stereotypical blogger thing and do a look-back on the past year and brief thoughts on the coming one. First things first, though, today is a GORGEOUS day and I just wanted to mention that, and say how happy that makes me. Anyway, without further ado: I know I didn't mention them here, but those of you who know me knows that 2014 has been one struggle after another for my family. I won't go into detail, but it was hard.  Death and sickness, and just stressing how to deal with that and other issues, personal and financial, that have surrounded everything, have been far too frequent. I would never ever be okay that these things happened, but the resulting support from people around us, and the way that ...