Back Home

I have officially landed back in Canada after a very long and arduous trip back Thursday. I was unable to find a direct flight so I had to fly from Dublin to Montreal and then to Toronto afterwards. We boarded 15 minutes late, flew out over an hour late, and spent 40 minutes dilly dallying in Montreal before we flew home. I can't tell you how ready I was to get the hell off of that plane by the time we landed. Not to mention, I got off the plan an hour late and had no way to communicate with my dad to coordinate our meeting. In the only stroke of good luck I could've asked for, my dad was coincidentally late and we both met up at the exact moment we should have. I was so ready to get the hell home at this point.

My last few days in Ireland were incredibly stressful after I realized the Canadian dollar had dropped so low against the Euro. Ultimately, I was left considering what my next move was knowing I was technically losing half of my savings. Every decision I made regarding money was beyond stressful as I tried to pinch pennies everywhere I could. This realization of the drop in the Canadian dollar ultimately ruined a good portion of my trip to Ireland.  I basically had 2 choices, pray I found a job in the next week or cut my losses, call the trip a vacation and come home to regroup. Despite my wanting to say, the responsible side of me knew I couldn't stay.

Coming home, I felt a bit defeated but only because I was so underprepared for the experience. I am accustomed to failure and it really doesn't bother me anymore. Part of taking a risk is knowing that there is always a chance it won't pay off and that's exactly what happened.

I had never travelled before, never flown, never visited Europe, none of the above. Instead of looking at my coming home as a disaster, I'm looking at all of the positives! I flew for the first time and LOVED IT! I stayed in a hostel for the first time, travelled alone for the first time, visited Europe alone for the first time. How could I not be proud of myself? Ultimately, this experience has taught me an awful lot in a short amount of time. 

1. CURRENCY - I had not even considered monitoring the currency while I was there. Just before I left, the Canadian dollar was sitting around 69 cents to the euro which was fine and I had financially prepared for. Without even considering it, the currency was fluctuating rapidly and had dropped dangerously low. I only discovered it after withdrawing money and seeing what actually came out of my account. Without realizing it, I was spending double what I was withdrawing every single time. That's a substantial hit to any budget!
2. INDEPENDANCE - When I got dropped off at the airport on the way to Dublin, I was next level overwhelmed. I cried repeatedly and just kept asking myself if I could handle this. After arriving in Dublin, my instincts kicked in and I truly hit the ground running. In a matter of two days, I had learned so much about myself and what I was capable of. I was surprising myself at every turn and it was so invigorating. There was no more fear of the unknown, rather excitement at what I was up against.
3. INTRO / EXTROVERT - I consider myself a healthy mix of both of these characteristics. I have always struggled with wanting to be more of an extrovert but felt so reserved when it came to certain social situations. Upon first walking into my hostel room, I was pretty overwhelmed and unsure of what to expect. That quickly went away and I found myself having some pretty great conversations with strangers from all over the world. I surprised even myself but in these situations you either sink or swim and I refused to sink into my bed and throw headphones in. I wanted to be the extroverted version of myself I needed to be to make this experience what I wanted.

Lastly, it took a lot of responsibility and intelligence to decide I had to come home. Did I want to stay? Of course! Was I financially able to stay? No, and that's why I made the choice to come home. 

Through this, I've learned now what I'm up against in Dublin and what I can actually handle. If my finances had been doing better, I very easily could've stayed. I was starting to really like Dublin and the people I had met there and it wasn't the easiest decision to come home but it was the right one. For now, it's back to cooking, blogging, and getting this cookbook together. I'll go back to Dublin with a lot more money and a lot more confidence the second time around!

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