Money, money, money

it was funny
in the rich men's world

That is, here I go with an honest and detailed post about expenses.

Desperation is worth an amateur extension charm

aka packing to go home

Living every second of it

The last week has come and gone. I am sitting in my room at the small desk, my suitcase almost full (my bedsheets, towel, PJs and polar bear still has to somehow fit in tomorrow morning), my sportsbag full, laptop bag almost full (which is a pity since both my laptop and its charger are still out, interestingly). And I am not really ready to leave Ireland yet. But look at what I did this week instead of spending precious time on my emotions!

Last trip of the semester, buying souvenirs

That is, we started getting ready for going home. The flight home is looming just ahead, trying to overshadow the nonexistent sunshine in Ireland, but we won't let our mood go down with it!
Also, I could have called this a Harry Potter Week as well since we watched some HP movies, choosing one almost every day.

A Where-the-feck-did-this-week-go?- week

I know it was just six days and not seven because we came home from Belfast late on Monday, but still. How do the days disappear so fast, rushing from the invisible future full of plans and hopes into the fading past full of unlived opportunities?
Anyways, this week I was kinda getting more and more under the weather, so that might just be a reason for the days floating away and me not really registering their passing.

Belfast Trip

The last trip of the International Society this semester. Three days. Northern Ireland. Totally deserves its own post.

One Week - two capitals

As in this week, I spent four days in Dublin, only one in Limerick, and two in Belfast. And sat on buses for hours five days in a row. So here comes the post about my most adventurous week here in Ireland!

Week of last classes

..at least last ones for me, because I was going to basically skip the actual last week so that I can spend time in Dublin with my bf.

Winter is coming

Yeah, I know, this quote should have gotten outdated years ago. Maybe it did. I don´t care, it is accurate now so I´m gonna use it...

Going bankrupt

Okay, I probably won't starve to death while here but my money really started to disappear from my account with a terrifying speed. Anyways, here's how my week looked like.

Half-time, Homesick, Headache

So I have spent exactly two months in Ireand by now (that is, by the end of the week this post is about). And this week was the first when I felt homesick. By the time I have to go home I might not even mind it that much...

Well, we took a stroll on the old long walk*

aka yes we went to Galway again and this time we've actually seen it! Short week in a short post.

Back to normal

...that is, back to what counts as normal here on my Erasmus. Back to school, to clubs and societies, to trips, to fun.

My BB week

as in Busy&Best - and as in my bf visited me.
(Sorry for the late update, I didn't have time to post this last Sunday, as I usually do.)

My first month in Ireland - in keywords

Just a quick summary of a few things I might not have mentioned yet in my weekly updates:

1 month & 1 day

Have been in Ireland for 31 (and a half) days now! So here's what happened this week:

And I ask you friend, what's a fella to do*

... if the chance is there and the ocean calls. This week was pretty epic, I swear. But no spoilers, go read the full story!

Falling into routines, spending more money

And so my second full week at Limerick came to an end! Guys, I am soooo exhausted. But it was so much fun again, I think my mom might have be right with her suspicion when she says I will never want to go home...

Windy Monday

Monday was a bitch. The wind was howling all day, trying to push us off our bikes - not that I needed any hardships to cycling, after I haven't done any exercise the last 3 days, I had problems riding my bike at a proper speed without fainting before getting to campus. And then there was the wind. And some rain too. How nice! (not nice) And of course the rain stopped just the exact same minute we got off our bikes at campus. If this is not Murphy then I don't know what is.
But I went swimming in the afternoon (this time with Vera, who, just like Clémence, surprised me with how great she swims!). I managed to swim 2600 meters this time. Not much, but it will do for a start until I can get into shape again.

Cycling behind Vera and Eszter

Following Clémence to uni

Yes this is my foot and knee and part of my bike

Typo Tuesday

We had our first EFL class this Tuesday and our names got - surprise, surprise - really mistyped. Apparently, I am called 'Daluia Bereca'. Eszter and Vera got at least one of their names properly spelled, but not me, of course. We laughed for about ten minutes just at this in class. The teacher will sure hate us soon.
In the afternoon, we had our first Gaeilge (Irish language) class!! The teacher, Billy, is kinda sexy with his strange humour and speech, but mostly just funny. He teaches at a really fucking slow pace tho, I have no idea how I will not doze off at his classes if we keep asking all the people in class what their names are and what they mean, what languages they speak and such (in English, of course). This is all intersting but in class I would rather learn something. After school, we went grocery shopping and I bought my second bottle of peanut butter. I won't really have money to buy meat tho, at least not regularly, so I might have to look for other possible types of food that are relatively cheap and have some protein in them. Vera and Eszter both bought Nutella by now - I am still strong and resisting the temptation.

Eszter trying to look guilty with her Nutella - and failing

Long Wednesday

On Wednesday, after a pretty cool lecture about the 'Merry Wake' and the tradition of funerals in Ireland,  we had an unbelievably boring EFL class (most fun (or as the Irish people say here, craic) thing was when we had to talk about what 'nostalgia' might mean. I mean.....bruh). Irish language was okay but not much fun either cause we are really taking it slowly. And we have no homework yet, which is soooo wierd for me after all the 20-30-60 pages of Swedish homework I am used to having to do.
After classes, we had some craic at the courtyard - they had some kind of event there so there was a clown doing tricks and a girl on loooooong legs walking in the crowd and giving away sweets, and the UL mascot (a wolf) was strolling around in the crowd and dancing to the music. Also, we got some free stuff - again. I really can't believe how much stuff we just get for free. This time, we got some instant pasta soup and some Pringles and a small package of Haribo ("Sterben muss Man so wie so, schneller geht's mit Haribo!") and a keychain and more sweets. Oh, and we got invited for coffee too.
When we were seriously stuffed with free stuff, we went to buy our tickets for next weekend's Galway and Aran islands trip. We were there two hours prior to them starting to sell the tickets (and while waiting, I practiced some juggling, but I haven't been doing it for a while so I am kinda rusty) and the line started at least 40 minutes before they actually sold the first ticket. So we had to wait a lot in the line, people queueing like good Swedes all around the cafeteria. But eventually, we got our tickets! (That is, we paid and they took our student number, with no actual evidence of the payment whatsoever, so I really hope we won't be left behind...) But many students were not so lucky, like poor Clémence, who got to stand there and then the tickets were sold out before she could get hers. This trip was really popular, evidently. Can't wait to go there next Saturday!
After buying my ticket (30EURs off my shoulder again....), we went to the sports center with Vera and Eszter, who both had krav maga training. I had to wait some for my archery training to start but I made a new friend while waiting and another few while practicing archery. I was not THAT bad, I mean I got to hit the target several times and once I was even in the middle yellow circle. Which is cool, even if my arrow landed there only accidentally. I was certainly not among the best ones but definitely not among the worst ones either, so I say that is a victory. Also, my team who I got to practice with was really cool, I really look forward meeting them next Wednesday.
After training, I cycled home alone and it was SO FREAKING COLD that I kinda tried to hurry so I ended up clearing the distance in 14 minutes or so. Instead of 20 or more. That is a tough record to break.

Vera and the woman onthe walking poles

The clown

Not only did they give us free coffee, but they also had this!

Chilling out while waiting

The line BEHIND us

Archery training!

University chill

Though university officially started this Monday, we only had a few classes so far. In Ireland, tutorials and labs usually do not start until week 3!! Crazy, right? :D So we only had 5 or so lectures and that's all. But we've done so much interesting stuff that this post sure as hell won't stay boring or short, I promise. ;)
(Not that I could ever write something short and boring, tbh....)

Meet my constants

That is, here's a post about my room and my friends so far. :)

So, tomorrow afternoon is the 1 week anniversary of my arriving in Ireland! For this occassion, I though I would make a special post about how my room looks right now (and will probably for the rest of the semester) and who my Ireland-friends currently are. As I had only two lectures and zero tutorials so far, I did not really have the opportunity to make new friends, so this is a rather short list but having them around every day I actually feel like we've known each other for much longer...

First days in a new life

When you just moved to a totally new country, to a different society and culture than you are used to having around, you don't really comprehend the weight of the change. I have been here in Ireland for four days now and I could not wrap my mind around it yet, I think. It feels so not real. Like... somewhere between a vacation abroad and a funny realistic dream. Some things are already familiar like my bedside table or the kitchen or the route we need to take to the campus. But mostly, everything is new and exciting. And since I don't yet have a sense of settling in here, I don't feel homesick or out of place either. This is really just a holiday as for now.
But not going into detail about that now, since I have A LOT to share about these past four days already! :)

My bags before leaving

First steps before Erasmus

The actual exchange semester might not start before Autumn (or respectively, Spring) but you have to start preparing much sooner for it. The very first steps included the following in my case:

1. Google-ing
Of course you need to look up, well, basically everything online, if you want to make the best choice. Where to fly, which airline to choose, when to fly and how big a luggage to take? How big a suitcase to buy for that? And what to pack in it? What papers and documents will you need? What is it that you should know about the destination? And about the university? And how much money will you need? What is the currency? What courses can you take? And how many you have to have? And so on.... Not to mention all the useful information you can get by googleing 'How to pack your bag?' and 'How to keep your relationship working during Erasmus?' and 'What is the weather like in *destination*?' and so on. Seriously, looking up stuff online can take days, if not weeks. But it is all worth it, if you do it right.

2. Buying plane tickets
Once you decided on what kind of ticket to buy, you'd better not wait long before actually buying it. They might get more expensive with time and you don't want to miss the best window seats. Also, buying the ticket made me realise that I really need to think about expenses - 192 EUR disappearing from your account suddenly makes it all realistic.

This pic is from my very first (and so far only) flight. You really don't want to miss out on such a view.

3. Writing lists 
It's maybe just because I've really really gotten into writing lists in the last two years or so but I think it is very hepful when preparing for a long stay abroad. It helps you in organising stuff and deciding on what to take with you and it gives you time to figure out what is it that you already have at home and what you need to buy. I have lists with the major expenses, about what I should pack when I do the packing (last day, probably, especially since I have a well-prepared list so it will be easy). I have lists about what to buy and what offices to visit for papers and what to do when I arrive there and what courses to take and so on. You could say this trip just made my already existing list-writing mania flare up to burn with now kinda frightening flames.

  4. Looking for accommodation
This one is kinda obvious - you will need to live somewhere, after all. I tried to look for accommodation on numerous websites but it is not so easy cause they mostly have offerings for the summer and not from September. In the end I just ended up asking students who had previously been to that university about where they lived and if that was okay. This way I found a (supposedly) nice couple who have rooms available for university students. The house is kinda far from the uni buildings but they also give you bicycle so that should be okay. I just hope I will be satisfied with them - I will pay the price (I mean I knew it is gonna be expensive but ahhh I wasn't really expecting this much for a room that is not even close to the university).

5. Buying a suitcase
For those who are not big travellers already. I had no suitcase since the only time I took a flight abroad was half a year ago and only for a few days so I could simply borrow a suitcase from someone else. But now I needed an own bag since I will be away for months, and hopefully won't stop traveling after I come back. This was really an item I wanted to purchase for a long time and now it was high time I actually did it. And you just need SO MUCH information to be able to decide which one to buy. I don't talk about colours or material but mostly size and quality. It took a lot of time and googling for me to pick the right one. If you do have one, then lucky you, skip this step and go watch some series online while all the others are out there (or most probably online) looking for the perfect suitcase

And of course there is all the administrative stuff going on. Registering online, filling out forms, printing and scanning papers, writing emails, running to offices to get all the necessary papers and insurances and passport and all. I am kinda halfway through that, I did most of what I could from home, now I need to go and get my passport and cards done.

Top 5 tips if you plan to apply for Erasmus+

At least the five things I found most important based on my experiences - those what I kept and those that I unfortunately and foolishly did not.
 
1. Start saving money!

If you don't have a job, get one, even if only student or part-time one, or only for the holidays. You will soon be in sore need of that money. Also, try not to spend as much as you are used to - the price of one or two bars of chocolate every week can mean a lot when they add up.


2. Choose your destination wisely!

You might think Erasmus is just for making new friends and enjoying life and it's mostly true, but you also need to think about practical things. Do you speak or intend to learn the language of the target country? Does the university you apply for have at least some classes you can take instead of the ones you would at your home university? Is that country really what you need most? Giving up the sunny beaches of Spain in favour of cold and grim Finland might seem hard at first but you need to take more factors into consideration. You will love your semester(s) whichever you choose, I can guarantee you!

3. Information!

You can never start searching for information too early. Check the universities offered by the faculty and department you study at, contact students who have already been on Erasmus, look up useful stuff on the internet. You won't regret it.

4. What motivates you?

In case you are not used to writing motivation letters on a weekly basis, you might need to start thinking about what you are good at, why you are good at it and what you want to do with your life. Concentrate on how Erasmus could help you in achieving your goals and how your community/university/country could benefit from the knowledge and experiences you gain there.

5. Chillax!

You will have a lot on your plate once you get accepted to the host university and start organising your trip, find accommodation, buy all the stuff you might need, take up classes and register and so on. For now, you should just be happy that you still have some time before all the chaos that will fall on your head. I suggest you spend time with your friends and family - you will probably miss them a lot when you'll be gone.

Whether you choose to apply my super cool advices or not, I hope you will get accepted to wherever you want to go and have unbelievably much fun there! Good luck! ;)