by Nora Daly (Temple University)
I'VE BEEN TRAVELING all of my life. I flew across the country on my own to visit my aunt when I was seven; being away from home is nothing new to me. It has only been within this trip to Armagh that I have found the homesickness that I have eluded for so many of my travels.
Now that we are rounding out our third week I can regrettably say that I am counting down the days till I go home, next Saturday. I miss the warmth of the hot sun and the simple feeling of a summer night, hearing crickets outside my window, or even the rustle of the great oak’s leaves as a soft breeze blows through its branches. I miss my parents, my brothers, my dog and most of all my bed, the simplest pleasure I look forward to experiencing upon my return home; a soft, crisp bed made just for me. Nothing in the world would make me happier than to be surrounded by my own four walls, in my own bed, and feeling the sensation of a true August.
Although I am having fun with the group and hanging out with some truly interesting and entertaining personalities, I am certainly feeling the strains of being abroad. This past weekend I traveled to the Giant’s Causeway with some of my family that live in Galway. Not only did it help alleviate some of the anxiety that has been hovering over me these past few weeks, but it was a wonderful time to take amazing pictures and really take in the sights of coastal Ireland.
Virtually standing on the edge of the world I was overcome by a sensation of feeling small in the world. There I could look off the rugged cliffs of the Bushmill region and see nothing but the vastness of the ocean allowing me to see why history’s earliest explorers wearily toed the line of a “flat” world. In a place visited by so many tourists everyday for years and years it was a remarkable thing to imagine how the Giant’s Causeway could look so pristine and ultimately untouched. In all of its thousands of years in existence these pillars of hardened lava have stayed locked in a frozen frame of time, in a way of purity and visual intrigue, drawing all that view it close to touch, climb and listen to its extensive body as foamy waves crash against it.
Seeing this part of the world has left a great image in my mind as one of the secret corners of this earth; an untapped jewel and one of the most unforgettable scenes in my memory.
Almost Home
