mayamccrum

Finding your rhythm while studying abroad can be very difficult. At least it has been for me. I have been in Ireland for a month now and I still have not been able to fully find my rhythm.

I believe this has something to do with being the farthest from home that I have ever been and I am supposed to be doing school at the same time.

On one hand I am here and it seems like a vacation because I am exploring a new country and I am far from home. On the other hand, I have lectures, meetings, and assignments to go to and to complete. This duality makes it difficult to get things done.

Slowly, I am figuring out that getting out of my dorm room helps with finding my rhythm for the day. Going to the store to get groceries I need, going somewhere like the library to study, going to spend time with new friends.

Changing the scenery to study is a nice way to help with this, such as going to the library. This helps put your mind in an academic mindset since you are surrounded by other people studying quietly.

Another way to help with this is to get up around the same time every day. I have noticed that when I sleep in, it is much more difficult to find my rhythm for the day. Getting up earlier has helped me start to feel like I have enough time to do everything I need to.

Finding a schedule that works for me with my classes and shopping has helped a little bit with keeping some things consistent, so I am able to get more things done in a day. Keeping a to do list has also helped.

Even though it has been difficult to find my rhythm while abroad, it has slowly gotten easier. Just being patient with yourself and giving yourself some time to adjust is a good way to get accustomed to your schedule as well as being consistent with things that have to be done.

When I first got to Ireland, I noticed that it does not rain as often as portrayed in media, I also noticed that is was not as cloudy as often as I expected from the stories I had heard. I did wonder how ever it that had to do with the seasons and time of year. It seems that might be the case. As we get further into fall, there have been more cloudy days where the sun does not show at all. Personally, I do not mind this, I love fall days where the air is cool, and when the sun is not incredibly hot.

I had expected there to be a lot more rain than there has been. I thought maybe it might rain every single day, but this is not the case. With that said, something I did not expect were storms. Storm Amy passed over Ireland, Scotland, England and Whales this past weekend. I have experience blizzard conditions in Colorado and Wyoming in the US, but I cannot recall a moment where a rainstorm acts as if it was a blizzard. This storm had such strong winds that there were moments where the rain fell sideways.

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Since the storm though, it has felt more like autumn. There are leaves all over the ground from the storm and they continue to fall. The trees continue to change color, a little faster now. The weather is cooler. I do not know if the storm had something to do with the trees changing color and dropping their leaves, or if it was just timing. Before the storm it seemed to me that the trees were taking a little while to change color but now, they are starting to rapidly change and drop their leaves. There are trees that are still green and others that are red, orange, and yellow. It is beautiful.

Author: mayamccrum

Finding Your Rhythm While Studying Abroad

Storms and Fall Colors