Hello friends! Autumn has come to us at last. There’s a chill in the evening wind, the woodland trees are burning to gold, and the apples taste better than usual, especially with a dash of cinnamon on top. Last week, I joined my study abroad group for a bustling — and frankly rather overwhelming — week of orientation in London. It was after the hustle of that week that we hopped on a plane and flew into Dublin airport. From there, we caught a coach that drove us up to the middle of nowhere in northern Ireland for a month of retreat and studying Irish culture and literature.
From the first minute we stepped off the coach, I could not believe my eyes. We grabbed our luggage and stood off the side of a country road, where wildflowers grew and swayed in the gentle wind. Beyond us, the hillside sloped down to a woodland valley of pastureland, scattered with grazing sheep, and then to a mountain that rose to an ethereal blue sky. It was beautiful beyond imagination.
We crossed the road towards the marked gravel driveway. Blackberry brambles had overtaken the stone walls on either side in a thicket of glorious chaos. With my suitcase trailing behind me, I hurried down the road after the other girls.
Our cottage was nestled in the corner of a meadow. I had honestly expected a shabby old cabin, but what we found instead was a cottage that was spacious and clean, with tiled floors and white walls and wide windows to let in the light. The door opened into a wide living area and kitchen that looked out to a perfect view of the valley.
We began at once to unpack our groceries: arranging fruit in a glass bowl, trimming a bouquet of wildflowers to put on the table, putting away the cans of soup and loaves of bread and ingredients in the cupboards. Someone started playing classic Taylor Swift and we all began to sing along as we dispersed to our rooms to unpack our things. I hung up and folded my clothes, charged my devices, put my journaling supplies away in a drawer.
We prepared a warm dish of pesto pasta for dinner and then headed outside, eager to get the lay of the land and go say hello to our friends in the other cottages. We followed a walking trail down to a stream and then through the pastureland. It was sometime after sundown when we returned, our fingers numb with the cold. A cup of hot cocoa later, with some ambient indie music playing off a laptop, and we settled in the couches to catch up on journaling.
Now and then, I would look up from my journal and take a deep breath, just to fully savor the feeling of being so deliciously full and content. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so at home, so at peace, as I do here in this little town in northern Ireland. There’s something in the air — and I’m not sure if I could describe it, except that everything feels fresher and younger than California, even though the landscape is ancient and rich with history.
It is morning now, and a faint wind rustles the trees outside. The sky is grey. It is colder than I thought it would be, but I just fixed a fresh cup of hot earl grey tea and I stole a flannel blanket from my housemate’s room, which is keeping my lap warm as I type this. I’ve never been an earl grey tea person, but since coming abroad it suits the autumn mood perfectly.
My five other housemate girls are absolutely incredible people — genuine and warm souls, every single one of them. One of my friends is studiously reading her homework for the upcoming week. Another is bent over, lost in writing her journal, and still another is editing photos from the last week in London.
We’ve been here only a couple days, but already my heart feels fuller. I feel at home in a way I’ve never felt before, like this is where I’ve always meant to belong. Yesterday we hiked up to the top of a nearby mountain so we could see a bird’s eye view of the landscape around us.
I don’t know that I could put a finger on it yet, but I can feel myself transforming too. I have worked towards this study abroad for years — and now that it is here, it is everything I’d hoped it would be and more. These landscapes, these people, the conversations we’ve shared … all of it is shaping my soul in beautiful ways. I feel like I’m drowning in happiness. Even in the quiet moments between adventures, I can’t believe how beautiful these next four months will be. I guess that’s where I am right now … entirely overwhelmed by God’s goodness.
These next few weeks are packed with experiences: a weekend in Dublin, a trip to the west coast and to Galway, sightseeing along the Antrim coast, and day adventures around our city. Today we’re driving up to spend the day at the Seamus Heaney homeplace up in Bellaghy. So much has happened, and still so much is still coming. I can’t wait to travel around Ireland with you!
<3 Olivia Grace
