“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” --Bilbo Baggins, The Lord of the Rights by J.R.R. Tolkien.

It was week one of Spain, and I didn’t really know anyone in my program yet. Twenty students stood in a sort-of circle, no one really willing to start the conversation we were supposed to have. Our program coordinator had told us that we needed to start planning our fall breaks NOW. So, we were faced with the prospect of finding groups to travel in, with, for some of us, near strangers. I, still feeling like an outsider wasn't to thrilled about the prospect of having to navigate this situation.

And then, on the other side of the room a blond raised her hand, "Anyone interested in going to Ireland?" She looked like she didn't really expect people to respond, as most of the students had been talking about Italy. So when I made eye contact with her and vigorously nodded my head, she smiled. Quickly, the two of us found out that two others students had already made plans to go to Ireland as well. We met up that weekend to start planning.

So, six weeks into my time in Spain, I found myself waking up at 8 one Saturday morning to catch a bus to the metro to the airport in Madrid to board a plane to take me to Dublin. And then finally, finally, hop on a bus that would bring me to Galway for the first few days of my week in Ireland.

My week in Ireland.

I am writing to you from a bright red couch in my hostel in Galway, Ireland.

Um, what?

Of all the things I thought I'd do this year, of all the places I thought I'd visit, Ireland never really seemed to be a part of it. I imagined myself traveling through Spain, maybe hitting up France and Italy while I was at it, because they were so close. But through some stroke of luck I found myself in Ireland, with three other students, who had become some of my best friends in the program over the last weeks.