Traveling Across the Globe

The locals are calling it the "Beast from the East" or "Snowmageddon"--an apparently frigid snowstorm arriving in the UK and Ireland. My classmates and I have been consistently poking fun at the locals' shock, as back home in Colorado, I hear there are a couple feet of snow and business as usual. One morning, my Irish roommate giddily asked us if we had seen the snow, and our reply was, "you mean the frost on the grass?" This storm has left a few inches around Maynooth University, I'll give them that, but in places like Dublin (pictured above), there's hardly any coverage and yet the city is closing down. Our school has canceled classes for the rest of the week and sent out a survey to students to track where we'd be over the extended weekend to make sure we'd be safe. This immense concern is both amusing and a little bizarre. However, upon taking a step back, their panic lines up with their climate, which hardly ever experience...

Watercolor of a park in Maynooth, Ireland (actual landscape below). This is my creative space that reminds me of my love of painting and color, my commitment to veganism and trying to save the world, and mementos from friends that remind me of their endless support. 1. Create a space that gives you joy and makes you want to be creative. 2. Make a routine for yourself so that creating comes more naturally. If you sit down every evening to write a little about your day, it will become more natural and require less effort the more you get used to it. 3. That being said, also don't be afraid to shake things up. Go out and experience things so that you have new things to think and express, and try being creative in different spaces. 4. Be a good creative citizen and participate in your community. Whether that means being a literary citizen and going to readings and buying books from local authors, or going to art shows, or writing a review on a piece you liked,...

I am so excited to start school at Maynooth. I am taking classes called Ireland Since 1800, Christianity and Secular Thought, Living Deliberately, Creative Writing, and Contemporary European Women's Writing. I hope that my mix of classes allow for lots of free time for traveling and painting and writing, while also challenging my beliefs and what I know about myself.  Right now, I am attempting to create a routine for myself to establish a sense of belonging, and so that I don't spend my days in my dorm alone whenever I can't be traveling. It's so easy with the constant cold wind to just want to curl up with a book or a movie. Especially now, when I know almost no one at my school and don't know about any events or places to go.  Last week, the Student Union held a Clubs and Societies Fair, some of which were very interesting and unique. I hope to partake in the Creative Writing Club, the Psychology Society, the Purpose Movement, the Pride Society, and the ...