The Clock is ticking…

Well its official, my time as a resident here in the EU has a time limit, as I’ve just bought my ticket home! Ok, I’m not getting home until Christmas Eve – still some 6 months away – but when you consider that I’m just over a month short of being away for 2 years already, 6 months feels like nothing.

Especially when you consider all the things I want to do before I leave….

I’ll be doing my trip through Spain, Morocco and Portugal in the summer, with the last week being involved in a volunteer program outside of Madrid, helping some Spaniards to learn English.

Straight after that I’m heading back to Ireland to catch up with a good friend from home, who is back to see some of his family in Wicklow.

Following a week back visiting the Beehive, I’ve recently decided on doing something I’ve wanted to do the last two years but could never sort out – Oktoberfest! It’s one of those things that has to be done, so this year I will be doing it. Yes its going to be expensive, and yes its gonna be messy, but if you think about a festival devoted to beer – how the hell did I talk myself out of not going the last couple of years? I may be going along with some friends – and about another 20 friends of theirs – or just on my own, either way I will be going!

Following that, I’m looking at returning to some semblance of normality, by spending 2 months in Galway working – only one job though! While there though, I’d like to do a couple of 3-4 day trips. One will be Brussels, where I want to soak up the cafes, they culture and…oh ok the beer! For the other trip I wanted to venture to somewhere in Scandinavia, as this is the only region in Europe that I haven’t touched at all. At this stage it looks like Finland may get the nod, as a friend of mine will be living there in the latter half of the year, but Sweden, Norway and Iceland may yet get a look in!

I’ll be finishing up in Galway in early December, before heading back to the Beehive for a couple weeks with Bel and Mark and then eventually flying home on the 22nd.

While I am looking forward to getting home, I’m also looking forward to the next 6 months as I wont be working for much of it – it’ll mean money will be fairly tight, but I think it will be well worth it!

Oh and I know what you’re thinking – flying back Christmas Eve? The middle of Summer? That’s gotta be expensive – you better believe it. You could actually get return tickets at a different time of year for less then the one way ticket im buying – but that’s when I wanna be home, so I’m not too fussed. It aint all about money!