Banking on Family

My older sister, Kaitie, visited me this week! It was so comforting to see a familiar face not because I am homesick (which I have not experienced in the slightest) but because she was here to show some compassion for my current one-handed lifestyle. I never realized how much I use rely on my left hand for daily functions until it has been temporarily taken away! The simplest routines such as putting my hair up turns into a ten-try ordeal. Kaitie cooked, did the dishes, and my laundry while I was at work but aside from all the help, it was nice to come home to someone after a long day!  

The first weekend of her ten day visit, we went to Brussels and Amsterdam for Easter Weekend. Belgium gave me a taste of what living in a non-English speaking country is like and honesty, I am not sure how students handle going abroad to foreign language speaking countries. French/Dutch were very challenging especially when time sensitive transportation was involved. In Brussels, we visited my ex-boyfriend's very Italian family and had Easter Monday lunch with them. The timing just happened to work out that Enzo, ex-boyfriend turned best friend, would be in Europe the same time as we were traveling to the rest of the continent. There were a total of four languages being spoken amongst the fifteen members at lunch and Kaitie, Enzo, and I were the only ones speaking English. Very interesting dynamic, to say the least!

We had a gorgeous two days in Amsterdam where the canals were where we spent most of our time. The atmosphere there is even more laid back than Dublin which I was not sure was even possible. One fun fact about city life in Amsterdam is that there are urinals in the middle of the sidewalk. I literally could not believe this and no one had warned us! Although there is not a popular food deriving from Holland, the local delicacies made up for the lack there of.  

In Ireland, bank holidays last a lot longer than in the States. I had four days off for Easter and since I am working for a private company, was encouraged to take the time I needed in order to celebrate the holiday properly. I did not take any additional time off due to the fact that I do not have a religious bone in my body but the gesture was nice and not common to the concrete days off at home.