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Today was a great day to be in Dublin.

Rain. Sun. Leprechauns.

There was a book fair at Temple Bar. I sat in a coffee shop reading Yeats and Irish fairytales about Finn McCool and the Salmon of Wisdom all afternoon.

I capped off the day by visiting Kilmainham Gaol (Jail). I walked passed the spot where Joseph Plunkett (leader of the Easter Rising) and his wife exchanged their last words…the spot where James Connolly was tied to a chair and executed by firing squad.

The Irish history we’ve been studying for the past five weeks was staring me in the face. There is something about that realization that cannot be explained in words- it’s a feeling. Everything was coming together. This is why I was here.

With only one week left in my Irish adventure, the desperate desire to soak everything in has consumed me.

I find myself cutting down the allotted hours that should be spent sleeping each night.

You can feel it penetrating from everyone. That last minute panic is palpable between those of us that quickly and dramatically changed from classmates to close friends.

The Pittsburgh girls are planning a trip to Indiana. At lunch we find ourselves calculating the distance in hours from Colgate to the University of Virginia.

“Are we including extra time if we hit D.C. traffic?”

It will be hard to say goodbye.

People keep saying to me ‘you’re only in Ireland once.’ While I hope that is far from the truth, I will definitely be adopting that anthem this week.

So, cheers. Slainte! Ireland has been grand, but the craic is not over yet.