As our trip to Ireland slowly approach, many of us began to have that flickering feeling in our stomach, with butterflies and all. But is that love? Yes! in some ways it is, the love for Ireland and excitement too.

The flickering feeling intensified as yesterday was St. Patrick’s day. Visiting a friend of mine, Catherine  in George Washington University, I witnessed many extremely excited college students running around around wearing their green apparel and shamrocks, excited to celebrate that special day with events that are planned out or not at all. On that day I visited the museum of art too, and saw this painting of a very green baby which in some ways reminded me of Ireland. In DC on St. Patrick’s day, they celebrate it very quietly and down low. Many little details are added on that day to celebrate St. Patrick’s day. Yesterday Catherine and I walked upon the White House and saw the fountain sprinkling out green water to celebrate St. Patrick’s day. Seeing so many hints of green around me, the reminder of our trip to Ireland grew stronger every time.

As I look at the calendar, and noticed that tomorrow will be the day we leave for Ireland, my heart began to race with excitement. What will the trip be like this time with different people but the same scenery? How much has the students we met last time changed or not changed at all? In someways my memory of Ireland is frozen, to the time when we were leaving Ireland last year and walking in the rain on the streets of Dublin, upset that we had to leave that wonderful place. Now going back soon, that memory will unfreeze itself and flip itself to a whole new page that is ready to record down all the new memories that will be created in the near future.