Alright, it's officially been a week since I arrived in Cork. In these past seven days I have felt just about every emotion one can go through. When I first entered this new environment I was filled with excitement and curiosity (and quite a bit of exhaustion). After settling into my apartment life starting setting in. Before I even unpacked my bags I had a dozen obstacles to overcome, figuring out public transportation, where is the nearest grocery shops, and how to navigate this large city that has so much to offer, all of this while having no access to my phone due to not having WiFi. I've always lived in small towns where just about anything you needed you could find quite easily, Moving to Cork I anticipated I would have to throw away my small-town mentality and become a savvy city wanderer. Going to Target for anything I needed was no longer an option. I won't lie the first few hours of my time in Cork really broke me down as a person, facing many challenges in such a abrupt moment. Although I have traveled in Ireland twice on holiday, living and vacationing are much different and I underestimated that. So anybody who knows me knows i'm a planner, it's one of my strong qualities to have clear thoughts and a halfway decent plan for whatever i'm doing. So that's exactly what I did, made a list, jumped on a bus(wasn't even sure if it was the correct one) and went into the city, walked around for hours in and out of dozens of shops getting a feel for the city. Ended up finding a phone company which sold portable Wireless routers that you just carry in your pocket which give you WiFi anywhere you go throughout Ireland. You never realize how dependent you are on technology until you don't have it, this made life so much easier from that point on. Making it possible to stay in touch with family and friends back in the States as well as having the capabilities to search for things around Cork. By the end of my first day in Cork I was feeling much better and more comfortable. The following day I met my roommate Ryan, he's from our Northern Neighbors in Canada, and the first few hours he was in Cork where just about a mirror image of what I experienced the day prior, it felt great being able to walk him through the city and reassure him it would get much better by the end of the day. As the week progressed I met many other international students, majority from Germany and Brazil, which we all got together and went out to experience the incredible night life Cork has to offer this past weekend. My love and appreciation has grown tremendously for Ireland and Cork especially.  I can already tell this will be one of the greatest experiences of my life. I've seen myself grow a lot just after a week, I can't wait to see what's in store for me over the next few months!