Last Night in Ireland

My last night in Ireland.  My time here has been a bit of a roller coaster, ups and downs a-plenty.  In spite of the downs, I'm glad I came.  I have encountered people from all over the world on this little island: Holland, Sweden, America, England, Australia, New Zealand, Germany.  Sometimes, it seems I've interacted with more people visiting Ireland than with Irish themselves.  I have talked with people about horses, legal age of consumption, gardens, aliens, compost, spirituality, chickens, relationships, just about everything under the sun (or above it).  I've also enjoyed all sorts of different foods.  I'm looking forward to trying to make some of these dishes when I get back to the States.  I have greatly enjoyed my time here in Ireland.  Some of the people I have met since coming here have become very dear to me and I plan to remain in contact.  I am glad I came.

But there is still a week before I head back to the U.S.  Tomorrow, I fly to Copenhagen and take the train into Sweden to meet up with some of my extended family.  I'm a little nervous about going for two reasons.  First, I am having an extremely difficult time with Swedish.  It seems to have almost nothing in common with English or any other language I have much experience with.  My second concern is about the weather.  I'm not sure I fully grasped the fact that I would be going to one of the northern most countries in Europe just as winter is descending when I planned this trip.  We've had some thick frosts in the morning in southern Ireland. My guess is I didn't pack enough cold weather gear for this.  We shall see.