“If I could have one thing from home it would be ___________ because…”

So (as the title of the post indicates)  the suggested topic for this week is "If I could have one thing from home it would be_______because..." Honestly, I could really do two things with this post. I could discuss the one (or two) things that I wish I had brought with me to Ireland OR I could just talk about what I wish I had here that is from home. I think I'm going to go with the second option, because I might make the first option its own post later on.

Truthfully, anything that I REALLY want or need, they have here in Cork. As a result, what I wish I could have from home isn't necessarily a physical item like a coat or anything. I think emotionally, I really wish that my family and best friends could be here. However, I do realize that I should probably pick something tangible (although I'm not sure exactly how tangible what I'm about to pick really is). I think the one thing I really wish they had here (and this is going to sound ridiculous and make me seem like an entitled American to some extent) is hulu.com. Hulu is basically a website that lets viewers watch TV shows from the most popular networks (ABC, NBC, the CW, etc.) pretty much right after they air in the United States. Unfortunately for me, hulu.com does not work in Europe and Europe gets the American TV show episodes a few months later than we do in the United States. This means that whenever the fall TV season arrives, I am probably not going to be able to watch some of my favorite TV shows. Now, let me clarify one thing. I know how completely ridiculous it is that I am upset that I cannot watch my American TV shows while I am STUDYING ABROAD in IRELAND. I mean, I didn't come to Ireland to watch TV shows, right? But here is the thing about not being able to have that, especially right now during the Early Start Semester program. I only have one class that takes place Monday-Thursday for about three hours (if that). So the result is that I have a lot of free time and that means I'm often alone in my room with very little work to do. If I had hulu, I probably would have had something to fill in that gap of time. I get lonely sometimes and, as everyone knows, TV is designed to be an escape and succeeds tremendously in its goal of distracting viewers from real life. I have friends here and I could go out and do things, but going out and doing things often involves spending money. That isn't really a problem, but I would like to save some money for bigger trips that I would like to go on while I'm here in Ireland. I have also explored Cork City quite a few times, so spending time in my room isn't keeping me from really seeing the city.

I think a second point about not having hulu work here is that when the fall TV season does roll around (in a couple of weeks--I know, it's a bit sad that I am fairly certain about that) I am not going to be able to sit down for an hour or so each week (like I would back at W&J) and catch up on my favorite shows. Back home, that has always been my way of stepping back from all of the studying for a few hours. I don't have that here, so I have been a bit bored and lonely at times.

To sum up, (as ridiculous as it may sound) I guess the thing that I wish that I could have from home is hulu, or at least access to American TV. It would have been a way to pass the time and it would have been nice to have a way to feel like I was back home in the U.S, at least for a few hours. I think American TV, especially when you're abroad, is kind of a familiar, relaxing, comfort thing. And really, I think the familiar feeling of being back home, or at least with my family and friends, is something I really wish I could have at times, although exploring Cork City and Ireland has been great so far.