June 27th...
It's about 8:45pm in South Korea (6:45am-Saturday-back home)...and I just went for a little walk around Hanyang University. School hasn't yet begun, so I'm still just sort of hanging out by myself until everyone arrives and I meet people that I can talk to. It's been pretty quiet so far, clearly due to the language barrier, but I am enjoying it. It gives me a lot of time to just reflect. In doing so, I remembered a couple things that I thought I could throw in my blog...
I've been wearing the same Claddagh ring since I was 17-years old. It was slightly too big for my finger (as in, it would fly off if I waved my hand too hard), and it had a blue stone in the heart of 
the ring. It cost about $11, but it was the only jewelry I wore on my hands. For those who may not know, the claddagh ring has been a part of Irish tradition since the 17th century. The ring itself is made up of a heart clasped in two hands with a crown on top. The meaning of the three parts of the ring are that the heart means love, the hands mean friendship, and the crown means loyalty; it symbolizes overall faith, trust, fidelity, and commitment. To sum it up, I loved my ring and I am rarely ever without it. Then, two days prior to leaving Jyvaskyla, I leave my ring on the sink in the library. I returned to the library maybe five minutes later, but it was closed. The next day, it was gone. I felt so distraught. Silly as it may be I know, but I was very attached. Then it hit me...I was to be going to Ireland two days from then...I can get an authentic ring there! I still missed my ring, but it was a good time to lose it. So I dragged Tracey into every jewelry shop in Dublin (literally), looking at the same rings over and over. They had some absolutely beautiful rings, but I'm a simple gal...and when I found my plain, silver ring, I was completely satisfied. It was a happy day to have my ring back on my finger where it belongs!
the ring. It cost about $11, but it was the only jewelry I wore on my hands. For those who may not know, the claddagh ring has been a part of Irish tradition since the 17th century. The ring itself is made up of a heart clasped in two hands with a crown on top. The meaning of the three parts of the ring are that the heart means love, the hands mean friendship, and the crown means loyalty; it symbolizes overall faith, trust, fidelity, and commitment. To sum it up, I loved my ring and I am rarely ever without it. Then, two days prior to leaving Jyvaskyla, I leave my ring on the sink in the library. I returned to the library maybe five minutes later, but it was closed. The next day, it was gone. I felt so distraught. Silly as it may be I know, but I was very attached. Then it hit me...I was to be going to Ireland two days from then...I can get an authentic ring there! I still missed my ring, but it was a good time to lose it. So I dragged Tracey into every jewelry shop in Dublin (literally), looking at the same rings over and over. They had some absolutely beautiful rings, but I'm a simple gal...and when I found my plain, silver ring, I was completely satisfied. It was a happy day to have my ring back on my finger where it belongs!
Secondly, I left out something very important about Finland: strawberries. Truly, these are the most delicious strawberries I have ever eaten. They just melt in your mouth. For the first time, I could say that I wouldn't even want chocolate on my strawberries...and for a girl who loves chocolate on anything, that's really saying something about their natural flavor. I mean, wow, they were really fabulous!
No comments:
Post a Comment