Friends for Life – An Erasmus Reunion🫶🏼

By Isabelle Lydon, Eötvös Lorànd University, Hungary

After a long six months apart my friends and I had a much-awaited Erasmus reunion. Since most of the group is from Ireland, we deemed this the most appropriate place for the reunion (apart from Budapest itself but that’s for the next reunion). However, we had a few people, including myself, fly from England, Italy and of course people came from all over Ireland.

The short flight over to Ireland from Manchester went smoothly and we were greeted at the arrival gates by Holly and Jessica who kindly picked us up from the airport. The hour-long drive back to Galway was filled with catch-ups and sing-a-longs. When we arrived in Galway, there was an even grander reception waiting for us. After many hugs and a few tears, we made our way inside, had a tour of the house, and of course, had a cup of tea. After catching up with everyone about life post-Erasmus and reminiscing about better times on Erasmus we had to start prepping for ‘Christmas Day’.

For context, in Ireland, the universities have this tradition every year before exams that each big university has a ‘college Christmas day’. We were introduced to the tradition whilst in Budapest and we had our own Christmas day there. As we had so much fun, we decided to reunite on the week of ‘Galway Christmas Day’. In short, everyone wears a Christmas jumper, has a Christmas dinner, sings Christmas songs, and goes to the pub.

More people started arriving at Holly and Jessica’s house just in time for dinner. It was honestly so nice seeing everyone again. The dinner was amazing, and we all were just chatting and laughing together for ages. The next day, we went into Galway City and went around the Christmas markets, and we all got matching ‘Claddagh’ rings. That evening, we went to see the new Hunger Games at the cinema. When we were in Budapest, we always used to go to the cinema, so it was nice for us all to do this together again – although I wish it was as cheap as it was in Budapest 🙁

The following day we said our goodbyes to some people who were heading back to Dublin and Limerick, and we began our journey to County Clare to go and stay in Rosie’s house in the seaside town of La Hinch. After arriving at Rosie’s gorgeous house, we went to the shop to go get things for dinner and then we wrapped up and made our way to the Cliffs of Moher. I found out on the way that the cliffs were the filming location for a scene in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which was pretty cool. The cliffs and the scenery were unreal even though we did nearly get blown away because the wind was so strong. After a quick walk around the cliffs, we made our way to the beach and did a quick dip in the Irish Sea. It was freezing. I genuinely could not feel my feet. That night, we had dinner and then went out for a drink in a little pub in town. The next day was our last day so that morning we said goodbye to some more friends and then drove to Rosie’s family home in Ennis. It was lovely seeing Rosie’s parents again as we met them once in Budapest and they were so welcoming and kind. They made us breakfast and Rosie showed off her skills on the harp and before we knew it, it was time to go to the airport. Our goodbye was sad but thankfully there were no tears this time. We have already started making plans for the girls to come and visit Manchester next year!

Making these friends has honestly deepened my appreciation for my year abroad because had I not done it, I wouldn’t have formed these friendships which I know I will treasure for life. If you’re on a year abroad or thinking of doing a study abroad and are doubting whether you’ll make friends, I hope this blog will give you a little bit of comfort and insight into how much these experiences really do change your life. It certainly changed mine.