I apologize for ghosting you

Molly Bowen
22 hours ago
3 min read

I could list off excuses about how busy I've been, but let's be so for real. Everyone is busy.

With that being said, recently I really have been quite exceptionally tied up. For that reason, I don't necessarily blame myself for not posting on my blog. It might have been a bit excessive, admittedly, to let the site collect dust for over a year.

But better late than never baby!!!!!! 💘

I have come to realize I think most people are slightly mistaken about what I did last year, and what I'm currently doing. Hence, the purpose of this blog.

RECAP!!!!!!!

To clear up any confusion, a recap is longgggg overdue.

I arrived in Ireland in August of 2024. Leading up to August, I spent the entirety of the year applying for a Working Holiday Visa. I most definitely became a well known name in the Consulate of Ireland office in Chicago, who I emailed roughly 50 times with questions and confirmation that I was doing everything correctly. SPOILER!!!!!!!!!! I was granted the visa, which allowed me to live and work in Ireland for up to a year. Alas, I made my way to the great Éire.

Thanks to the most trustworthy and reliable source, TikTok, I knew how I wanted to organize my living/working situation before arriving in Ireland. Jokes aside, TikTok has genuinely played a major role in educating me about alternative travel options that I otherwise never heard of. That is where Worldpackers comes in.

For those who are unaware, Worldpackers is an online company that lists hundreds of volunteer opportunities all around the world. People of (mostly) any age can sign up to be a volunteer. At these different opportunities, you work about 5ish hours a day, 5 days a week. In exchange, you are provided room and board for free, and often additional perks depending on where you're staying. This is an incredible experience, especially for people looking to affordably travel and meet other likeminded volunteers.

Over the last year, I completed 4 different volunteer opportunities (more commonly known as volunteer work exchanges). Another misconception I've noticed is that people think that Worldpackers coordinated all of this for me. No no no! It was I, Molly B, who made all the important decisions. Worldpackers lists the hundreds of opportunities, but otherwise it was all up to lil old me to select and apply to where I wanted to go, for how long, etc etc.

The different volunteer work exchanges, where I lived and worked, were as follows:

Yoga teacher at Big Style Surf Lodge in County Mayo, Ireland (1 month, Sept 2024)
Gardener in a literal Castle in Scotland (1 month, Oct 2024)
Kitchen Hand/Hospitality/Self-Proclaimed-Senior-Volunteer at Jampa Ling Buddhist Centre in County Cavan, Ireland (4 months, Nov 2024 - Feb 2025)
Receptionist at a Care Centre [Dzogchen Beara] in West County Cork, Ireland (4 months, Feb 2025 - June 2025) (this one I had a monthly stipend)

So now you hopefully have a clearer understanding of what the heck I was doing in Ireland last year. Basically volunteering.

SUMMER 2025!!!!!!!

I was quite nomadic this past summer as well. I spent some time in Berlin visiting my friend, Matilda, along with traveling a bit in Italy with my mom (Stephanie) and sister (Kk). Then I went back home to Minnesota for about a month and a half.

As it so often does in my life, more travel commenced in August. I visited Italy, Austria, and Croatia with my childhood friend, Olivia.

THENNNN omg this completely slipped my mind!!!! When I returned to Ireland in August, I did one last volunteer exchange.

For about 3 weeks I stayed with a woman, Angela, who I met at Jampa Ling. I was helping edit her poetry book she was in the process of getting published. I also cooked occasionally and walked her dog, Luca. That was in Ballinamore, County Leitrim, Ireland.

So there you have it.

I'll share with you what I'm doing NOW in Ireland in my next post.

Until then, I hope you have an absolutely magical life.

Love,

Molly ♥︎