Arrival in Dublin, Ireland

After months of waiting, I finally reached Dublin, Ireland!

However, the trip over here wasn't exactly cake...

Our first flight of the journey (and my first flight EVER) began from O'Hare International Airport at 8:45am, so of course we had to be there at least 2 hours early. At 6:15, I left my house with my dad and picked up my tickets from the terminal. I had to say goodbye there because he couldn't enter security with me, but with a final wave I was off past security and into the unknown. Luckily, I met up with another girl as we went through security and met up with the rest of my team of 7 down at the gate. Surprisingly, I was very calm as we waited for the next hour and a half for the plane to begin boarding. We talked, laughed, stressed about whether or not we brought everything or too much, but in no time we were called to get on the plane.

I assigned my ticket so that I sat next to one of the girls I am going on this trip with, and as I anticipate the flying ahead of me, she holds out her hand revealing her new engagement ring! Talk about a holy crap moment! I gushed and congratulated her on this surprise, and am so incredibly happy for her and her new fiance! After that moment of happiness, anxiety followed, for we were told to fasten our seat belts by Captain Cliff of our American Airlines flight. I stuck a wad of gum in my mouth and began chewing the heck out of it as our plane meandered around ORD until reaching the runway. I felt the turbines burst with power as we suddenly pushed back into our seats and took to the air.

Although I experienced a lot of head wooziness, I had never imagined such speed and grace that an airplane contains. Within minutes we were soaring above the clouds, past the airport, and overlooking downtown Chicago and Lake Michigan! Un-freaking-believable, We listed lazily to the left and took off over the great lake, making our way up over Canada and the North Atlantic Ocean to arrive at Heathrow. After the take-off, I was still jumpy with excitement, but tried to take occasional naps since we knew we weren't going to get any sleep. However, the seats on AA were the most uncomfortable chairs invented, and the only way I could attempt to power nap for 10 minutes at a time was to lean forward and rest my forehead on the seat in front of me. Awesome. The food was good, though, (cheese omelet for breakfast and pizza for dinner) and we got to see the sunset as we switched time zones, but after the first four hours, I was ready to get off the damn plane. Eight hours is incredibly difficult to get through. We struggled, but soon Ireland came into sight as we flew over it and toward Heathrow Airport in England to make our connecting flight in the morning. Cliff got me through my first flight without a hitch-not even one hint of turbulence! I became even more excited when our new flight attendant spoke with a British accent!

The 7 of us girls were giggly and excited that we were in ENGLAND, but our fun didn't last long. We were expecting to sleep in the terminal since we had an overnight layover and didn't want to pay extra money for a hotel at 11pm at night, but apparently Heathrow International Airport closes at 11(as told to us by some Indian woman mopping the floors) -.- Instead, we had to pass through customs even though we weren't going to be leaving the airport, and then pass through security again in the morning. Yuck.

It became even more of a hassle when the customs officer called us out on the purpose of our visit. Our profs told us that we needed to inform customs that we were NOT on study abroad because we aren't affiliated with any local Irish colleges, so we had to say we were on holiday. Well, the customs officer refused to believe that 7 girls were going to Ireland for 10 weeks on "holiday", and we were sweating up a storm thinking that we were going to be detained and sent home. Fortunately, the officer let us in after we thoroughly explained our situation, but warned us that Irish immigration would refuse us if we didn't tell the truth. Superb.

Our ordeal wasn't finished just yet; we needed somewhere to sleep during the layover! We walked out of customs into the arrivals section despairing over the officer and decided to stay in the arrivals section until 4am when we would head to the next terminal. None of us slept nearly enough than we had hoped, so we spent the agonizing couple of hours playing with each other's hair, doing crosswords, and devising a statement to make to Irish immigration concerning our situation. Time dragged and we were loopy on lack of sleep, but we were eager when 4am came around to get the heck outta Heathrow. We split up, 5 and 2 because we were taking the connecting flight on two separate airlines. I, being in the group of 2, set off to British Airways where we easily passed into the terminal lounge, attempted to help a Russian woman get on her flight, and mozied around a cool clothing store called "Fat Face". Finally, our gate was getting ready to board for our 6:55am flight, and we passed through security like a breeze-the British airport was super laid back! We were in different seats on our plane, and I got to sit next to a Dublin native who travels the world all the time as his job, and gave me plenty of advice as to what I should do while in Ireland as well as traveling to other countries! He recommended Rome and Paris as a "of course" thing, but highly suggested Budapest as a travel destination. I doubt I'll make it over there, but it was so cool to listen to him talk and give advice.

The British Airways flight took only 1 hour and 15 min, and as I stared out the window at the plane's wing, I watched us break through the clouds to see the sunrise, and fall under the clouds over the literally Emerald Isle. Everything was green as can be! We landed easily, and took off to claim our baggage. Too bad our stuff was somehow misplaced and coming on the following flight. Lame. But we found our professor, told him the bags would be in the airport within another hour (which worked out great because he was waiting for kids from that flight anyway), and took full advantage of Dublin's free wi-fi. DUB = best airport ever! So many cool people, and tons of older guys who wear the typical Irish cab-driver hats! Before we knew it, our suitcases were returned to us, we met up with everyone else, and was shuttled to the Mespil Hotel.

The hotel was great, but we were not allowed to sleep or our professor would whack us awake. He took us around the hotel, then told us to wander out on our own for a bit. We trekked through a residential area and found the Bulgarian Embassy, but headed back to travel to St. Stephen's Green (yep, no sleep yet after 24 hours). This park is absolutely beautiful despite the Ireland rain, and we even got to wander the Shopping Center where we had our first real meal at Chief Chang's Asian buffet. Mmmm good!

Before we left, we caught a glimpse of a street performer juggling torches and riding a unicycle!

By 2:30 Irish time, we left for the hotel and finally checked into our rooms where we proceeded to shower like no tomorrow. Clean never felt so good. Now, we await dinner at 6:15 and who knows what else on Day 1 of Ireland (yep, still no sleeping!)

Slainte