Disoriented, Dazed, Confused, Jetlagged, and Surrounded by IRELAND!

After floating past the eastern coast of Ireland on our final approach, we broke through the cloud cover over the Irish Sea and made our way onto the Dublin air strip. Living in Dublin happily ever after. The end.

As if you thought it would be that minimalist. WE'RE HERE SAFE! DUBLIN, IRE!



The plane leaving Charlotte wasn't terrible. Laura met me at the gate around 2 hours before our plane was supposed to take off, when I was thumbing through Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles. She grimly bought her last bottle of Arnold Palmer before we jumped on our plane up to JFK. The flight was totally deserted and I had tons of room to stretch out after my seatmate jumped to an open row. At first, we had the impression that our flight attendant was Irish! What an auspicious omen to start the trip! We're in good hands! This is meant to be!

Then after the safety announcement, we realized that she was only Scottish (sigh). But the flight into NYC was nice, seeing all the lights. Here's a blurry photo for you.

(This was my most rebellious moment of the flight, as they informed us we could not be using electronics at this point)


We ended up sitting next to a student named Gabby from Erskine College in SC who's studying in Oxford this semester. She had a longer layover than ours, so we then spent the next time stumbling around JFK airport looking for ways to blow 3 hours. So we ate pizza at a bar next to our gate, and were watching the beginning of the national championship game over a couple of beers (as i was writing this sentence, I learned of LSU's unfortunate demise. Apologies to the Murungi and Vaccari families). We became so engrossed in the game that we had missed our boarding for the "economy comfort" class, and had to join the the "economy" line. How truly base. Half of the passengers on the flight looked like they were international students, and in fact the two girls I was sitting next to were from NY studying in Dublin. But the flight went fairly slowly. I didn't get a lot of sleep, as I was on the aisle seat and people kept walking past right as I was on the brink of consciousness. Even with my Dre Beats I was unable. Truly, one of the greatest tragedies of our time. The last 2 hours or so went sooooo slowly, I think just because I really wanted to be here.

We landed, got through customs in record time. Got an Aircoach to UCD through Dublin proper (~30 minutes), and wandered around until we found the big sign that said "RECEPTION." I checked in and came here and snapped a few photos of my room:

Now once I learn how to turn on the radiator, I think it's going to be a good day.

In conclusion, everything you need to know you can learn from Douglas Adams:
Carry a towel- I really want to bathe right now. Not possible.
Don't panic- Apparently things don't get better if you do.