Before going abroad, I told everyone the most nervous I would probably be was when I stepped off the plane in Ireland to find myself alone, in a completely foreign country. I had originally thought that was going to be the hardest part of my journey. But as it turns out, the entire flying adventure ended up being difficult.
After having two flights cancelled, I thought (for a total of 5 seconds) that this trip was maybe not meant to be. I couldn't believe that the universe would let me have these complete nervous breakdowns just for me to end up having to turn around with my bags and get right back in the car. Oddly enough though, these bumps in the road actually ended up giving me more drive to get my butt across the pond rather than curl up in my bed as I had originally thought.
Don't get me wrong, it was very upsetting to say goodbye to all my loved ones but the idea of all the adventures waiting for me in Ireland were really what drove me into getting through security without having a public meltdown. Once I touched down in Chicago, well lets just say that I learned the pain of having what 6 hours really felt like. Luckily once I got on the plane to get to Ireland the Lord really blessed me for canceling my original plans by giving me TWO WHOLE SEATS TO MYSELF. Needless to say that it made the almost 7 hour flight a little more bearable.
Once I got off the plane, I was pleasantly surprised with the whole ordeal that was customs and finding the bus. I got both my luggage off all by myself (which certainly was an accomplishment as they were very heavy and I am very weak) and made my way outside only to find! No bus, nor anyone who seemed to know where I would find the bus I needed.
Thankfully, there was a sweet lady to point me in the right direction. Although I had to listen very intently as she had a ridiculously think accent, to the point where I almost questioned if we were speaking the same language. On the bus, I was happy to meet several kids who were also my age, hand over my 7 Euro to get myself to the town and plop my bottom down in the seat as it was very exhausting being lost.
And this my friend was where it got interesting, once we got off the bus we were told there would be students to lead us in the right direction or call a cab for us if it appeared we had a lot of luggage. To my dismay, and to the girl who had two luggages that were larger than her, there were no students there to help. So the 8 of us had to navigate this tiny village built around this huge campus in order to get ourselves over to our new dorms.
Let me just say, it was the most physical activity Ive endured in quite sometime. But thankfully getting into my room was easy. And everything from there on was quite simple, if you don't talk about how I locked myself out of my room with 45 minutes of being there, but thats another story for another time.
Traveling is difficult and stressful needless to say. But doing it alone in a foreign country? Well that was a whole other ball park.
