There’s something so disorienting and almost ethereal to getting off a plane. It’s like you’re trapped in this small, secluded vessel for hours and then POOF! You’re in a completely new place even though you never really even felt like you moved. It’s even weirder when you start recognizing that you’re in a completely different country. Everything looks different, the air feels different. It’s just different. It also doesn’t help when jet lag is hitting you like a ton of bricks, but that’s besides the point. But it most certainly was hitting me like a semi-truck and it stayed that way basically all day which was…not the best way to start a trip, but I digress. Needless to say, stepping into Ireland was a very weird and exciting experience for me (apart from the jet lag, which was again, so bad. Like, oh my god).
Anyways, after picking up my authentic European cuisine, candy watermelon (which I promptly threw out after one bite because they were disgusting), we met our guide for the trip, Sean, and hopped on a bus to Dublin. The ride was so beautiful as we rode through the green fields of Ireland. It was unlike anything I’d seen before. Which is saying a lot because I’m from PA so I’m pretty familiar with green fields.
We did some orientation-ing at Champlaigne college and then got settled (I say that loosely) into our apartments. Then we went to a welcome dinner at the Brazen Head pub, the oldest pub in Ireland. As a certified picky eater, I actually didn’t mind the beef stew I had. It was pretty good. But what was REALLY good was the apple crumble I had. It was the perfect way to open our trip and I was truly chasing the high of its flavor for the rest of my time there.
