Hi blog! Today was our first official day in Dublin! When we got to the airport, we got a little sneak peek into some of the Irish snacks we could buy on our trip as we waited for our CEA bus to arrive. The bus from the airport to the hotel was actually pretty cool as we got to see most of the city as we drove past a lot of the major landmarks in Dublin. The biggest struggle this day was staying awake. By the end of the day (May 6th) we were up for more than 24 hours adjusting to the different time zones. Getting through orientation was definitely the peak of this struggle but the coffee they provided definitely gave me a good pick me up. Orientation was very informative as we went through some of Ireland’s history and what we would be learning on this program. We also, of course, went through safe procedures, travel and how we would be living the next couple of weeks. The building where our CEA classroom was so cute, it almost had the feel of a little house, plus it included a quarter yard.
After we headed back from orientation I made my first journey in Dublin… to the grocery store, Lidl. We were so lucky that the store is only like a 10 minute walk from our apartments cause I know I definitely forgot some things. Honestly this experience was really similar to shopping at Aldi, which was somewhat comforting in a way. We then prepared for our final event of the day, our Welcome Dinner. Let me tell you this welcome dinner ate up. It was at the oldest pub in Dublin, The Brazen Head. This pub was really cool, and was really welcoming and the food was so good. On the menu we ordered from, we had 5 different Irish dishes to choose from. I ordered the Baggers and Mash which were really really good. The baggers were very flavorful and reminded me of the ones my mom used to make. We also got dessert, which was even better than the main course. I got an order of the apple crisp with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it was one of the best apple crisps I’ve ever had. After this scrumshus meal I went right to bed to catch up on all the sleep I needed to make up, and that concludes day one of our days in Dublin.