I left the U.S. on July 4th. The humor of heading to a foreign country during independence day was not lost on me or any other American on the plane. Lucky for me, I was able to say goodbye to my family (they were working and camping) before I left. Following that was the single greatest plane ride I have ever had.

Only about half the plane was full so we each got a seat entirely to ourselves. I am not joking, I made a nest in mine. It was great. A whole section of the plane was dedicated to me. And on our seats are what I am not calling the bags of awesome. They had everything you could possibly want to survive a plane flight: tooth brush, face mask, ear plugs, and socks. Not to mention the blanket and pillow. Plus they gave me tea all the time! There is nothing greater than that.

Then I landed and Ireland got a bit dimmer. Not because of the clouds or rain. But because of Customs. I made it there with no issue, but was delayed there. I told the official that I was a university student and he asked for my letter from the university. I did not have that. My university and study abroad program never sent me a letter from the university so I had no idea what was happening.

The offical asked me if I had a ticket to leave and I answer yes. From Warsaw in two weeks. He then clarified when I was leaving Ireland and to show him that. So I pulled up the information for my flight to London in two and half weeks and he let me go through. So I made it. But I am not pleased and now know whenever I enter a country I’m there for travel. Not school.

Nearly not allowed in Ireland.

But my hotel room seems pretty awesome. I got my electronics plugged in to the powerstrip so they don’t explode and let everyone know I made it through safely. Tomorrow I’m thinking of heading back to the airport so I can jump on a bus tour of Dublin cause no one in my program shows up until Tuesday. So tonight I’m going to sleep and tomorrow I’m going to figure out where I actually am and hopefully get a more exciting picture of Ireland than this. Yay for plans!