The flight from Birmingham to Chicago was a breeze, but the oppressive heat and humidity in Chicago was pretty much a day-ruiner. Luckily, I didn't have my giant suitcase with me, as it was checked through to Dublin, but I did have my heavy backpack, full of laptop and books, as well as my purse, which somehow had also been packed full of books. I made plans to meet up with Cindy from my Cambridge program, who lives in Chicago, but we soon realized that it's very difficult to organize a meeting when one of us doesn't have a phone (guess which one). How did people live life before smartphones? (a.k.a Technology Is Making Us Stupid) Anyway, we finally found each other, and she very kindly bought me a gelato (a welcome cold treat in the middle of a very hot day) while I let my sweat dry and tried not to smell too bad.
When I finally made it back to the airport for my evening flight, I got lost in the maze that is O'Hare and made it to the terminal just a few minutes before boarding. Unfortunately, my good timing was a waste, as we waited on the tarmac for a full two hours before takeoff, due to a technological malfunction in Dublin. Of course, this was doubly disappointing for me, as I immediately fell asleep on the plane and when I awoke two hours later to see that we had "landed", my seatmate apologetically informed me that we hadn't even taken off yet. Luckily, the pilot was talented enough to shave a full hour off our flying time, so I only made it to Dublin about an hour late.
TSA in Dublin was surprisingly lax. I walked through customs with my bags without seeing a single person of authority, and my passport check was a simple question: "How long will you be in Ireland?" "Eleven days." "Okay." And all of a sudden I found myself outside, enjoying the fresh air of a surprisingly sunny day in Dublin. I bought a phone card and a bus ticket, and 45 minutes later, I was standing in the middle of O'Connell Street in Dublin's city center, ready for my next adventure.
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