It’s not either-or. You can apply to a variety of schools, in English-speaking countries, in countries where you speak the language, universities in nice locales that teach in English… You can apply to Sciences Po and Bocconi and Insead… AND apply to US colleges.
Also, I’m not sure Honors College at UAlabama doesn’t beat Trinity College. It beats TCD on opportunities for research, for instance; even if the average UTD student is better academically than the average UA student, I imagine them to be roughly at the same level if we compare Honors College to UTD (top 10% to top 2% nationally). If you don’t like Greek Life and big football, prefer cool rain to humid mugginess, then UTD’s better.
In addition, look at exchanges like the one collegemom3717 mentioned: not your ideal situation, but still another alternative. I know the university of Bordeaux has such an exchange with the UCs (you need A’s to participate, but if you picked English for a major, I hope you’d get them :p).
Irish and Scottish universities tend to have a more flexible curriculum than other universities.
“There are many ways to skin a cat”, many roads to lead where you want. Don’t close any venue, try everything. 