The Tart with the Cart

Sorry for the late update. It has been a crazy few weeks but I will try to get up to date with everything I am doing.



Galway

Galway was amazing, Simply amazing. I arrived Friday night and booked into my very first hostel. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and actually was a great chance to meet people. While I was waiting around in the lobby I ran into the Dan, the guy I sat next to on the plane ride over the Atlantic with. He was staying at the same hostel as me with his brother, his friend, and a girl they met in Dublin. They invited to go out with them that n

ight and I had a fantastic time.

For the next two days I became a diehard tourist. I took a bus tour up in the Burren and along the Cliffs of Moher. The Burren is one of the national parks of Ireland and is home to very rare flora and fauna. It also contains dolmens which are ancient burial tombs.

The Cliffs of Moher were by far the most beautiful place I visited. The cliffs rise from 400 to 700 feet straight out of the Atlantic Ocean. The

y have been used in many popular movies including “The Princess Bride” and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”. At this point of the tour I also got my first taste of Irish weather. As we arrived I was able to get a few photos of the cliffs before it started to pour rain. The other tourists and I quickly went to the tourist center for shelter to wait out the storm. While waiting for the bus we wandered around the center which was built into a hill like a hobbit hole. As we left the fog had fully set in and I could no longer see the cliffs from the center. It amazed me how quickly the weather changes on this Island.

The final stop of the tour was at Aillwee caves, which means yellow cliff in Gaelic. The caves were any different from caves in the US and there wasn’t any “wow” factor that I hadn’t seen in other caves. The one interesting nugget that was in the caves were complete skeletons of European Brown Bears that have been extinct in the UK for ce

nturies.

The next bus tour I took showed me Connemara. This area of western Ireland is home to the Twelve Pins, Maumturks Mountains and Killary Harbour, Ireland’s only Fjord. We stopped at Kylemore Abbey, which was built as a honeymoon estate by Mitchell Henry for his new bride. The abbey was fairytale like set into the mountain side and had an elaborate walled garden.

Connemara is also home to the Connemara pony. These little ponies are known for being extremely hardy and good tempered. We were able to spot a few while we were traveling up to the coast.

Dublin

Living in Enfield has been great because I am so close to my work, but man, its in the middle of nowhere. So I hopped on a bus and fled to Dublin for the weekend. I booked a hostel in Temple Bar area of the city which was the perfect location. I just down the alley from The Temple which although it was loud, I got to listen to music till I fell asleep.

I did not have a plan of attach to see all of Dublin so I jumped on a tour bus and saw it all. My first stop was St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was built near a holy well where St. Patrick himself might have baptized early Christians. Jonathan Swift was a Dean of St. Patrick’s and this is the location of his grave.

The next stop on the bus tour was the Guinness Storehouse. This place was absolutely amazing. I myself do not like Guinness but drinking that stout at the top of Dublin was the best drink I have ever had. The storehouse is the original site of Sir Arthur Guinness’s brewery. He rented the land in 1759for 9,000 years with an annual rent of £45. The brewery has been producing their well known stout ever since. The museum now sits on the original location of the brewery and has a 7 story “pint glass” that you wind around as you go step by step through the brewing process.

After leaving the Guinness store house I wandered over to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is a medieval manuscript created by Celtic monks around 800 A.D. I wasn’t able to go in and see it but I was told that it has magnificent illustrations.

I went to Marrion Square which is home to a famous Oscar Wilde statue. The houses that line this park have the famous Georgian style townhouses which have many famous residents.

I wandered through the National Museums of Ireland. The Natural History museum is also called the “Dead Zoo”. It is very similar to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. except the animals are not placed into “scenarios. It was also interesting to walk around the natural wildlife of Ireland and finally be able to name the annoying birds nesting outside my window.

For my last night in Dublin I hung out with two Kiwis I met at the Guinness Storehouse. We began our night at Putry’s Kitchen and listened to an Irish band perform covers of American Music. I never thought “Sweet Home Alabama” could be sung in anything other than a Souther drawl, but an Irish lilt gave it an interesting twist. The guitarist was by far the best musician I had heard in Ireland. After the band finished their set, we moved on to Oliver St. James Grogarty which is known for its traditional Irish music. We stayed there until 2 AM listening to these guys play. They were absolutely astounding and the atmosphere was perfect.

My last day included epic wandering around Dublin and finding a little piece of home in a cup of Tim Hortons Coffee. I walked around St. Stephan’s Park. Dublin Parks are very different from city parks in the US because they have these elaborate ponds with bird islands in the center. I joined a free tour of Dublin and learned some history of the uprising and of the Vikings that called Dublin home.

T minus 10 to Lift Off

I arrived super early to the airport to quell my nervousness of missing my plane. After weighing my bag, I realized I packed 5 pounds too much. After a quick repacking of my luggage into my carry on my bag was out of my hands and headed to the plane. The 6 hour flight wasn’t too bad due to a personal touch screen located on the seat in front of me. Who ever thought that a touch screen on the head rest of the person in front of you was a good idea, I would like to talk to. Not only did the plane have movies and TV shows but also video games. The kid sitting behind my neighbor was playing some sort of fast paced “jabbing” game that kept my neighbor awake the whole trip.

To a Land Far Far Away….

After flying over mundane Atlantic Ocean, seeing land was beautiful. We flew over the entire island before touching down in Dublin and I was able to see the fields and hills that dot the landscape. I arrived in Dublin bright and early at 7 AM…Tell that to my jet lagged brain. The plane was touching done as the sun was rising and all my body was telling me was that it was 2 AM. After passing through customs and immigration, my next hurtle was finding my bag and getting on the correct coach to Enfield. Luckily, I was able to find CityLink buses and get on. CityLink buses are the public transportation that links Dublin to Galway to Cork. Half way to Enfield I dozed off, and almost missed my stop.

Home, Sweet Cottage

Mary, my landlord, came to pick me up and gave the 10 minute tour of Enfield…. That’s sadly all it needed. It’s a small village that has a post office, a market, two banks, and two pubs. Town is about 4 km (~ miles) from Ballinakill House and Mews, my home for the month. The big house and property is beautiful. Mary is an amazing gardener and a fantastic cook. I am staying at the cottage on the property. The cottage has everything that I might need. Mary and Michael have been extremely hospitable and have invited me to eat dinner with the family for my stay.

Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It’s off to work I go…

My first day at work was interesting. Due to the regulations in Europe about hoof and mouth disease, I was unable to actually go into the bull barn but I was able to view the bulls through the glass. Collections come from the barn through a hatch in the window to be processed in the lab. The lab I will be working is quite small but has just enough space for everyone. Robert is the lab manager and Eamon is the technician. I will be working alongside of them and hopefully not getting in their way. I now understand why they couldn’t accommodate two interns at the same time.

3-2-1-ULTIMATE!

Eamon invited me along to go to his ultimate training in Athboy. Ultimate is very new to Ireland and the team is learning everything from the start. It started to drizzle once we started to play and didn't stop. It was the first Irish rain since I've been here. It was a great time hanging out with ultimate players and a couple of new girls showed up for the first time. It was great watching them learn the game and having a good time. I tried to help with some of the rules but was having trouble with analogies because when I was taught we used: you have a pivot foot like basketball, you score in the end zone like football... the girls had no idea what I was talking about. I still had a great time and was able to swap my Brickhouse disk for an Irish Ultimate.

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

~Dr. Seuss

June has been crazy. I have finished my first month of my internship here is Boston. It has been ghastly hot and humid for the entire stay but worth every minute.

I shall call him squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my squishy!~Dory
My mom came up to New England to visit relatives and stopped in for visit. We spent the day gallivanting around Boston. I taught her how to ride the T and get from my apartment to her annual convention. We spent Friday at the New England Aquarium and stared at fish. The aquarium has a four story tank in the center that is home to multiple sharks and a few sea turtles. They are currently housing wild sea turtles that are recovering from the gulf spill. Unlike many other aquariums, this one has a large colony of penquins that loudly call it home. We arrived just at feeding time. These little blue penguins flap there wings as fast as possible to help their metabolism. If only that worked in humans...

Who's on first...
I made my way out to Fenway park and did a quick day of exploration. Surprisingly it was in a somewhat sketchy part of town. I did a quick lap of the outside and took some photos before jumping back onto the train.




Tomorrow I head of into the great, wide world and hopefully land in Ireland.

To all of my cousins who graduated this year... Congratulations! Good luck next year and do a study abroad program!

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it

-- Henry Thoreau

Busy as a Bee
The past few weeks have gone by in a blur.
Work in the lab has been crazy. With Kyle being able to perform kinetic studies while in Ireland. I have been tasked with trying out the new biomarkers for any signal and determining how they bind together. It's been really nice being able to walk to the lab from my apartment. It's all down hill on the way to work....But that hill on the way home is deadly.


Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My! (minus the bears)
I visited the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston. Not the greatest zoo in the world but it did its job of keeping me busy for an afternoon. It was filled with elementary school students on their "End of School" field trip. Lots of screaming, lots of running, so the majority of the animals were in hiding, but I was able to get a few pictures. Left over from the previous owner is a large stone tower. It is called "Sargent's Folly", and is the only structure that predates the zoo. Basically is it a useless structure that the previous owner thought would look "cool" on his estate.

Library
I stopped by the Copley Library which is the oldest public library in the US. It is filled with amazing paintings and books. One of the upper galleries had small dioramas of famous art work. The artist put himself into each of the great art work scenes as if he were creating them. The inner courtyard was the perfect place to finish my book and get a great cup of coffee.

By the Sea
I had a free afternoon and decided to wander along the bay. I began at Fanueil Hall and somehow ended up at Fan Pier overlooking the bay. It was absolutely beautiful and calm. It was the perfect ending to a busy day in the lab, and made this whole trip worth it.



Count Down: 15 Days

The Journey Begins

Road Warrior
I have finally arrived and begun my internship in Boston.
I began my journey on Friday driving from Columbus, OH to Hartford, CT and finally Boston, MA. I traveled 663 miles in 10 hours and 33 minutes. Pennsylvania never seemed to end and the construction was terrible. According to my Aunt I am a "Road Warrior". I stayed the night at my cousins before traveling on to my apartment in Boston so that I catch up with my cousins who I have seen since I played with dolls and not look at grody when meeting my boss.

Boston Drivers are Crazy
The last leg of the trip from Connecticut to Boston flew by in no time, but dear god New England drivers are crazy. It took me 40 minutes to get through the toll road When trying to get off of the I-90 toll road a car crossed 3 lanes of traffic only to return to its original lane to pay his toll. The only good thing that came of the traffic was I made friends some of the fellow commuters while singing along to the radio.
I made it to my apartment in one piece and was fully unpacked before I went to pick up Kyle from the Airport. Yet again I NEVER want to drive with Bostonians again. With the help of my Garmin I finally got to Logan airport after circling it at least 3 times. Garmin also got lost in the tunnels of Boston and was of no use to us trying to get back to Watertown.

Respect the Scope
Today was my first day at my internship. Biomedical Research Institute is only a mile away from the apartment in Watertown. Kyle and I met with Dr. Cohen and Dr. Glass and learned the basics of the EnGender assay and got to view my first slide under the microscope. The microscope has a UV light that is used to visualize the cells that are ready to be frozen. Because the microscope emits UV light that could be detrimental to health, Dr. Glass stated that we need to "respect the scope".

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...No its a Red-tailed Hawk
After we finished the tour, Kyle and I decided to "discover" Boston, but really we wandered around Watertown looking for life and the T. Boston's metro system is called the T; no matter if it is the bus, commuter train, or subway. We used my Garmin to find the closest station to the apartment, however Garmin... was wrong. We walked for 5 hours to get to Alewife station. On the way, we found a group of people gawking up at the side of building. There were nesting birds up there and the people observing them were very excited about them and hoping to "see their first flight". I though hey maybe its an eagle or an osprey or some other threatened bird....nope...it was red-tailed hawk. Kyle and I quickly walked past before we started to laugh. Red-tailed hawks are every where back home and these people were treating it like the 8th world wonder. After a long walk to Alewife station and taking the Red Line, we arrived at Harvard Station and were surrounded my life. It was like ending up in Wonderland (which you can actually do if you take the Blue line)