Week 3 in Dublin was definitely one to remember. On Friday morning, we left bright and early for Galway, where we stayed for two nights. Galway had a much different feel than Dublin, with a seemingly younger and more lively crowd, and less of a big city feel, which I enjoyed. The first stop on Friday was at the Cliffs of Moher. Going into this trip, this is one of the things that I was the most excited about, and I was not disappointed. The cliffs were beautiful, and like nothing I had ever seen before. After spending a decent amount of time here, we got back on the bus and went to The Burren, a rocky terrain on the water which was also breathtaking. I am constantly shocked at just how beautiful Ireland is everywhere we go. After getting back to Galway, I went to a pub for dinner and drinks, where I ended up having one of the best burgers of recent memory.
The next day, we hopped on the ferry to Inish Mor, where we rented bikes to explore the island. I loved how we were able to explore the scenery at our own pace. There were so many animals on the island, it seemed like there might be more animals than people. I hadn’t ridden a bike since I was 10, so it took me a bit to get back into the swing of things, but once I did, I had a lot of fun. Once back in Galway, I went out for dinner and ended up at a pub where we stumbled upon a bachelorette party which was funny to see.
On Sunday we went to Kylemore Abbey. The castle here was huge and was accompanied by the largest garden I have ever seen. I also saw a pig for the first time in my life, and it was completely different than I had imagined which was a shock. On the way back to Dublin, we stopped at the Killary Fjord for a boat tour. I enjoyed this a ton, and my friends and I loved standing at the front of the boat and feeling the wind while seeing the beautiful scenery.
Monday I started the day off with class, where we looked at cases involving abortion rights. Later in the day, we went to Dublin Castle and the custom house to learn more about Ireland and its history.
In terms of my internship, I’m getting more and more comfortable by the day. I started to get into the lab to run some experiments, and provide my data for use in research papers. Last week I was trained on a nanoindentation machine, so I can start testing different types of gel and soft tissue. I have also been able to sit in on meetings with the PhD students in my research group, and see what they are working on and the application of my data.
This week was my busiest week so far, and the summer is flying by. I still can not believe that we are already 3 weeks in. I look forward to what’s to come!
