Week 3: Baking Failures and Dublin

Hello all :)

Week 3 marked the arrival of all first year students to classes, meaning my first full week of classes of the semester! Except when classes were cancelled, ha.  I'm really excited about my history class, I think it will be really interesting and different from all the science classes that I'm used to.  Bioethics has been fascinating thus far, the professor is really awesome.  I also like my engineering classes, and we're starting to get in the full swing of senior design as well, which is nifty.  We also had our first sets of homework assignments with lab and senior design.

On Wednesday my tissue engineering class was cancelled, meaning I had an extra two hours of free time.  Thus, I decided to surprise my roomies and give in to their demands for baked goods.  Plus I had a blondie recipe I'd been wanting to try.  I though ahead and made sure my ingredient list was in SI units, and then got started on the baking! Then when they were ready to be put in the oven I realized two things 1) I forgot to preheat it and 2) the images and dials had worn off of it.  So Matt and I guessed on what we should do.  It did not turn out well. At all.  I also think the fact that I put it in a broiler pan was another mistake.  The top of the brownies turned this awful awful burnt black color, and then the bottom of them didn't even bake, after 35 minutes in the oven.  The entire kitchen area steamed up, but thankfully no fire alarms went off.  Nathan tried to tell people it was custard with chocolate on top...they didn't fall for it.  And surprisingly, they still want me to bake for them.

On Friday Eric, Colleen, Bridget, Kristen, Annie, and I went to Dublin! It was awesome! We got there about 2:00 p.m. and checked in to our hostel, which was kind of out of the way but cheap, clean, and the 6 of us all shared one room and bathroom.  So it was nice not having to deal with strangers.  We went to the Guinness Storehouse first off, where we learned the brewing process and some history of Guinness.  Then we learned how to "pour the perfect pint" complete with a certificate (woot woot) and a pint of Guinness.  I enjoyed it, but I could not finish it all! Wayyy too rich for me, someone who's used to Coors light.

Figure 1: Me and the perfect pint in the Gravity Bar.

In the evening we decided to go to the Temple Bar district.  We ate at an amazing pub that had delicious beef casserole, which was pretty much beef stew with mashed potatoes on top.  The Temple Bar was a tad crowded and we were all kinda worn out so we headed back early and played a lot of car games.  Since then we have learned that Eric is not to be trusted in Go Fish, and Annie doesn't approve of the rules of it.

Saturday Eric and I went on a tour of the Boyne Valley.  It is home of Newgrange, an 80m diameter neolithic passage tomb of the Celts that is 500 years older than Stonehenge, 1000 years older than the pyramids, and 3500 years older than the Mayans.  Needless to say, it's old.  It's been completely preserved from the time it was built only the outside had to be touched up.  We couldn't take pictures inside, but we got to go in and walk along a hallway to the center room with three recesses where the cremated remains of most likely high rated officials were buried.  Inside there were various carvings, the most famous of which is seen below (don't know why this person got to take pictures and I couldn't).  Some people believe the three symbols represent life, death, and rebirth, our tour guide said it was the sign of hallucinogenic drugs at work.  Other carving we saw were more swirls, a feather, a rippling down the side of one stone, and jagged lines. 

Figure 2: Famous spirals

Figure 3: Newgrange from the side

Then we drove around some scenic parts of the Boyne valley, and saw where the Battle of the Boyne took place (William of Orange vs James II). William of Orange won (woo Protestants!).  Then we went to the Hill of Tara, which was where the old Celtic kings were crowned.  On a clear day apparently you can see 3/4 of Ireland.  We had a clear day, so apparently we did, I'm not so sure though.

Figure 4: Panoramic view from the Hill of Tara.

Then we met up with the rest of the crew, who had just spent the day in the city.  We went to St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was where Handel's Messiah was played for the first time.  It was beautiful! We then did some shopping and found new shoes for Eric, which was a lot of fun!  In the evening we went to Temple Bar again.  We ate at a place called Bad Ass Cafe, which was nice although expensive.  Then we went to The Temple Bar, which had live music and was a nifty place :) We went home again and played more card games, and I learned how to play Kemps for the first time.  I wasn't very good.  

On Sunday we went to a Camogie game! It's the female version of hurling.   It was really intense and a lot of fun! I've heard of the game before, but never seen it or learned the rules so it was a really neat experience.  Sadly, our team lost, but it was a really intense game! And they wear skirts, which is awesome.  

This week was awesome, and I'm so excited for the week to come!  

All my love,

Amy

Week 2: First Week of Classes and Day Trips!

Hallo!

Week 2 has been pretty interesting! We finally got senior design figured out (yay!). So the four of us will be working on a problem relating to the growth of pressure ulcers when a patient has a cast.  Pretty fascinating stuff I know.  It's nice to have it worked out, but sad in the fact that it means school is really happening.  The first week of class in Ireland is so much more relaxed than at Purdue, lots of classes are cancelled and I had one homework assignment.  But, the bonus is my schedule is all worked out and here it is:

BME 402: Computational Methods in Engineering Analysis
BME 405: Tissue Engineering
SG 111: Early and Medieval History of the Celts
PI 240.E: Bioethics
Senior Design

It's going to be an interesting semester, and I'm excited for the variety of classes!

This weekend we took two day trips with a tour company.  The first day focused on the Connemara region, which is a primarily Gaelic speaking region and a very rural area.  It was really rainy that day, so there's lots of rain spots on all my pictures, but the fog in the mountains was lovely so it doesn't bother me.  Most people would say the area was dreary, but I think it was quite beautiful.

I can't get pictures to load right now, so I'll try to add some later.  But we saw Kylemore Abbey, which is a castle converted to a nunnery.  It's situated in the Inagh Valley and by a lake, very picturesque.  We also stopped for pictures at the Lough Nafooey, which is home to a lake that is said to house the water horse. We also saw a fairy tree! Pink ribbons are tied for a good wedding, blue ribbons for a pregnancy, and pieces of clothing for sick children. The last stop was the Ross Errilly Abbey, which is the ruins for an old home of Franciscan monks.

The day trip on Sunday was focused on the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher.  We drove around the Burren, seeing the various stone tombs, one as old as 3000 years with a 12 ton stone on top (heavy!).  We also stopped at Dunguaire Castle, from the 1500s, which still houses medieval style meals.  For lunch we stopped at a lovely little pub which had the quickest service I've ever witnessed.  My food was sitting at the table before I got back from ordering it at the bar.  Also, fantastic fudge! Mom you would love it-they had praline fudge, no chocolate on it at all!

The Cliffs of Moher were by far the highlight of the weekend and simply AMAZING! The edge of Ireland before you hit the Atlantic ocean and 8 km of 416 m high cliffs.  We were cautioned about standing on the edges of the cliffs due to wind, but it was such a clear day we had to do it anyways.  We had an hour and a half to walk around and took tons of pictures at the edge.  It was pretty scary, but worth the jitters to be able to look down and see the waves crashing against the cliffs. Simply stunning.

This week classes will be kicking up again, and hopefully we'll be taking another trip this weekend! See you next week! <3

Love,
Amy Liz

Week 1: Arriving in Galway and ensuing shenanigans!

Hello loves!

First off, sorry if this is a poor blog, I've never done this before but I thought it'd be a cool week by week update on my whereabouts and doings! Once classes start (tomorrow eek!) my weekends will probably be my only exciting times, so I'm hoping to clue you in every Sunday!

So here goes nothing...

My Daddy and I flew out on August 25th, first flight was from St. Louis to Chicago, it was over in about 40 minutes, no problem.  Then came the 3 hour layover until we'd be flying to Dublin. Butttt of course, nothing goes as planned and there were issues with the plane (electronic things and then they did an engine check) so our flight was delayed an awesome 4 hours.  We got underway and I passed out, listening to Mumford and Sons on repeat and then I was woken up when we were getting close to landing.

My first thought upon landing in Dublin was "Green." I just looked out the window as we're taxing to disembark and all I saw was green, it was awesome! We took a bus from Dublin to Galway and I'd like to tell you that I was so excited I stayed awake and took in all the sights of the Irish countryside...but I passed out again.  I did see some sheep though.

 

Figure 1: Map of Ireland.  The city I'm living in is Galway, in County Galway

We checked in to our hotel and grabbed a bite to eat from a Pub called "The Front Door".  We fly around the world and we got to an Irish Pub, and what does my Daddy order to drink? A Budweiser.  But never fear, I got a cider :) We went to bed pretty early, since we were planning on getting up to see the city and check me in to my dorm.

I don't have pictures of my dorm yet, sorry I'll add them soon, but I'm living with Matt, Nathan, and Eric who are all BMEs from Purdue! There are 3 bedrooms (Matt and Nathan are sharing), 1.5 baths, a tiny kitchen, and a living area. The major advantage to living with 3 guys? They kill all the spiders, of which there happen to be many.  After we moved all my stuff in, we went to go get the things I had been planning on buying here and to tour the city and college.

Figure 2: Awesome view of Galway.

The rest of the week has been a blur of getting over jet lag, orientation for NUI-Galway, checking out pubs, and meeting people. The section of Corrib Village we're living in seems to be mostly international students, which is pretty nice because they're already moved in so we've met quite a few of our neighbors.  It's kind of worrisome that classes start tomorrow and the plans for senior design are still iffy, but I'm sure it will all work out splendidly! When I have my schedule hammered out I'll attach it, but right now I'm planning on taking senior design, a finite element class, a tech elective type class (either tissue engr or quality management), bioethics, and a history of the Celts.  Definitely a wide variety! 

When I have my facebook back I'll post all the pictures I have accrued in this first week :)

So far:

 Fave thing: The city, the campus, walking around it's absolutely gorgeous!

Least fave thing: Never knowing when it's going to rain! 

Random Funny: The fire alarms keep going off in our apartment...and only in the building we live in. Twice we've had to go stand outside while they are blaring until someone comes and turns them off! Not the best way to meet the neighbors.

Next week I'm looking forward to: Classes starting and getting in to a schedule! and hopefully a weekend trip :)

See you next week!

All my love,

Amy Liz