Summer adventures and thesis project

Since finishing final exams in late May, life has been a bit of a whirlwind over here on the Emerald Isle. After finishing exams, I was excited to have two more friends from home come over and visit me here in Ireland! We rented a car and used Killarney as our base of operations while we explored the West coast of Ireland. We explored Muckross Abbey, Blarney Castle, Cork, Rock of Cashel, and many other sights in the area. One of highlights was exploring the Dingle peninsula and going horseback riding in the mountains overlooking the sea. The weather was a bit drizzly, but we made the best of it and had a great time! Both Katie and Jessica also visited Scotland for a few days mid-trip, and upon their return to Dublin, we were joined by another friend from home, Krystal! It was so nice for the four of us girls to catch up, explore Dublin, and enjoy a few pints and good food :)

Another more recent trip was to the Isle of Wight to visit a friend who was living there for a short time. The Isle of Wight is off the south coast of England, but to me was like a tropical paradise. The weather was beautiful and hot all weekend, and we camped, went sea kayaking, ate great seafood, swam through ocean caves, and visited the Needles Park at Alum Bay. It was great to have a weekend away and lots of fun.

Trips aside, my summer so far has been primarily spent doing research for my thesis project. The last week of May we all received our final research topics and details. I was lucky enough to be placed in Killarney National Park for the summer. Although Killarney is a long ways from Dublin (3 and a half hours by train), its worth making the trip twice a week to be spending time in the national park.  The national park has graciously supplied us with accommodation for the time we are working so we've been staying in a cute little picture-perfect cottage by the lake. Another girl from my program, Meriel, is also doing her research in Killarney on the protected Kerry slug. Her and her husband Craig have been really great to work with and its made the whole experience so much better to have the two of them there to discuss ideas, project logistics, and work together on our field work. They have also both been very generously driving me to my research sites, picking me up from the train station, etc.

 So, as to what I am doing my research on... I have to do a bit of explaining first...Killarney National Park is home to one of the last remaining areas of native oak woodland in Ireland. Although once plentiful across the country, increased timber harvesting beginning in the industrial revolution quickly decimated oak populations and left only small patches of native woodland intact. Their uniqueness makes the oak woodlands of Killarney of very high conservation value. In addition to their rarity, these oak woodlands also face two great threats. The first is an invasive species, Rhododendron ponticum, which has taken over as the dominant forest understory plant in many parts of Ireland as well as the British Isles. First introduced as an ornamental plant in Victorian gardens, it quickly escaped and spread to cover huge areas of land. Although very beautiful, once established, this rhododendron completely shades out the native ground vegetation, creating a monoculture which is devoid of diversity and poor habitat for wildlife. Complete shading also prevents the growth of oak seedlings which are necissary for forest regeneration to occur. Control efforts have been, and continues to be made, but significant Rhodo populations continue to persist in much of the region.

This leads us to the second threat facing the woodlands; over-grazing by deer. Again, a non-native species, the Japanese Sika deer is the primary culprit in the suppression of oak seedling regeneration. With an overabundant population, deer browse beyond levels which are sustainable for vegetative health and survival. Oak seedlings are eaten before they ever grow much higher than 20 cm tall. The National Park has constructed fences around large plots of land where Rhodo control has occurred, to hopefully encourage regeneration where the deer are excluded. My research is studying the difference in vegetative diversity and seedling regeneration between the deer-excluded and deer accessible areas of forest. To do this I am conducting vegetation surveys by identifying all species within my plots, measuring seedling height, canopy cover, and counting seedlings. It was a steep learning curve, and I had lots of new plants to learn, but so far its going well, and I love spending time outside! The only drawback are the horrendous midges, ticks and horseflies...Even kitted out with a head net, long sleeves, pants, and slathered in DEET, they still manage to get to you in droves!

Only a few more weeks of field work to go before its time to buckle down and get to writing! Our final thesis is due August 18, so in the meantime I still need to carry out data analysis and write write write! Can't believe how quickly this summer (and whole year) has flown by!!

Until next time! :)

Istanbul: Where East Meets West

To fully utilize our time off during spring break, my roomie Jordan and I decided to go do some traveling. After some searching we found a great ticket deal to Istanbul, Turkey and decided to go for it! Luckily Jordan and I have similar travel styles, and our goal for the trip was to see the sights, shop, and most of all relax before classes started up again.

 The flight took about four hours, and we landed in Istanbul around midnight. We had per-arranged with our hostel to pick us up from the airport, which made arrival easy and painless. The hostel itself was another story, although it was in a great location and reasonably clean, Jordan and I had made reservations for the 'mixed' dorm which turned out to be a creepy basement lair which was currently housing about 8 other people, mainly guys. As they say...you get what you pay for. It was only 12 euro a night, so quite the bargain. Even considering the sketchy conditions, one of the great things about staying in hostels is that no matter what, you always meet other interesting wanderlusters. And it really wasn't nearly as sketchy by the light of day.

Our first day in the was beautiful and sunny-- and WARM! We first explored Topkapi palace and museum which was very pretty with tulips and hyacinths blooming all around the gardens. The stone and mosic work was incredibly intricate and colourful. Topkapi palace is also home to some interesting and very random sacred relics. Pictures are not allowed, but on display in the palace are the beard of the prophet Muhammad, the staff of Moses, cooking pot of Abraham, and the hat of Joseph...all of which looked suspiciously like 16th century Ottoman empire, but hey, who am I to question their authenticity? Our next stop was lunch at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. Amazing seafood and an unbelievable view! After lunch we went inside into the Blue Mosque (aka Sultan Ahmed Mosque). We had to plan our time accordingly to view it between prayer times, donned cover-up skirts, scarves over our heads, and removed our shoes. The mosque was as beautiful inside as it was on the outside. Next was a visit to Hagia Sophia. Designed by a physicist and a mathematician, it is famous for its impressive domed ceiling and was the worlds largest cathedral for over a thousand years. Originally constructed as an Eastern Orthodox church in 537 A.D., converted to Roman Catholic in the 13th century, and then into a mosque in the 15th century before its final transition into a museum in 1935. The mosaics were beautiful and gold-gilded inside, and the dome was certainly impressive.

One of the top tourist activities in Turkey is visiting the Turkish baths. Jordan and I asked our hostel for a recommendation on where to go, and they recommended the Sultanahmet Hamami (60 Turkish Lira (20 euro) for a bath and massage!What a steal!). Again, maybe we should have learned our lesson earlier, because you really do get what you pay for. After seeing the brochure full of decently towel-covered individuals relaxing in a spa-like setting we thought we were in for a relaxing second morning in Istanbul. We came prepared with our bathing suits, but when we arrived, they told us to change into the towels they provided us and nothing else. Sure that's fine I thought, wearing a towel is still comfortably covered. After changing we were lead through a labyrinth of marble lined rooms and pool areas, finally stopping at a small stone chamber towards the back. Without a word, the woman grabbed my towel, yanked it off, pointed and the stone floor and told me to "sit." In a bit of shock that I had just been stripped naked, I did as she said and sat. She then proceeded to dump a pail of hot water over my head. Oh joy. She turned to Jordan and did the same. There we were, awkwardly sitting on a cold stone floor completely naked. The lady told us to keep pouring hot water over ourselves for the next 20 minutes until she came back. She spoke very little English, so there was almost no communicating going on here. Luckily, neither Jordan or I are incredibly body-conscious individuals, so this was all more funny than traumatic, and we spent the next 20 minutes giggling uncontrollably and speculating about the probable locations of the hidden cameras in the ceiling. When the lady returned she had stripped down to only swim suit bottoms (I guess so she wouldn't get her clothes soapy and wet?) she took us each one by one into another room where she proceeded to rub a sandpaper cloth all over our bodies and then cover us in a giant pile of astringent, lemon-scented, Pine Sol bubbles. Seriously, a huge pile of bubbles. I don't know how they worked. Afterwards, she let us put our towels back on and left us to "relax" on another cold stone slab. We thought she'd come back and lead us back out of the labyrinth, but after about 45 minutes of waiting, we decided to wander our way back out. Our skin did feel awfully soft afterwards, but I would never call the experience relaxing. Definitely one of the most memorable events of the trip though! And next time I might decide to spend more than 20 euro on it.

The following day we took a boat cruise up the Bosphorus to the Black Sea. On the way we stopped at the lavish Dolmabahçe Palace and  Miniaturk (a park with miniature versions of all the main attractions in Turkey). We stopped for snacks, and a few minutes of shopping at a small villiage when we reached the Black Sea. The water was beautiful, and I would love to come back again someday when I could go swimming! Our final day in the city we took it easy, got a hookah with friends, visited the Basilica Cistern an went shopping in the Grand Baazar and Spice Market. The cistern was eerie and beautiful with Koi swimming around in the cistern waters, and the unique Medusa head columns in the far corner of the cistern. While there, we had our pictures taken in legit Turkish style with our new friends we met at the hostel, Esad and Kayla. We look like naturals, right? haha.

 The Grand Baazar was AMAZING. So much shopping and they had absolutely everything you could want and everything was so cheap! It was an absolute maze inside, and very easy to get lost. Bartering is expected there, and Jordan and I having both been to Nepal/India before already had some good experience with the system. Bartering takes a lot of patience and energy, and you have to be willing to put up with a good amount of harassment. While walking around Istanbul, shop owners and street vendors were constantly yelling out to us, and trying to convince us to buy there wares...sometimes through flattery, other times more direct methods. A few examples of the call-outs as we walked around were:

"Hello angels!"
"Hello? Yes? Let me change your life!?"
"Let me help you buy things you don't need!"
"It is a miracle!"

I could have bought so much more, but I limited myself to some Turkish pottery, a few pairs of earrings, and a Turkish stained-glass lamp. So many beautiful leather goods, clothes, jewelry, antiques, tea, and housewares that you could shop for days on end and never see it all!

Turkey turned out to be one of my favorite places I've travelled to so far. The food was delicious (kebabs, baklava, Turkish pancakes, seafood, efes), the people were friendly, and everything was very affordable. I found the combination of European and Asian architectural and cultural elements fascinating. There are many more places in Turkey that I hope to go back and see again sometime in the future!

Well, until the next travel adventure! :)

St. Paddy's not Patty's day

St. Patrick's Day spent in Dublin was something I had been looking forward to ever since I knew I'd be studying here in Ireland! Its one of those ultimate travelers bucket list items-rights of passage-need to do before you die-sorts of things. Right up there in the ranks with Oktoberfest in Germany, Holi festival in India, and carnival in Rio de Janerio. We had been seeing crazy tourists walking around all week dressed as leprechauns and wearing Irish flags all over their bodies, so naturally we decided we needed to join the crowd. Because, well, when it comes to holidays we're definitely still tourists. What would St. Paddy's be without the getup?

The day started out by getting in costume...matching shirts, shamrock antennae, and temporary tattoos galore! Next we headed into city centre for the parade (which we unfortunately saw absolutely none of because we hadn't accounted for the city buses being MIA and roads being blocked off). Instead, we grabbed our first pint of the day and watched the parade on a pub TV. Ya know, real authentic stuff right there ;)

After that we headed to Croke Park to watch the all Ireland club football
and hurling senior championship finals! We were lucky enough that Alex was able to bring us along for the event, and it was lots of fun to watch. I had never watched hurling or Irish football before so it was a great! As the sun went down, the historic city buildings and monuments were lit up in green, and absolute mayhem ensued on the streets. Our last planned event of the day was a musical performance in Dublin Castle. Tickets were free, and we had no idea what the performances would be like. It was much more mellow than expected, but a nice respite from the craziness of the city for a little while. Afterwards, Jordan and I met up with Avril and Rebecca at the Porterhouse and we spent the rest of Paddy's Day dancing the night away! 

Our final hurrah was almost-sucessfully being snuck into a secret underground Irish speaking bar. Accordion, our trusty Irish friend, brought Jordan and I below street level to an unlit, unmarked, unsubstantial door which he then applied a secret knock. Apparently only Irish is spoken in this particular secret pub, no English allowed. As we descended the stairs, Accordion told Jordan and I something along the lines of..."Don't worry, if anyone tries to talk to you, just say ashasha mumhamem galmahaha." Obviously it was just gibberish to Jordan and my ears, and as we don't speak a lick of Irish (nevermind the fact that we'd had a fair bit of drink by this time), we knew we would never pass for Irish unless the magic word was "slàinte." After the super secret knock, when the doorman opened up, Accordion spoke some sort of "password" in Irish to gain admittance.  Miraculously though, no one spoke to Jordan and I at all! Although we only stayed for about five minutes before we felt too awkward trying not to speak English loud enough for anyone to notice that one of these things is not like the others. 

Leading up to the day of, my Irish friends kept warning me that it would be a proverbial shit-show, and not to get my hopes up too much. They were right about the shit-show part...I don't know if I've ever seen so many day-drunk people in my entire life...or so many people heading home by 9:00 pm because they had been drinking since 9:00 am...but  regardless I can confidently say that Paddy's day in Dublin was one of my favorite days in Ireland so far! 

Definitely one for the books :)

Mom and Dad come to visit! Ireland and Scotland whirlwind tour!

Earlier this month my parents came over to Ireland for a visit and we traveled around Ireland and spent a few days in Scotland as well. It was really great to see them, and fun to show them around a bit :) I was also in desperate need of a break from school work so they couldn't have come at a better time! They flew into Dublin on a Saturday morning, we rented a car and started on our tour of Ireland (a bit jet-lagged of course) by going first to Galway. While there we drove through Connemara National Park, and stopped at pretty Kylemore Abbey. The following day we caught a ferry out to the beautiful and remote Inis Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands. The journey across was a bit rough, but the weather cleared almost as soon as we reached the island lending for some gorgeous views. We took a tour of the island with a quiet but friendly local gentleman who has lived on Inis Mor all his life and had plently of interesting facts and stories to pass along. The island has been settled for thousands of years, and one of the biggest tourist attractions is the ring fort of Dún Aonghasa (pronounced Dun Aengus), thought to have been originally constructed around 1100 B.C. Sometimes called "the most magnificent barbaric monument in Europe," Dún Aonghasa were used as a defensive structure and is strategically located atop a high cliff overlooking the sea. The stonework was amazing, as were the views. The rest of the island was just as beautiful, and we also saw traditional (and still lived in) thatched roof cottages and the filming locations for the movie Leap Year and the Aran Man. I would hightly recommend a visit to the Aran Island for anyone who visits Ireland! Definitely one of my favorite places I have visited here so far.

After leaving Galway, we made our way down the coast to our next destination Killarney. Along the way we stopped at the Cliffs of Moher and the Poulnabrone dolmen. We drove the ring of Kerry the following day and got some great views of the ocean and some of the coastal town surrounding the peninsula. The town of Killarney itself is home to some beautiful scenery, so we took some time to wander around the Mucross house estate and gardens on a final day. After that it was back to Dublin for us as I had a classes to attend! Mom and Dad took more of a look around the city while I took some time to catch up on schoolwork a bit. We went to an Irish dinner, dance and music show one of the nights as well.

We caught a painfully early flight to Edinburgh, Scotland and spent the next few days exploring this fairy-tale city. We took a walking tour as well and learned lots of great history including seeing some places that J.K. Rowling frequented while writing Harry Potter! Many of the names of her characters can be found on actual grave markers there in Edinburgh, and Hogwarts was in part modeled after a school found in the city. Edinburgh castle is located in the heart of the old city, and holds a commanding location atop a central hill. The castle itself was well worth a walk through and the views of the city were fantastic (even though it was a bit drizzly that day). One of my personal highlights from Edinburgh was meeting Beethoven, and no, not the composer, Beethoven the Eagle Owl!!!! If you know me, you know how much I love animals, and I do happen to have a particular love of all things owl. So this pretty much made my day. Can you tell we're in love?

While in Scotland we also went on a 3 day bus tour up to the Scottish highlands and the Isle of Skye. Its quite the journey up there, but well worth it. Our guide for the trip, Liam was great as well and full of interesting historical facts and tidbits. The highlands are BEAUTIFUL. I was ecstatic to see real snow-capped mountains, and I loved how remote it felt. We drove by Ben Nevis (tallest mountain in the U.K.), Glencoe (site to some very sad history, but stunning scenery), over the bridge to Skye, and to our cozy bed and breakfast in the small seaside town of Portree. The following day we took our time driving around the Island and taking in the sights. Our first stop was the Neist Point Lighthouse, furthest western point on the Island. We then drove to the fairy glen and wandered around the vibrant green and unusually shaped hill formations that make up the glen. There are some, ahem, "fairy-made" rock rings and designs on the surrounding ground as well.

 Some of the most stunning scenery was saved till the end of the day. The Quiraing was a particularly stunning landscape with huge cliffs and rock formations. It's been in movies recently as well (Snow White and the Huntsman and Prometheus), so if it looks familiar, that may explain it! Nearby is another famous landmark, the monolithic Old Man Of Storr.

On our final day of our tour we drove back to Edinburgh through the highlands once again. This time we stopped at Eilean Donan Castle (again used in movies such as Braveheart). This was one of those fairy-tale castles that almost seem to perfect to be real. Stretching out onto the water, and in good enough condition that the family to whom the castle still belongs still lives in it! Can you imagine that being your family home!?!?! Crazy.

 Another highlight was a visit to Loch Ness. Again, if you know me well enough, in addition to my love of animals, I also have a love of mythological animals (although if Nessie is mythological or real still has yet to be determined). But we are among the few people who actually get to see the lake in a non-mysterious, fog covered state, and of course as any good cryptozoologist knows, Nessie wouldn't dare to come out on a bright sunny day.

Phew! So many sights in such a short time! If you made it through all that reading, congratulations! haha. I think we all had a great trip and I was very happy to have my parents visiting for a couple of weeks! I'm so thankful they were able to come all the way over here to Ireland and Scotland and that we were able to spend some quality time and have this adventurous trip together! As always, goodbyes at the airport were sad, especially knowing that this time it would be over 6 months till I was home again, but we made some great memories and had lots of good laughs :)


Stay tuned...next up, St. Paddy's Day and Istanbul! :)

just a typical day driving around the Isle of Skye... :)