7/13 | Sunday
It was a rough start to the week honestly, Neila and I both woke up feeling very sick, which was unfortunate because we had planned a day trip to Belfast. Of course, it was the only day trip we had actually planned as well, with tours prepaid and set in time. Determined to get our moneys worth, we dragged ourself to the bus stop for an absolutely brutal ride. Things started to look up while in Belfast though, as the city was gorgeous to see. We walked to Crumlin Road Jail. Before we toured the jail, we had a Black Taxi Tour. They take you around Belfast to see how split the city is between Protestants and Catholics. It was so intense to see just how segregated the city is. There are still walls up, which makes the contrast between the two groups very obvious. Honestly, on one side of the wall was British military propaganda, and the other side was beautiful art about resistance and community; you can tell which side I preferred. Our tour guide was very knowledgable, and we think a Catholic… not that that matters… After the tour ended, we went on a second tour of the Crumlin Road Jail. If there is anything that makes you thankful about a situation, its touring a horrible place like that. Its horrible through and through, and often hard to believe that such barbaric places were operating until the 90s. After we walked through, we hopped into another taxi, not a Black taxi, and made our way to the titanic museum. Honestly, Neila and I agreed that it was the best museum we had ever been to. It was super engaging, well done, and interesting.. There was even a ride? Which was unexpected, but a really engaging way to learn about work in the ship yard. We highly recommend it if you’re in Belfast. After we finished our walk through, we caught another taxi (our day of taxis) to the bus stop. The second bus ride was better, still not great as I was fighting to stay even a little comfortable, but the promise of home and a bed got me through.
7/14 | Monday
My condition worsened over night, which led to me calling in sick to work. I did nothing all day, which was really needed to make sure I wasn’t sick the entire week. All I did really was watch YouTube, call my boyfriend, and make soup. It was honestly a needed respite it have the best last week possible.
7/15 |Tuesday
Tuesday luckily brought with a quick recovery. The only thing wrong was an occasional cough and a bit of malaise. Because of the cough, my supervisor and I agreed I should be doing remote work, so I helped her out collecting bits and bobs for a court case we had brought up and finishing up some edits on the trifold. After work, my roommates and I went out to one of our favorite dinner places for some quiet soup dumplings, which were great considering the illness. We took a quick walk in St Stephen’s Green, and then home to do some laundry and sleep.
7/16 | Wednesday
Wednesday was my day off. I had an event on Saturday, so I was able to choose a day to take off this week. At the same event on Saturday, I met a lovely fellow who ran a boat tour company who said I could hop on a tour. So this morning I hopped on a boat! It was so cool to see the coast from the water, especially as I had done so much work on the coast. Seeing it from a different perspective was really special, and felt like a great way to close off my time on the coast. After my boat tour, i stopped home quickly to grab some letters I was writing so I could finish writing them in Phoenix Park. Phoenix Park was beautiful and I spent some time overlooking a duck pond writing my letters and watching the ducks skip across the water. I took a little walk around the gardens and then headed off the the farewell dinner hosted by EUSA. It was great fun, with drinks and dancing and live traditional music. After the dinner ended, Neila and I headed off to another comedy show, which was very enjoyable. We ended the night at Nesbitt with some drinks.
7/17 | Thursday
Another big day, it was my final work day at Coastwatch. Because we ran so tight on time, my supervisor wanted to host another little Seagrass poster and trifold launch followed by a send off dinner. I took the bus to her house and then went to the printer to finalize our map and print out some official ones. That ended up taking a pretty long time, as we had to ended up having to make a lot of little edits, as going between programs caused some formatting issues. Finally, we printed them off and then went to the house to finish up some work and prep for dinner. I cut some fresh artichokes from the garden and we prepped them for dinner. Then, we met with one of the county council members to talk about Wexford’s biodiversity plan, and as we met with her more people trickled in for dinner. We took a walk to the beach, looked at some invasive plants and some seed gathering techniques, and then ate dinner. Unfortunately, my bus home was nearing, so we had to fly to the bus stop. After I was home, we got ready to go out, and then hit the town for our last big night out.
7/18 | Friday
Are you starting to see why I needed to really recover from my illness? Friday, we woke up a bit early to go into town and grab breakfast and then hit some spots I hadn’t had the chance to. Neila and I took a walking tour of Dublin Castle and then walked around Saint Patrick Cathedral and garden. We ended our visit to town doing a walk through St. Stephens Green and the art sellers, then to one of our favorite stores. We bussed home, and then I took a nap and then started packing. I hate packing, so it was rather painful but I got through it in the end. After we all finished packing, we ended the day at our favorite pub, Mother Reilly’s.
7/19 | Saturday
Saturday was a bit of a drag, as it was departure day. We had to be out by 11, so we took out all the trash, wiped everything down, and made sure everything was in order to leave. Then we dragged our huge heavy bags to the AirCoach stop, hopped on the bus, and made it to the airport. It was packed. However, we had so much time that it wasn’t too stressful. With our bag checked, we started making our way through. They bomb swabbed my computer! Which as tough because my bag was packed really specifically and tightly, so I had to reorder that. Luckily, my carry on luggage wasn’t flagged, which would have been VERY tough. We made it through the airport, and on the plane safely. I am actually currently writing this on the plane so. Hello! We are all caught up in the end.
Internship reflection | Success
Success is a difficult thing to quantify. It so personal, even if a culture may have a traditional idea, it had begun to vary more by person. Generally, however, I would say Irish people have a less rigid sense of success than Americans do. Less emphasis on being wealthy and hustling, and more on having what you need and making sure your job is working towards a larger goal instead of a personal one. . Being in the environmental science industry, its necessary to thing deeply about success in terms of positive effects on the climate. You have to make sure your actions. are having some positive effect, or all the resources will have been for nothing. To be a successful employee, honestly it feels similar in the US and Ireland. You need to be quick, and meaningful with your actions, with a pointed goal.