I was offered the opportunity to study genetics and biotechnology as a PhD student at an agriculture research facility in Denmark. Now I could of studied this research area in the United States, but I felt that this was unique opportunity that I could not pass up. On Nov 1st 2010, I moved to Denmark for a three year PhD position. This blog is to document my experience and to update my friends and family on how I am doing.
On Monday September 5th, was the first full day at the conference and there were many talks I wanted to attend. So the majority of the day I spent in the Dublin Castle, listening to talks, taking some notes, and talked to many new people.
So there were a few talks near the end of the day that I was just not interested in and I decided this would be a good time to go out into Dublin and see a few things. I decided that since I was that far from St. Patrick's Cathedral I should try to see it.
At 5pm I walked the four or five blocks to St. Patrick's Cathedral and I was amazed to see the how big the cathedral was.
There was a nice garden there also but since it was raining while I was out I was not able to really good some good pictures of the gardens. I walked around the garden and I noticed this plaque near the Cathedral.
"Near here is the reputed site of the well where St. Patrick [baptized] many of the local inhabitants in the fifth century A.D."
I was getting really excited to go inside since the outside of the Cathedral since the outside was amazing. Sadly when I arrived at the front door I found out it closed at 5pm, it was 5:30pm. Sigh... So since I figured everything else closed at 5pm I slowly walked back to Dublin Castle to meet up with the rest of my group. When I got back so early to Dublin Castle a few people were like 'what.. why are you back so early?' When I told them what happened they all mentioned that there will be plenty of time to see Dublin and we went off to find a restaurant for dinner.
There was a large group of us looking for a restaurant in Temple Bar, there was about 12 of us. We were lucky that we were able to find an Irish restaurant that could the 12 of us in just a few minutes. The majority of us ordered some type of traditional Irish meal and an Irish beer. I ordered an Irish Ale and Irish stew with something like a potato cake. I really liked and when I finished it was so full. I had a great time.
When we left the restaurant we noticed a large group of people, we went over to see what was going on. I noticed a small band planning Irish music and singing and a group of girls dancing.
After a great meal and then a short show I had a great day and walked back to the hotel with the rest of my group.
Dublin Castle is a unique castle in the middle of Dublin. The history behind the castle was that during the time when Ireland was under England monarchy rule, this castle is where the King stayed. During the time when the King was not there the Duke or Lord of Ireland stayed there in the king's place.
One of my supervisors S (who is Irish) was excited and honored to be give a presentation at Dublin Castle, because the castle has a lot of history in Irish culture and the Queen of England was recently there and also spoke there.
The flags in front of the castle represent each counties of Ireland.
The castle was quite unique and the first few days I was busy with the conference. But I was able to get a few good pictures of the outside of the castle.
On Wednesday night (Sept 7th) there was a conference dinner inside the castle. I completely forgot to bring my camera and before dinner we were given a tour of the castle rooms. Trust me during the entire tour I was kicking myself for not bring my camera. (Although I do have a valid excuse: I was already pissed at myself for losing my iPod and my lap top crashing on me.) But at least I was able to take a picture of the courtyard inside the castle.
(Note: Again even though the video states 0:00 for the time is does work.)
So some back story is needed first: I have never had a Guinness and everyone I have talked to in the US that has had a Guinness says they do not like. So I have never had a Guinness but I have been told by S and K (who are both from Ireland) that each country has a slightly different recipe of Guinness. So I was encouraged to at least try a pint of Guinness at least once while in Ireland.
When you first enter the Guinness storehouse it really likes some huge old storehouse. C, A and I bought our tickets (cost 15 euros ~$20) and made our way inside. After you pass those doors the entire feel of the place changed; there was a huge gift store, graphics surrounding you that made it look like you were inside a huge pint of Guinness. And on the floor was this vault like chamber with a thick glass over it. Inside this vault was the 9000 year lease that Arthur Guinness signed.
This is the 9000 year lease signed by Arthur Guinness in 1759.
After you pass through the doors we enter a whole different 'world', the first exhibit is all the about the ingredients in beer. For each ingredient there is some form of representation. There was a mound of barley, video of yeast dividing, a waterfall, and a FAKE hops plant. After seeing the unique barley mound and the waterfall the fake hops plant was really disappointing.
"Ingredients
To understand what makes GUINNESS special you have to start with the raw ingredients.
Water, barley, hops and yeast: four natural ingredients, carefully selected to ensure that they are of the highest quality. Each ingredient is special in its own right but when mixed together according to our secret recipe, the result is simply extraordinary."
I thought is was interesting how there were so many coins in the bottom of the waterfall. I was wondering how much more money Guinness makes from all those coins. =) I decided to keep my euros and NOT throw money into the waterfall.
In the Guinness Storehouse, after mentioning the natural ingredients, the FIFTH ingredient is Arthur Guinness, himself.
"5th Ingredient
Arthur was the first in a long line of Guinness Master Brewers. His secrets, like the yeast which is guarded in the Director's Safe, have been handed down from generation to generation.
Arthur established the Brewery and its reputation for quality and innovation. In 1775 the City Corporation asserted that he was drawing more water than his lease permitted. When the City Sheriff's men came to cut off the water supply, Arthur grabbed a pickaxe and announced he was prepared to defend his water 'by force of arms'. Happily, a peaceful resolution was found in Arthur's favour."
As we continue on with the tour we walk up stairs around what looks like a giant beer barrel; also in the center of the building there is a glass like structure throughout the entire building. We were told that this glass structure actually creates a giant pint glass in the middle of the building. To be honest that fact was hard to tell when inside the building but when looking at drawn pictures of the building layout you could easily see the giant pint glass.
The next portion of the museum was about the process of making Guinness.
The first process is boiling:
"The part of the process is all about flavour, as it is here the hops are added. The mixture is boiled at 100 degrees C for 70 minutes to extract as much flavour as possible. The mixture is then left to settle. Next, it is 'struck off' (emptied from the kettle) and passed through a cooler. The mixture is now ready for fermentation."
Next is fermentation:
"Fermentation is an all-important step in the process when the mixture is transformed into beer.
Yeast is 'pitched' (added) directly into the mixture, which then collects in a large fermentation vessel. Microscopic yeast organisms feed on the sugars in the mixture ans as they do, they produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. This feeding frenzy last for two days. When fermentation has finished, the liquid is cooled. Yeast floats to the top ans is separated from the beer."
The next section of Guinness was all about the merchandise. This section was pretty interesting there were examples of bottles, badges and many other things.
After the merchandise section there was a bar area with a band and another place where you could learn to pour the perfect pint of Guinness. You can use your ticket stub to get a free pint of Guinness. You can either use it at the 'pour a perfect pint' section or you can get a free pint up in the Gravity Bar.
The Gravity Bar was a really great place. It is a bar on top of the Guinness Storehouse with glass as the walls, so being up so high you can have a great view of Dublin. Now I would of seen a great view, but it was raining so the view was not that great. But in the general direction of each major attraction in Dublin there was a short description written on the window.
Dublin Ireland on a rainy day.
St. Patrick's Catherdral
St. John Church
Old Mill
After enjoying a pint of Guinness and the view, the three of us started walking back to our hotels so that we could get ready for the Sunday registration and social gathering. C noticed on our way back we past a portion of the old Dublin city wall.
Once I was back at the hotel I changed clothes, cleaned up a bit and made my way to Dublin Castle, where the conference was being held.
The main reason I went to Ireland for the EUCARPIA forge grass conference. The conference officially started on September 4th at 7pm with drinks and hors d'oeuvres. So myself and four my colleagues from work took the 8am plane from Copenhagen to Dublin. All five of us assumed that since we were leaving early on a Sunday morning that the airport would not be that busy. Personally I am always a little nervous about missing a flight, so the day before I went to work and checked in online and printed off my boarding pass.
After a relaxing train ride to the airport we were shocked to see the airport was packed. While everyone else in my group had to go to those check in machines to check in and print off their boarding pass, I decided to get into line to check in our luggage. And I was so glad that I did because the line snaked back and forth while also snaking down the hall. There had to be over 500 people waiting line this line to drop off their luggage. Once everyone printed off their boarding pass they joined me in the line. We all agreed that was crazy to see the airport this busy. We were lucky that the line did move quite quickly. So we were all able to drop off our luggage, get through security, and even have enough time to get some pastries before we needed to board our flight.
Looking at the number of people waiting to board the flight I knew it would be a full flight and looking at my ticket I knew I would be sitting near the rear of the plane. Once I found my seat I noticed I was siting next to the window and right next to the engine, and there was a young child sitting behind me. Once I sat down I was dreading the flight because it would be loud and annoying. Suddenly I realized I packed my earplugs in my bag. The lady next of me must of thought I was crazy as I quickly grabbed by bag under neath the seat in front of me and urgently searched my bag. I found my ear plugs and put them in before the pilot started the engines. I loved those earplugs, not only was the flight not that bad. I was actually able to get a little sleep during the flight, even with a crying child behind me and the engine roaring next to me.
Once we landed in Dublin at 9 am the five us climbed into a big van taxi and started off to your hotel. Once the driver started driving, I noticed something odd. He was driving on the left side!! It was about a 20 minute drive to the hotel and the entire time the voice in my head was screaming: 'Ahhhh we are on the wrong side of the road.'
After getting to the hotel, our rooms were not ready yet so we dropped off our luggage and went of to find a restaurant open so that we could get some food. We were not that far from the Temple Bar, which is a few blocks of tourist restaurants and shops. The five of us found a small cafe open and most of us decided to have a traditional Irish breakfast.
Picture taken of Temple Bar in the distance. Temple Bar is a tourist and historical area of Dublin.
The streets of Temple Bar, right now it is pretty empty. But during the night these streets are filled with people.
The traditional Irish breakfast looked yummy and really unhealthy. I got one fried egg, two sausage links, a slice of ham, white and black pudding with a sweet ketchup sauce. I never heard of black or white pudding so I was interested in trying it. And it tasted like a type of sausage with a unique spice and the texture was soft but it still kept its shape. While eating the black and white pudding I made the mistake of asking what was in it. After learning what was in the black and white pudding, I just could not bring myself to eat any more of it. And for the rest of the trip I did not eat black and white pudding.
After eating breakfast we broke into two groups, T and B went back to hotel to meet S (who is from Ireland and is one of my supervisors at work) so that they could get their tickets to an Irish hurling game. Then C, A and I decided that since we are in Ireland, we must get some Guinness and the best for that was the Guinness Storehouse and Museum.
We started walking from the Temple Bar to the Guinness storehouse which is a 20 minute walk. We walked past Christ Church, and stopped to take pictures and video.
Christ Church, Dublin, Ireland - The building was amazing.
This was the chapter house of the Augustinian canons whose priory was at Christ Church from 1163 to 1537 AD.
C and A thought it was a little odd that I was all excited to see a large church in the city. I had to explain these types of buildings are not common in the United States at all. The only building that could even live up to the Christ Church or St. Patrick's Cathedral is the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. Seeing large churches or old historic buildings in between all the modern roads and buildings is just normal for C and A. We kept walking and after a nice 20 minute walk through Dublin, seeing many more beautiful and historic buildings we made our way to the Guinness Storehouse.
Note: Even though the video says 0:00 for the time, it does work. Just click on the play button.
Some people in my family knew that I was going to short 8 day trip to Ireland. The first four days I was actually there for work, I was attending a conference. I was able to establish some good networks and I am hoping that I can continue to meet more people and further my career. The last four days were vacation, I traveled around Ireland a bit. The four days were definitely not enough time but I am just happy I was able to go. I promise there will be some great pictures, movies and many post all about Ireland.
Dublin castle, Dublin Ireland
Bad news - Sept 6th
But I first have to tell you about the Bad news. =( Only a few people know that I basically live off my ipod touch. It is my calender, my alarm clock and when I am behind on my blog post (like I am now) the notes feature on my ipod becomes my notebook where I write details about my adventures so that I can later put it on my blog. I love my ipod touch. Well .. during the 'conference tour' I lost my ipod. =( The coordinators for the conference had people looking everywhere.
During the tour we took two buses to the Ireland research center, then we went to the research fields and then we took a tour of an Irish dairy farm. They looked everywhere on the buses and the research center. They said that they will keep an eye out for the ipod on the research field and the dairy farm. But I knew if they did not find it in the buses or the research center that the ipod was just gone. I was and still am really frustrated at myself for losing it. And I still feel a little lost without it but I am getting by.
More bad news - Sept 7th
The very next morning I woke up to my apple laptop crashing. *sigh* My boyfriend (C) and I knew that this NVIDA graphics crash would happen eventually the timing was just awful I just lost my ipod the night before. Since I knew this graphic crash was coming I knew that it would be best to have some proof so I took some pictures and a video. Just in case Apple was going to dispute the problem.
NOTE: Even though the video says 0:00 for time - It DOES work. Just click the play button.
The good thing is that since this NVIDA graphics problem is well known issue Apple will assist in the repair. If you laptop is purchased within 4 years of the graphics crash they will repair the laptop for free. *sigh* My lap top was just over 4 years old when the crash occurred. Long story short --- Apple will provide the part at no charge I just have to pay for the labor. I still consider that a win for me because instead of paying $900 to get my laptop fixed I am only paying $200.
Note: When I went to pick up my laptop, there was no charge for the labor. It seems that Apple actually paid for all of it, parts and labor. I was so thrilled. I kept asking the guy behind the counter "are you sure?" He replied "You really want to pay for this!?" I just wanted to make sure the company that did the labor to get screwed. But I really did not have to pay for anything, that news made my day.
Great News!! - Sept 12th 11:00 pm Copenhagen, Denmark
You could just imagine how depressed I was -- I lost my ipod and now my laptop but I really tried to enjoy my four vacation days in Ireland. And I did have lots of pictures to show you all. But now that I was back in Denmark I knew that I had a lot of work to do and I was not looking forward to it.
Originally I was supposed to land in Copenhagen at 10 pm, giving me plenty of time to catch the 11:10pm train back to the town where I live. Well the plane left Dublin late so we were behind schedule. I landed in Copenhagen at 10:30pm, I quickly made my way through the almost empty airport, quickly got through passport control and then waited and waited and waited for my luggage to arrive.
While I was waiting I was freaking out, 'What if I miss this train? Is there another one?'. While I was waiting for my luggage to arrive I was using my cellphone to call my boyfriend (C) to ask him to look up if there is another train and when it would be. I called both of his offices he was not at either one, I was pissed. I need someone to help me there while I wait for my luggage. So I called my dad and told him the situation. I told him if I do not call back on 20 minutes I made the train. If I do call back I obviously missed the train. He said 'OK I will stay near the computer so that I can look this up for you'.
At 11:04pm my luggage showed up, I grabbed it and started running to the where the trains are. I went through the final security doors and start quickly making my way through the crowd to get to the train. All of a sudden I hear a voice say 'Miss can you tell me how to get to ________?' (The blank is the town in Denmark where I live.) I turn around and look and there is my boyfriend!!! What he was not scheduled to come over and people who know him know that he HATES to fly. He said "SURPRISE!" I had to touch him to make sure he was real I just could not believe it for a while. I was hugging him when I realized 'TRAIN' so I grabbed his hand and started running to the train.
We made the train! During the entire train ride I could not stop hugging him I could not believe that my boyfriend who hates to fly came all the way to Denmark to see me. I was so happy. I sometimes give (C) crap about how he is not romantic, I can not longer do that. It was so romantic for him to come all the way over here and surprise me. (C) was able to stay for 12 days and I was able to get 5 more days of vacation while he was here. (C) helped me get my apple laptop sorted out and fixed. I showed (C) around Copenhagen, taking him on a canal tour. Over the weekend we went to a free Jazz concert in NyHavn, went swing dancing in Nørrport and found this great Italian restaurant. There was one day we just walked around the town where I live, holding hands, talking and just enjoyed each others company.
I was sad to see him get back on a plane on September 23rd, but I really enjoyed my surprise and the time I got with my boyfriend.
So in April of 2011 all the members of the staff club got an interesting email. A nightclub in Copenhagen offered 50 people from our research center a free dinner on May 27th. And then the Staff Club would pay for three hours of drinks (~120 kr OR ~$25)
Now as we all know if the deal is too good to be true, then in most cases the deal is not true. So I went to the secretary to ask her if this deal is really true. She said the Staff Club checked it out and it was really true. She mentioned this is something that nightclubs do to get more profits from drinks and increase the number of people who know of the nightclub. So I signed up.
So on the day of the nightclub dinner, Dot, Kn and I went to Kn's apartment in Valby, a suburb of Copenhagen. After a long day at work we all took a shower, redid our makeup, made our hair look all pretty and change into some more nightclub 'clothes'. Dot and Kn wore really nice cocktail dresses, whereas I just wore a nice pair of jeans and a nice shirt. I kind of felt under dressed. As Dot, Kn and I walked to the S train and got on the metro tram, I could not stop laughing. I counted at least 14 guys who I saw that were staring at Dot and Kn. When I arrived at Karel nightclub and met everyone else, I no longer felt under dressed, there were many other Staff Club members in t-shirts and shorts.
At 7pm we were allowed to enter the nightclub and it was really classy place.
So when we enter the nightclub we there were three long tables for us to sit down. We were not that far from the bar and on the bar was 50 cocktail drinks. We were told by the bartender that these cocktails were for us.
After taking a sip of the cocktail I could tell that all it was a fruit cocktail juice with vodka, but I was not going to complain over a free drink. We continued talking and mingling with co-workers until one of the chefs came out and began playing a saxophone. Once he finished he welcomed all of us to Karel and described the dinner buffet available. He spoke in Danish, but I could still pick out some Danish words and plus if I had any questions I had plenty of Danish co-workers around me that I could ask.
We had a great dinner with roasted potatoes with cheese and spinach, roasted chicken with rosemary and vegetables, pasta salad, coleslaw and fresh baked bread. It was a simple dinner but it was a good tasting dinner and it was FREE! We were also offer free wine for the next three hours, now of course the nightclub does not want to loose money so the wine was not actually the most tasty but again it was FREE.
We had a great time, we drank a lot and we ate a lot. But around 10:30 pm when we went to the bar for more free wine, they cut us off. Ahhh No more free wine. However I do have so great pictures of Dot and Kn looking into an empty wine bottle but I am not going any incriminating photos on the internet. Then at 11pm, the waitstaff tells us we need to move because they need to remove the tables. We get up and scattered through out the nightclub, some people went near the bar others went outside to the balcony.
I was kind of impressed by some of my co-workers, at work they act very professional but when they play...they really play hard. One of the accounts from the research center I occasionally interact with is very professional and helpful at work; I was happy to see his fun side at the nightclub. The account was dancing on the dance floor with in a glass of wine in one hand and a pint of beer in the other.
After a great time at the nightclub, Sm (who actually lives in Copenhagen) walked Cr and I to Central station and then Cr and I had an interesting train ride back home. The midnight train was canceled so Cr and I got a packed 1 am train. We were lucky enough to get seats, cause with all the wine we drank while at the nightclub I am not sure if we could stand in a moving train car.
Cr and I went our separate ways at the train station, I walked home, drank some water and crashed in bed.
It was a great experience and I am glad that I went to the nightclub in Copenhagen.
The White-tailed Sea Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla re-colonised Denmark in the 1990's after having been extinct for almost a century. Today, around 30 pairs breed, mostly at sheltered waters of southern Denmark. Sunday the 10th of July, the Staff Club’s Nature Group arranged an eagle watching trip to the island of Glænø where it was possible to view of the nest of a pair of Sea Eagles on the neighboring Ormø. One of the good view points was a fine picnic spot. We meet at the research center and drove to Glænø. When we arrive I noticed it was a nature reserve with a beautiful view.
Just looking around it was just amazing to see such a peaceful place.
We began walking from the road where we parked the cars down a trail into the woods. It was just a great day I really enjoyed the walk. As we were walking for found a nice cottage on the island. I was later told that actually the island is owned by a rich Danish family and for a lot of money you can rent the cottage.
Now we were on the island Glænø and the eagles are a small island of Ormø so the only way to get a good view of the eagles is by binoculars or by a telescope.
In this picture, you can see our nice picnic area and in the background you can see the island of Ormø where the eagles are nesting.
There was no way that I could a picture of the eagles on the island of Ormø because it was over 100 yards from the other island of Glænø, so I tried to take a picture through the telescope. These pictures are not that good but I wanted to at least try.
You can see on the bottom of this picture two large birds sitting on the top of the dead trees. These two birds are the White-tailed Sea Eagles.
When first looking at the White-tailed Sea Eagles they looked a lot like the Bald Eagle back at home.
We did see one young adult eating a fish (we are assuming the fledging from the mating pair) but I did not get a picture of it. There was about 30 of us taking turns looking into the telescope, so we each got a small glance at the eagles. After having a relaxing lunch in the sun, we all walked back to our cars and enjoyed the peaceful view we enjoyed the peaceful view again.
We drove back to the research center and waited for the next bus to go home. It was a nice relaxing trip.
