Galway: the condensed edition

Between being horribly sick and the fact that co-op is rapidly coming to an end (read: I've worked on my research statistical analysis and final writeup every day for the past two weeks, including Sundays, bank holidays, and days when I didn't leave my bed), I'll admit that I've done absolutely nothing adventurous or interesting over the past week. Instead, this week's post will be a condensed, illustrated edition of all of the blog posts I considered writing but didn't end up going with. Enjoy.

NOTE: I TRULY APOLOGIZE FOR THE FONT SIZE. NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I EDIT THIS POST, THE FONT KEEPS REVERTING TO EIGHT-POINT. PLEASE USE THE ZOOM FUNCTION ACCORDINGLY.

Political activism in Galway: a religious country, but still very much a college town.

The best signs, posters, and advertisements I saw posted in the lab building: a contextless compilation.

Biking and pedestrian-ing in Galway, or: this big-city girl spent weeks trying to discern the nonsensical rules of traffic here, only to realize that people literally just obey the road signs.

Dogs I saw in Galway: an incomplete list (not an especially career-relevant post, but an important one)

Life in the lab: science in Ireland versus the US (it's the same. It's exactly the same. There are weird magnets on the lab fridge, a quirky lab tech, and that one funny thing about the building that takes a while to get used to. For example, a break room/kitchen that doubles as a mini-museum for all the preserved giant woodland animals. Just a hypothetical.)

Pastries of Ireland: I had a great plan to try muffins, danishes, pain au chocolate, everything, from all six of the cafes and stores on the walk between my house and the lab. This turned out to be too ambitious even for me, but this peach thing I got today was fantastic.

American Thanksgiving

In the words of a friend back in the US who will remain nameless, "do you not get the day off from work for Thanksgiving?" In fact we do not, and now that I think about it, that's probably the most pronounced difference I've seen between Boston and Ireland. (After growing up in a state where stores stay open on Thanksgiving and fireworks are illegal, I'm continuously impressed by how hard Boston goes when it comes to patriotic holidays.) That didn't stop American Thanksgiving last week, though. A few pointers:

In a place where squash and potatoes are abundant but there's not much use for pumpkins, don't expect there to be much of a market for canned pumpkin.

Objectively speaking, cranberry sauce is kind of a strange concept--take the least sweet berry you can find, make it as sweet as you can, and then aim for just the right mix of gelatinous and soupy. It is not surprising that other countries haven't jumped on board.

Bread rolls for 15 people: they can fit in your backpack if you're really determined, but they'll show up at the Thanksgiving table a little worse for the wear.