B-U-R-G-E-R-S, that's how you spell Burgers.

7:46 AM Léonie Dupuis 0 Comments

This is a two-in-one review of two different burger joints in Dublin who just happen to be right next to eachother on the street! (Literally neighbors.)

The two places are called Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Jo'Burger. Of the two, one is traditional, one likes weird combinations. One is chain around the city, the other only has two locations. One is well-priced, the other tends to overcharge. One is a traditional-looking restaurant, the other is edgy and has a "cool" vibe to it.

Dad holding up his giant burger at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen.

The "one" I keep talking about is Gourmet Burger Kitchen and I tried that one out with my dad who is in town teaching a CISSP course for the week. This restaurant was traditional (it had an Olive Garden feel for my American readers). We were both surprised by the massive size of the burger, but we also enjoyed some french fries, fried mushrooms, and hot wings as appetizers, so it was quite a lot of food. I enjoyed a classic cheddar cheeseburger with bacon. It was a classic, and it was delicious.

Attempting to capture the vibe of  Jo'Burger.

The "other" is Jo'Burger Town which I tried out one evening after getting done at the lab because I was really in the mood for some hamburger meat. Sometimes the cravings hit hard, you know? At this point, I was feeling adventurous and after a lab mate recommended Jo'Burger to me, I headed over there. I ordered a hamburger without the bun with caramelized chili banana, aragula, and goat cheese on the top... I was scared at first, but it was delicious! The restaurant itself is very unique and I could easily see the hippest of hipsters enjoying a burger here.

My beautiful "naked" burger with sweet potato fries.

Cute little water "pitcher" which looked like a beer bottle.

Nice to meet you, Dr. James D. Watson

8:16 AM Léonie Dupuis 0 Comments

On Monday, June 14, I had the pleasure of meeting "Honest Jim" or better known as Dr. James D. Watson, one of the two discoverers of DNA.

Watson came to Ireland to help unveil a new monument at an elementary school, but he stopped by Trinity College to visit the Genetic Institute (which just happens to be where my lab is at) as well as give a talk on the life of Francis Crick. In fact, he has an interest in Irish Population Genetics, so for an hour before he gave his lecture, Dr. Watson was literally on the other side of the window from me. Here I was, at my desk cubicle, looking into the Primary Investigator's office looking at Dr. Watson having a chat with Dr. Dan Bradley and Dr. Russell McLaughlin (who is my boss) chatting up population genetics.

After their conversation, the whole lab walked over to the physics building where Dr. Watson would be speaking inside the Schrodinger Lecture Theatre. How is this significant? Well, Schrodinger was a lecturer at Trinity College for many years and wrote a book called What is Life? which would inspire Watson and Crick to pursue the science of DNA and genomics. So here we

 were, sitting in the lecture hall where 70 years Schrodinger decided to ask "What is life?" and explore the idea of genomes and chromosomes, listening to the discoverer of DNA speak of his research partner who were both inspired by the What is Life? lecture content.

The Schrodinger Lecture Theatre in the Physics building.

Dr. Watson actually revealed during his talk that 1. He hates the editor of Nature, the science journal, 2. He gave up religion at age 11, and that 3. He made up from his imagination the scene in which he and Crick discovered the double helix. This was devastating to me as I had spent most of my childhood learning about the dramatic scene of Watson and Crick discovering the double helix structure... As Watson would say, "science moves with a spirit of an adventure characterized both by youthful arrogance and the belief that the truth, once found, would be as simple as it is pretty." Well, the truth was not pretty in this case.
All in all, meeting Dr. Watson was like seeing a walking piece of scientific history. Without him, I wouldn't have had a summer research project in genetics. Perhaps the most famous of living Nobel Laureates, Dr. Watson has left a lasting impression on the field of science and I am glad to have had the privilege of meeting him in person.

Call me a sailor!

7:20 AM Léonie Dupuis 0 Comments

I spent the past weekend at the Irish National Sailing School learning how to sail a dinghy sailboat which culminated in me earning my Level 1 Royal Yachting Association Certification!


The Irish National Sailing School is located in Dun Loaghaire which is a small, suburban seaside town from the 1820's. It was of great importance to the British as a port and was named Kingstown when Irish culture was oppressed. The port is especially known for its two piers, each with a lighthouse on the end. What I find interesting is that there is a green lighthouse and a red lighthouse and in sailing, green represents starboard (or the right) and red represents port (or the left). Sure enough, the lighthouses are on the correct sides!

The weekend started with assembling our boats. We used Laser Pico boats which are about 7 feet long and made of plastic. They are the perfect boat for beginners (or so claims our instructors).  We then quickly learned how to "tack" on land. Tacking is a way to turn the sailboat by pushing the tiller (the thing used for steering) away from you. Tacking is the slower of the two ways to turn a sailboat with the other way being called a "gybe" which involves pulling the tiller towards your self.

The sun shone brightly, but there was barely any wind. This meant that we were not cold but we were not moving very quickly either... After lunch, however, that was another story. The rain clouds came out (of course, this is Ireland after all) and we all got to enjoy a cold, wet, rainy, slightly windy afternoon on the sailboats. Personally, I felt pretty hardcore in this weather and found that so long as I was moving around in the boat, I didn't freeze. Since the wind died down, our instructors (who were in safety boats) had to tow us back into the harbor at which points everyone looked into the water and found hundreds of jellyfish!! This was quite a motivating factor for not capsizing the next day....

On day two, the forecast predicted 80% chance of rain all day long, so I wore a warmer shirt under my wetsuit and put a rain jacket over my wetsuit, and of course, it did not rain. This is Ireland, after all, and that means the weather changes on a whim. Again, the wind was very soft but would come in strongly for about 10 minutes at a time, so I did get to experience some upwind speed which was probably my favorite part of the whole experience!

I am 100% glad I chose to take this course and I have decided to register for the Level 2 course in July! I look forward to using my new sailing abilities in Florida... Maybe I won't be wearing 3 layers of clothing, but I'm sure the feeling will be quite the same.

Dun Laoghaire Harbour

Me with my Level 1 Certification at the end of the weekend.

Another view of the harbour. It was raining 2 minutes this photo was taken, so I was surprised to see the blue sky!

Irish Dancing

12:35 AM Léonie Dupuis 0 Comments

Last night, I decided to go have dinner at the Arlington Hotel home of the Celtic Nights Irish music and dance show! I was seated next to an Australian couple who are going to be touring Ireland for the next 4 weeks. Their daughter actually competes in Irish dancing in Australia (which meant the mom knew quite a bit about it) so it was interesting to see her opinions on the show.

The food was delicious, the songs were catchy, and the dancers' feet were amazing! For dancers back home, Irish dancing is like a mix of tap, straight-legged hitchkicks, rapid soutenus, and random rapid passés. I must say, the dancers did incredibly well, but you could tell that the show was for entertainment rather than showing off the dancers' technique or styles. 

However, since the dancers' performance was short (although it did include the traditional brush dance), I've decided to go ahead and book tickets for Riverdance which is in Dublin this summer!

The dancers in the midst of the brush dance.

The Emerald Isle's Namesake

5:39 AM Léonie Dupuis 0 Comments

Yesterday, my lab mate Jenny and I decided to take a Paddywagon tour ALLLL the way across the country to the West side in the Connemara region. And I was being dramatic with that last sentence... It only takes two hours to get to the other side of the country! I was excited to visit the Connemara region as it is known as the heart of Irish culture since the majority of its inhabitants are Gaelic speakers. The landscape of the Connemara region is also known as being the inspiration for Ireland's nickname as the emerald isle.

Our first stop was in Cong, a small town famous for being the set of some John Wayne movies as well as home to Ashford Castle (now privately owned and remodeled into a 5 star hotel with a minimum of 800 euros per night for a room). When we started walking around the city, I met my first European scammer! As we walked towards Ashford Castle, a guy in a suit said it cost 10 euros to continue. He looked so official! He had on a suit, a name tag, and his stationary said Ashford Castle Estate on it! But our guide had warned us to ignore him so we got to pass anyways.

The Cong Abbey... Home of the last king of Ireland, King O'Connor

Ashford Castle from afar, it was 5 euros to enter, so we admired from afar.

 After viewing the castle, we walked back towards the Cong "downtown" area and found a trail network. As it turns out, Cong has a series of trails with historical landmarks along them, so we stopped and looked at the sights. My favorite was definitely the monastery's fishing house... I would have loved being able to play there in the summers! There is a staircase that leads into the water and such a great view of the river sitting along the ledge of it.

The fish house from the abbey... such a cute space! I could see people setting up their fishing gear in there.

 This is the second time I've seen these Irish phone boxes, but this is the first fully-functional phone box I've seen!

A green phone box!

 Our bus stopped for some photos as we were making our way towards Galway. The scenery in the Connemara region is breathtaking, but the area is sparsely populated due to the famine which affected the west of Ireland more than any other region.

Lough Corrib- 365 islands cover this lake. It is the second largest in Europe!

You see all of those peaks? This valley is called the 12 Peaks region because there are 12 mountains surrounding it.

 We then continued along our route towards Galway, but we stopped to check out this Leprechaun House! Leprechauns are real, people! All you need to do is eat some of the wild mushrooms grown in the local shrubbery and they might appear for you... This leprechaun wasn't home today, however, as there was no smoke coming out of the house.

Tiny leprechaun house.

Mini Rapids.

Once we made it to Galway, Jenny and I walked around the city, which was full of life as most cities in Ireland tend to be on Saturdays. From a recommendation, we started our tour by buying some alcoholic sluhies from Bite Club which were margarita flavoured and delicious! We then walked around until we found the Galway Cathedral which is only 51 years old, but it was recently refurbished so it was interesting to see the way in which the new architects mimicked some of the older designs of Irish cathedrals. We then got to walk around the Saturday Food Market which consists of a bunch of tents with businesses selling clothes, jewelry, and of course, food. Jenny was extremely excited to eat some authentic Venezuelan empanadas!! We then stopped by another church, St. Nicholas's, which seemed to be the more lively, local option for worship in Galway. We concluded the day by walking along the Atlantic coast in Galway Bay where hundreds of swans spend their summers and locals participate in Kayak Water Polo! I feel like living in Galway would be a great experience as the locals are friendly like in the countryside, but the city is large enough to have every store you could think of. This is my favorite Irish city so far!

Galway Cathedral

Saturday Food Market

Kayak Water Polo

Galway Bay