I spent this summers of 2019 interning at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, NUI Galway and I would like to write my experience so that I can come back later and smile in reminiscence :).
I was elated to get my VISA just in time after my exams ended so that I could make my travel plans to Ireland. Unfortunately during that time there was a severe cyclone originating in the east coast of India affecting my city and my state and this delayed my plans to spend time at home. I only had 2 days to spend after which I flew to Delhi Airport. On May 10, I reached Dublin and boarded a bus as soon as I was done with my immigration. I was looking out the window admiring the beautiful greenery around and the River Liffey and I dozed off after we got into the motorway. I was told I was very lucky that when I arrived it was sunny and everything there looked so stunning. I had taken the good weather for granted when after a week it started raining continuously for several hours and even days at end. But luckily, I had enough sunshine throughout my stay to enjoy all the places I visited there.
The Insight Centre is composed of several units, each working on a separate field of research. The unit I was interning in was the Sustainable IT group headed by Dr. Edward Curry. I met my mentor, Piyush, on my first day just when I entered the lab and he happily showed my around the place and helped me with my paperwork. I was welcomed by my professor soon after and was introduced to my other mentor Felipe as well. My work dealt with complex event processing on unstructured data, mostly videos. We used to meet frequently with our professor to discuss the progress and directions to work on. In the first month, we worked on a smart way of making batches of the video frames, something we call Adaptive Windowing. Using that, we were able to achieve a good throughput gain and much reduced system latency. Along with it, I started developing a game with Felipe as a demo for the CEP system’s working. It is soon going to be deployed in the computer museum (oh yeah, there was a museum inside the building :p ) for the kids that come to visit every Friday. And towards the end, I wrapped up my project by working with Piyush to devise a comprehensive data format to summarise the unstructured data which resulted in faster querying speeds and lower storage requirements. Throughout all of this, I loved the work life balance everybody had. Packed and done for the day by 5pm no matter what :p I had completely different timings though. Taking care of your mental and physical health is just as important as your work, I realized. I loved working in my lab and enjoyed every bit of it thoroughly. I am not going into the details of our work here so that I can write more about my travel experiences. This is my lab building.
I visited quite a lot of places during my stay. My first trip was to the famed Cliffs of Moher, a UNESCO Global Geopark. I went alone via a tour bus and by the end I had made some Canadian and German friends. I’ll just let the pictures do the talking because no words can describe the feeling of witnessing the mighty grandeur of this magnificent cliff side.
The bus stopped at the Dungaire Castle, Ailwee caves, the Burren & Doolin Pier as well.
My next trip was to Dublin. On Saturday, the pride march was held where a lot of people had gathered from many different places to take part in this. While in the middle of the parade, I saw Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, arms distance away from me and I was so overwhelmed. In India, we don’t get to see VIPs so close.
On the next day, I went to a Wicklow Mountains tour. On it, I met an Indian couple and I was pleasantly surprised to know that the lady was from my state and she studied at the place where I currently study. It’s crazy I know! What a small place this world is. We stopped at the “P.S I Love You” bridge, Lough Tay, Glendalough and some other places. It was breathtaking to say the least. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and after coming back, I strolled on the roads by the river just soaking in the beautiful atmosphere.
Beautiful it was! And everything in Ireland becomes 1000x better when the sun is shining and the sky is clear.
The third city I visited was Cork. And it is, by far, the most beautiful city I have ever seen. I mean, just look at this.
This is what I saw the moment I got off my bus in the evening. Talk about first impressions :D
I took a tour to West Cork and Mizen head. Our first stop was Gouganne Barra. The calmness of the atmosphere and the sunny weather made this a highlight of my stay in Ireland. I will never forget this scenery. We then made our way to Mizen Head and briefly stopped at Bantry, a cute little town that has a large square where people come and bask in the sun. I was so lucky that the sun was shinning beautifully when I reached Mizen Head. It happens to be the most south-westerly point of Ireland and was a signal station back in the day. Here are some pictures.
Then I went to Cobh, which was the last place for RMS Titanic to dock after which it crashed. Out of 123 people who boarded the ship from there, only 44 of them survived. And the pier that led the people to the ship still stands today. Not only that, it was RMS Lusitania’s last docking place too when it was sunk by the German U-boats leading to American Declaration of War on Germany, because it was carrying 128 American citizens. What a tragic history associated with this place.
And my last major trip was to the largest of the Aran Islands, Inis Mor. On the ferry to the Island, I met a Japanese friend with whom I explored the entire Island. Our first stop was the Dun Aonghasa, one of the earliest medieval fortress built in Europe. Our last stop was “The Wormhole”. It is a naturally formed rectangular shaped pool which is used as a popular diving spot. Just standing there, listening to the ocean waves crashing against the rocks was extremely soothing and therapeutic.
With that, my internship experience at Ireland came to end and I couldn’t have asked for more. I made so many friends, met people from different nationalities, celebrated the diversity in our cultures we have and learnt a lot more than I had anticipated. Thanks a lot Dr. Edward for giving me this opportunity. Piyush, thank you for the constant help and support you gave me throughout my stay. I loved our conversations where you remember your good old college days and that makes me cherish the time I’m having now even more. Thanks Felipe for you guidance and the chocolates you brought for us! My housemates Kripa, Aishwarya, Vaishmaa and Selva, we had lots of fun and I couldn’t have asked for more.
P.S - And that’s not all, during my onward journey, I missed the second leg of my journey due to delay in the first one which landed in Istanbul. As a compliment, Turkish Airlines offered me a hotel room for a day’s stay in Istanbul and I went out with a friend to explore the old part of the city. I’ve never felt more welcome in a place where everyone was so warm and nice towards tourists. Our cab driver and I had chat where he told me about the bollywood movies he has watched and how much he admires Amitabh Bachchan. It was a lovely experience.
All photos used in the post are taken by me using my cell phone. Please ask for permission before using them.