In one of my earlier blogs, I mentioned how I wanted to try fish and chips from a more traditional takeaway spot to compare to the fancier preparation I had at a restaurant during one of our first weekend trips to the West Coast of Ireland. So when we were in Howth, a coastal town just a short tram ride north of Dublin City center that is famous for it’s fish and chips, I knew I had to try again. Unfortunately, this second iteration of fish and chips was for the birds… literally. After picking up a steaming box of battered cod and chips smothered in vinegar from one of the infamous Howth takeaway spots, I stupidly neglected grabbing a set of utensils before walking over to a park bench to enjoy my meal. One by one, people from our group began to walk over to this section of the park from the restaurant after getting their food, and with each person’s arrival it felt like the number of swarming seagulls multiplied. I honestly didn’t think much of it, and continued to pick away at my massive piece of fish with my hands. That was, until a brave seagull swooped down over the back of my head, cleanly picked the delicious piece of fried fish right out of my hand, and dropped it onto the sidewalk right in front of us. It was clear that this cunning gull has pulled off this stunt many times before he soiled my lunch. Immediately, at least a dozen seagulls descended upon the jackpot, and the solid sized chunk of cod (I had only eaten about a third of the filet) was eviscerated to nothing but a few flakey pieces in what felt like five seconds. We had just wrapped up a 3ish hour hike through the wilderness and along the cliffs of Howth, and I had a pretty small breakfast, so needless to say I was pretty disappointed with the incident, but I would be lying if I said that the ingenuity and courage of the seagull didn’t impress me a bit.
Other than this incident, I really enjoyed our trip to Howth. Seeing such stunning and bio-diverse natural beauty just outside of the city center was really cool, and I still had my fries to much on following the brutal attack.
Other than my slightly traumatic trip to Howth, this past week has been pretty solid. Our trip to a bunch of historical sites in terms of the heritage of Ireland was really informative and beautiful. Being able to actually visit places that we have learned about over the course of the trip like The Hill of Tara and The Hill of Uisneach was really cool. Also, my internship has been getting really interesting and enjoyable, as I have started doing some more in depth geoanalysis of certain neighborhoods in Dublin to understand certain relationships associated with tree density on a micro scale.
