Bittersweet

            

     To be perfectly honest, I have been putting off writing my final blog because it makes me kind of sad. Maybe melancholic or bittersweet are better words for it, but writing this final blog means that the whirlwind of the trip is over, and subsequently, so is my career as an undergrad at Mercyhurst. I’m certainly going to miss it. This trip was easily one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I will never forget how beautiful Scotland was, or how, despite my poor sense of direction, easy the Tube was to use, or how much Dublin loves James Joyce and Ulysses. This trip made me more confident in my abilities as a traveler, and sharing the experience with so many people was awesome!

     I have so many memories from this trip, and whether they were big moments, like walking Abbey Road, or smaller, but equally impressive, moments like when Mira caught a spider in our hotel room in Scotland with her bare hands, I will be sure to remember them forever (and these blogs certainly help!). I enjoyed going to the Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper, and British museums, and seeing swans in the

Knit Flowers on Church

River Liffey was something I was not expecting. Taking a walk through the suburbs of Edinburgh allowed me to see another side of the city, one with knit flowers on church railings, really cool street art, and the occasional shoplifter. It was all really wonderful. 

       The best benefit of this trip, however, wasn’t the travel itself or even the things I did, but rather the friendships I made and strengthened. We had a really good group, and the smaller independent group that I traveled around with was perfect. It was so nice to have people who wanted to do the same things that I did, and I checked off some bucket list items as a result. I am so grateful to have

gotten this experience, and to have done it at the end of my senior year was the best send off I can imagine. 

I guess the best way to leave this blog is with a poem by Wendy Cope that our tour director Sarah introduced us to. It’s called “The Orange”, and has quickly become a favorite of mine.

Dear Dirty Dublin

Stained Glass @
St. Patrick’s Church

Well, James Joyce was right. Dublin IS dirty. But the amount of litter begins to make sense once you realize there aren’t enough “bins” to keep up with the amount of garbage, which also makes sense when you learn about the Troubles. Overall, I liked Dublin. It wasn’t what I was expecting, and felt more like a metropolitan town rather than a capital city.

Sweny’s Pharmacy 

There was a lot to literary stuff to do, and I   really enjoyed going to see Sweny’s Pharmacy, where Leopold Bloom purchased Lemon soap for Molly. When we went inside, we were approached by a very eccentric man, who began to hand us each a copy of Ulysses and invited us to sit and read. Before we knew it, we were pulled in to an impromptu reading of Ulysses and a singalong of the Irish song Molly Malone. It was a surprise, but also a great memory that I’ll have for the rest of my life. Taking a picture with the James Joyce statue was one thing I really wanted to do, and the man yelling on the phone behind the statue was truly the epitome of “Dear Dirty Dublin”. His select choice of words were something Joyce could have only dreamed of using without censorship. We also got to take a picture with Oscar Wilde, and saw the Book of Kells, both of which were really cool. Furthermore, seeing the Guiness storehouse was very interesting. I really wanted to like Guiness, and I tried it, but it wasn’t my cup of tea (or rather, my pint of beer). Another highlight was Saint Patrick’s Church. It was beautiful, and the stained glass windows were stunning. I also enjoyed the stories about Jonathan Swift, and his use of the movable pulpit. I wouldn’t expect anything less from someone so well-versed in satire. In the future, I’d like to go back to Dublin and explore a little bit more, possibly into the countryside, and I think checking out Phoenix Park would be amazing, especially if there are deer.

London

The Tube

London

London was so much fun! I got to see parts of the city I’ve never seen before, and went to a bunch of music and literature sites. The guided tour we did was great; I learned a lot about London, and Stuart was a real scream! I was glad we got to see Buckingham Palace and Big Ben/Elizabeth Tower, as I missed them both the first time I was in London. We also went to several bookstores during our free time, and I brought home way too many books (if there is such a thing). I can honestly say a good portion of my photo album is made up of books I could not buy. One store we went into was called Foyles, and it was like Barnes and Noble but better. They had a far more diverse selection of books, four floors, and a cafe that sold pastries,

Keats’ House

coffee, drinks, beer, and wine. Our free day was the most exciting. In one day, the group of us did Abbey Road, the Sherlock Holmes Museum, Keats’ house,  The British Museum, and a David Bowie memorial. It was a busy day, but easily one of the best I’ve ever had. I was so glad to have gotten a picture on Abbey Road, and despite having to walk up what was easily the steepest hill in my entire life, Keats’ House was worth the effort. Learning about his life and walking the gardens at the house was a lovely way to spend the afternoon. It was also fun to taNot to forget was the French cafe we ate at in the neighborhood near Keats’ house. Before I could even mention my food allergies, the hostess who sat us asked if anyone at our table had allergies and marked it down on an iPad.

British Museum 

Then, when our waitress came to take our order she asked who had the allergy, and when my food came out, it was marked with little toothpick flags so the entire kitchen would be aware of the allergy. I was so impressed. Food allergies are not usually taken so seriously, even in the States, and the gesture really went a long way. Even better, the food was amazing, and everyone had a good meal. Dinner was also enjoyable, because Sarah, our tour guide, sat at our table and talked to us about poetry. She introduced us to the poet Wendy Cope, and I liked her poems so much that I ended up buying a book of her

Abbey Road

poems in Dublin. I cannot speak highly enough of my experiences in London, and like Edinburgh, I hope I get the opportunity to go back again. 

Edinburgh

Edinburgh 

Me with Grayfriar’s Bobby

The Kelpies

While I was not sure what I was expecting from Edinburgh, but I absolutely loved it. Despite being a capital city, it felt like a small town, and I was glad to spend our first few days in a city that was not filled with chaotic hustle and bustle.  One of my favorite experiences was seeing Edinburgh castle. The views from the top were spectacular, learning about the history of castle and Scotland was incredibly interesting, and we learned about Bob, a taxidermied dog housed at the castle who was the regimental pet of the 1st Battalion, Scots Fusilier Guards (pictured below). Despite being an unexpected highlight of Edinburgh, Bob wasn’t the only dog I got to see. I also saw Grayfriar’s Bobby, who we learned about in class, and met Princess Rosie, a small, ice cream loving dog at the Kelpies. Another great memory I have of Edinburgh occurred in a souvenir shop. I was wearing my green dog raincoat (are you sensing a dog theme here?), and one of the cashiers said she really liked my coat. So much so, in fact she jokingly offered to give me the stuff I was buying in exchange for my coat, and had me write down the brand of the jacket. My favorite part of our visit to Edinburgh was probably the Kelpies. It was nice to see some of Scotland outside of the city and the 100ft tall Kelpie statues were amazing to see. We also got to walk through the suburbs of Edinburgh, which was a nice detour around the busier parts of the city. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Scotland, and can only hope that I will have another opportunity to visit there!

Edinburgh Castle 

Princess Rosie

Bob at the Edinburgh Castle 

Scottish Snow Plows

While our time in Scotland will (hopefully) have nice weather, Scotland also has a snowy season. And, of course they have snow plows to clear up heavy snow. I recently found out that Scotland names their plows, and the names are pretty punny. It’s worth noting that Scottish people call plows “gritters,” which makes some of the names more understandable. Between 2020 and 2021, some of my favorites were: 

• “Sir Salter Scott”
• “Lord Coldemort & You’re a Blizzard Harry”
• “Spready Mercury”
• “Mary, Queen of Salt”
• “Sled Zeppelin”
• “Sweet Child of Brine”
• “Veruca Salt”
• “Buzz Iceclear”
• “Gritney Spears”
• And of course, everyone’s favorite, “Salty”— very original 

If you want to see more of these names and learn why this is a tradition, here is the link to the article: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/scotland-snow-plows-names-titles/ 

Here’s to a great trip, everyone! Looking forward to seeing a (not snowy) Scotland!

Mental Health in Mrs. Dalloway

After Mira’s very informative presentation about Virginia Woolf, a lot of the characters a written by Woolf made more sense. In many ways, Woolf and the materials she printed alongside her husband at their publishing company were progressive. From featuring LGBT voices to showing mental illness without covering it up or merely alluding to it, Hogarth Press was definitely ahead of its time. In Mrs. Dalloway, the same rings true. Most notably is Septimus, who is described as being shell-shocked from serving in WWI. While admittedly using an antiquated term for post-traumatic stress disorder, Woolf’s stream of consciousness writing highlights issues that most people were not and are still not willing to openly address. It is also interesting to see how, like other modernist writers, several characters are representative of Woolf, without actually being Woolf. Virginia Woolf, who likely had bipolar disorder, was subjected to a series of painful traumas as a child and young adult. This most certainly played a role in her mental state. Additionally, her death and proceeding suicide attempts are similar, but not the same, to that of 

[SPOILER ALERT] Septimus’s.  Clarissa Dalloway, in part another reflection of Woolf, hears about the suicide and feels linked to him. She feels empathetic and understands why he made the decision to do so. This part is also written as a thought spiral, perhaps reflecting the author’s own mental state at the time. 

Food-Allergy Safety

     As we get closer and closer to the trip, I get more and more excited about the new things we’ll experience. From museums to monuments to local cultures and food, I can’t wait to embrace it all. However, as was true for my previous travel experiences, I cannot help but worry about my food allergies. Traveling in English speaking countries makes it significantly easier to express my concerns, and EF Tours was incredibly helpful when I told them that I am allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. I will also have allergy medicine and an Auvi-Q with me just in case, so I should be perfectly fine. Even so, I have noticed an uptick of movies and tv shows lately who are making food allergies the punchline of a joke (see  2018’s Peter Rabbit) or who are using trainer EpiPens to administer aide (Disney’s Godmothered). While these

EpiPen with Trainer in Front

cinematic decisions really don’t have anything to do with me, I think they do open up the opportunity to educate people on how to use epipens or similar devices. EpiPens work by injecting epinephrine into the person having a severe allergic reaction (this means there is a needle inside the pen). Epinephrine is basically liquid adrenaline, so even if it stops a reaction, it’s important to go to the hospital after using one and get more advanced help, especially because the reaction can restart after the epipen is used. Furthermore, epipens should only be used in reactions causing or leading to anaphylactic shock. Some symptoms of Anaphylaxis include swelling of the face, tongue, and/or throat, obstruction of airway, difficulty breathing, hives, redness of skin, nausea, coughing, and dizziness. Most times, the person with the allergy is aware that they are having a severe reaction, but in little kids or people who don’t know they have an allergy, phrases like, “my tongue feels funny/itchy/big” or “my throat has something stuck in it” are common (but not definitive) signs of an allergic reaction. 

      In the event that someone can’t administer their EpiPen, it is important that someone else does. There are two main kinds of epinephrine injectors. The first, is EpiPen, which kind of looks like a giant pencil. It will be green for kids and yellow for adults. There is also a grey pen in the box. This is the trainer EpiPen, and it has no needle or medicine in it. It won’t do anything for the person having the reaction. There are instructions on the box, but you want to remove the EpiPen from the plastic case, pull the blue tab at the

Auvi- Q  injector with Trainer

top, and, while holding the pen in a fist, press and hold the orange tip of the EpiPen to the outside of the person’s thigh. It should only go in their thigh, and will require a bit of force. It will go through their clothes, and you should not worry about bruising or hurting them, they need the medicine. You should hear a click when it makes contact with their leg and hold for 10 seconds to make sure the medication is completely administered. These steps are basically the same for the other type of injector, called an Auvi-Q. The Auvi-Q is usually orange, and is square and flat. Just like the EpiPen, Auvi-Q comes with a non-medicated trainer. To use the Auvi-Q, you will pull it out of the case. When you do so, a built in speaker will begin to walk you through the process. You’ll pull the red safety guard, press the black tip to the thigh, and press until you hear a click and hiss noise, holding for 10 seconds. The Auvi-Q will count down from five, but it’s not a bad idea to hold it for five additional seconds to ensure medication has been administered. Regardless of which injector someone uses, it is important to call 911 in the US or 999 in the UK afterwards to make sure they’re ok. 

Hopefully, no one will require the administration of an EpiPen, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Here’s to safe travels!