Dublin so far has been one amazing, very green, busy blur. When I first arrived at the airport I was pleased to know the there was another Pitt student, Jess, on the same program and flight to Ireland as me. It made international travel to a new country a little less scary to have someone share the experience with. Despite not being able to sleep on the almost 7-hour flight the travel experience went smoothly overall. My first impressions of Dublin were far from what I was told I’d experience weather-wise, instead of the downpour of rain I was told I’d see in Ireland it was a bright beautiful sunny day. Jess and I got a taxi to our housing at University College Dublin from the airport and had lovely driver that answered questions and pointed out important spots in Dublin during our drive (these were helpful later on when we were exploring the city). Once arrived on campus we met up with the other Pitt and American college students from different colleges across the states- we quickly formed friendships which was comforting to have right off the bat. There were a few scheduled activities to go to like orientations and trips throughout the first week here but my absolute favorite was a bus tour through Wicklow, a county just south of Dublin that has amazing views of the country side. We were able to see a different side of this country that starkly opposed the bustling city that we had been exploring earlier in the week and will be living in for the duration of the summer.

Since my family is Irish on both sides I was more that excited to experience some of my family’s heritage. In the short time here I’ve learned just how friendly, clean, and fast-talking Irish people can be. Interviewing helped me become very excited to start work with my company and learn more about what they do- with the potential to work a few concerts and events in Dublin through out the summer who wouldn’t be excited? Before coming here and going through a few orientations I didn’t know many of the differences between the States and Ireland culturally or professionally. After being here for just shy of a week I’ve come to learn that theres some key vocab terms that mean different things here, the Irish tend to talk for long periods of time and very quickly, and on average there very kind and helpful to people that are a little lost (me most of this week haha). I look forward to finding more differences during my time here and can wait to see what the start of my internship brings next week!