This past week was pride week in Dublin. With preparations for the parade and celebrations happening the entire month of June I was expecting a large event and amount of people to come out and was not disappointed by the weekend. What did surprise me though was how the office I work in celebrated pride week. On Thursday before leaving work I was told to wear as much color as I had on Friday- and since Fridays are casual in our office it wasn’t to hard to find something to wear. I was greeted the next morning as I walked into work by a number of rainbow flags hanging through out the office and an amazing lemon rainbow cake my coworker had made for us. I was pleasantly surprised- not only was the office so open and accepting of the LGBTQ+ community it was actively celebrating this week in the office like it was any other holiday- maybe even more so. It was an interesting thing for me to see because when I think of offices back home in the States things such as sexual orientation and preferences are often not discussed in the office and can even cause unnecessary and offensive tensions between co workers with different opinions. Irish offices have been a stark contrast to that by being very personal and openly discussing some things that I wouldn’t imagine asking American coworkers about. I really am enjoying the openness of Irish offices and seeing everyone so excited for the festivities of the weekend regardless of whether they were straight, gay, bisexual or any other orientation made my heart happy that the subject is approached with open arms and not seen as something that shouldn’t be talked about. In summary- I think American offices have a thing or two to learn from Irish offices and that having discussions about subjects that might seem personal and a little strange at the time can truly build bridges and relationships that foster growth and acceptance even if coworkers have different opinions on subjects.