After my second week as an intern at the Restaurants Association of Ireland, I’m starting to feel more comfortable in my role but of course I’m still learning as I go. The assignment I’ve spent most of my time doing involves updating the liquor license data of over 1,000 of the associations members from an Excel spreadsheet to their database in Salesforce. Before this internship I’d heard of Salesforce but had never used it so it did take some time for me to get used to the platform. Luckily my advisor gave me very detailed instructions and has made herself available to me whenever I have questions. For example, some of the organizations have multiple locations and there’s sometimes very little information on the Excel spreadsheet, so I have to research the organizations and their parent companies to make sure I’m inputting the correct license data into Salesforce. This was confusing the first couple of times I came across it but I asked my supervisor and she explained which websites to use to do the research. While this hasn’t been the most exciting thing to work on, I’m glad I’m getting more real-life experience problem solving and using both Excel and Salesforce.

This past weekend I went to London and visited some of my friends from Pitt who are doing their own study abroad program there! While I had an amazing time it was definitely a marathon weekend. I left for the Dublin airport with three of my friends at 5:15am, which means I had to be up at 4am… After getting through security still half asleep we boarded our plane, and I was asleep again before we even took off. The flight was less than an hour then we took a shuttle to the Tube station and the Tube to King’s Cross Station, where I split off from my Dublin friends and walked to meet up with my London friends! Once I found them they showed me around Borough Market which was filled with local food and fresh produce. Next we walked along the River Thames and across the Tower Bridge. The architecture of the bridge was so cool and just beautiful to see up close. Our next stop was Portobello Market which I think was my favorite of the whole weekend. It was an endless maze of local crafts and food, vintage clothes, jewelry and records—aka paradise. We spent a few hours walking through the market then headed back to their place to relax before dinner. For dinner we went to a little Italian place where I had pasta with the best parmesan cheese I’ve ever tasted. I then got to experience a bit of London’s nightlife, including what my friends referred to as “the Applebee’s” of the UK: Wetherspoon’s. 

Sunday morning we started our day early and went to the Tate Modern, my dad’s favorite museum in London. I’m so glad I got to experience it, especially since it was Father’s Day, it helped me feel close to him even though we couldn’t be together that day. The museum was so cool and we spent two hours visiting every room, taking it all in. The museum is huge and had so many unique exhibits, I understand now why it’s my dad’s favorite! Next, we took the Tube to see Big Ben and the London Eye. The streets around Big Ben were swarming with people but both attractions were amazing. From there we walked to Buckingham Palace, and I got to see some of the Queen’s Guards in their classic uniforms. Finally, after all that walking and sightseeing, we stopped at a nearby pub and I got some delicious fish and chips, rounding out my touristy London weekend! Then I took the Tube back to King’s Cross and met back up with my friends from Pitt. I had a little time to kill before taking the Tube to the airport, so I walked around the Harry Potter themed store inside of King’s Cross. As a lifelong Harry Potter fan, it was so cool to see the platform 9 ¾ setup with half of the cart sucked into the brick wall. To finish our trip, we sat and had dinner in the Luton airport (which was surprisingly delicious) before boarding our plane and returning home to Dublin! Even though my legs are sore and I’m running on minimal sleep, I absolutely loved London and am so grateful to have had the chance to see the city and my friends!