Week 1 down!
It’s hard to believe that we’ve only been in Dublin for one week; with everything going on, it feels like I’ve been here for twice that. This past week was full of orientation events. For example, for the EUSA welcome reception, we went to “Experience Gaelic Games” to learn about Gaelic sports. Before coming to Dublin, I had a sense of how important Gaelic sports were to Ireland’s culture, but hearing one of the representatives at “Experience Gaelic Games” explain the historical relevance of these sports put it in a much clearer perspective. I was really surprised by the variety of skills required to play these games, particularly hurling and Gaelic football. However, what I was most surprised by is the fact that each county club can only make a team using the players within that county. I often don’t understand team loyalty in American sports, considering the fact that most of the players of any given team are not from the city they represent. The fact that in Ireland players represent the county they are from makes a lot more sense to me, in terms of why people root for specific teams. While I may not be a huge sports fan, learning about the cultural significance of these sports was an opportunity I’m grateful for.
On Thursday, when we did not have anything scheduled, I completed the commute to my internship at the EUSA representatives’ recommendation. I’m glad I took their advice, because I had considerable trouble finding the correct bus stop at first! However, once I found the stop and completed the drive, I felt both relieved and a bit accomplished. I have enough trouble navigating public transportation in Pittsburgh; the idea of doing the same in a foreign country was very intimidating at first. However, now that I have been taking the bus all week, I am happy to say that in some ways, I find it a bit easier than overcoming Pittsburgh Port Authority. I suppose it’s true that European public transportation is simply better; at least, I have yet to be proven otherwise!
As of today (Monday, June 5th), we have still not begun our internships due to the bank holiday here in Dublin. However, with a few hours to go before our first day, the reality about the work I am going to be doing is starting to settle in. I am admittedly intimidated by the idea of managing multiple objectives in a formal work setting; it’s something I’ve never done before outside of part time positions. In preparation, I’ve considered multiple ways I can manage my time during the work day, all of them pulling from my past experiences. The first is prioritizing tasks based on urgency and effort. I have found that it is important to prioritize tasks, whether they be assignments or just items on a to-do list, based not only on how urgent they are, but on how much effort it will take to get them done. It’s very tempting, and sometimes efficient, to focus on low-effort objectives that can be accomplished quickly. However, I know from many experiences at school that focusing on these kinds of tasks can result in high-effort, time consuming tasks being pushed into a smaller work window. During my internship, I will make sure I do not neglect the necessary prioritization of “big jobs”, even if they consume a lot of time in the moment when I could be completing a multitude of other things. Ultimately, I believe that frequent reassessing of the prioritization of tasks, whether they be urgent, nonurgent, high-effort, or low-effort, will help me accomplish what I need to, when I need to.
Another habit that I plan to carry into my internship to manage my time efficiently is staying organized. I find that organization within itself saves time when completing tasks. For example, at Pitt, I keep an extensive spreadsheet of every assignment I have to do, when I have to do it by, and what class each assignment pertains to. At the beginning of each day, I determine which assignments I will work on, and in what order. This means that I not only ensure that I adhere to critical deadlines, but I don’t waste time trying to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing based on a deadline. This kind of prioritization through organization is something I plan to bring to my internship, even if it takes on a much different form than my semester spreadsheets.
Though orientation week has been fun, I am looking forward to finding a routine. I hope that in between everything, I can still find time to see everything I want to in and out of the city. However, as of right now, I’m just taking it one day at a time!
