It feels surreal that we have been in Dublin for half a month. During that time, I’ve done my best to see as much as I can. Most recently, I went to Galway. The trip was last minute, but given that we’re only here for two months, I find that there isn’t a lot of time to plan. Normally I would be hesitant to do something spontaneous, but I can happily say that the trip was definitely worthwhile! We went to the Aran Islands and saw a glimpse of a different type of Irish culture, one very different from the fast-paced environment of Dublin. On our way back, we passed the Cliffs of Moher, which were simply fantastic; another bucket list item done!
Something I’ve realized these past two weeks has been that living in Pittsburgh has prepared me for this program. Over the last two years, I’ve become very familiar with living in a city; I’ve relied on public transportation every day, navigated a large area of unfamiliar space, and become used to the constant motion of city life. I believe that if I came from a suburban college, I would be very overwhelmed by this program. It must be challenging for those students who must adjust to living in not just a different country and culture, but also an urban environment.
At this point in the program, we have begun our internships! Though it has only been a few days, I have already learned a lot. I have been asking my supervisor, a county councilor, questions any time I can about her role and Irish politics at large. Through this, I’ve been reminded how much I don’t know. Something I am going to prioritize from here on out is reading news on current political affairs in Ireland. I have found that my lack of knowledge on the subject has, if not made my job more difficult, at least made me uncomfortable. I know that if I felt more confident in my knowledge of what I was doing, I would feel more confident doing it, resulting in a better final product and more growth on my end.
In my internship, I am only working with my supervisor. This is an advantage, because it makes it easier to clarify directions when it is just the two of us working together. However, that doesn’t mean I am always certain of what to do. During the Dublin IIP orientation at Pitt, we learned that different countries have a different approach to the workplace in terms of how much context is required to understand direction. We learned that the United States has a high-context office culture, meaning directions are very clear. Ireland, on the other hand, has a lower-context office culture, meaning that some directions are implied. This expectation has encouraged me to ask more questions than I normally would in a work environment to ensure that I am understanding an assignment correctly. Most often, I am asking if there is anything I need to be doing during lulls in the day to ensure I haven’t missed a direction.
Today, I researched affordable housing programs for first-time homeowners in Ireland. As a college student, I’ve researched, summarized, and communicated information countless times; in essence, that is what it means to be a student and academic. However, what I have realized is that in the classroom, the questions you research are often clearly defined, whereas in the “real world”, this is not always the case. For example, the question my supervisor posed to me was how a constituent’s proposal for an affordable housing program was different from the one already in place. However, as we read this constituent’s proposal, it was unclear whether that was the goal of what he was doing; or at least, it was unclear whether or not the constituent had answered this question in his proposal. After a few minutes, we came to a conclusion that we believed was correct, but there was no one ready to confirm or deny it for us like in a classroom. I feel naïve to have had such expectations about clarity, but I suppose because I’ve only ever experienced academic questions that are on the whole, meant to have answers, such naivety makes sense. I am still learning how, and if, I can combat such ambiguity.
I am lucky that my internship is full of a variety of tasks; running a campaign is multi-faceted, meaning we have done something new almost every day. W my beginner’s nerves beginning to decline, I am looking forward to whatever comes next!
