I have spent three great weeks in Dublin, two weeks in my internship, and I am excited for the next couple of weeks here. I am enjoying all the new sites, and delicious food.
This past weekend, I spent time exploring Dublin more. On Saturday, a few of us went to go see the Dublin Castle, which in my opinion was more of a mansion rather than a castle. I think I enjoyed the Kilkenny castle more. However, it was a fun experience. After, we tried a burger chain in Ireland called Wow-burger. It reminds me a lot of In and Out Burger. This was a difficult place to find, because this Wow-burger was not its own restaurant. It was inside of this pub, and the only way we found this out was due to this tiny sign outside the door. It was an interesting set up, a fast food place in a pub like atmosphere. On Sunday, I managed to get some of my friends to go to the Poolbeg lighthouse. I was very excited to see this lighthouse, much more than my friends were but they still decided to tag along. It was a bit of a journey there, we had to take a bus to Poolbeg, then a taxi to the lighthouse and then walking the strip to the actual lighthouse. Once we made it, it was a beautiful view, we unfortunately were not able to go up the lighthouse, but since the strip going out to it was so long it felt like we were in the middle of the ocean. We got a pretty view of the ocean, Dublin, and of course what I wanted to see, the little red lighthouse. We then decided to walk back and we walked along the beach, which was so nice. We collected seashells and wrote PITT in the sand. We ended up walking the long trail back to the bus stop instead of taking a taxi. Although my friends were not stoked about going to a lighthouse at first, they really enjoyed the journey and the stunning views.
I am absolutely loving my placement for my internship here. I feel so welcomed and everyone is so friendly. We have lovely chats, and I have learned a lot more Irish slang, and even teaching my co workers American slang. They are so helpful with sharing great places to eat and places to explore. I have been working more in the graphic design side of the company. I have been using canva and making instagram posts, and website banners. I also learned how to upload the dates of the shows, comedians on those dates, and ticket prices to the website. I have really enjoyed creating fun posts for the Laughter Lounge and then seeing them get posted!
On one of the days last week, I got to get out of the office and on the streets of Dublin. The team had an idea where they ask random strangers on the street to answer fun questions and make it into a TikTok. We even had a comedian with us to ask the strangers. If they answered they got two free vouchers for any Laughter Lounge show they wanted to go too. I thought this was a great idea, considering I see a lot of these kinds of TikTok, however, not many people wanted to participate. It seem people did not quite understand what was happening and just ignored us. I feel if they had a big microphone with the Laughter Lounge logo, it could have gone much smoother. I think that they are going to get one!
I have experienced some uncertainty when my supervisor is working from home, and we can only communicate through email or whats app. When this happens I just continue to send clarifying questions. Sometimes I am able to ask my co workers for some help. In person, sometimes the slang they used on the instagram posts, I do not know, so I have to ask what exactly some of the slang means and my supervisor is so kind when answering. I have learned so much, and instead of making me feel dumb or not included, my co workers always explain everything to me so I am on the same page. I have been very lucky to be placed in such a welcoming and kind environment.
I am really excited to keep working at the Laughter Lounge. I feel like I am learning something new everyday. I am excited to be able to go to a show as well within the next couple of weeks. I am ecstatic to be able to keep growing my relationship with my co workers and learn more Irish slang to take back with me to the States.