I have now been working at my internship in Dublin for two full weeks and have fell into my work week routine. Though I am virtual most of the week, I know my way around the office a bit more and have become friends with a lot of my coworkers. Another woman started last week, and so I am no longer the new kid in the office. A group of us went to lunch together so she could be properly introduced to the team, and it was a great time. We got on the topic of differences between Ireland and the United States, and it was quite funny how surprised they were by such small things like that we really ride on yellow school buses.

Something I was warned about before I even arrived in Ireland was that people here are less likely to give detailed descriptions of tasks I am asked to perform and less likely to give feedback on my work. While I have found that, in my particular internship, I do get a lot of feedback as I usually meet with my boss at least twice a week to go over what I have been working on and what I should do next, I have found that I usually am given very little directions when I am being assigned a new project.

The first thing I do when I realize I am unsure of what I am supposed to do is ask. Usually, I go over each task in a meeting with my boss first, and any questions I immediately have, I ask then, and if I think of something as I am working on my own, I have found that he responds to emails very quickly, and so I will always email him if I am lost. However, I have found that a lot of times, even when I am not completely clear on what I am to do or if I have never done something before, I can usually figure out on my own at least how to start. When it comes to analyzing the data sets I have been given, I do what makes the most sense and is the most clear to me. Then, I will send a sample to my boss to be looked over and will adjust what I am doing to fit with any suggestions he makes. I have also written up a report on a data set and created a poster for a conference a few people in my office will be attending. Though I was given little to no instructions on how these were supposed to look, I was able to find past reports from other data sets and past conference posters from my organization, and so I based what I was doing off those. 

When discussing the projects that I am working on, I am usually told to do what I think is best and to add any ideas that I have, and so I tend to feel more confident that, even when I receive little instruction and feedback, I am doing alright, as I feel that my ideas and input are valued here, and if I don’t do something the way it is typically done, that doesn’t mean its wrong. 

Outside of work, I got to explore a bit more of Dublin this weekend. My grandparents were here visiting, and so I took them to a few of the more typically tourist spots in the city, which was very fun. Saturday morning, we went to the Guinness storehouse where we were taken on a tour through how Guinness is made and what has made it so iconic and successful for decades. We learned how to properly pour pints, and mine was labeled the most perfect pour. Then, Sunday, we went to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells which was fascinating as well. Unfortunately, they are cleaning the books in the library, and so a lot of the shelves were empty, but it was still beautiful and all of the artwork and history was very interesting. I got to try a number of really great restaurants around the city, as well. 

I have found that I know my way around Dublin a bit more, especially the areas that I frequent. I was even asked for directions from people on the street twice this weekend! The more time I spend in this city, the more I love it, and I am very excited to continue exploring what Dublin and Ireland has to offer.