It is hard to believe that I am nearing a month of working at my internship at Gary Daly and Company Solicitors. It still feels like I just started yesterday, but my comfort in the office and the new skills and experiences I have acquired along the way remind me just how much time I have spent working at this law firm. Besides working, I have also spent my weekends traveling by exploring the city of Dublin and visiting other countries when I get the opportunity. This weekend, I went to Amsterdam with several of my friends and had an absolute blast. Amsterdam is a beautiful city unlike anywhere else I have been before. I spent the weekend walking around and exploring Vondlepark while enjoying the nightlife and many great restaurants. While living in Ireland is great, the accessibility of traveling to other neighboring countries to experience different cultures that I otherwise would have never experienced is one of the best aspects of the program aside from the internship itself.
To have success in a study abroad program it is crucial to have a flexible mindset to adapt to new circumstances and challenges. New countries have many differences that are impossible to truly prepare for until you immerse yourself in the culture you are visiting. These adaptations vary from workplace responsibilities to general living in Ireland. First, I will discuss my assimilation into the workplace and the changes I need to adopt to find success in the office. After that, I will move on to the cultural differences I have encountered and overcome in my free time in Dublin particularly and in Ireland generally.
In the office, I did not find much difficulty assimilating to an Irish work environment. In fact, Irish culture made it easier to assimilate into my role than it would in other places. Everyone in the office is very kind, always willing to help me with any task, and receptive to questions that may arise for me in a typical day of work. The only minor difficulty that I encountered was the lack of specific instructions for some tasks. In America, I find that supervisors and managers have very specific instructions on how to complete my tasks that have their accompanying methods on how to best achieve them. Although I have not had the same experience working here, the availability of my coworkers and supervisor to answer any questions I have makes this difference negligible and easy to work through.
When I am not working, I spend a lot of time wandering through the city of Dublin. This has shown me many cultural differences that have, generally speaking, been more difficult to assimilate than any cultural differences I have experienced in the office. Something that I run into in the city is trouble understanding heavy Irish accents. Sometimes it is necessary for me to ask someone to repeat what they said or use the general context of the conversation to infer the parts of the conversation I struggled to understand through the accent. Another major thing is different dining rules. In America, I always split the check when eating with friends and get unlimited free water at any restaurant I eat at. Here, many restaurants do not typically split the check, resulting in a large check balance that someone has to cover and wait for the others to pay them back via Venmo or cash. Furthermore, water is rarely ever free and you have to pay for each glass of water or for water bottles if you get thirsty during your meal. While the water issue is not major, paying for large checks can be a challenge. This is why I make it a point to carry cash on me so I can pay back my friends quickly and, in turn, receive the same level of immediacy when they pay me back whenever I cover the bill.
While there has been a period of assimilation for me living in Dublin, it was not difficult, and I did not run into any challenges immersing myself in this new environment. Since Ireland speaks English, navigating cultural differences was significantly easier than it would have been if I had interned in a country whose main language is not English. Any difficulty I did run into was easily done away with due to more experience living here and getting accustomed to all the little things Irish people take for granted that a tourist may miss out on. This experience has been eye-opening and has given me the confidence to explore other countries and places like London and Amsterdam.
