It is nearly the end of June, marking over a full month of living as a travel abroad student in Ireland. Every week I have had so much fun, and have consistently grown personally and professionally with new challenges and unique experiences. This week was no different. I started answering the phones in the afternoons, and with the arrival of a new intern, took her under my wing to show her around the office and teach her how to do our daily tasks. On the weekend, I visited Galway with several of my friends from the University of Pittsburgh. I have not done much traveling in Ireland, and it was cool to see other parts of the country outside of the bubble I usually am at in Dublin. In Galway, I explored the city and visited the Cliffs of Mohr on Sunday. The cliffs were something I was very excited to see when coming to Ireland, and I had a great time taking pictures and exploring this area with my friends who were just as excited as I am to see these natural wonders.

Before this internship, I have never had a professional experience on par with my responsibilities as an intern at Daly Khurshid Solicitors. My prior work experience involved working at a summer camp as a camp counselor managing 50 children ages 5-12 and also working as a server at my local country club. While important experiences, they are far different responsibilities and work environments than it is as a law intern at Daly Khurshid Solicitors. This is my very first internship and my first time getting exposed to the intricacies of the legal profession firsthand. Given the novelty of this situation, I have naturally cultivated soft and hard skills while on the job that will be invaluable personally and professionally as I continue throughout the summer and my life at large. Since I did not have this opportunity at my previous jobs, it has been very valuable to me to gain these skills while working as an intern this summer.

Soft skills are the types of abilities that are prized regardless of your profession. They are fundamentals of working life that are indispensable to professional success even if an applicant has strong hard skills specific to a given occupation. During my time as an intern at Daly Khurshid Solicitors, soft skills are what I have been improving on the most throughout my time here. Communication, particularly, is an essential skill of life and a soft skill I get better at every day. In the afternoons, my main responsibility is answering the phones and directing client inquiries to the appropriate solicitor. This gives me a great opportunity to practice communicating with people of different cultures and situations.

As well as my soft skills, there are some hard skills I have picked up while working here. Since this is my first office position, I learned how to do and use general office tasks and operate typical office machines. Things like scanning papers, working a phone, and using programs such as Microsoft Excel are all some basic office skills I have learned about and improved on. Another hard skill that I have learned by shadowing my supervisor Gary Daly is how to behave in a courtroom setting. Courts have their way of doing things and conducting hearings, and it is essential to understand how to act and the behaviors expected of barristers and solicitors in the courtroom setting to make a good impression on the judge. While soft skills have been the biggest improvement for me while working here, I have learned and improved on some hard skills that will be beneficial as I continue my journey through the legal profession.

Throughout this process, my global competencies have supported me and been the bedrock of my success while working in Ireland. The people who work in my office come from all over the world. I have coworkers from Ireland, Brazil, Palestine, and another fellow American that I am lucky enough to work with. Since we are from so many diverse places, there are times when there is a cultural misunderstanding requiring communication to rectify. Working with people from so many different places is fascinating. I love learning their stories and connecting with people from places and cultures that I admire and have always wanted to visit. It has expanded my vision of the world and made me more comfortable talking to people from any cultural background. In an ever more globalized world, the ability to understand and connect with people from any place is an invaluable skill that I am happy to have.