Last weekend I went down to Cork city with some friends and it was a fun trip. We were going to try and take the train down, but the bus ended up being a lot cheaper so we ended up taking the bus down. The first day we were there we went and saw Blarney Castle. That was probably the best castle that I’ve seen while I’ve been here. A lot of the castles that I have seen while I’ve been here haven’t been what I was expecting really. Most of them are called tower forts, which are just single towers that are usually surrounded by a wall or something like that. The Blarney Castle, however, was like a proper castle. It was huge, and had a bunch of different parts of it. It was an awesome tour through it. I got to see the bedrooms, the kitchens, the chapel, where the great hall would have been. At the top of the castle we got to see the Blarney Stone. So it’s basically this part of an old stone that when you kiss it it’s supposed to be give you good luck and something called “the gift of gab”. So you go to the top of the castle and up there you wait until you can take your turn to kiss the stone. You lie on your back and they have workers up there to make sure that you don’t fall or anything, and you lean back into and opening in the floor and hold on to these safety rails. You lean back far enough and you kiss the stone. That was it but it was a funny thing to do. Then we walked around the grounds that the castle was on so that was a pretty cool experience. After that we went and checked into our hostel and then we went and walked around the city. It honestly reminded me a lot of home which was interesting. After that we went and got some dinner, and then we went to a bar down the street from our hostel. After that we went back and played some foosball at the hostel, and unfortunately I got destroyed. After that it was time to call it a day.

The next day we went and took a boat cruise of Cork harbor. I love going on boats so this was really fun for me. They took as all along the coast and point out some historic facts about the buildings. I found out that the founder of William Penn, the guy who was actually the founder of Pennsylvania, was from Cork. We saw the land that his family still owns there to this day. We saw all of the historic buildings there, and learned the backstory on all of them. I just really enjoyed being on a boat. One of my favorite things is going on boats. I’ve just always really liked being out on the water. That took probably around an hour to an hour and a half, and after that it was time to wrap up our trip to Cork. We went and got some lunch, and then we went to the pickup point and hit the road back to Dublin.

I’d say before this internship I don’t really know much about being a leader. I can’t really say I’ve ever been in a leadership type role, so I don’t really know what that is like. I think what I have gotten from this experience is a bit more confidence. Confidence in the fact that I can get my work done on my own and that I can manage it. The work that I do isn’t anything crazy, but it is something a little challenging. Getting through it on my own gives me a sense of accomplishment, just knowing that I can get my work done on my own without needing help or having to have anything explained to me is a slight confidence. I think that with the confidence boosts I can use that if I am ever put in a leadership position. I think that a lot about leadership has to do with being confident. It’s important to be confident when you’re trying to be a leader, because you need to be able to make people take what you say seriously. If I ever am put in a leadership position, I think that my time and experiences during this internship will definitely help me navigate the challenges that I will face while having to be a leader.