This week I started my internship, on Tuesday. There was a bank holiday on Monday so everyone here started the next day. I used Monday to prepare by reading articles my supervisor sent me and doing my wash. I did not have to go in until 1:30 pm the next day. I met my supervisor for lunch on Tuesday at the University of Dublin Trinity College, we finally got to meet and go over the work I would be doing. I ended up staying until 5 pm after the meeting just to brainstorm ideas to approach the tasks I had to do. I also used the time to get accustomed to my work environment. Trinity College Dublin has a tedious onboarding process, even for interns apparently.
My internship is good for research, I have a lot of my own time to be able to do my work. I have check ins that are most likely going to be every Thursday. Not only does this give me ample time to do my own, original work under guidance, but also to go out and travel. Just this weekend, I went to see the Cliffs of Moher and Galway city. The cliffs were nice, but there was not much to do since both sides of the path were blocked off because of people falling. The trail was nice and the views were amazing. The day was beautiful, thankfully not raining, like most days are. The Cliffs of Mher were approximately three hours from Dublin proper. My friend and I booked the trip to take us to the Cliffs of Moher, through the Burren to Galway, where we would then go back by bus. The tour company was called Wild Rover Tours, the guide was amazing and very knowledgeable about the surroundings. We even asked him about some good places in the city. After the cliffs you drive through the Burren National Park, an absolutely beautiful stoney landscape like no other I have seen before. Its expanse goes to show the wonderful grandeur of Western Ireland and the WIld Atlantic Way. It took two hours to get to Galway, a bigger town than one might imagine. It’s streets were packed with tourists, Irish and all. My friend and I got some local cuisine and street crepes.
This past week I had two major tasks that I have been working on. One, I finished, and the next is due around Thursday. My first task was to create a table of code verbs for article and media identification. They were specific verbs with actors and an action taken. They ranged from threaten, reject, negotiate, all the way to invade and so on and so forth. These code verbs act as a language for the database that uses them and will be used to identify relevant articles for the research project. Altogether the first task was more challenging than I thought. I had to make sure I knew exactly what the research is about and recognize the scale of topics and data that could be important to answering our questions. I had to revise the table many times before I brought it to my supervisor.
My next task was researching the impact of the Ukrainian war on defense firms in the West. So far, I have identified a few and some evidence of their erratic, mostly positive, movement and linked that to events in the war. For example, I am specifically looking at companies like BAE Systems and Rheinmetall by their defense revenue by relevant dates such as the start of the war, contracts awarded to them during the war, the Ukrainian counter offensive in 2023, and the meeting between the President and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
I manage my time by making sure I am working the hours my supervisor and I agreed upon. If I have to take a longer lunch or run an errand, I will make up for that in extra hours. On the bus I looked up some literature that I could use for my research. It’s little things like this that help me succeed in my internship. As long as I know my deadlines and can map out a plan to reach them by, I am in a great position. The one thing I do not recommend is to spend a lot of time outside of the hours dedicated to the work you do, only time where nothing else productive can be done.
The Cliffs!
