This past week has been so fulfilling and perhaps my favorite that I’ve had in Dublin so far. I’ve met new people, traveled to new places, spent lots of fun evenings with my friends, and have participated in exciting academic opportunities through my internship.
On Monday, I began my new internship with DCU’s School of Psychology, working with Dr. Lorraine Boran. We had a meeting that morning, during which she brought me up to speed on some of the projects she’s currently working on. She sent me over some literature to read through and had me enroll in an online training on “Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis”. I spent the next few days working from home, reviewing all of these materials. I also found myself taking plenty of visits to St. Stephen’s Green to meet up with friends, or to just lay in the grass and read for a few hours.
Thursday and Friday, I was invited to attend a research symposium at DCU with other psychology undergraduate and graduate students. The opportunity to participate in conversations about psychological trends, research methods, intervention goals, and field projections in another country was incredibly meaningful, inspiring, and critically influential for how I will participate in my studies back at home. Throughout the two conference days, I got to hear from a variety of panels and keynote speakers, ask questions, make new connections, as well as engage with my peers over these most important psychological matters.
Thursday began with a presentation from Dr. John Francis Leader on “Generative AI and Mental Health—How Far Have We Come, How Far Should We Go?”. This was my favorite presentation, and therefore, in my opinion, the perfect way to kick off the symposium, as this is a topic that I find myself thinking about often and feel particularly passionate about. In coordination with the emergence of generative AI, psychologists and researchers have been exploring the idea of digitalized mental health care—this idea has extended so far as to suggest AI therapists in the not too distant future. But at what point is a resource complementary and at what point is it competitive to human functioning and well-being? Can empathy truly be digitalized without being dangerous? Is digitalized healthcare an appropriate direction to move towards in regard to accessibility? What about from an evolutionary standpoint? These are just some of the questions that I find myself spiraling about in this new world where AI seems to be taking over everything, and it was extremely gratifying to be able to address some of these same concerns with Dr. Leader, as well as a panel of other researchers. Perhaps most importantly, I found it deeply rewarding to explore this topic in another country, particularly one whose cultural, academic, and research values vary from those of the United States’ in many ways.
We then heard from a panel of practicing psychologists across various specialties. It was helpful to hear their thoughtful insight about some of the different directions that a degree in psychology can take you in. Something specifically that I found intriguing was the seemingly different process of earning a Ph.D. in Ireland versus the U.S. Back at home, it takes many Ph.D. students several years to earn admittance to a program. This means that, in recent years, most students won’t complete their Ph.D. until their mid to late thirties. However, in Ireland, it seems that beginning your Ph.D. directly out of undergrad is relatively common and generally expected. This is not to say that it is any less challenging, but it was an interesting contrast to pick up on.
I came home on Thursday feeling so grateful, enthusiastic, and energetic about everything that I foresee myself learning in this new internship placement. I am genuinely elated over this new opportunity and look forward to it every day! Thursday night, Kendall and I made dinner (pesto pasta and shrimp, delish) and watched HBO’s Girls. This has been our evening ritual most nights, and it’s actual bliss. If you are reading this and you haven’t watched Girls, you must; that series is a work of art that has Kendall and me crying laughing during every episode.
Friday was the second day of the symposium! The day opened with a talk from Dr. Áine Travers on “Emerging Realities: Psychological Perspectives on Identity, Risk, and Resilience”. Through her presentation, Dr. Travers touched on the different ways in which she has been able to blend her advocacy goals with her research aims, and that was extremely important insight for me. I often find myself considering whether I want to pursue a career deeply rooted in research, or if I want to do more NGO-based work that allows me to pursue the topics that I’m passionate about in a more personable and implementation-centered position. This talk helped me to realize that, done deliberately, there are ways to do both! It was nice to learn about the path that Dr. Travers took to accomplish that balance and solidify her research niche.
The second session of the day discussed “Adolescence in Ireland”, specifically how society caters to, or maybe against, young adults and children, and the psychological ramifications of that.
On Friday, we were blessed with the warmest weather we’ll have for this trip—78 degrees! When the symposium ended, I changed into my bathing suit and went straight from work to Howth to go swimming with my friends/roommates. The water was a tad freezing, and swimming wasn’t the ideal experience, but we got used to the temperature quickly and had the best afternoon swimming, chatting, and laying in the sun.
Saturday brought equally exciting plans as Friday. Kendall and I got up quite early and traveled down to Kilkenny for the day! We LOVED Kilkenny the afternoon that we visited with EUSA and have been eager to spend more time there ever since. It was so nice to have an entire day there to just take our time and explore things as they interested us with no concern for time restraints. We wandered through cathedrals, medieval ruins, and cobblestone alleyways. We spent time reading in the castle gardens and ate dinner at a restaurant along the river. It was truly a scenic day. Perhaps the most interesting part of our trip was that we saw eight brides that afternoon? Not sure that I’ve even seen eight brides in my life, so that was an unexpected pattern to the day.
As I’m writing this, I am officially halfway through my time in Dublin. I am so appreciative of the truly incredible time that I have spent here so far and am looking forward to all of the fun days that are still to come. I feel that I have been able to assimilate well with the culture here in Ireland, though interning in another country with different expectations and goals is definitely not an easy or seamless process. I have found the professional communication style here to be difficult to adapt to. Compared with the United States, there is a much lessened sense of urgency in the workplace, and with that, I have found that delayed responses and slow communication is something I should expect in my internship. Through time, I have been able to adjust to this, however, the urgency of the United States workplace is something I honestly miss. It can be challenging to feel like I have a good routine when I usually don’t know what I am supposed to be completing on a certain day until that morning. So far though, everything has worked out well and I’ve gotten used to the difference in expectation here compared to at home.
Slán go fóill!