This week was very eventful for me and was one of my favorite weeks so far! On Monday I went to Dún Laoghaire and walked on the pier during the sunset. The town is so beautiful and has a great view of Dublin. I wish I could go there more but the bus ride is unfortunately quite long. Places like Blackrock are much easier to get to but do not compare. While watching the sunset, I saw some seals swimming and looked at all fo boats going by.
On Tuesday, I went into town and went to a cafe to get work done. On days I am remote, I feel like it is good to get out of the house and go to places I do not get to see often. I went to a cafe, did some work outside, and then went to a different cafe to finish my work. After that I walked around for some shopping and met up with some friends in St. Stephens Green. I got my favorite burrito from this place called Mamas revenge, and my friends got McDonalds. We sat in the park for a while, as it is important to take advantage of every sunny day in Dublin! We had really good weather this week so I tried my best to stay outside as much as possible.
On Wednesday I took the day to relax and reset my day. I had a lot of work to finish this day and so I did not do much except work and clean up around the house.
On Thursday it got really hot so it was the perfect day for a swim. I went to this like cliff- like swimming area and the water was so nice. I went swimming once before and the water was too cold to enjoy, but this day was so nice. I stayed in for so long and I think a really underrated part of this trip has been the beach aspect. I did not really even think about the fact that I would be swimming here so I didn’t even bring a swimsuit. Now, I have swam so many times and think its been some of my favorite parts being here.
On Friday, I had a meeting with my supervisors in town and spent about 2 hours going over my progress. I love these meetings as I get time to also speak with the CEO who has a a lot of great advice and insight into the public relations world. We spoke for a bit and also talked about the CEO Ellen’s experiences these past few months traveling around to different conferences and such. After that, I packed myself up and took the train to meet up with my friends in Howth. It was so hot out so we sat at this gorgeous beach and went swimming. The water was even better than the day before and we stayed in for so long. I even brought my underwater camera so we could get some good pictures near the cave. After that we hung out on the beach for a while and then we went into town to get ice cream. Ireland has some of the best ice cream ever and honestly for a good price. After that we took the train to the bus to our favorite pub, Mother Reillys. We got a nice round of drinks and sat next to a golden retriever the whole time!
On Saturday I went to St. George’s Arcade for some shopping and I got a nice ring and went into the shops to look at all the antiques and jewelry. We got lunch at this place outside and had a drink to celebrate such a nice day. After that we did some more shopping before we called it a day and took the bus home.
On Sunday I went to the National Gallery and had a really good time. I had been meaning to go because it is free, but never got around to it. After that I went to a pub to listen for some live music and a drink. They played all my favorite songs and I wanted to stay there all day. We had dinner reservations at 7 at our favorite dumpling place so we had to leave eventually but the dinner was amazing and it was overall a really good week.
What I have found most difficult about assimilating in Ireland is trying to follow the social cues and mannerisms. Things like ordering a drink, walking on a certain side of the road, or certain courtesies that I might not be aware of scare me because I do not wanna stick out like a sore thumb. I think I have improved on these skills in my time here by staying quiet and observing instead of just acting like I would in America.