It’s been a busy week here in Dublin! This past weekend I visited my sister, who lives in Galway. It has so much charm and character—it’s easy to understand how so many have fallen in love with Galway! We spent most of our time at the beaches, which were surprisingly filled with yellow sand and light blue water. I loved going to the local farmers market to grab picnic supplies, including some fresh, delicious strawberries. I’ve discovered that the strawberries are so yummy in Ireland at this time of year. We also went to the Galway Folk Festival to see a traditional Irish band, Kilá. You may be familiar with their work on the soundtracks of The Song of the Sea and The Secret of Kells movies. We showed up at 6pm like our tickets said, but we probably should have read up on the fest, as the band didn’t come on until 10:45. It worked out great though, as we saw two other live acts and got to know some locals while waiting for the main act! Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Coming back to work on Monday was honestly a bit hard after having so much fun over the weekend. I hadn’t exactly been welcomed into my workplace and had been feeling a bit of imposter syndrome as a symptom of this. However, I started a new project this week, which helped changed these feelings. I’m working with an architect named Kate and an intern named Aysel from the London office on an old project that may be picked up again. This development started in 2018 when the firm did a feasibility study on a plot of land in Sallins. The project is a large one with many duplexes, a nursing home, and a hotel all on one site. The developer dropped the project around COVID due to the economic climate at the time but is now interested in picking it up again. We are tasked with updating all of the materials in the feasibility study and tweaking the hotel and duplex designs in a few spots.

When asked if I’d rather work in the Revit model or work on the InDesign, I chose the second option as I’m much more comfortable with the Adobe suite than with Revit. Up until this week I had never worked in InDesign before. Most architecture students use this software all the time, so it’s rare to have avoided it for so long. Knowing this and that I had a good grip on other Adobe apps, I pretended like I had used it a few times previously to save a bit of face. Now tasked with creating diagrams and re-linking photos, I looked up a quick tutorial on the program and got to work. It has been a common theme for me in this internship to receive directions and not know how to do everything asked of me. I’ve taken on the model of problem-solving in the software, then asking the internet, then double-checking over the software, and if I’m still clueless, then asking a co-worker. I’ve learned how to become very quick on my feet with learning and adaptable to new software because there is so much to learn so quickly and very few people who have the time to help me. I think that being in a busy office has helped me improve my problem-solving skills because I don’t want to bother busy co-workers with my questions and have deadlines swiftly approaching me.

I would say I face a lot of ambiguity on a day-to-day basis in the office. I receive many directions that I have to further break down on my own to understand what I’m supposed to do. For example, I had the opportunity to edit the 2018 Sallins Hotel SketchUp model later in the week. While Kate has done an awesome job with being much more clear than others at my internship, there are still many parts of the directions that are naturally unclear to me just from my lack of knowledge. I often hear language like “perforated brick” and “parapet” that I don’t understand and need to write down to look up later. I’ve been asked to use tools in both Revit and SketchUp that I had never used before or to make changes to the model in ways I hadn’t done before. Almost everything I’ve done on this project has been partially or completely new to me. At the beginning of my internship, this cultural and work-related ambiguity totally freaked me out. However, now I approach everything with a learning mindset and acceptance that I may not be able to get things right or find the perfect answer by myself. At this point in my internship, I’ve started to look forward to and expect a challenge at each turn and have found satisfaction in being able to figure things out on my own. I’m looking forward to using this experience to improve my ability to learn and adapt in foreign situations quickly and effectively.

Coming back to work on Monday was honestly a bit hard after having so much fun over the weekend. I haven’t exactly been welcomed into my workplace and have been feeling a bit of imposter syndrome as a symptom of this. However, I started a new project this week which changed these vibes completely. I’m working with an architect named Kate and an intern named Aysel from the London office on an old project that may be picked up again. This development started in 2018 when the firm did a feasibility study on a plot of land in Sallins. The project is a large one with many duplexes, a nursing home, and a hotel all on one site. The developer dropped the project around covid due to the economic climate at the time but is not interested in picking it up again. We are tasked with updating all of the materials in the feasibility study and tweaking the hotel and duplex designs in a few spots.

When asked if I’d rather work in the Revit model or work on the InDesign I chose the second option as I’m much more comfortable with the adobe suite than with Revit. Up until this week I had never worked in InDesign before. Most architecture students use this software all the time, so it’s rare to have avoided it for so long. Knowing this and that I had a good grip on other Adobe apps I pretended like I had used it a few times previously to save a bit of face. Now tasked with creating diagrams and re-linking photos I looked up a quick tutorial on the program and got to work. It is a common theme for me in this internship to receive directions and not know how to do everything asked of me. I’ve taken on the model of problem solving in the software, then asking the internet, then double checking over the software and if I’m still clueless then asking a co-worker. I’ve learned how to become very quick on my feet with learning and adaptable to new softwares because there is so much to learn so quickly and very few people who have the time to help me. I think that being in a busy office has helped me improve my problem solving skills because I don’t wan’t to bother busy co-workers with my questions and have deadlines swiftly approaching me.

I would say I face a lot of ambiguity on the day to day in the office. I receive many directions that I have to further breakdown on my own to understand what I am supposed to do. For example, I had the opportunity to edit the 2018 Sallins hotel Sketchup model later in the week. While Kate has done an awesome job with being much more clear than others at my internship there are still many parts of the directions which are naturally unclear to me just from my lack of knowledge. I often hear language like perforated brick and parapet that I don’t understand and need to write down to look up later. I’ve been asked to use tools in both Revit and SketchUp that I’ve never used before, or to make changes to the model in ways I haven’t done before. Almost everything I have done on this project has been partially or completely new to me. At the beginning of my internship this cultural and work related ambiguity totally freaked me out. However, now I approach everything with a learning mindset and acceptance that I may not be able to get things right or find the perfect answer by myself. At this point in my internship I’ve started to look forward to and expect a challenge at each turn, and have found satisfaction in being able to figure things out on my own. I’m looking forward to using this experience to improve my ability to learn and adapt in foreign situations quickly and effectively.