I realized this week that my time here is getting shorter and shorter. On Monday I worked and then went shopping later on. I booked my flights for the Paris weekend with my best friend which is really exciting. I have not taken many trips here because it is really hard to plan things with everyones schedule. It is expensive to travel and working Monday through Friday 9-5 makes it difficult to plan things and fly somewhere. But, when I was planning this trip to Dublin I knew that one weekend I would have to go to Paris because it was always my dream.
On Tuesday it was really nice out so I went to the park after work and read with my friends. The days with nice weather here are the best days to be outside and I find that hanging out in St. Stephens Green is the best way to feel social and be outside without spending money. It is also in a really great location for shopping because it is near Grafton street and a bunch of other restaurants.
On Wednesday I went to a play with my friends called The Cave. I was really excited to see a play here because I wanted to experience what art would be like in Ireland. It was a really cool theater and the play went really well.
On Friday I had a meeting with my supervisors and then on Friday night I went out with my friends. We decided to do a pub crawl and went to like five different pubs because we realized it was the last open Friday night we will have. We started at a pub called Nesbitt’s that I had been dying to go to since we got here. We went on to a bunch of different pubs along town and even stopped in at the Temple Br for our tourist moment. This was one of my favorite nights here because I got to see what nightlife was like in so many different places. We ended up at McDonalds then went home and I slept in the next day.
On Saturday I took the day to relax before getting ready for the Backseat Lovers concert. The venue was really cool and it was small enough that I felt really close to the stage. I also had a goal of going to one concert while I was here and I was really excited to go that night. After that I went to a pub with one of my friends and we drank into the rest of the evening. It was truly a really good weekend. On Sunday I went to a bakery with some friends and then read in the park for the rest of the day.
I think that some skills I have picked up so far in Dublin are definitely adapting to my surroundings and making changes where I see fit. I also think I have done a lot better at problem- solving because I have faced many issues here and have had to overcome them. I think living and working in a different country means that with all the exciting good parts there are just natural differences that you must solve on a daily basis. I think it has been exciting to get to know my supervisors because they have cultural differences that allow me to adapt to even more different conversations. To build rapport with people from different backgrounds is something I looked forward to when coming here and I think it has helped me grow a lot.