Week 8 Recap

It’s my last week in Ireland, and while I am very excited to go back home, I am going to miss a lot of things about this country. I was talking to one of my coworkers, and she said that I “just get it.” I think she was referring to Ireland itself- although I would not consider moving here permanently, I think I have gotten a real feel for it in the two months that I’ve been here, and I do understand how different the culture and sensibilities are here. Ireland may be an English-speaking country and share some other similarities with Americans and the British, but until you spend some time here, it’s hard to understand what is so special and different about the country and its people. I learned an Irish blessing that I figured I would share here:

Hills as green as emeralds

Cover the countryside

Lakes as blue as sapphires-

Are Ireland’s special pride

And rivers that shine like silver

Make Ireland look so fair-

But the friendliness of her people

Is the richest treasure there.

I went to a Moldovan grocery store over the weekend to pick up some Eastern European sweets for my coworkers to try. I bought some of my favorites, like honey ginger cookies, and marshmallow swirls coated in dark chocolate. I figured it would be a fun cultural exchange, since my coworkers have all tried very hard to introduce me to Irish culture, especially through food. I also wrote up some thank you cards for two people in particular who made me feel the most welcome. I wanted to do something for a lot of the people who work there, but in the end, I just decided to stick to the two, plus my supervisors. 

As for work, my supervisor let me know that one of their clients, whose project I have been working on for weeks, actually decided not to go through with ninety percent of the renovations they asked for! Well, it felt like a bit of a punch in the gut for both of us, especially since we spent so much mental energy on such minor details to get the design perfect. In the end, all they want to do is add some drylining in three rooms on the first floor. Although they won’t end up using my work for the project in this case, I am still grateful that I got a lot of practice in MicroStation, SketchUp, and even hand drafting.

I also spent some extra time I had on housekeeping tasks. I updated my resume to add this internship experience, and I finished the STAR interview cheat sheet. I found it difficult answering some of the questions, such as how I have worked in a team during my internship, since my firm is so small. In reality, I would probably answer those types of questions using a different job or academic project. Still, the practice was pretty helpful for me as I am always trying to improve my interview skills. I also drafted a couple of LinkedIn posts to put up once I’m home, just so there is some visual proof of the work I did this summer on my profile. LinkedIn is a very strange place, but I just do the minimum to keep my profile updated to reflect my resume, check for jobs, and post major professional achievements on there. I also try to connect with people in preservation and public history in the Pittsburgh area, and follow local preservation groups, so I get a more curated feed of real people instead of incessant AI-generated posts after posts. 

Global Competency and Expectations

The biggest point that I noticed in the Irish workplace is that success is defined by your end product, rather than how you got there. In America, employers are very process-driven, and they like to know what’s going on every step of the way for their employees. This can lead to micromanaging in more extreme cases. In Ireland, however, employers tend to be a lot more hands-off. I have to go out of my way to get feedback or advice from my supervisors, for example. A successful employee is one who gets their tasks done, no matter where or how they do it. Also, being a successful employee involves being personable and able to collaborate with coworkers. This means not only working well in a team professionally, but also being a good sport about conversations during lunch or going out together after work. While this is true in America as well, I notice the ‘human’ aspect of work is a lot more important here.