As my internship wraps up, I’ve been thinking about what success looks like here in Ireland compared to back home. One thing that stood out to me is that in Ireland, being good at your job isn’t just about how much work you get done. It’s also about how you carry yourself and how well you work with others. People here really value being easy to talk to, respectful, and dependable. You don’t see people trying to stand out all the time or constantly pushing to be noticed. It’s more about being consistent, showing up, and being someone your coworkers can count on.
At Irish Insolvency Solutions, I noticed how my supervisor gave us a lot of space to figure things out on our own. It wasn’t a micromanaging environment at all. You were expected to take initiative and be independent, but also know when to ask questions if you got stuck. That taught me a lot about trusting myself and being confident in my work without needing constant approval or direction.
In the US, I feel like success is often tied to how much you can prove yourself or how hard you push to be seen. Here, it felt more about being steady, honest, and a good teammate. That shift has made me think differently about what kind of employee I want to be in the future and how important it is to adapt to the environment you’re in. Having previous knowledge about how the workplace operates in the US prior to coming here was great so that I was able to compare the two to one another. This allows me to prep more and take the best of both workplaces to be the best that I can throughout my career.
This past weekend marked my final weekend here in Dublin, and I can’t believe how fast the entire program flew by. It feels like just yesterday I was arriving, unsure of what to expect from this experience. With only a few days left, I wanted to make the most of my time here, so I planned two small trips.
On Saturday I went to Killarney. I wanted to go there because there is a huge national park just south of the town and there is a very lively town that surprised me when I got there. Killarney is probably one of if not the farthest point in Ireland from Dublin. However the journey was definitely worth it for the amazing sites and people I met there. I started my day out by getting some food and just walking around to get a feel for the town. It reminded me a lot of Galway with a few strips and a lot of people out and about. This was shocking to me because I was more excited to go there for the national park but I found myself really enjoying the town. There was a lot to do and I found myself spending a lot more time there then I had originally planned.
After walking around for a while I decided to go on a hike to the national park. There was a castle not far from the town and then a little peninsula that had so many cool sights. I was walking around the park for about 5 hours until my dogs were barking and I decided to go back and rest up. Although my legs didn’t agree with me I really enjoyed the hike and saw all the great sights that I got to see. I got some food then caught my train back to Dublin that I probably slept for over half of.
On Sunday the weather was so beautiful that me and my roommates decided to go down to Bray. Bray is a very nice beach town about an hour south of Dublin. There were a ton of people there given the very nice weather but it was a very nice place. There were a ton of shops and a little boardwalk where we were able to see everything that Bray had to offer. When we got there it was very hot but the water was freezing cold so we only went in for a small amount of time. After we got out the sun started to go away and the wind picked up so it got a little cold and we just decided to walk around and throw a frisbee around for a while. After that was done and we were ready to go back we stopped really quickly for some food and got on the bus back to Dublin.
