Wow, week 4 already!? Time flies in Dublin! This week I went on a few mini adventures. I checked out a harbor in a little town east of UCD and the Wetherspoons in Dun Laoghaire. I didn’t expect for the ocean to be so easily accessible and beautiful as it has been here. It only takes 20ish minutes to get to the ocean, and from there you can quickly get anywhere on the coast via the DART train. While not super sandy, the beaches here are light blue and lively. I definitely need to go for a swim before my time in Dublin is over! I also found an awesome store in Temple Bar called the Library Project, which sells the most beautifully crafted poetry and art booklets, which I thought was so cool. I’m going to spend the next few weeks figuring out which 1 book to buy out of the many options. On Tuesday I went to a charli XCX concert which was AWESOME! She is so talented and I met a bunch of Irish friends at the concert which was sweet. Here are a few pictures from my week:

This was one of the first weeks I felt more “settled in” to Dublin and the culture here. I can get around via bus or walking without much help from Google Maps and have started saying “thanks very much!” instead of just thank you. It has surprised me how quickly I pick up on slight language differences and sayings and latch onto them. I think I just started doing this out of wanting to fit in and be a bit less American-y in public. One interesting thing I’ve had to adjust to is how quickly food expires here. I’m honestly happy it does because it means the food is fresher and packed with fewer preservatives. However, this means I have to grocery shop more often than I usually would at home. I usually go a few times a week. This is a much more European concept, and while it does take more effort to go to the store more often, I think it’s nice that you don’t have to plan your meals out super far in advance and that the quality of food you get is better. Outside of work I feel like I’ve been assimilating pretty well and starting to feel a bit more like a Dubliner! On the other hand, it’s been slower when assimilating to the culture of my workplace.

Like most workplaces, mine is filled with unspoken rules and cultural norms that are sometimes hard to pick up on and adapt to. The social aspect of the workplace has been the hardest for me to adapt to because most people in my workplace don’t chat with each other very often. I’ve found that people don’t even always say good morning or goodbye to those working next to them. Meanwhile, I’ve noticed that many people are friends and do get along, and I am wondering how they have established these connections. While being less social in the workplace likely isn’t a very Irish thing, I think that there might be a tendency for Irish people to be more reserved and shy when meeting in more serious atmospheres. I think this may be due to the fact that social and workplace seniority and stratification are not as much of a norm in Ireland. In Ireland it is the norm to view everyone as your equal, and if you don’t, you are seen as proud/rude. I think this might make the formal stratification of the workplace more awkward for Irish folk. This, on top of the fact my boss told nobody I was an intern, definitely has made people shyer to approach me.

Another fun bit of Irish culture I see in the workplace is our coffee and tea station. In the kitchen, Reddy A+U has supplied a huge coffee machine that makes anything from regular coffee to lattes to hot water (for tea, of course)! Everyone has their own mugs and will often head over several times in the day to get their fill. I think the caffeine thing might be a bit influenced by the hard-working sleep deprivation in the architecture industry. But the practice of working with a warm drink during all hours of the day feels Irish to me. While I’ve definitely wanted to participate in the coffee sipping, nobody has introduced me to that area of the workplace. It’s hard to know when it’s appropriate to grab a drink, if I should bring in a mug, if talking in the coffee area is encouraged, etc. Also, I don’t usually drink much coffee or tea every day, so the amount of hot drink consumption was a bit of a shock to me. I’ve had the courage to get a coffee a few times but am still building my confidence to completely participate in this office Irish ritual.

I’m looking forward to settling into the office and Irish culture more in the next few weeks. See you next week!