While it was a whirlwind, I found my time in Ireland to be enriching beyond expectation. Working on so many projects was challenging, but insanely rewarding. My internship consisted of so many different tasks, yet all of them worked towards conservation and restoration of the marine habitat. In site visits, I learned to apply my freshwater background to a marine environment. My second day I was out in the field, knee deep in a stream, sieving and apply knowledge to a brand new environment. Being back is weird, and I honestly sometimes struggle to believe just two weeks ago I was in Ireland, doing work I love and living in a completely new country. I am really grateful for my experience, my growth and the knowledge I have gained from it.
In speaking of growth, lets discuss it through my personal, academic, and professional life. Ireland is my first time truly living away from home. My entire adult life, I have lived either 15 minutes away from home, splitting time between my door and my house, or I have lived at home. In a brand new country, with new roommates, I found myself adapting to living “alone” surprising fun, but also challenging. Living on your own means a lot of new things, like having a shopping schedule, deciding on meals, and learning how to adapt your living style with others. I found that grocery shopping is actually really fun when you’re cooking mainly for yourself, as you can just buy whatever meal sounds good and roll with it. Also, Ireland culture is way more laid back in terms of stress than American culture is, which helped me to be a bit more laid back as well. It helped me realize not everything is the end of the world, and everything usually does work out. Academically, I found my time management improved greatly, and I was able to better manage my tasks. Instead of procrastinating like I usually do, I was kind of forced to do things in a timely manner, which overall was really good for developing those skills. I do still believing unfortunately I will procrastinate, but it was very nice to not have to worry about work since I had finished it. Professionally, I feel I grow so much; this was my first work experience in my field and in a professional environment, which meant a lot of room for growth. First of all, not being graded for work is so extremely satisfying. It opens up the dialogue for how my work could improve– and instead of fearing turning in something–I was able to turn things in knowing that critic would not affect me negatively. Secondly, it introduced me to an environment where I am able to set boundaries more properly. Instead of being told I needed to complete a task by this time, little to no exceptions, I worked with my supervisor, and was able to effectively communicate boundaries without feeling like groveling for extra time on an assignment.
Going back to Pitt, I’m looking forward to bringing my experience abroad back to my studies. It let me see just how interdisciplinary environmental science is in practice, and broke down a lot of the rigid views I had on professionalism. Mainly, I am looking forward to bringing this newfound understanding of professionalism to my new job at Pitt. I am going to be working in an environmental science lab, which while different from my internship, will still require professional communication. Funnily enough, a very big part of what I have learned is that if you talk to adults like an adult, there will usually be a good conclusion. You just have to focus on what each person wants out of the situation, and how best to accommodate both of those needs. It seems so simple, being being a child and then a student puts you in situations where a certain outcome is expected. If you treat a child like a child, and you treat a student like a student, they are more likely to respond like one. If you treat an adult like an adult, they’re more likely to respond like one. It a bit of a game, but having a job where you are equal to most of the people you interact with, and not treated like someone less knowledge, it is easier to grow even if that knowledge was not there.
Overall, my time in Ireland was grand, great craic, and I will miss it dearly. There, I learned so many new things, in so many new places, with people I will cherish now as friends stateside. I am so happy I took the leap across the pond, and I can’t wait to go back.