Week 8 wow I can’t believe this is my final week here in Dublin. I have learned so much and have had such a great time while being here. This was a little bit of a slow week again in the office. A lot of people in Ireland and Europe in general go for their vacations in July and in Ireland you get a lot more time off work than you would get in the United States. I worked remotely on Monday. I just got on a meeting with my team listening in to what the goals are for the next coming weeks in the company and hearing what deliverable needed to happen in the coming weeks. Most of the stuff in the meeting was for my co-workers. I just get to listen in for the experience and take notes on how the business is run which is interesting for me. After that I had to do some work for our marketing in the company making sure we had videos uploaded to our youtube and linkedin so I just made an excel checklist making sure we had the videos we needed uploaded up and running. This took up my time Monday and Tuesday. I did the same stuff in the office so not too much going for me those 2 days. Wednesday I got to go on an appointment with my co-worker James. He took me to a property that was worth around 1.5 million euros and we had to make sure the previous tenant had kept it in good shape. Unfortunately they did not so we had to notify the owner of the property and schedule cleaning and a few other services to the property. After that he took me to grab some coffee which was really nice of him. We got to sit down and actually talk in more of a social setting instead of the office and I actually started getting a bit sad realizing that my time in Dublin was ending and I started finally making good friendships here. I got a strawberry matcha latte which was really good while we were at the Cafe. James and I went to another appointment we had in the city center after that was just a quick taxi ride away. Thursday I didn’t have too much work in the office they let me leave a little early because most of the employees were out on appointments so that was nice because our program EUSA was hosting our good bye party for all the students at the program it was great to go see all the other students that were in the program with us and enjoy good food irish dancing and good tunes from the performers. The venue was so nice that our program had been rented out. Friday was so fun in my internship I had a few tasks and then James and Eliza took me on an appointment after we got lunch and then went to enjoy a view by the beach. They told me how much they were gonna miss hanging out and I told them how much I enjoyed working with them. I worked most of the time with James and Eliza and it was really hard for me to say goodbye to such great co-workers who became friends. When I got back to the office it was time for me to go and it was really sad saying bye to my co-workers in the office. They all thanked me for my help and work and it was time for me to go. My supervisor gifted me with an amazon giftcard as a gift which was really nice of her. I’m so grateful for the team at Casey Kennedy and will definitely stop by to visit next time I am in Ireland. 

In Ireland, I discovered that people define success in a professional context as being more a credit to quality of life and personal happiness than anything else, such as status and/or affluence. People here like being comfortable, enjoying their work, travel time, and having a decent work-life balance. A successful employee in my internship is one who is punctual, reliable, communicates well, shows up and supports the team, and ultimately understands that you need time to enjoy life. On the other hand, in America the focus to success and focus is anchored to corporate ladder climbing, owning a small business, acquisition of wealth, and accumulating material goods. Often, there are implied expectations or pressures to keep achieving the next thing or doing more, often abandoning enjoying the present moment. The Irish approach has helped me realize that professional success is not always on the basis of money and status, as it may also mean being happy, balanced, and present.