The end of this week marks the start of the second half of my two-month summer internship here in Ireland. I can really feel myself settling into a comfortable routine here. Every weekday I bike to work in the morning, bike back, go for a run/go to the gym, eat dinner while watching a show, call my gf, and then head off to bed to do it all again the next day. Routine, in my opinion, can be a very good thing but in some ways can be harmful as well. They allow us to stay focused and get what we need to get done, while giving us a sense of satisfaction through comfort. However, if you get stuck in the same routine for too long, then you can find yourself stuck in the same position for a long time. It can be the same reason you do not leave a job you should leave for years to find a better one, or the same reason why don’t fulfill your ambitions because you are comfortable just settling with your current situation. Luckily however, this weekend I got an opportunity to step outside of my routine and do something fun with friends. This week’s main highlight was traveling over to the western region of Ireland to the city of Galway.
This trip had been discussed for weeks in advance, so I knew it was coming up, but even still it caught me by surprise on Friday night that I had to pack for an early morning train the next day. I quickly packed two sets of clothes into my suitcase and some toiletries and went off to bed. Unfortunately, there is a heat wave going through the UK and Ireland region which has been making it really hard to sleep, so I did not get the best sleep going into the Galway trip. Overall, however, I have really been enjoying the heat wave. I love warmer weather and how it allows for a lot more outdoor activity. A lot of people say they miss the rainy cloudy days, but I really think this heat wave is a nice break from the gray sky days. I hope it stays around for at least another week. Anyway, the train ride to Galway is 3 hours, and after we settled into our semi-comfortable Airbnb, we immediately headed back to city center to get on a bus to go see the famous Cliffs of Moher. The weather was not the best as it was rainy and cloudy but nevertheless, we got to see some beautiful landscapes. The next day, Sunday, we woke up early to catch a ferry going to the Aran Islands! This was an amazing experience as we got to bike around the whole island (Inis Mor) in about an hour. The most beautiful part was hiking up a rocky landscape to get to the top of some cliffs. We could see the sides of the cliffs and the depth to them, which is something that pictures can never fully capture.
Through this internship experience, I feel like I am gaining a lot of skills that I will be able to transfer and apply into my future profession and life. The skill most applicable to everyday life is socializing. Throughout this trip there have been so many encounters where I have talked to random strangers. This is at first a very uncomfortable situation just because they come from a different culture and background but the important thing to keep in mind is that they are most likely just as open to interact with you as you are with them. Therefore, keeping an open mind and keeping an interest about them is a great way to build connections with people. Some technical skills I developed through my internship experience are setting boundaries and being firm. In my internship, I work as a service provider for intellectually disabled service users. So far, I think I have done a great job building connections with them and getting along with them. However, I realized that it is important to be able to be firm with them and make sure they know what is okay and what is not. Some of them struggle with understanding personal space, so it is important to really let them know whenever they are violating your space. Being patient and open are great skills to have whenever dealing with cross-cultural situations as it allows you to navigate them with more ease. Even if I can’t see now how these experiences are developing my skills, I know that in the future I will be so thankful for the many skills I gained from this amazing opportunity.