After eight weeks, my study abroad program has come to an end. During my last week in Ireland I could see the finish line and the homesickness finally hit me. I think before that point the trip didn’t seem to have an end, so I did not let myself imagine being back home. But now that I am back in the States, I have already begun to miss my days in Dublin.
Over the course of this program I have seen myself grow stronger. When looking at my personal growth, I think that I became much more outgoing during this trip. Not to say that I was a recluse before, but while away I said yes to almost every plan or trip I was invited to. At home I am normally more selective and tend to spend a lot more of my time alone. While in Ireland though I didn’t want to waste a single second. This definitely led to me using much more of my social battery than I was used to. I think that this was a big reason why I felt so ready to go home during the last week, because I could finally see a point where I didn’t have to be super chatty or open anymore. I am very proud of the friendliness I exhibited for the entirety of the trip, and I hope that I can remember this experience the next time that I am feeling particularly drained, but I still want to make connections.
Academically I have really expanded on what types of careers and environmentalist can have. Before going to Dublin I had never worked closely with kids, and I had never really understood what “environmental education” meant. Now, after working in that sort of space, I more deeply understand the importance of this sector of work. A lot of my courses not only focus on saving the planet, but teaching people why we should care about the environment. After this summer I have learned how to share this knowledge. At first, it was difficult to understand how I was supposed to talk about nature and climate change to children, but my supervisor helped me learn how to do it in a digestible way. When I go back to school, I think that this experience will have helped me learn how to communicate things to children and other less educated people. Again, this is crucial in the environmental world as one of our main jobs is trying to teach people.
When it comes to professional development, this trip has really taught me the importance of communication. Some days my boss and I would be on the exact same page, and everything would go perfectly, but others we would be in completely different books. Over the eight weeks I think that I have really learned when to ask for more information and when to go off of your gut. In my chosen career, law, I think that this will be an extremely valuable skill. I also think that I developed a lot of good time management skills, as I was often given multiple tasks each day, none of which with a clear end point. This resulted in me having to designate time for each task, rather than just do one until it was complete. Overall, I think that this program taught me important professional skills, as well as helped me grow personally and academically.
My key takeaways from the program are that the most important skill in the workplace is communication, always try new things, and don’t forget to put yourself first sometimes. The first one I have already explained above, but I really do think that without good communication there is no way for a project or organization to succeed. My second key takeaway, that you should always try new things, was something that I learned immediately. During the first few weeks I said yes to every day trip or adventure that was offered to me, and I never felt regret. Eventually I did learn however that is important to put yourself first, even when there are fun things being offered. There were times when I said yes to something, but the next day I was so exhausted that I wish I had not gone. This reminded me that having fun takes balance, and that only I am to blame if I am tired all the time. At Pitt I will use these second two takeaways to have a great senior year that is filled with both friend time and alone time. In my future career I will more focus on the first key takeaway. As I go through law school and then my career as a lawyer, I will do my best to be open and communicative. Without this Irish experience I would not be as confident as I am today, and I will forever be grateful for this amazing opportunity.
