My first couple of days in Ireland were full of a lot of exciting things I saw and experienced. I landed in Dublin on Saturday June 7 around 11:00 AM Dublin time not in the best mood because I had gotten maybe an hour of sleep on the plane ride over from Newark, New Jersey. Even though I was pretty groggy, I ran through customs at the airport and was able to find a group of other Bucknell students in the program waiting for our driver. Once we walked over to the car and drove over to the beautiful campus of University College Dublin, I was able to get access to my apartment and meet some new people.
I met and talked to my roommates Brad and Tennyson, and also met Max who lives in the same building but below us. It was nice to meet some people right away and be connected to them through the Bucknell program as I can have a tough time meeting new people in some occasions. All of us being from Bucknell made it a lot easier and even though we didn’t know each other before, I am starting to get to know them a lot better now and I’m grateful for that. We all went to explore the city Saturday and Sunday night, while trying to get to know the bus system. This was my first time using a transportation system like this but I honestly found it pretty easy to catch on by just using google maps and planning ahead.
On Monday, I had my first class which was on comparing the US and Irish court system on the idea of privacy and specifically data privacy. It was interesting to look at the laws that Ireland has to protect their citizens from the government selling their data to corporations. We looked at multiple court cases that showed the legal differences between the two countries and I found it to be very interesting. This class was especially applicable since I am studying computer science and engineering at Bucknell and the manipulation of data to create algorithms is very prevalent in my field of study. We also traveled to the EPIC museum in the afternoon and learned about the culture of Ireland through a digital museum. It was very interesting to see the various exhibits of their culture through history, sports, food, and entertainment.
On Tuesday I was supposed to begin my summer internship at Think Biosolution as an artificial intelligence tester but the workers at the office decided to attend a last minute conference which has pushed back my first in person day to be Friday, June 13. But I had an onboarding google meet on Wednesday at 10:00 AM which allowed me to get a better understanding of the company’s goal and work I might be doing. Even though I haven’t gotten much experience yet as an intern, I will be preparing myself for the end of the week to work hard and apply myself in the office. I am hoping the internship will hone my skills as a programmer and allow me to improve myself this summer.
The Triumphal Arch outside Epic Museum
View outside of my Apartment at University College Dublin
Outside Temple Bar in downtown Dublin
View of ship within Epic Museum
View of the beach in Blackrock, Ireland