Wrapping up week four of being in Ireland I can’t help but reflect on the fact that it does not feel as though I have been here for a whole month. I still feel like I arrived last week and am looking forward to all the adventures that still await. That being said, this post does mark the halfway point of the trip and as I have continuously remarked in my previous posts, I am so grateful for to be here and all that I have seen, learned, and experienced. Despite feeling like my time here has been short, I have learned so much about myself and the world around me, having lots of personal growth along with professional development through my internship.

Even though I am learning and experiencing so many amazing things that Ireland has to offer, I have learned tremendous amounts of valuable insights through my internship experience that I am so grateful for. This post will mainly be about my internship as I feel it is an appropriate point in the trip to reflect on everything, along with this past weekend being a short day trip where we got to see the Rock of Cashel, explore the property of Blarney Castle, and get a tour of Cahir Castle (I did not kiss the Blarney Stone because there was too long of a line and I wanted to explore the property to its fullest). 

At my internship these past 4 weeks I have had lots of time to get to know my coworkers on a personal level, along with them getting to know me a fair bit, and am being taught lots of valuable lessons through conversations, presentations, and my daily tasks. Besides refining and sharpening my excel skills, my tasks have proven to teach me lessons beyond what I am literally doing, and rather are teaching me how to approach a task, how to communicate any questions or needs, how to learn from mistakes, and that every task, even menial or slightly silly has meaning and gets the organization one step closer to accomplishing the mission. 

Notably, last week I was tasked with going into town and picking up a camera my boss purchased online and couldn’t pick up himself and was very crucial. “Crucial how?” You may ask, well this camera was to be given to Ireland’s first astronaut Dr. Norah Patten before she goes on a parabolic space flight. She was using our product on the flight so we could gather data and the camera was needed to document the flight. Now, was I simply just leaving the office in the middle of the work day to run an errand, essentially yes, but I understood the importance of the task and took advantage of the fact that I was alone in the town of Dublin for the first time and my boss had given me a company credit card to buy myself lunch. I did not abuse the credit card privilege, but simply went to a deli that my boss recommended to me and purchased a sandwich and ate it on the bus ride back to the office where I spent the next 30 minutes setting up the camera as requested. Was this task slightly menial and taking time away from the larger tasks I had to complete, yes, but I am grateful for the opportunity and happy that I was trusted and got to explore the bustling town of Dublin. This task taught me that there is meaning in all tasks, that you can enjoy you work day, insights about myself, and the functions of an organization.

Another highlight from my time at work was when I gave a presentation on American sports, the development process, fanbases, NCAA, and more, answering tons of questions and engaging heavily with my coworkers. Despite not testing my skills and giving me necessarily a challenge, I still experienced tremendous growth and development from this experience. I not only sharpened my public speaking abilities and got more comfortable speaking in front of a group in a professional setting, but I learned the most from the debrief with my boss on the presentation we had at a later date. Not to overpraise my boss, but he is a very brilliant man, working for the European Space Agency before starting this startup and only being 23, he has spoken at many events where he had to pitch his startup and has won over €750,000 for the company. He definitely has tons of valuable insights and I feel like I learn from him in almost every conversation we have. In our debrief he explained to me an amazing approach to breaking down a presentation and effective ways to convey your message through said presentation and gave me tons of insight into how to presentation strongly. This is one of many times where I have continued to grow professionally and learn tremendous amounts through my internship experience that I am so grateful for.

I can not wait to continue learning and growing throughout the next four weeks and am very excited for all that is to come, especially because we are going to Northern Ireland this weekend and have a packed three days.