This week, I began to adjust to spending the next eight weeks in Dublin. After arriving in Dublin, I was surprised to learn that there are several things here that are going to take time to adjust to and that there will be a very long learning curve. Some new places I explored included different types of grocery stores, and I discovered which store I preferred over another. I would recommend doing most grocery shopping at Aldi as they have better prices and a wider variety of food. Something I was shocked to learn about was how you have to put in a coin to use a shopping cart. That would be another suggestion I would make next year to the future Bucknell in Dublin group. Although I am only halfway through the week, I found my first two days of my internship rather challenging. Adjusting to cultural norms in the workplace was not something I thought I would have to do. Another mistake I originally made was using FreeNow instead of taking the TFI. The TFI was confusing at first, but after only two days of using the bus system, I realized that it wasn’t as confusing as I thought and was very easy to use and get around the city with. A suggestion I have is downloading the TFI live update app to see all bus times throughout the day. Google Maps and Apple Maps work, but I find that TFI live update gives you more accurate times, as it also includes your work to the station, the station number, the number of stops, and then the walk from the station to your final destination. When having to be somewhere at a certain time, like your internship or class trip, having live updates for your bus route is of the utmost importance. One thing that I am grateful for is when I learned that we must take photos and submit at least five each week. I bought a camera for this trip to take pictures of the trip, but after finding out I would have to do that anyway, it felt less like a homework assignment and more like a hobby.
The trip to EPIC was unique to me, as I had never been there, and all of my great-grandparents came to the United States directly from Ireland. When the tour guide talked about how families would sometimes send over a daughter or son by themselves, I was able to relate to this as my grandparents told me stories of their parents coming to the United States all by themselves. It was interesting to relate to these stories from my own perspective and learn more about Irish culture and immigration.
