My trip in Dublin had a scary start as I waited for over 20 minutes for my bag at the airport baggage claim. Almost everyone from my flight had claimed their luggage, and it was just me and a few other people waiting. I really thought that my trip was going to begin with lost luggage. Thankfully, my bag was the second to last one to come out, which was very relieving.
Upon arriving, I was able to get settled in very quickly. I began talking to my roommates, Nick and Brad, as well as Max, who is in another apartment. We went out shopping to get some supplies we needed. That night, we ventured into the city to see what the nightlife was like. We went into the Temple Bar to take in the scene, but left abruptly after seeing the prices. We spent the rest of the night going around to popular destinations in the city and taking in the scenes around Dublin at night. The bus system is confusing at first, but not too difficult to manage. I will say that the Tube system in London is much better and that Dublin would definitely benefit from a metro system.
On Monday, we had our first class of ACFM 315: Judging Justice. This class was very interesting, especially to me because I am hoping to pursue a career in law. I found it interesting to see how the US and Irish courts work differently. That afternoon, we visited EPIC: The Irish Emigration Museum. EPIC stands for “every person is connected.” The museum’s focus was all about Irish emigration all throughout the world. As someone who is of Irish descent, I found this museum very interesting and engaging.
On Tuesday, I began my internship at Coleman Legal LLP. I am very lucky that my internship is located in the center of Dublin, so I get to see all of the cool things in the city on my way into the office. Everybody in the office was very polite and I felt welcome. My work in the office so far consists of organizing files and keeping track of paperwork, which is what I expected. One funny thing was that the firm had almost an entire box of files for clients with the last name Kelly, because it is one of the most popular Irish surnames. I am hoping that I will also be able to shadow one of the attorneys at the firm to see what their day is like. One thing that surprised me is how relaxed the work environment is. Although the office opens at 9 am, most of the people who work there come in from around 9-9:30 am. This is much different than office culture in the United States.
