Come Dance With Me In Ireland...: Belief is a beautiful armor....

October 10, 2010

Belief is a beautiful armor…

For some reason the weeks go by so fast but at the exact same time I feel like it has been forever since I have written a blog. I am not sure how that works but that is how it feels. Classes this week went well. I am finally starting to feel like I am in school. I actually have assignments and studying to do; which feels good. I really love the classes that am taking and think that I have a great opportunity to learn new material here that I would not have the opportunity to at home.

As you all know I started my internship this week. I have the opportunity to do my internship wit on other girl from my program, Stacie. Stacie and I go in to Young Social Innovators Tuesday s and Thursday s. Even though we go in together we do very different things while we are there. My job this semester is to take all the evaluations from the organization’s training sessions and evaluate them. I am really excited to do this because I feel like I can help them and really give back information that they can use to improve their training. I can see how I am helping them and that is encouraging. Like I said before, YSI is in the city centre. It is a wonderful location. Stacie and I pack our lunches and take them to St. Stephens Greene and eat in the park. It is an absolutely gorgeous park and it almost feels like I am eating lunch in a scene from a movie. It is really brilliant. We also like to enjoy a nice cup of coffee or tea after work and just enjoy being in the city and meeting new people.

I am quickly learning that the way an organization is run in the states and the way an organization is run in Ireland is very different. The organization here is so much more relaxed. The people we work with are wonderful. Stacie and I are both from small towns and have found it a bit challenging to work out the buses and how to get to work on time. They are so understanding and do not even mind that we have been coming in a little late. I have also enjoyed that when we arrive to work we have tea for twenty minutes, after lunch we have tea for a few minutes, and maybe a couple more times throughout the day. Even with the laid back atmosphere and tea times, I do not feel any less productive than an average day at a let’s say more strict U. S. organization. In fact there are times when I feel way more productive and far less pressured and stressed. It is very interesting but I clearly love what I am doing.

This Saturday three of my friends and I decided it was time to see parts of Ireland outside of the city. So as per advice from my roommates, we went to Howth Ireland. It was incredible. Howth is a thirty minute train ride away. It is a small fishing town just north of Dublin. We really knew nothing of where we were going or what we would do there but it was a fun adventure. We mostly just walked around and explored the town. If someone told me I could move there tomorrow; I would do it in a heartbeat. We found a small little restaurant for brunch. I had the most delicious pancakes with fresh fruit. They are arguably the best pancakes I have ever had. Yes, that good. One thing I love about eating out here is that it takes forever. Everything is so relaxed and focused on the company and conversation rather than being focused on the food and seeing how quickly you can eat and get out. We wondered around Howth for most of the day. we went and saw the Howth castle which was beautiful and enjoyed the nice sea breeze. It was a great day filled with exploring, good company and fun.

So today I decided to again be adventurous and find a church to o to. So I looked up churches in Dublin online, which how much can you really tell about a church from a website? Regardless I picked one that is close to where I do my internship. Yet again, I was late because I cannot seem to figure out how to take a bus and be on time. It was so fun to see what church is like in Ireland and to listen to a preacher with an Irish accent is also very cool. It was also a great reminder that God is the same everywhere; His message is the same no matter where you are in the world. Not that I did not know that but it seems so much more real to experience it. It was incredibly refreshing to go to church. After I waited for one of my friends, Jackie, to come meet me in the city and just walked around. I was exploring and surprisingly found that I knew where places were. I knew where to go for a good cup of coffee or where the places were to walk around for good shopping. It was great to get to spend some time alone walking about the streets of Dublin doing whatever I wanted.

Jackie and I decided today to go to the Dublin Castle. This is also a bit of a tourist thing to do; I try to avoid doing touristy things, but I also feel like it would be silly not to see these places while I am here. Jackie and I had time to enjoy a nice cup of tea before the tour. Today was an beautiful overcast day so tea was a perfect thing to have. The tour was very cool and the castle was beautiful. In all honesty though, who doesn’t like castles? I was encouraged to find that as the guide was telling the history of Dublin and of the castle I knew a lot of what she was saying. I knew who the people were she was talking about and I knew the events. I know way more about Dublin than I thought.

As I have said several times before, I love it here and I love the city of Dublin. I have been here three weeks now. It seems like the “vacation” feeling has worn off and it is becoming very real that I LIVE here. I am not visiting Dublin I live in Dublin. That also brings up the topic of really becoming a citizen of the city and not being the person who anyone on the street can look at and tell I am from the U. S. I know that I still look very “American”. I am hoping that gradually I will begin to look less and less “American” and more and more like I belong in Dublin.

I feel like I have talked a lot about what I do and just given you guys more or less and itinerary of my time here. I know this is already long but I would love to share what I am learning so far, beyond what I have seen and discovered. If I have realized on big thing it is how small the world is; and it’s shrinking. I have felt small bits of culture shock, but nothing huge. I chalk this up to how connected I am to home, how much Irish people know about America, and how similar the countries are. I am not saying it is not different here, it is very different. However, they speak English, they listen to American music, they watch American TV, and they know far more about American politics than I do. When I say “American” I mean from the United States, I realize this term is not accurate because the US is not the only place in America but it is also how they refer to the states. I may contradict what I just said but I have also learned that despite how small the world is, it’s people are so different. I am seeing cultural differences in my American friends almost just as much as I am with the Irish people. It is just such a great reminder that we are all individuals who have different experiences and different backgrounds. It is your experiences and you background that help make up who you are. Despite the fact that the world is shrinking, you can travel all over and never find a person who is just like you, who has the same morals, values or beliefs because it is your experience, background and other things that form those parts of who you are. When you find a person who shares similar values or beliefs as you do you, or I, often cling to that person because it tends to be comfortable. While I am here I would like to try to challenge myself to surround myself with people different than me. I think when you force yourself to move outside of people who are like you; you really learn what is important to you what things make up who you are. Having said that, I will probably spend most my time with my new friend, Jackie. Jackie and I are similar but not completely. I think her and I will be good together because we can feel comfortable around each other but I also see that we can both challenge each other to experience new things. A lot of what I have learned is how important it is to learn to who you are and how to maintain your beliefs wherever you are. Also to realize that wherever you are and whatever happens to you is shaping who you will become. Any moment can change your life you just have to be there. My goal while I am here is to seize every opportunity I have for a moment to change my life.

I miss you all very much and hope that you are well. Thank you for allowing me to share my experiences with you!

Cheers,

Keely