I cannot believe that my time in Dublin is already over. This has been hands down the best summer of my life! I am so thankful for all of the fantastic people I met, the incredible experiences I had, and how much I learned about myself along the way. (If you are my family reading this and you want to skip to the bottom to see all the pictures from my last two weeks, feel free!)
My professional experience: I love PR!
I feel so lucky that I was placed with Burrell for my internship this summer. My experience has definitely solidified and intensified my goal of working in the marketing and PR industry. I was able to come up with different ideas for PR packages and be a part of the entire process, from brainstorming to putting the packs together and sending them off to relevant influencers and people in the media. I also had the opportunity to help out with some of their biggest clients, like Oxendales, PrettyLittleThing, BooHoo, and even some of the hotels they work with across Ireland. I put together media coverage reports and analyzed the reach and circulation of the different media outlets, which was really cool to see how their gifting and brand outreach correlated to numbers. The thing I enjoyed doing the most in the office was helping out with the mailers for different companies. I got to go onto the website for the brand and pick out some of my favorite pieces that correlated to a theme, whether that be summer occasion wear or around different trends I was seeing at the moment, and then I compiled the image codes and my colleague Sinead would send them off to the brand representative. Once the images were approved, I was sent the assets for the items, and I went through and curated the images I thought fit best with the pieces, and then sent them off in a mailer to different media outlets encouraging them to use the clothing in any upcoming pieces they were writing. My favorite part of working at Burrell was the events I was able to go to! I got to attend an event for a new hotel opening in Dublin, which was such a great time because not only did I get to see how hotels market themselves, but I also got to spend time with my amazing colleagues. I was also able to attend the PrettyLittleThing Summer Party, which Burrell actually hosted. I was able to see the entire planning process through the course of my internship, from the first stages of finding the venue and seeing where all of the branding and furniture would go, to reaching out to different influencers for invites and outfit gifting, and even figuring out how many pink paper straws would be enough for 150 people at an open bar. The event was stunning and it was as perfect way to close out my summer with Burrell. Although it was tiring, I was so excited to go to work every day – not only because I was doing really cool stuff, but also because I was working with people who I now consider friends rather than colleagues.
Work event at The Dean in Dublin!
Burrell!
My adorable colleague/friend Michelle at the PLT party
Feeling like an influencer at the PLT party!
My personal goals haven’t really changed through this experience, but rather they’ve become a bit clearer. Before this, I didn’t know if I would want to go abroad in the spring semester of my junior year, and I also didn’t really have an idea of what industry I wanted to work in after graduation. Now, I am definitely leaning toward staying at Bucknell during my spring semester. Although I adored being abroad, I also felt ready to come home at the end of the eight weeks. I also have been looking into virtual internships I could do during the year because I really enjoyed working in the fashion/cosmetics industry with Burrell. Looking forward, my goal to have an internship in the entertainment industry (hopefully in NYC, or in my dreams, LA!) for next summer is still definitely there. However, I also wouldn’t mind working in the fashion or cosmetics industry, as I really enjoyed it while at Burrell. I’d also like to try working for marketing in-house at a brand rather than an agency, to see which one I like more! There are so many different areas I want to try out, but I’m glad I enjoyed my experience because I know that working at a PR agency is something I would enjoy doing as my career in the future.
Reflecting on my goals/takeaways
I feel really proud of the way I accomplished my goals for the summer. I truly put my all into my internship, and I got so much out of it in terms of experience and solidifying my goals for the future. I was able to adapt to working in a new environment in a country I had never been to before, even if that meant keeping a notes page on my phone with little things to remember, like what the passwords were for the computers or how my boss liked her tea when she wanted me to make it for her. I also got so much out of the weekend excursions we went on. I made an effort not to doze off or stop paying attention, and I ended up learning a lot about Irish history and culture I wouldn’t have been able to learn otherwise. Even in the pouring rain, I still had so much fun!
This experience has definitely made me more culturally aware as well. I had never left the country before this, and it was never really something at the forefront of my mind. After this, I realized that I was so uneducated about other cultures, but others know so much about America. I went into Ireland knowing nothing about their government or politics or way of life, yet my friends at my job were asking me questions about life in the US as if they had lived there before. It opened my eyes to how important it is to travel and learn about cultures and people different from myself, and for that reason, I would love to live abroad or at least travel a lot more in the future. Similarly, my perspective on my time at Bucknell has also changed. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the Bucknell bubble and limit myself to my comfortable routine at school. Going into this semester, I have a new outlook on being able to branch out of my comfort zone and take risks I wouldn’t usually take.
That is actually what surprised me most about my summer experience – the amazing things that can happen when you step out of your comfort zone. Before I came to Ireland, I was terrified of how my experience would go, especially having never been out of the country before. It was a huge step for me to do this program and throw myself head first into it without any hesitation, and although I definitely had moments of anxiety throughout, I also let myself take huge leaps I never would have taken before. I pushed myself to prove that I was capable of doing important work at my internship by being attentive to little details and making sure I finished my tasks early. I took every opportunity provided on our different planned excursions, even if that meant staying outside in the rain a little longer so I could hold a sheep! I also went outside of my comfort zone in more personal ways, like traveling over an hour by myself to go to a dance class at a professional studio I’d never been to before after not dancing for over a month. However, all of those little moments of bravery ended up being some of my favorite things that happened on the trip. This is also what surprised me most about my experience – my ability to do things I didn’t think I could do before.
To any future Bucknellians who are not sure about traveling abroad, DO IT! There is only so much you can learn sitting in a classroom and taking notes. Nothing compares to fully immersing yourself in another culture, especially in a professional environment like what Bucknell in Dublin provides us with. I learned so much about Irish culture and history, and I realized how different it is from the US in so many ways. It was also a really cool way to see how Ireland operates, and how the US can take some pieces of what they do to make them operate better too. I cannot stress enough how amazing it was to live and learn in another country, and I’d encourage any Bucknell student who is considering going abroad to do it!
I’ve shared this blog with my whole family, but I heard the most feedback from my mom and my grandma, Mampsey. Because I was so busy during the week, one of my biggest struggles was keeping up with friends and family at home. This blog was a great way to not only document the experiences I was having in real-time, but also to share them with my family in an easy way, and they would always text me asking me questions about what I was doing or even just saying they liked what I was writing! My friends and I would also always read each other’s blogs, and send screenshots of parts we thought were funny or pictures we didn’t have yet, which was a cool way to see what we were doing outside of hanging out with each other after work.
To close out my final blog, here are some pictures recapping my last two weeks! I love Ireland so much, but more than anything I love all of the people I met there, both from Bucknell and from Dublin. Again, I couldn’t be any more thankful for this experience, and I hope I get the chance to visit again sometime soon.
My last days at work:
Family time!
A little story about the last pic: the fish on a bicycle was a part of the floor that was showing the history of Guinness’ marketing campaigns, which are so clever and creative. This one, in particular, was with the slogan, “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle,” which I LOVE. After I took that photo, my mom came up to me so excited, because my Mampsey used to wear a shirt all the time when she was little with the fish on a bicycle on it with that exact saying! So when we saw a sweatshirt at the gift shop with that exact saying, we knew we had to get one for her, since she had lost the t-shirt a long time ago. Now I have a matching one with her:)
Other stuff
Howth!
Last nights in Dublin!
Heading home 🙁
