This week, I completed a lot of new tasks at my internship, saw a really great play at the Abbey Theater, got to play some Gaelic games (not very good at them), and visited the archaeology section of the National Museum of Ireland. I feel like I’ve really started to get my routine down living in Ireland, and it’s starting to feel more like a second home than a foreign country.
Burrell – Internship
In my internship, on Monday, I sat in on a webinar about how to better PR practices with one of the other interns. I also got to put together some more PR packages (pictured are the boxes I put together for Neutrogena), and work on two new reports on media coverage: one was for Skellig Six 18, an Irish whiskey company, and the other was for an online personality who is selling a book about psychology. One thing I like about going to work every day is that I never know what I’m going to be doing, and it’s always something different. For that reason, a norm I’ve found in my workplace is that everyone is very flexible, and there’s no such thing as a “good” or “bad” task to be doing. Some days are more hands-on, like when I’m helping organize the office or when I’m putting together PR packages to be sent out to influencers, but others I’m putting together reports of media coverage to send out to clients or sending out press releases to different Irish journalists. I’m grateful that Rebecca, my supervisor, has started trusting me with more important tasks. Although it can be stressful because there are a lot of moving parts, I like knowing that I’m capable of doing something new and succeeding. Next week, one of the girls in the office will be away on a brand trip for one of their clients, so Rebecca gave me a project to work on for her while she’s away. I’m nervous because I’ll be doing direct work with clients putting together press releases and picking out collections, but I’m excited to get a taste of what a real concrete career in PR could look like.
Something else I’ve noticed at Burrell is that they put a huge emphasis on getting to know each other on a personal level outside of work. Every time someone leaves the office, whether that’s to pick up a product for a package or to go get a coffee, everyone always asks the rest if anyone wants to come or if anyone needs anything. People are always doing favors for each other, but they’re not afraid to ask for help when needed in return. I love this type of work environment. I noticed it immediately on my first day, and it made me feel so comfortable around all of the girls. They even invited me to hang out after work on Friday to go get a drink with them! Although I couldn’t go, I’m excited to spend more time with the girls I work with in the future, especially at some of the brand events we have coming up.
Plays & Gaelic Games! (and other stuff)
On Thursday, we all went to the Abbey Theatre to see Every Brilliant Thing. I love theater and going to see plays and musicals at home, so I was very excited to see what it was going to be, especially because I didn’t do any research on the show beforehand. Although I was expecting it to be a lot more upbeat, I thought it was incredible that one woman was able to put on such an incredible performance with only a few props and some interaction from the audience. I found myself alternating between laughing and almost crying so many times throughout the show, which I think speaks to how powerful it was. It had really great messages about hard topics like mental health and what it means to be truly happy. I’m really glad that this was one of our planned excursions because I don’t know if I would have been able to find this show otherwise, and I think it’s great that we all had the chance to see it.
Our last planned event for the week was Experiencing Gaelic Games. I wasn’t expecting to be good at any of them, but I don’t think I was prepared for just how horrible I was at all of them. The two guys who were showing us how to play kept having to come up to me and show me how to hit the ball with the hurling stick thing or how to pick up the ball for Gaelic football. It got to the point where I think it looked like I was trying to be bad at it on purpose – I wasn’t, I just have zero hand-eye coordination. With that being said, I had so much fun trying something new, and it gave me a huge appreciation for the people who play those sports. I thought it was really cool that once you are born into a county, you are with that club for your whole life and you can’t switch sides. It creates a huge sense of community and pride around these sports that I could sense even from the way the people at the club were talking about it. I also thought it was crazy that you can’t play Gaelic football or hurling professionally, and you could be playing a championship game in front of 80,000 people one day and be at your 9-5 job the next. It’s so different from the way professional sports work in the US. Even though I was embarrassingly bad at them, I still had fun getting to be outside on such a nice day and try something new!
Kate and I looking really awesome before playing hurling
Excursion pics
My view of the Abbey Theater
Pre-play coffee and sweet treat
After we were done, we walked around the town and all found something to eat. It took us almost 3 hours to get home because of the pride parade, but afterward, we all hung out outside that night and listened to music. It was so much fun and a great way to end an awesome day. On Friday, I also got to go shopping after work and met up with Bethany and a bunch of the people in our program for her birthday, which was so much fun! Lastly, this Sunday, I finally got to sleep in and get some rest. We went to a great Asian food restaurant for dinner and I got the best rice bowl I’ve ever had. It’s been so fun exploring Dublin and finding new places to eat and hang out.
Today, we visited the archaeology section of the National Museum of Ireland. I really liked looking at all of the artifacts, particularly the gold ones that looked like jewelry. I also found the room about Glendalough to be super cool since that’s where we went on our first weekend excursion, and it was interesting to compare the history to what I saw when we were hiking. We also did a SWOT analysis of SDG goals in Ireland and the US in class today. I thought it was interesting to use something I’m used to seeing in my marketing classes in something like sustainable planning, and it gave me insight into what I am going to write about for my final paper.
Week 3 was a great time! This coming week I’ll be doing a lot of work with my internship, but I’m excited about the free weekend ahead. I’m going to try to either find a cheap flight somewhere else in Europe or see what places in Ireland I can explore with my friends!