Day Fourteen- Black Cab Tour

The day started off with us doing a bus tour of Belfast. It wasn't until we started to drive out of the downtown areas of Belfast that I started to understand The Troubles. That being said the bus only gave us a brief overview and it left me wanting more.

After lunch some other classmates and I grabbed something called a Black Cab Tour.

These tours take you around the areas that were hit hardest during The Troubles. The person doing the tour is someone that lived through that. I think having that perspective is what makes these tours so informative.

Our tour guide was in his early teens at the time. He told us how when going to school it was very normal to step over military personal laying down on the street, gun poised and ready to fire at the opposing side.

Helicopters flying directly over your house all night was a common occurrence.

A number of the victims in the attacks were personal friends of his.

Today he raises his kids in neither religion. His middle child goes to a school mixed between Catholics and Protestants. What struck me most about this is that he has to pay a tuition equal to a private elementary school in the States. If she were to go to a Catholic school there would be no charge.

The whole experience was in many ways very overwhelming. I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Northern Ireland. It really gives you a feel for what these people went through and are currently going through.

Day Thirteen - Belfast

Today we travelled up the road to Belfast, Northern Ireland. If you don't remember that Ireland is an island with two different countries go back to one of my earlier blogs. Ireland has a deep and rich history that I think is worth learning about.

We toured the area where the titanic was built and shipped out. It's hard to imagine that large of a ship in that space all those years ago.


After our tour the rest of the day was spent listening to lectures from successful entrepreneurs on leadership skills. In many ways I felt right at home as a number of them were engineers with an MBA, exactly like my own father.

After listening to them I have become inspired to start reading Harvard Business Reviews more regularly along with all the Michael Lewis books my dad has been telling me about.

Some of the things that stood out to me were that good leaders need to have the generosity gene, they are never the smartest people in the room as a result they can never be envious about that.

To accept that you're not the smartest person in the room and to not be envious about that fact would be hard. Hard in the sense that you have to motivate those people to listen and follow you.

The happiest part of my day was walking into my hotel room and seeing my view.

Location:Queens Road,Belfast,United Kingdom

Day Twelve - Day Two of Company Project

The more I work with my team the more I figure out my preferred role in the work place.

I enjoy reaching out to people and establishing some sort of connection. That has become my role in the group.

So far I have been able to set up a meeting with someone in Israel, Ireland and possibly Chile. All very exciting! Considering these are some of my first international contacts. My team as deemed me the "mover and shaker" which I think is fitting.

We have about three conference calls lined up in the next week all of which I have scheduled. For anyone that knows the Strengths Quests model this really speaks to my futuristic and arranger sides.


The rest of the group spent the majority of the time researching various startup and accelerator models. This is my area of weakness. Future goals include learning how to better focus on a computer screen reading through various articles and blogs.

It was a long day of sitting down and I am learning that enjoy moving about and talking more.

Overall, this is an amazing opportunity for me. By learning about these various strengths/weaknesses and likes/dislikes now I can better carve out a positive career path.

Location:M50,Dublin,Ireland

Day Elleven - First Day at the Company

Yesterday was my first day at the company I am working for, Startup Ireland www.startupireland.ie.

It was interesting to see how the different personalities came into play.  I personally find myself trying to be self-aware more than normal.  I want to be careful not to come across as a narrow minded no-it-all who thinks there is nothing to be gained from anyone else. I feel that is a misconception many people have of my generation.

At the same time I am aware that I am a young woman and want to make sure I am not coming across as timid and unwilling.  I believe I have found part of this balance in body language. Making sure my outfit is appropriate for the situation and paying attention to my posture in meeting. Just because I generally don't say anything doesn't mean I can't still make some sort of impression.

By sitting near the front, making eye contact and sitting up straight I am still able to make my presence known.  After the meeting I try to make my way over to the speaker, introduce myself and comment on his lecture.   For whatever reason I seem to have a fear of asking questions during meetings.  One-on-one conversations and presenting to a group of people (however large or small) does not phase me. It's that in-between setting of meeting settings do. Perhaps it is a fear of asking the wrong question. More reflection on that later I suppose.

Being the youngest also has its advantages in that I am starting my global networking very early.  
My plan after finishing my undergrad (and most likely my CPA) is to go and work and/or get my masters overseas for chunk of time.   I would love to come back to Ireland or potentially find my way more south to Spain or Australia. Jan gave me the tip on learning a second language before I enter into my career. If I were to live in Spain I would find myself at the advantage of being able to immerse myself into learning Spanish 24/7. Sounds like Rosetta Stone is on my next birthday and Christmas wish lists!

Day Ten - Touring and Legos!

Today we spent the day touring the Ivy house and touring the Dail.

The Iveagh House was an honor to go to because its very rare to get a tour much less the chance to speak with a diplomat.

In the meeting I found myself listening and observing more than talking.  I am the youngest on this trip by a few years and find myself in a wonderful position to gather knowledge from those around me.

The Dail is the Republic of Ireland's Parliament.  They were in session when we went so we got to see the workings of some of the politics in Ireland.  There were many parallels to draw on between their Parliament and the United State's government.

After that a classmate and I went to The Art of the Brick.  This a museum of Lego's made into various art forms.  It was a lawyer that decided he was done practicing law and pursued Lego art instead.

This was my favorite piece of the whole exhibit.  It's a father holding his dead son in his arms.  Lego's and art combine together to make a very moving and emotional piece.

 Lego Slippers! I seriously considered buying them....

Day Nine- University College of Dublin

Moving Day!  Today we moved from our hotel in downtown Dublin to the dorms on the University College of Dublin.  

Once we arrived at the college we sat through a series of guest lectures that Jan Rutherford (our professor) put together. 

At one point the class was discussing adversity they had all faced in places they had worked. As I sat there trying to figure out a situation where I had faced adversity in my work place.  I couldn't.  

Where I work now (Colorado Insurors Service Inc.; http://www.coloradoinsurors.com/ ) everyone is open and honest with each other. 

• If someone seems to be falling behind another person steps in to see how they can help.

• Mike Gallagher (President) shares the companies gains and losses with everyone, in fact he has me put the reports together.
• Once a month Mike takes us all out to lunch where we take time to ask about everyone's lives. 
• We celebrates everyone's birthday.
• If we are frustrated with anything in the company no one hesitates to step forward and state their issues and pose solution. 
• Everyone is always asking for input on things they are doing and no one puts the other off when asked for input/help. 

The company is great.  I love working there because it is showing me what a functioning company looks like with employees who are adverse to drama and politics.

I hope to take all lessons I have learned here and have yet to learn and apply them to my future workings as a way to avoid certain problems. 

 

Classmate blogs

For anyone who is interested these are the following links to the rest of my classmates blogs:


Bob Prohaska: http://thecuriousbob.blogspot.ie/ 


David William:  http://broncosace.blogspot.ie/2014/05/ireland-20.html


Bevan Cox: http://bevancox.blogspot.com


Anna Ferreira: https://annakatferreira.wordpress.com


Rahul Sukkala: http://rahulsukkalaposts.tumblr.com


Kaley Bundy: http://kbundy84.tumblr.com


Katy Gorman: http://katygoingabroad.blogspot.com


Scott Stewart: http://navyskier.blogspot.com


Patrick Hutchinson: http://pdhutchinson.tumblr.com/


Allie Ricks: http://www.alliericks.com


Brett Bennett:  http://www.tumblr.com/search/emerald+adventure


Kelly McLvrid:   http://seekellytravel.blogspot.ie/


Mani Kanta: http://perceptionandbeyond.wordpress.com/

Day Seven & Eight - Guinness and A Leisure Day

I felt that it the last blog post, day seven, was too heavy to combine with a Guinness tour. Although, that was a nice way to end the day after such an overwhelming tour. As my father would say it was a nice puppy uppers!

Overall, the Guinness tour was not that impressive. 13.50 Euro (that includes my student discount) was the cost. If it were much more I would not recommend it.

It's a self guided tour that takes you through the basic steps on brewing Guinness. The highlights were the tasting, pouring and the Gravity Bar.

As I borrowed a fellow classmate's camera I don't have many pictures on my phone. So more pictures are on their way.







I successfully poured my own Guinness. Denver bartenders watch out!







Strolled around the sales floor. Managed not to buy anything much to the pleasure of my father.






Had a pint in the Gravity Bar in the good company of fellow classmates.

That night we all went out to the pubs. Scott (a fellow classmate) and I ended up talking to a family from Holland. The daughter had just spent the past few months working in Golden, Colorado! She wants to go back but due to the constraint on work visas in the states she has to wait.

We then made our way to Temple Bar. This is not a bar, although there is a bar named The Temple Bar. Rather, this is a block full of pubs that is named Temple Bar.

Finding a pub that was playing some live Irish music, it happened to be The Temple Bar pub.

As ended up having a lovely conversation with a semi-retired couple from Georgia, USA. The husband had quite a bit of Irish heritage and you could tell he was proud of it.

When we turned to leave the husband caught my arm to pull me back for once last thing. He said "You look like you could be Irish and that's a compliment." It was a very sweet thing to say that made me smile the entire way back to the hotel.



Day Eight:

Today is a free day. Many of the other students are off having adventures at the Cliffs of Moher, around Dublin or golfing.

I spent today with my mother as she leaves for home tomorrow.

We went back to the restrict ain't from the first day, Avoca, and had lunch.

Day Eight- Kilmainham Gaol

We started off the day touring the Kilmainham Gaol (jail). This is probably one of the most important sites in the Republic of Ireland.

Many political leaders leading the fight for Irish Independence were imprisoned and executed here.

It was due to these execution that united the Irish in the effort to gain independence from Britain.

When the fighting for Irish independence first began there was not a lot of support. However, as the troubling stories behind these executions came out the Irish people banned together.




This is the memorial to the leaders that signed Ireland's Declaration of Independence. Unlike our forefathers in the United States, when these men signed this declaration it was an absolute guaranteed death warrant.




Thomas Clark. Executed May 3, 1916 at age 59.

Clark was one of the men to sign the Irish Declaration of Independence. As a result he was sentenced to death.

Before his death his younger brother requested to see him one last time. This request was granted. However, after Clark's execution his brother was imprisoned. Without provocation he was later executed.




Joseph Plunkett. Executed May 4, 1916 at 28 years of age.

Another signer of Ireland's Declaration of Independence.

Five hours before his execution Plunkett was able to marry his sweetheart Grace Gifford.

Once married they were allowed five minutes together with a guard in the room before he was executed.




The last execution took place in 1924. This man had not signed the Declaration of Independence but was a rebel leader.

After being shoot he was taken to the hospital due to the development of gangrene in this leg. It spread throughout his body and he was given two days to live. He was sentenced him to death, they wanted to make an example out of him.

By the time of his execution he could no longer walk instead he was taken out in a stretcher and brought into the execution courtyard.

The gangrene has become so bad he could not sit up by himself in the chair. He was tied down to the chair. Then executed.

This last story is what brought the Irish people over the edge and guaranteed their support to the independence fighters.




That cross is the spot of the executions.

Day Seven- Classmates have arrived

For those of you who don't know, the real reason I am on this trip is for a study abroad program.

It's a quick two-ish weeks that focuses on leadership and entrepreneurship.

The class is made up of 15 students and we've broken ourselves down into five groups, three members to each group. Each group will work with a small company here in Ireland. The company has assigned us one or more projects for us to complete from them during our stay.

The company I will be working with is called #startupireland.

http://startupireland.ie

On the days we are not working with our companies we will be attending multiple guest lectures to further develop our knowledge.

Day Six - Wicklow Mountains

Today mom and I explored the beautiful Wicklow Mountains. some really wonderful scenery. I encourage anyone with the opportunity to go and explore these mountains!























This lake is the location where they film the HBO series The Vikings.