Day Nineteen - Adventure Ending

In the few short weeks here I have seen more growth in myself - not only professionally but also personally.

Prior to this trip I was thinking about saving up for a car. Something I could take camping and skiing. Now, I only have the desire to save up to come back across the Atlantic to various destinations including this one.

If anyone ever has the opportunity to travel abroad and study in another country don't hesitate, just go. The amount of money will never be a true match the the amount you gain on the trip.

I came across this quote a while ago and even used it in my application to come here.

Location:Stillorgan,Ireland

Day Eigteen- Working Reflection

Today is our last day working for our company and I find myself reflecting on how I work.

By no surprise I am hopping between writing a sentence on this blog, to researching our project, to researching another aspect of our project and then jumping onto my email to make sure I didn't miss anything crucial to the class and/or project.

It seems that there is a timeline to how I work.  For most of the day I prefer to be moving around and conversing with various people. A break here and there allows for my to progress on work - homework, emails and other projects. Then at night I excel at at sitting down and getting some quality screen time in.

This leads me to a question I kept asking myself yesterday: "can I handle not being my own boss?"

Right now I am lucky in that I work for an amazing set of people that are caring, hard working and respectful.  If I were to ever end up in a work environment that is centered around drama and politics I would leave without a second thought.  The monetary value would never matter in a case like that.  I lived in a situation like that for a year and I vowed to never return to it.

Chances are that someday I might end up working for someone I don't get along with or even like. Could I stick to the job and continue working for them? The simple answer that my past has taught me is 'no'.

Most family and friends would agree that although I am very good at playing the part and getting along with people I can only manage it for a period of time before I burn out and shut down.
Especially, if the work environment is drama filled and political. These types of situations are nasty and break a person down.  It's a good branch off of my last blog, discussing the difference between personal and professional.  Environments that are political have no true respect and thus blur the lines of personal and professional in negative ways. 

At the same time, I have yet to come across an idea that I feel I could turn into a business.  There is a fundraising idea I have  (Jessie I'll be in contact ;)) but I am not interested in turning that into a business that is my only source of income.  I would rather keep that a hobby that is a stress reliever not a stress creator.

All I know is that I have the world at my finger tips and am obtaining a degree that will help open a number of doors.

Day Seventeen- A Business Meeting in a Pub?

How do you separate your professional life from your personal life?

It's a question I keep coming back to when thinking about starting a company.

Not only does venturing down this path become personal for you, it involves your family, boyfriends/girlfriends and your personal finances.

To me this seems like a life consuming business. You're not going to start a company, or at least you shouldn't, if your heart isn't fully into it.

There is a passion that drives you. You can do it for monetary reasons but I can tell you , at least from what I've observed, you're going to burn out fast.

There has to be a fire in your heart and logic (?) in your if you are going to succeed.

Now for the flip side of my question....

As much as we try to create a solid and well defined line between our personal and professional lives I keep coming back to the need to have some sort of personal element to it.

I realized today that in order for me to work well with someone I need to understand their background. Why do they do what they do? What drives them to that behavior?

I firmly believe that if you have background knowledge you will be able to work with them in such a higher level than before.

If we let that personal aspect go then we don't understand that persons motivation. We don't know why they have have the mind set they do. As a leader if you don't know who you're leading then you can't lead your people in the right way.

This brings me back to a question Jan asked the first day of class and one I will leave you to contemplate.

What is the difference between manipulation and leading?

Location:O'Dongohues

Day Sixteen - Howth, Ireland

It was a bank holiday here so some classmates and I decided to make a day trip out to Howth.

It's a great little fishing town with beautiful scenery. I could have spent the entire weekend there.

The food was also quite good, we found a restaurant with an incredible view of the ocean and the entertainment of the evening was watching a sailing class peruse the waters below.

Two things that I love about this place is that I see a number of people eating dinner alone while reading a book or enjoying the view. Hardly anyone is ever on a phone, and never at dinner or in groups.

Here, people are more in-tune with their surroundings. Such a peaceful thing to be surrounded by.

Day Fifteen - Musical Pub Crawl

Tonight a group of us headed out to the country side to enjoy the local pubs and music. The atmosphere is something you cannot compare to anything else.

When I first walked in I saw a number of kids running around adults drinking and smoking. At first I was taken back, I didn't know what to think. American culture tells me to think negatively on this behavior but I couldn't bring myself to think poorly in this environment.

The kids knew every signal adult there. They ran around like they were at home, socializing with everyone and anyone. It felt like one big family reunion. Truly a beautiful thing to witness.

There was a band playing that was playing Rock songs with a jazz twist. There was a soprano saxophone playing that I complemented once he finished a set. We ended up talking for the rest of the time. Everyone was friendly and the prices of pints were finally reasonable.

The pub is called The Blue Light. You can follow on Facebook. If you ever happen to find yourself in Dublin, Ireland you need to go. I cod have stayed the entire night.

I cannot speak highly enough of this place. Look it up Rural Pub Tours!

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