During the last week of CTYI, a law class had employees from the Dublin Circuit Civil Court come in with VR technology and students participated in an activity where the goggles simulated a courtroom setting. Students were able to interact with each person in the courtroom to learn about what their role is in a trial. I had the opportunity to experience the activity myself.
Author: Elizabeth Trainor | Major: | Semester:
During my time abroad, I was asked many times why I had chosen Ireland as my summer internship destination. Repeatedly, I joked that I probably should have been in Spain practicing my Spanish, as I am a double major in Psychology and Spanish. However, I would always follow up and say that I chose Ireland for a multitude of reasons. If I am honest, there isn’t one clear-cut reason why I chose to live in Dublin for two months. I would say my interest sparked from a love of Irish literature, curiosity of a country that I had not yet traveled to, and Moya Mawhinney, a YouTube influencer that lived in Dublin and attended Trinity College back in 2021. My two months in Dublin and at my internship with Centre for Talented Youth Ireland have proven to be much more than the expectations I had leading up to the summer and greater than the initial interests that led me to The Emerald Isle.
Centre for Talented Youth Ireland is an organization based in Dublin, Ireland whose goal is to provide academic enrichment for primary and secondary school students identified as gifted and talented. CTYI was established in 1992, modeling its operation after the CTY program at Johns Hopskins University in the United States. This past February, I was offered the position of Youth Engagement Intern for the summer session. As a Youth Engagement Intern, my responsibilities included co-coordinating the Young Scholars program, stepping in as a teaching assistant, and running errands for the office administrators. Although the internship didn’t directly relate to the field of Psychology, I was able to grow in areas such as flexibility, leadership, and energy-management, which will aid my career in the future.
Interning abroad is a once in a lifetime opportunity where students are able to experience new environments and cultures. With new environments and cultures comes adjustment, which can be difficult, especially for someone like me who has never lived outside of the United States. The first few weeks of my internship at CTYI served as my education on all things Ireland and Irish culture. A cultural difference that I experienced, specifically at my internship, was the work culture in Ireland compared to the United States. As my resident director, Fiona put it, employees in the United States live to work whereas employees in Ireland work to live. I was surprised when I arrived on my first day and the staff casually took an hour coffee break in the middle of the day. There was another instance during my first week where I was working and my supervisor, Hazel, had gone off to chat with some coworkers and she invited me to stop my work in order to join the chat session. By the end of my eight weeks, I was able to adjust to this new rhythm of work and realize that I prefer the Irish work culture. In my opinion, the United States has a problem within its’ work culture, specifically in promoting the message that rest is not acceptable. Even though we took breaks at my internship, all the work was completed by the end of the day. I hope that I can maintain the mindset that rest is acceptable when I go back to the states, and hopefully I am able to convince others to believe this too.
Another adjustment that I experienced while interning abroad was managing my energy throughout the workday. An aspect that I enjoyed while working for CTYI was that each day was different from the last. Every day brought new activities and challenges to navigate, which helped me grow in flexibility, leadership, and problem solving. However, the ever-changing nature of my internship caused me to become exhausted by the end of each day, which was not sustainable in the long run. In order to conserve energy and avoid burning out, I learned to allow myself to rest during periods of the day. Personally, I find rest through reading or sitting and thinking. By integrating these times into my work schedule, I was able to maintain energy and even revive myself to be able to finish the day strong.
Overall, I had a wonderful experience interning for Centre for Talented Youth Ireland and living in Dublin. Although it was a challenge to adjust to the work culture and energy required for the job, these challenges helped me grow into a better student and future member of the workforce. I believe I can attribute my positive experience to my coworkers and supervisors, who were supportive, kind, and never took themselves too seriously. I am pleased that I was able to make connections with experts in the gifted education field, which is a possible avenue for me to pursue in the future. At the moment, I do not know what my plans are for next summer or the near future, but I am not opposed to coming back to Ireland and working for CTYI as an official staff member. If I do not get the chance to return to Ireland again, I will always be grateful for the experiences and connections I made this summer.