It is a bittersweet day here in Ireland as many people departed for home. I am very happy to say I am spending tonight in Cork and enjoying some time here in Ireland with my family. However, I’m not sure anything can ever compare to the time I spent in Dublin with the Plus3 Transfer Ireland group these past two weeks. As we (sadly) concluded our program yesterday, we wrapped up the final set of presentations about the multiple site visits we did and what we learned from each one of them. Trying to prepare a presentation while finishing up the best abroad experience was no easy task! As you may be able to imagine, we were all very sad to be going our separate ways after spending every day together for the last two weeks. But, we all came here for educational purposes and we knew that we had to create something great to present in order to do justice to the incredible program that so many people worked on to ensure we got the most out of the trip both culturally and educationally.
Since presentations are something that will forever be commonplace in most workforces, it is important that we learn how to properly conduct them. I, personally, tend to really like presentations. I feel as though I can really express what I believe through them. I prefer a presentation as opposed to a paper because I think it is so important to hear how a person presents there ideas. When reading or writing a paper, it can be difficult to hear the tone someone is writing in. I believe that I can convey what I think about a topic through a presentation very well. I also like how presentations can be informal or extremely professional depending on the presenter or the audience. A presentation can be better tailored to a specific occasion compared to a paper. However, I think I could really work on my rate of speech in presentations. I never want people to get bored of what I am talking about, so I tend to speak too quickly which can have an even worse effect. If I have taken anything away from my Plus3 Dublin presentation, it is that you can only work with what you are given, and you have to make the best out of it. Enterprise Ireland was a very dense company to cover in 20 minutes. I was extremely fortunate to have had such a great and funny team to present alongside with. Shawn and Zac were so entertaining to listen to, and I am so thankful for all the hard work they put into the project.
As my journey through Ireland continues, all I can say is that I am so happy to have had this experience, but I am even more happy to have met the incredible people I traveled with. Sláinte!
