I am so glad to finally be in Ireland! I was super nervous that I would not sleep on the plane ride here, but luckily I did and that was extremely crucial for adjusting to the time change. The past two days have also felt very long, but I am ready to explore the city. One of the biggest differences between the US & Ireland is that they eat beans for breakfast here! I did not try it today, but I plan on trying it later this week! I think the most surprising thing to me was how nice the apartments are. We have a washer and dryer, dishwasher, and balcony, and the beds are super comfortable! Another thing that I did not expect is how large Dublin is. There are so many older and newer parts of the city which have been very fun and interesting to explore. I was glad that we were able to do a walking tour and bus tour earlier today to better understand our surroundings. Both of our tour guides were great and I feel like I learned so much that I did not already know. I also really enjoyed learning about Ireland’s history from our tour guides as many of them had past relatives that fought in wars, participated in rebellions, etc. Since we spent most of today learning about the past and modern history of Dublin, I started to understand why it is important to know the historical context as a business consultant. It is important to know the historical context because if you do not, you could easily offend or disrespect a client. One of the major parts of consulting is building a relationship with a client, and being disrespectful could prevent a strong relationship from forming. For me, the most interesting thing that I learned was the meaning of the flag. The orange represents protestants, the green represents catholicism, and the white represents unity and peace. I have overall had fun the past few days and can’t wait to explore the city more!

This is a picture from our walking tour today!