I’ve been claiming every day as “my favorite,” but I think today may genuinely be my favorite thus far. We kicked off this morning with a fantastic tour with Dr.Kelly. In all honesty, I walked into this tour expecting to hear information similar to the other tours that we’ve done. To my surprise, Dr.Kelly shed light on aspects of Ireland’s historical and present-day context that we hadn’t been exposed to. The Financial District tour with Dr.Kelly focused on the old vs. new Ireland regarding business, people, and culture. It was interesting to see everything that he spoke about illustrated in the geography and architecture in the City of Dublin. Dr.Kelly opened the tour by starting in Old Dublin and discussing “pre-industrial” Ireland. He used his life story to explain the impact of Ireland’s culture around education and the country’s economy, shaping current Ireland that people live in today. His tour gave many contexts to everything we have been learning thus far about Dublin. Dr.Kelly essentially answered the question that we have been trying to solve in this program, “where did the tech boom in Ireland come from?”. After today, I know that the answer essentially revolves around education. Unfortunately, the economic impact of certain decisions has resulted in gentrification and the displacement of individuals, illustrated in the housing of new Ireland. I couldn’t help but compare the situations that he described to historical/ current events in the US, like the financial crisis and the gentrification of East Liberty.

I also enjoy our site visit to the agency ThinkHouse. ThinkHouse is a company that represents the youth in a multitude of ways. It was amazing to witness a company that is primarily operated by and caters to the youthful generation. Many companies that appeal to a younger generation are “cheesy”; one couldn’t say the same about ThinkHouse. I was amazed by the quality and authenticity of both their work and the company. As soon as I walked into the office, I could tell that their work environment valued its people and society. After leaving their office, my biggest wish is for ThinkHouse to open an office in Pittsburgh!