After now having spent two days in more rural parts of Ireland, there are clear differences from the time we’ve spent here in Dublin, an urban setting. We spent the day yesterday at a sheep farm, then the Wicklow Mountains (where I spent quite a while attempting to skip rocks, and was wildly unsuccessful), and finally to Kilkenny, all of which are rural places outside of the city. Though I haven’t noticed any major communication differences, I did see differences in the types of establishments in these places, as well as the interactions I had with people there. Overall, there was much more of a “small town” feel to the more rural places we visited. I noticed that a lot of the people there had thicker Irish accents, and overall seemed less “used to” tourists. However, I didn’t notice much of a difference in how I personally was treated, as an American. Galway and Kilkenny seem to be less touristy places than Dublin, but there were still many tourists there. My view of these places may be tainted, as we were traveling in large tour busses with other tourists, as well as the people I was hanging out with are tourists, obviously. 

Inside Dublin, we’ve been to a lot of tech companies, and more traditional corporate workplaces. Outside of the city however, there weren’t as many corporations, if any. I think people who live and work in Dublin are more used to interacting with non-Irish people, as it is more of a tourist area, as well as the fact that there is more immigration to the city. Especially, given the large corporations that operate out of Dublin, typically have a larger percentage of people from outside of Ireland. Overall, I have experienced minimal differences in “treatment” from locals in both urban and rural settings.