Today was an eventful and long day, but also a really fun day. We started this morning bright and early with a Docklands walking tour given by Dr. Kelly. Dr. Kelly and his family grew up in poverty, living in Ireland, and his life was pretty standard to the families living around him at that time. Dr. Kelly talked about how when he was growing up, how different getting an education was and how businesses grew as compared to today and how far Ireland has come. I really enjoyed Dr. Kelly’s tour, and I think that a lot of what he said can be seen throughout the development of the city of Dublin. For example, Dr.Kelly was talking about the apartments and businesses being built in the late 1900’s. When looking at the buildings today, you can see a big difference looking at the older buildings versus the newer buildings. Dr. Kelly talked immensely about how, due to the increase need for housing back when they needed these new apartment buildings, they didn’t have enough people to build them and that they let immigrants come in to give them jobs to help with the construction of these new buildings. Not only can you see this difference in the older and newer made buildings, but you can also tell by employees in local shops and restaurants today that they still allow immigrants to work in Ireland to help with jobs needed in this country. I think it is really cool how I can take a lot of what Dr. Kelly said today and see it for myself throughout the city. I really enjoy hearing about the history of this beautiful country, I am learning a lot more than I thought I would on this trip.

The second place we visited this morning was Google. I thought our Google visit today was absolutely amazing. When we first got there we got a badge with our name on it. I felt like an actual Google employee for a day lol. We went to this conference room where our hosts explained a little about what the Ireland branch of Google does. Google is a huge company, but Ireland is a certain campus that focuses mainly on the ads and marketing side of the company. After our little presentation/lecture, we went on a small tour of some of the offices and some of the recreational spaces employees can go to. We also went to the 11th floor of the building to get a lookout of the entire city. It was absolutely stunning! The views from the distance, the atmosphere, and even the windiness made it all feel incredible and present. If I was one of the lucky few who got the opportunity to work at Google in Ireland, I would 100% do it. The way our host described the working environment made it feel like home (while still having your life outside of work). I feel like if I was an employee there, I would feel so motivated to go to work everyday. Today was a really good day, I can’t wait for our site visit tomorrow!

P.S. During the presentation, our hosts told us that they said a new employee is called a ‘newgoolgler’, and an older employee is called a ‘goolgler’, and I thought that was so fun and so cute!