Major change of pace today as we visited the rural area of Wicklow, where we got to see incredible views and beautiful nature. As much as I love Dublin, taking the day away was absolutely worth it. I found myself staring out at the water and not wanting to leave. We also got to visit a sheep farm which did not disappoint. It was so cool watching how the farm worked with raising the sheep and dogs and was a bit surprised to find out how organized it really was. The sheep are marked with different letters or colors to differentiate owners, and I realized this is the same process of tracking inventory in a factory or store. So although the sheep farm and Google or Docusign for example are completely different businesses, things like revenue, inventory, and identifying demand in a market are all equally present. I wouldn’t have thought about the sheep farm as a business really until he started talking about what sheep sell better, breeding, and maintaining what types are kept where. When he talked about being the 4th generation to hold the land, it makes you think about how it must have started, and how his great grandfather was an entrepreneur, starting this business and being able to maintain it for future generations.

The way that foreigners and tourists are viewed definitely differs between rural and urban areas. In the cities, tourists are usually seen as either a nuisance or a target. We are in the way, don’t know what’s going on, or easy pickings to take advantage of. Even in our time in Kilkenny today, walking on the street makes me feel like I’m in the way or need to move quickly. But in the country areas, everyone seemed eager to teach us things, and everyone takes more time. On the sheep farm, they specifically do demonstrations of sheep herding for the visitors and let us interact with the sheep (I got to hold one, which was so cool!!). I also found myself wondering through the trail just taking in the view instead of focusing on getting from point A to B.

Unfortunately, being so far out reduces walkability a bit, so I think I’d rather keep today a quick day trip and stick around the areas I know there’s 100 restaurants down the road, better cell service, and tech companies instead of sheep pens (not sure I can swing the farm girl life lol).