Orientation- Day 1

Hi wonderful people!

So my internet was being pretty wonky the past couple of nights, so I’m starting to finally upload these posts.

Today was the first day of orientation, which essentially runs from 10 AM-1PM for the rest of the week. We met Bill and Suzanne in a conference room in a nearby hotel where they gave us a calendar for the rest for the trip. We began discussing our personal goals, and Bill talked about the different dimensions that he wanted us to interact with during our time in Dublin. He wanted us to not only interact with the community and each other and our placements but also be mindful. Rather than going through the motions and doing the bare minimum of what was required of us at work, he wanted us to really be mindful and keep the bigger picture in mind. This was more than going “above and beyond” with our projects; it involved us thinking about the goals of our placements and why we were doing what we were doing. We had to think critically about purpose and the impact we were making on the bigger picture.   

We also discussed how we were sometimes put down by other people in other programs because we weren’t going to a third-world country or living in impoverish conditions. While I think that these other programs are equally important and powerful and impacting, it was really interesting to hear other people’s perspectives. We found that people were much more likely to slip into the “working for/serving/helping” mindset that DukeEngage Academy wanted us to avoid when they were in those environments, rather than “working with.” We also found that it was more difficult for us to explain ourselves because other people had pictures and schools and tangible results to, I suppose, “prove their effectiveness,” but our goals were much more abstract. We were contributing to our organizations’ causes and making an impact in different ways, aside from bring clean water to impoverished villages and building schools. I commend others for their service, but I wanted them to understand that we were making an impact as well, and that meaningful “service” can occur in other non-third-world countries.

Aside from that, we talked about our personal goals and listened to a lecture about the Rise and Fall of the Celtic Tiger (aka the rise and fall of the Irish economic system). As an economics major, this lecture definitely piqued my interest. I was able to draw parallels between the Irish economic decline and the US’s decline as well. Dr. Vincent Hogan also briefly mentioned the Spanish economic crisis, which I got really excited about because I had learned about it previously in Spanish 105 this year (gracias Profesora Romero :) ).

The rest of the day was completely free. We grabbed lunch at a gastropub, walked to St. Patrick’s Cathedral (which is beautiful… but “it’s no Duke Chapel,” as Mischa commented), and ended up relaxing in the park beside it. 

St. Patrick's Cathedral

I noticed that Irish couples are extremely affectionate and are comfortable with PDA-ing in public, perhaps moreso than American couples. But perhaps that’s because we keep on walking through (romantic?) parks and seeing them there. Later that night, Kiran and Sahil made Indian food for us (so delicious!), and we grabbed gelato on Grafton Street together. Overall, it was a super relaxing day. Derek and I are apparently visiting one of the Educate Together schools on Wednesday and meeting our coworkers on Thursday before we officially start work next Monday. I can’t wait to start working at Educate Together! The more I read about it, the more excited I get.

Pictures hopefully to come soon!

Smiles,

Anna