Over the Atlantic

[Ariel]

hi implosion! feel free to share some vacation spam. I was just on holidays in county cork and should do the same. also if the plan gets serious and u would like any public or private advice lmk. i was vaguely thinking of bumping this thread after I had been in my job for a year, which is quite soon.

[implosion]

I'll probably post some pictures at some point once I'm home, at least a couple. The plan is quite serious - the reason I'm visiting is to visit a research group that I might join, and I think that I am planning to join them assuming they accept my application, which sounds likely. I will probably also reach out with some questions at some point

[Ariel]

I'll probably post some pictures at some point once I'm home, at least a couple. The plan is quite serious - the reason I'm visiting is to visit a research group that I might join, and I think that I am planning to join them assuming they accept my application, which sounds likely. I will probably also reach out with some questions at some point

ah awesome. that sounds like it could be a great opportunity; cool reason to be visiting as well! Also hope you have/had a great time here regardless

[Ariel]

ok looks like the last time I updated the thread was in August 2024. sorry if tldr.

So the tax deadline in Ireland is in October not April and with the industry I'm in that means busy season. but then the very end/start of the year is fairly chill at least.

I also started a 2 year apprenticeship in September. This means basically my job pays for me to get trained once a week and I have to take some professional exams. First set of those are in late May. Some of it is quite similar to prior education I had in the U.S. but some is quite different.

I've (surprisingly to me) been particularly enjoying the business law course. It forcing me to actually learn about GDPR (EU data protection laws) and consumer/employment law and whatnot is super useful as an immigrant honestly. Otoh some of the exam studying is memorizing how many days you have to notify the Company Registrations Office of various things which is dull.

Between just time and the apprenticeship filling in some gaps in my knowledge, I'm feeling more confident in my job which is nice. In hindsight, I think it was really jarring going from US at will employment culture where we don't trust the boss at all, to a small business where some people have been working there for 10+ years and I regularly interact with the owner/exec director.

I guess I imagined by now that I would find things like Fahrenheit/Celsius temperature conversions more intuitive. Overall I'm def getting more settled in. Near-Portland weather is fairly similar to Ireland but it is def more humid here. Somehow temperatures that do not feel hot back in Oregon seem to bc of that idk.

We did a family holiday in Berlin in December to visit the Christmas markets. Faraday and I also went to Barcelona in early February. Did the aforementioned road trip to Cork. I should come back with photos and maybe more detail but yeah.

In the past couple of months I've been getting into social dancing (mostly jive.) Some of you may know I was a (lazy) ballerina back in the day which is supposed to be a good foundation for these things. I had barely dabbled in line dance/west coast swing/the odd other style before I moved here. It does feel like if I can just make myself stick with partner dance, it could be something I enjoy for the rest of my life, and there's a good scene for it nearby even though I don't live in a super urban area right now.

Uhh partly because of social anxiety, I do still find being new at it hard mentally. People have been pretty nice and welcoming though. I had a really nice conversation with someone tonight that has me feeling a bit better about it too. I'm happier when I actually exercise and meeting more people is prob good character development too. This hobby also has gotten me to actually do physio for my sad ankle and led to me starting to eat a bit better.

[hellbooks]

Love the update!

[Ariel]

Spoiler: Berlin

Honestly a lot of my better photos are ones I don't want to post on a public forum. One of the things I enjoyed that is not pictured is teledisko (phone booth converted to karaoke). Also, "R. Little John" has recently signed the Berlin wall an absurd number of times is why I included that one in the corner.

Spoiler: Barcelona

Tbh had too much fun trying to read/interpret Catalan based on Spanish being my second-best language (not even close to fluent)

Spoiler: County Cork

Iconic road tirp. Great weather and food too

[rBree2]

Hello. I might be moving to Ireland in a few months. (I am currently visiting for a week which has been, thus far, pleasant). So I think necroing this thread seems like a thing I should do

ooooo good luck!!!

[schadd_]

waow that barcelona stained glass

[Ythan]

Yeah pretty

[implosion]

So the bulk of my trip was to Maynooth in county Kildare. I did spend one day going to Dublin and I visited Blackrock market, which was nice.

Spoiler: Blackrock

Spoiler: Maynooth (first/second image is the building I was staying in, 3rd image is directly across from it)

[Ythan]

Oo cool

[schadd_]

mnrgghhh places so irish