From Aril 26 - May 1, 2015 I will be traveling to Dublin, Ireland (for the first time!).
I had only heard a few mentions of Dublin pre-departure as none of my close or immediate friends had traveled to the Republic of Ireland before myself. I had heard through random channels that Ireland is a beautiful country, but it was also a rather cold island in the North Atlantic. Despite that fact, I was excited for the trip (which would also include visits to London and Paris the week before) as I was yearning to escape the heat and dryness of Southern California. Having been fortunate to travel to Europe numerous times over the last six years, I couldn't wait to hop over to the other side of the pond!
The Dublin leg (April 25 - May 1) of my 2015 Euro trip was unique as I was traveling there to partake in a short study abroad experience as part of my Pepperdine University MBA program. Whereas my trip to London and Paris (April 17 - 25) was for leisure, Dublin was a sanctioned academic trip that did promise opportunity for some extra curricular cultural enrichment. I had done similar short intensive courses before in my Master of Planning program at the University of Southern California. While at USC I took two separate courses (one year apart from one another) where I traveled with my classmates to India and Brazil for about two weeks each. Those trips were similar in structure as this one; both being academic and culturally enriching.
Unlike those USC trips, where we worked with public agencies, the Pepperdine trip to Dublin would involve meeting numerous multinational and indigenous private firms. Hence, during our pre-departure course on March 14, 2015, Professor Mooney and Salas tried to familiarize the class to the best they could with what the expectations for the course were and tried to briefly familiarize us with certain aspects of Irish culture, such as the song "Molly Malone:"
Additionally, we were going to visit the subsidiary offices of Microsoft, Google, State Street, AirBnB and Accenture while in Dublin. Each of these multinational corporations made a business decision to setup in Ireland and our job as students was to learn why.
Since I had traveled to Europe several times before I knew how to prepare for the trip in terms of planning, transportation, lodging, having the proper documentation (passport, passport copies, having my itinerary printed) and electrical adapters. I have always found getting around Europe to be rather simple - especially where rail transit is viable.
However, anytime one travels to a new place (like myself traveling to Dublin) there is uncertainty. For example, I had no idea how big or small Dublin was. Also, I had no idea what Irish weather was like. I had been to Britain several times and had noticed on maps how close to Ireland it was. Additionally, both are islands in the north Atlantic. Therefore, I rationalized that Dublin weather and London weather had to be the same. I would come to find out upon arrival in Ireland that I was quite wrong!
Personally, the the academic trip to Dublin was different from my two trips as a masters student at USC. While at USC, the India and Brazil courses I took were full 15 week semester long courses. Each week the class would get together and do work associated with the trip. Each week each member of the class saw one another. By the time we were in country (India or Brazil) we knew each other quite well. The Pepperdine Dublin course met only once, six weeks before the trip and was made up of students from the Fully-Employed, Full-Time and Online MBA programs. It is fair to say that I only knew a few of the 24 students names in my class before we began the Dublin program on April 26. I am not saying one way is better than the other, as that is not the purpose of this statement. The purpose, as was experienced/witnessed, is to show in this blog how everyone on the Dublin trip (faculty, students, administrators) came together over five days, acted as professionals, established relationships and created lasting memories. Which goes to show the quality of individuals Pepperdine University attracts.
I had only heard a few mentions of Dublin pre-departure as none of my close or immediate friends had traveled to the Republic of Ireland before myself. I had heard through random channels that Ireland is a beautiful country, but it was also a rather cold island in the North Atlantic. Despite that fact, I was excited for the trip (which would also include visits to London and Paris the week before) as I was yearning to escape the heat and dryness of Southern California. Having been fortunate to travel to Europe numerous times over the last six years, I couldn't wait to hop over to the other side of the pond!
The Dublin leg (April 25 - May 1) of my 2015 Euro trip was unique as I was traveling there to partake in a short study abroad experience as part of my Pepperdine University MBA program. Whereas my trip to London and Paris (April 17 - 25) was for leisure, Dublin was a sanctioned academic trip that did promise opportunity for some extra curricular cultural enrichment. I had done similar short intensive courses before in my Master of Planning program at the University of Southern California. While at USC I took two separate courses (one year apart from one another) where I traveled with my classmates to India and Brazil for about two weeks each. Those trips were similar in structure as this one; both being academic and culturally enriching.
Unlike those USC trips, where we worked with public agencies, the Pepperdine trip to Dublin would involve meeting numerous multinational and indigenous private firms. Hence, during our pre-departure course on March 14, 2015, Professor Mooney and Salas tried to familiarize the class to the best they could with what the expectations for the course were and tried to briefly familiarize us with certain aspects of Irish culture, such as the song "Molly Malone:"
Additionally, we were going to visit the subsidiary offices of Microsoft, Google, State Street, AirBnB and Accenture while in Dublin. Each of these multinational corporations made a business decision to setup in Ireland and our job as students was to learn why.
Since I had traveled to Europe several times before I knew how to prepare for the trip in terms of planning, transportation, lodging, having the proper documentation (passport, passport copies, having my itinerary printed) and electrical adapters. I have always found getting around Europe to be rather simple - especially where rail transit is viable.
However, anytime one travels to a new place (like myself traveling to Dublin) there is uncertainty. For example, I had no idea how big or small Dublin was. Also, I had no idea what Irish weather was like. I had been to Britain several times and had noticed on maps how close to Ireland it was. Additionally, both are islands in the north Atlantic. Therefore, I rationalized that Dublin weather and London weather had to be the same. I would come to find out upon arrival in Ireland that I was quite wrong!
Personally, the the academic trip to Dublin was different from my two trips as a masters student at USC. While at USC, the India and Brazil courses I took were full 15 week semester long courses. Each week the class would get together and do work associated with the trip. Each week each member of the class saw one another. By the time we were in country (India or Brazil) we knew each other quite well. The Pepperdine Dublin course met only once, six weeks before the trip and was made up of students from the Fully-Employed, Full-Time and Online MBA programs. It is fair to say that I only knew a few of the 24 students names in my class before we began the Dublin program on April 26. I am not saying one way is better than the other, as that is not the purpose of this statement. The purpose, as was experienced/witnessed, is to show in this blog how everyone on the Dublin trip (faculty, students, administrators) came together over five days, acted as professionals, established relationships and created lasting memories. Which goes to show the quality of individuals Pepperdine University attracts.
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