Internship and the Bodhran

Before I continue with tales from my spring break adventures, I have to interrupt with some important updates from the last few days.

Yesterday I began my internship phase of the Dublin program. I'm working at the European Institute of Women's Health. I didn't stay a full day yesterday, but I did today. So far I have determined a couple of really positive aspects of the workplace and a few things that might bother me along the way. To start, the woman I work for, Peggy, is incredibly nice and welcoming. I'm hoping she'll be great to work for. She seems brilliant.

I'm super excited about the nature of the organization. It's an international non-governmental organization (NGO) that deals with issues of health equity. Basically, they examine (sometimes gather their own research) information related to health issues from a gendered perspective across European Union countries. They lobby to get key issues of health disparity on to the agenda of the EU. Peggy directly lobbies and works on various committees in Brussels. That's where the problem comes in for me - I'll be totally alone a good deal of the time while she travels. In fact, I'll be working from home (my DCU apartment) a few days a week. The other full time staff members of the EIWH work from around the world - Australia, U.S., and projects throughout Europe.

Working from home will be great - I'm able to provide myself structure, so I'm not too worried. It will cut out my commute (time and money). But it might get lonely!

Still, I'm excited. The project I'm going to start working on is a database, focusing on distributing women's health information to citizens of the EU. It's going to be repetitive grunt work, but in the end I really think it could be useful.

Peggy took me to lunch today at a super-Irish pub and I met Martin, the tech guy we'll be working with. He's a giant old Scottish man with a big beard. Truth be told, the BU program had me so worried about making a cultural faux pas regarding pub behavior that I could barely understand a word he was saying.

After getting out of work at 4pm I had class. My Tuesdays are extremely full! Instead of taking Irish Literature for my elective like I originally intended, I opted for The Arts in Ireland. It's made up of two components - Music and Theater. For the music section, we're learning to play the Bodhran! The Bodhran is an Irish drum, usually made from goat skin. It is played with a little wooden stick. I was so nervous; I have no musical talent. But like a lot of Irish culture, Irish music has been passed down orally. There is no formal method for reading and writing notes! I'm also already familiar with the basic tempos from Irish dance. Today we learned to play a basic hornpipe, reel, waltz, and jig, and even a few fancy moves like playing notes on the side and trebles. We each have our own Bodhran to take home and practice. I never get to take fun classes like this - it's so exciting!

More on Madrid and Granada to come soon...