After a long weekend we walked over to class this morning, and told Brad stories about our adventurous weekend in Galway. He was all too giddy to hear that we had talked with some locals and gained a better understanding of how the cultures of urban populations, like Dublin, differ from those of more coastal towns, like Galway.
The topic of our lecture today was what factors influence how someone thinks of themselves as a person, because to be an effective public relations professional you must first understand the concept of self. We discussed how a variety of external factors are the most impactful, and how even our definitions of success are morphed by these influences. We also discussed how humans made stories out of everything they don’t understand. During our weekend trip to The Cliffs of Moher we made a quick stop outside of The Burren to visit a “fairy fort.” The Irish conceived the ideas of fairies to explain what they couldn’t reason through.
Then at the end of a very interactive lecture Brad asked us to prioritize three things that we define success by that could be measured in a year. He asked us to do this exercise because our class discussed how our generation measure’s our own success by comparing ourselves to those around us. The goal of this exercise to reaffirm the idea that success does not have to be sequential or linear.
As you can it was a hard-hitting lecture that left most of us pondering our own lives, so naturally we decided it was a good afternoon to go tour the Guinness Storehouse.
None of us were surprised to see that upon entering the atrium the Guinness Museum is actually housed in the world’s largest pint glass. The museum rises through the centre of the seven story building. If full, the giant pint glass would hold 14.3 million pints of Guinness. Each story housed a different part of the Guinness story including ingredients and the craft of brewing, cooperage and transportation, and advertising and sponsorship. It was a really well done museum and ended with a complimentary pint of Guinness at the GRAVITY Bar. We sipped on our pints of Guinness while enjoying a breath-taking panoramic 360 degree view of Dublin.
Some of us enjoyed our pints more than others, Meredith described Guinness as “tasting like birdpoop” and I’ll even admit it’s not gonna be my first choice on my next Temple Bar outing. But when studying in Guinness developing at least a small taste for Guinness is part of the curriculum.
Since the Guinness Factory is not near any major streets it’s not too hard to believe that on the way home Meredith, Rohan, and I hopped on the wrong bus and ended up in East Jesus. Luckily we eventually found our way back to the correct 39A stop, and had a nice lunch at KC Peaches. Which Meredith and Rohan enjoyed more than I because I have the diet of a 12-year-old boy.
RocknRove 