Today marks six months since I arrived to Dublin on October 1st. Other than this milestone, it’s an uneventful day. The sunshine of the last few days has abated behind grey clouds. However, it’s still relatively warm, and there are more signs of spring’s arrival with leaves finally beginning to unfurl on the trees. I get out in the late afternoon to drop some glass recycling off at the “bottle bank” near Smithfield neighbourhood, stop by a hardware store for some cleaning supplies, take a walk along the riverfront, and stop to sit for awhile and eavesdrop on the locals “having the craic.”
Another shot of the Grattan Bridge (aka the Capel Street Bridge or Essex Bridge) with its iconic “hippocampus” half-horse/half-fish lamp posts:
Reflecting on my time here, so far I have…
• Applied to 38 jobs and pursued around 16 other networking or professional development opportunities; while I’ve only heard back from 2 recruiters in Ireland, I’m still in the running for a CFO role at OCCRP (at least as far as I know… I’m still waiting to hear back on next steps).
• Completed 55% of the lessons in my study programme for the 1st exam towards a CMA accountancy qualification.
• Engaged in 30 hours of DBT group sessions and 16.5 hours of individual therapy sessions.
• Met up with several new people for coffee/walks, a handful of whom have developed into friends.
• Averaged 4,731 steps per day over entire six months and increased the average to 5,000+ over last two months.
• Safely traveled to France to spend New Year’s with long-time friends, despite the challenges/risks of doing so during the pandemic.
• Spent roughly 1/3 of my cash reserves (including relocation and setup costs).
• Written 179 blog posts (including this one).
• Pinned ~200 places on my customized Google map of Dublin:
Until next time….
