Today marks nine months since I arrived to Ireland on October 1st last year. There have been some encouraging developments over the last three months, including: • Being invited to several job interviews and receiving a few offers (no further update from University College Dublin today); • Sitting for the first Certified Management Accounting (CMA) exam in May and accelerating my studies for the...

My second 2nd dose of the Pfizer vaccine is scheduled for this morning at the Aviva Stadium. Surprisingly, there isn’t a direct bus there, so I decide to take a taxi just to make sure I’m on time. The driver is chatty… he mentions he has a large family (seven children!), and talks about the UEFA Euro 2020 football championship games and how much he can’t wait to see a...

This morning I get up in anticipation of my weekly SuperValu grocery delivery, which I’ve moved from Fridays to Saturdays. While I’m waiting I have a quick breakfast and start cleaning around the apartment. The groceries show up in the earlier half of the 2-hour delivery window. It’s one of the regular delivery people, a man probably around my age or slightly younger who has...