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[accenture]WGSoNcgOlNc[/accenture] I wanted to put up a little remix of pictures that I put together from Animoto. Originally produced for a "get to know you" presentation during a company meeting, this slideshow contains some of the better photos from my recent past. I hope you enjoy it and stick around to see many more.
Image via Wikipedia
And yes, I do remember it! Does that set the tone for the rest of the post or what??
Anyways, allow me to get to the story. Friday last, I had taken the day to work from home. I did some writing, worked out a bit of my reports and the like when not tending to the feast I was preparing. Scott and Lauren were off to their friends in Wexford for the weekend leaving Alison and I to our own devices in the apartment.
We had decided to do Powers Court Gardens in Co Wicklow on Saturday and Ryan would be coming too. Due to bad weather, the call was made to push it all back to Sunday which was fine with me. Unfortunately, they changed their mind at 8:30 in the morning and I wasn't so much interested in getting my butt out of bed on Saturday morning. So they set off on their own adventure but I wanted some fun myself. So begins the epic day that followed.
I decided that it being my last weekend in Ireland and all, that I would go out and do a marathon of the Porterhouse pubs. There are four in Ireland so they would be my stops for the day. The furthest away was in Bray - about an hour's journey on the DART (commuter rail) south of the city. I arrived in town and wandered around until I was able to find my way to the pub. It was a bit of a cave - dark with red lights to shed some light without making it bright.
I sampled their Porterhouse Red Ale while reading their little primer on the different types of beer and how they are made (Did you know a Lager is a "bottom fermented" beer?). I followed that pint up with a glass of their Porterhouse Plain Porter - so clean and smooth. The whole while Seamus, the bartender, and I had struck up quite the conversation. We were watching the rugby and chatting up the waitresses while sharing favorite brews and stories of the good 'ole days. After those were down I took my leave and decided to hike the big hill with a cross on it at Bray Head.
Let's just say that it was an hour or so later of walking that I noticed I hadn't come across a trail head and was making my way around the far side of the hill. Clearly, I had missed the boat on this one. Oh well - it was a good 10km jaunt to the next town over by way of a gorgeous seaside trail. After chatting up an old Irish fellow at the DART station, it was time to head back to Dublin City Center.
Upon arrival in the city I grabbed some food quickly and took note of the abundance of goth kids running around in their black, metal addorned clothing. One group rolled into the restuarant basically carrying one girl. She couldn't hold herself up let alone keep her head from flopping onto the table with flexibility that would make Gumby jealous. Being the concerned citizen I am, I made sure to tell the Guarda so she could get some medical attention (either on the verge of alcohol poisoning or had some serious drugs in her) and it was only about half six at this point.
To Porterhouse Central next where I ordered a Temple Brau - tasty for sure. More rugby to be seen and at that point I noticed another guy watching the match by himself. Side note -the match was international rugby for the Barclays cup and was being played in Chicago. Jeff, the guy's name, was a financial planner working for a Boiler Room sort of company and had dreams of going out on his own. Anyways, we talked a good bit and when he said he was home to the wife and kids I took my opportunity to part ways and head to the second to last Porterhouse in Temple Bar. Of course, it was on Jeff's way so he came too.
Now, mind you that I'm a responsible adult and all that but I felt rather uncomfortable with letting this guy buy me a couple pints. I didn't think that he was going to drug me, nor was he trying to take me home. To me, it was more like the guy wanted someone to drink with and since I was "on holiday" (as he put it) I wasn't allowed to buy a single drink. This was new territory for me. I've never had someone else buy me a drink that wasn't later reciprocated etc... I guess when you're as cool as me you've got to get used to that (HAHA BIG JOKE). He introduced me to an excellent Polish Strong Beer - Okocim Mocne (7% ABV) that was absolutely tasty.
To Temple Bar we go where he again refuses to let me buy a round for the two of us. We siddled up to a table and enjoyed some modern Celtic music - very cool. They had all sorts of traditional instruments alongside guitars and drums. A very interesting sound. Speaking of instruments - I've made a promise to myself. If I can teach myself to play the guitar this summer and stay at it, and really dedicate time to it as I've been neglecting to ever since that day mom and I got my Dean Exotica. If I can do that and really be true to it all, then I'll buy myself some uilleann pipes because I've been absolutely taken away by their sound and their songs.
From Porterhouse Temple Bar, Jeff steared me to the Brazen Head - Dublin's oldest pub situated on what would have been the outskirts of old Duvlin - the Nordic settlement. He got the Guinness and I got the seats. We ended up sharing a table with a Montreal transplant and a migrated Limey. They were good fun though it was a bit odd when the lady was probing to see if Jeff or I were cops - she wanted to light up a joint right there in the open air bar... which she did.
From the Brazen Head, I took my leave from Jeff - good luck to that merry soul. Thank you for the pints, my friend. I met up with my old roommate from UCD, Fergal. It was his last night in Dublin before heading back to Luxombourg with his family Sunday morning. After the hellos and a bathroom stop at Burger King on lower O'Connell, we headed our way to the Porterhouse North. It was the first time I had walked through the North Side - definitely an experience.
Upon our arrival at Porterhouse North, I walked in no problem despite my cargo pants and hiking boots... and Fergs was stopped immediately even though he was well kept (for him at least). I love not getting carded - it'll be a real change when we get back to the States. This time around I ordered myself the Oyster Stout, a beer that I had sipped before and could actually taste the seafood - GROSS! This time around, it was great but I'm not sure whether that was something to do with my current state or if my taste buds had really just changed that much. Oh dear it's going be interesting to come back to the States and the crappy beer etc etc.
Anyways, the cap of the night came next. We headed out the back of the clubby pub to their patio since it was a nice night out. Almost as soon as we sat down at a table, a bit of a fight broke out right behind me. Anyone who knows me well knows I'm very protective and can act like the security guard. Well before I knew it I was on my feet holding this drunk back so he wouldn't pummell this much smaller guy. When said drunk started to try to hit me I decided it was time to put an end to it. I told the guy we were going down and I *gently* brought the guy to the ground and *lightly* put my knee on his back to keep him from going anywhere. The bouncers came in as I was getting a good round of applause and they took care of boucning then entire group.
I had gone back to my beer when a LARGE black bouncer was coming towards me. All I could think of was theat he was going to bounce me for taking the drunk down and that I'd not get to finish my drink :-( sad thoughts, I know. Quite the opposite, the bouncer told me to talk with the waitress and that she'd take care of me for the rest of the night. Needless to say, I buy another drink that night - completely not expected but whole heartedly appreciated! Thanks, Porterhouse bouncer!
So for an entire day of travel, food, drink, and fun I had spent less than 20 Euro when I ought to have spent at least triple that for all the craic that had been had. It was an amazing ni Fergal and I capped it off by taking one last photo before parting ways and then I headed north and walked my ass home. I would say it was a learning experience and a confidence boosting night - I couldn't have asked for a better Saturday.
So back to work - I have the reseach report for work, a presentatifo them as well. Then there is that journal entry thing that I need to do for BU as well as their research report... this last week has inevitably come down to crunch time as it usually does with me. I need to learn how to plan this stuff out better!
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
One of the biggest energy hogs for any building would be the lighting and the climate controls. I've seen varying amounts of integrations both in the US as well as abroad. I have to say, though, the Irish design and architecture do a great job of using their designs to reduce the consumption of energy for airconditioning and lighting. By leveraging open dynamic cooling, novel insulation methods, and available lights, the United States could reduce their consumption of energy.
One of the first things that I noticed when I walked into the Quinn School of Business was that the atrium was wide open... I mean WIDE open. The ceiling was transparent to let in as much light as possible - there were even trees freestanding on the ground floor. It gave the entire building a spacious, airy feel that limited the use of artificial light as much as possible. It was always bright and this allowed supplemental lighting by way of indirect light - it wasn't as harsh on the eyes at all. Take note, USA.
Where the two come together is another interesting thing that I've never seen anywhere but Ireland. At the top edge of a line of windows on the exterior of buildings, there is a grill arrangement with angled slats. These slats angle off the light depending on the sun's position in the day. It allows two different savings. First, by giving a shade to the window, there is no need to lower shades which would block out too much light and therefore require the use of lighting. The second is that by reducing the need to tint the glass, as is the custom in the states, colder climates such as Ireland will be able to utilize the natural convection heating and not need to turn on the heaters.
When it comes to design, besides the transparent ceilings and the like, there are a few design characteristics that Ireland just nails. The first was that shade above windows - that's great for reducing consumption. The second really noticeable and beautiful design feature is the use of what I would call buffer space inside windows. Basically one completely clear pane of glass is either outside the line of the building's walls or flush but then about a foot or two behind that is the interior pane. By creating an open buffer, a wall of air, between the structural glass, heating and cooling efficiency is greatly improved. It's similar to how double paned glass keeps windows from leaking heat but on a grander scale. Colder air in the shadows would be able to cool the heated air in the sunny parts to make for a temperate average temperature.
By combining technologies such as these with designs discussed here, I think that the United States could do a lot to reduce electricity consumption and ultimately the need for oil dependency. More to come this week!
Image via Wikipedia
This is our last weekend in Ireland...
This thought screamed through my head this morning as I woke up. Tomorrow is the last full Saturday that we'll be in the country, the last Sunday, Monday et all, following too. This weekend is last bit of our European adventure. I'm left stunned at all we did. I'm stunned with all that I've done. I came here saying "no judgement" and "no regrets" so it's been a few days that I've been thinking back through trying to evaluate my successes on that account.
It's time to remember the great times, the trying times, the hard times, the late nights of laughs, and the early mornings of tears. It's been a trip filled with a lot of firsts and a lot of lasts. Funny how the time seems to have been stolen back away from us. It was just yesterday that I was feeling the same bits of anxiety as I prepared to embark on this adventure in January... I have those feelings again. What will Boston, the US, the summer have in store for us - for me?
At the same time, I feel myself getting ramped up for production. I fell into this semester from the highest functioning lifestyle that I've ever experienced. Needless to say, my Irish lifestyle did not match the fervor of that pace. Having completed a number of phone interviews in the last few days, the first few conference calls for Accenture and some student groups, I'm reminded what it feels like to be back "on edge." Listening to my fellow interns address the analysts on the call while my mic was muted gave me the first example of how we Americans are always "on edge." They sounded tense, wound up but held back - like a mouse trap ready to spring. Is that really how we are?
This weekend will be busy with seeing my Irish friends and saying goodbye to them. We have the International Street Performers Championship going on too - I hope to make it over to Marrion Square for that one. Here's one that I never thought I'd find here in Ireland - International Gay Rugby Championship. I was on the bus with one team and helped steer them to the pitches the other day. In any event, they will be playing for an international cup this weekend just a few hundred meters away from our accomodation.
My projects are on their way to completion. I was able to collect over 115 responses to my online survey regarding student experience - that was amazing! Thank you to all that participated. That will be going into my research project that I will present to my office on Tuesday and hand in a report on Thursday. Also due on Thursday will be my research project comparing the Irish and American teaching methods at University as well as a internship journal. So, needless to say there will be a lot of working to be done... and of course, as soon as I say that the roommates are telling me that we're going to some gardens. So stay tuned for further info, I guess.
PS - photos are now up at my new flickr account.
Image by QuintanaRoo via Flickr
Yesterday was an interesting experience. Not only was it thrifty Thursday, it was the night of the Tastes of Dublin festival. It was absolutely amazing. Basically, round up every *decent* restuarant in the city, grab a bunch of international beer distributers, and then pile on some wine and you'll have an idea of what we had going last night.
All day, we were preoccupied by the prospects of a night filled with music, food, drink, and friends. I definitely was not up to my usual efficiency master ways. This particular festival happens to be rather popular and has sister programs all over the place - Tastes of Cork happens to be in the next few weeks. In any event, the office hired a few taxis to bring those adventurous souls over to the Ivy Gardens (GORGEOUS) where the festivities kicked off at 1700.
Upon arrival, we were ushered through a hedgerow of ivy, weird how that happens, which then opened up to an entire hidden world of food and beer... oh yeah, wine too. Starbucks employees with french press coffee greeted us (they ground the beans so fine that there was silt in my coffee - big time bummer) and a band of pretty girls were handing out the Evening Herald.
Our first instincts were to go around and get the lay of the land while waiting for the rest of our mates. We wandered about seeing everything from cocktail jugglers to horrible bands in gazebos to Vietnamese food all over the ground. Finally, the rest of the lads showed up and met us in by the ivy entrance. It was game time.
First stop were the liquor vendors tasting their wares, then a few of the younger guys and I decided it was time to taste the Sake - a first for me. Three glasses later, I felt like I had transported into a world of cultural food. We went touring the globe stopping by India for some of their tandoori chicken and then to Lithuania for cider, lager, and weissbeir. That was a tasty stop - we came back numerous times since the owner seemed to like us a lot.
After a bit we moved into the other areas of the festival - we had only scratched the surface so far. I ventured through restaurant row and passed up a chance to eat Gordon Ramsey's food - he's the chef that yells at everyone in Hells Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares (both are favorite tv shows these days). It was the fillet of beef that won from a vendor that escapes my mind at this moment. From there we ventured to the Jameson tent where I had my first measure (really was half a measure I suppose) of Middleton Extra Rare - that's 150 Euros a bottle, friends. All I can say is YUM.
A stop at the chef demonstration tent nearly threw me into a slumber but a wafting scent of barbecue led to me to the Viking exhibit where they were showing off the newest in outdoor kitchens - basically a kitchen on wheels. A stop for some Magnums follows before we decide to find the rest of the lads. They hadn't moved from the Lithuanian beerhaus... figures. I grabbed them and we moved out in search of something.
In the mean time, I was introduced to premium import beer. An deluxe importer called me over and recommended a Belgian strong lager after interviewing me regarding my beer tastes. I believe he described the beer as something that would "kick me in the face with flavor" but still allowed for easy drinking. Needless to say, 10% later, I was happy. More food followed a better band at the gazebo (are you getting the nomadic nature with which we conducted ourselves?) before finding a mojito tent.
Now, for having been told that Americans can't drink, I think I did pretty well. Considering that my Irish coworkers had partaken of the same beverages as I had, they were borderline "Will Farrell" as they put it while I was well within my limits. More food and a stretch amongst the gorgeous fountains laughing and having fun with the entire gang preceded our made dash to the wine tent as we only had mere minutes before that all closed. That was a mess - angry vendors turned up their nose at me when I came to their tables genuinely interested but toting a plastic glass (their dishwasher had apparently broken). In any event, we ended the evening well enough and I took a stroll back to the office by way of the quays at night.
Absolutely fabulous evening with the work mates. The second best part was that my ticket was reimbursed! A whole night of Irish entertainment on the cheap - my kind of night. For those of you reading and worrying that all we did was drink... well we did a lot of that... BUT I've removed a lot of the hanging out times since it was rather passive. And no... I was not "wasted" or otherwise - just jolly and warm. Mom isn't going to like this post...
Image via Wikipedia
This will be the first of a few posts that I wanted to throw together that address some of the lessons that I think the United States can learn from countries like Ireland. CNET published a story about how green technology could make Europe a technology power house - story found here. At the same time, this is a chance to try BlogDesk as a remote blogging software tool.
Anyone that has gone outside of the United States will know that we waste a lot of energy (in the US). I have a feeling that I'm going to be a little shocked upon my return. Maybe, just maybe, someone with some pull will read this and make some changes. It's really not hard to conserve a little bit but making change is the difficult bit.
I'll address some background first. The Irish consider themselves "hardy folk" as Mary McClosky put it upon our first meeting. They keep the heat down, take short showers, turn out the lights when not needed, and unplug appliances when not in use. It's an attitude of conservation brought on because electricity costs are EXCRUTIATING.
Not only does Europe pay amazingly high prices for gasoline, equivalent to ~ $8.20/gallon, but the energy costs are easily twice what we pay in the US. Just looking around cities in Europe, it is clear that costs are a significant issue on everyone's mind - there are barely any cars on the roads and many that are use diesel fuel instead of unleaded gasoline.
What these environmental factors breed is a culture of conservation. The "hardiness" is less about being strong willed and more about being sensible. I've learned that it is possible to use all that you need and not overuse. In reality, it's very easy to do but hard to keep in mind. Just keeping in mind that I should unplug the computer or turn off the lights has been a large change mentally for me just because I've been so conditioned to not care.
One thing that Ireland has that makes this easy is that every outlet has a circuit-breaker in it with a switch. I can shut off the power just by throwing the switch and it keeps power from flowing to the machine or appliance. It's stupid simple but apparently is too difficult for Americans to ever want to implement.
Take aways from today's entry would be:
Thanks very much for reading and I'll see you next time!
Image by orangeacid via Flickr
Second post for the day - I'm asking for your help.
As part of my time abroad, I am required to do a fair bit of research. I am currently working on a research project looking into a concept known as "student experience" and I need your help. All I'm asking for is that you take 5 minutes to take a very short survey.
The above URL will bring you to survey monkey where I have put together a 5 minute survey. Please take a few moments to fill it out and help me with my research but also help companies and institutions improve the experience that students, faculty, administrators, and parents have when dealing with the administration. It only takes five minutes or less.
Image via Wikipedia
Second post for the day - I'm asking for your help.
As part of my time abroad, I am required to do a fair bit of research. I am currently working on a research project looking into a concept known as "student experience" and I need your help. All I'm asking for is that you take 5 minutes to take a very short survey.
The above URL will bring you to survey monkey where I have put together a 5 minute survey. Please take a few moments to fill it out and help me with my research but also help companies and institutions improve the experience that students, faculty, administrators, and parents have when dealing with the administration. It only takes five minutes or less.
Image via Wikipedia
I'm not sure if this is the post that you were looking to find on this blog but stay with it for a few minutes because I think it's going to turn out fine.
For many of us, "Googling" has become the new standard for information searching. I know for my own self, Google has become the center of my world. After UCD blocked our access to outside mail servers (they were afraid of scary viruses...) I had to find other email solutions outside of Boston University infrastructure. Naturally, I turned to the one parent figure in my digital life - Google. Gmail, GCalendar, and GTalk are now the focal points of my information gathering. I have embraced the Goog and it feels good. I know that I am an early adopter of sorts but I can't be the only one doing this. Google is now inseperable from our society and we from it.
Yesterday, Thursday the 5th of June, Google announced a new feature to their ever popular GMail service - GMail Labs. This beta service, along with many other Google Labs program, is a way for you to access non-mainstream features in order to make your life easier. Features such as changing the way your signature is displayed, adding the old Snake game, or even locking yourself out of GMail for 15 minute email time-outs are all part of the offering.
So, that's all well and good, James. We know you are a geek and love this stuff but what about the social commentary part of all this? Here it comes.
Google doesn't do things lightly - they move relatively slowly, though much faster than other corporations of its size. The launch of a new service is a definite sign that there had been interest in such a feature as well as someone that was interested in developing the tool - perhaps part of their progressive 15% time allocation for employees to pursue their own projects. To me, this is a sign of a new wave of human. In my mind, this is the same sort of movement that is propelling Barack Obama through to the Democratic party's nomination - we want change and now there is a voice, a drive to get it.
Let me expand. As part of this new feature, private users will be able to code their own features for GMail and have them integrated with the service. Sure, you can do similar things using extensions and personal scripts such as Greasemonkey and Better Gmail 2 for Firefox. Those services are great but they aren't native, each user has to go out and get it for themselves. GMail Labs will be for the masses and supports all those that are out using Google products.
Some are bashing Generation Y as the generation that will ruin the world with our preoccupation with social networks and social media. I happen to believe that we will be the agents of change that our parents could never dream to be. We have a drive, a carnal need to change things. We are driven to make an impact on the world around us. Generation Y will be a seen as the network of individuals that come together to make change in this world.
The launch of GMail Labs is a perfect example of this. When a company like Google makes a move, it's for a good reason. Their strategy reflects society and our passions, our desires. I would look to Google to become the next Microsoft... but in a rather friendly, positive partnership rather than the hostile prisoner relationship we have with Redmond.
I promise that I will write more... I promise, promise, promise.
As the headline says, our program has 15 days remaining before we leave the Emerald Isle for the harsh realities of the United States. I don't mean that to be a negative statement but rather a sobering fact. We've been in a world where a dollar means nothing, where cars run on the wrong side of the road, where it rains every day (almost). Returning to Boston is going to be a shock to our system much the same way arriving in Dublin was - but we're "normal here" (not many of us are actually normal to begin with so... I'm not sure how to put that into thought, sorry).
Our impending departure illicits a whole plethora of emotions, mostly panic. There are a mulitude of things to wrap up here before I can even think about heading home. Our internships have projects that need to be delivered (more on mine in a few), we have a portfolio and research project for BU that no one has even looked at. On top of that, I just don't want to leave. I like the abstract world that we live in. My decisions here don't necessarily have real-world impact. Allow me to unpack that.
First, our grades don't matter. They do, but they don't. Whatever mark that we earn from University College Dublin is then passed through a matrix to yield a conversion to the "American" system. That matrix tells me that a 70% is an A... you tell me if you wouldn't laugh a little bit. Euros are funny money. Long past are the days that we were converting the currency in our minds. Pints are well over $7 USD and just hopping on the bus feels like an investment (over $2.70 each way). On top of all that, I speak differently. It's sloppy, inprecise, and sort of bugs me. I'll say something such as, "Oh, he was acting like a fool, like" and my questions no longer have the proper syllabic emphasis, e.g. questions don't end with your voice being "high" we sort of put it in the middle.
Did I mention that my rambling has gotten worse? That sentence was how many lines long... geez.
The moral of the story is that we're changed but it's as if we're in a playground. Our choices here don't impact our career (in theory). Mostly, I'm thinking of my internship with that thought. I'm using this experience as an opportunity to practice being at a real internship, practice for Accenture and EMC this summer. It's actually really helpful to see what I'll be able to get away with and what won't fly even whenconsidering what the different expectations will hold. I guess it's like I get to expell all the bad habits now... to include blogging while at work (oops).
So now that the kvetching is over, let's talk shop a little bit. I've been living in another culture for so long, I sometimes forget that all of you are sort of watching this game from the bleechers. I love Ireland. Despite the ups and downs in my personal life and the various other concerns that have come up, this semester will go down in my Wikipedia page as one of the best experiences ever. I am eternally grateful to my parents, Paul, Laura, and Brian, for their unending support, latenight phonecalls (my time, not theirs) - I could not have been here in Dublin without their support.
By the way, remember that melodramatic post a while ago about needing to find that "BIG" answer... some sort of wholistic change? Well I found it. Let me tell you a secret - it was with me the whole time. Basically, I got a dose of reality - some would call it a good smattering of perspective. Not only have I finally grown to see my parents as good friends instead of those people that try to embarrass me all the time, but I've found myself. I've found the internal value in myself that doesn't require external validation for me to know that I'm me and that's really ok.
While my world no longer plays like a Las Vegas slot machine, I can tell there are going to be many, many new adventures to be had and all I have to do is be patient for them. Hopefully you all will be a part of that with me. I intend to quintuple efforts for this blog between now and my return. There will be a few post-return entries that will hopefully have some interesting stories. Then I'll be archiving these posts into my other blog, http://www.jamesmconnors.com under their own tags so they don't disappear when the jamesindublin domain expires. Thank you for stopping by - I hope to see you next time!
I've started a new chapter in my time here in Ireland. With exams now over, it's time that I turned my eyes away from the pages of notes and stick my head into the wild world of business. Yes, that's right, I'm at my new job... internship, work placement - whatever you want to call it. I just posted up a bit on how the whole exam thing went down... very interesting indeed. I'm currently mooching my lunch as much as possible and have the entire room of the office to myself. So, what am I doing? I'm working as a management intern at Campus IT ltd. Their main offices are in Dublin, Ireland with another office in the UK. It's an interesting company - they build software applications on top of Oracle database programs and sell them to colleges and universities. The real wonder is how they can exist when the market is so small. Since there are probably as many college in all of Ireland as there is in the Boston metro zone, I would say that their market is rather small.
What am I doing here? Well, it's not computers and it's not finance either. I'm actually going to be running a research project on what makes up a student's experience. Since their market is primarily the administration of these large colleges and universities, the student experience they talk about is the one that is tied to the differing models of administrative back-ends. I think it could be an interesting project and will definitely be a good conversation piece for future interviews. My role will be lead project manager, interviewer, head researcher, presenter, and coffee guy.
In reality, though, I'll have the opportunity to stretch this oddly creative brain of mine to try new things and experiment with the way I think. Having no background in sales, marketing, or market research, I wouldn't think that I'd be a good fit for the role BUT we had that amazing thing called the Cross Functional Core Curriculum! Hurray for Boston University School of Management and your ability to make me stretch my mind further and further every year.
I'll keep you all posted on the outcomes of the research and periodic updates for sure!
I last wrote about a week ago about how studying early wasn't so much fun. Well, it's not and apparently my mind doesn't like to work that way either - early, that is. Instead of following the detailed study plans that I generated, I was much more inclined to work on the "fun" stuff. The fun stuff being my blog, podcast, personal branding strategy, networking, etc etc etc. Basically, I found every opportunity to not study that any college student would be able to manage. It was brutal... but that wasn't even the worst of it. Saturday's exam was, in my mind, going to be the hardest - the mathematical modelling for decision making. I had extensive study guides, past exam papers, notes, problems, and all the rest printed out... all for nothing. The final exam was basically the exam that the instructor had set in 2005... not impressed. I hardly had to think about it since we had already worked through it, just adjusting my work for the new numbers (he did change a couple of those).
OH! Before I forget, let me say a little bit about UCD exams. Basically, imagine a large conference hall at least two football fields in area. Now, fill that hall with 4,000 desks and chairs in rows. Now, place 4,000 students into those chairs, an "invigilator" talking over a PA system, more invigilators pacing up and down the aisles in random intervals and a dead silence. That might be about what we experienced - it was truly something out of Harry Potter.
Monday's exam was a breeze - the Management of Information Systems comes to me as if it were hard-coded into my brain, gosh I love technology! Unfortunately, this particular exam didn't get over until after 7pm leaving me scant hours before the finance exam the next day. At the same time, two of my close friends from softball were headed back to Virginia the next morning ?. It was a sad night indeed. I did, however, pop over for a while to hang out and say goodbye. I dominated at charades but was constantly killed off when playing mafia. In any event, I made it back to my dorm by mid-night and faced a tough decision. Continue to study until I was tired and then sleep for a bit or sleep now and get up really early. Knowing my night-owl tendencies, I opted for the former option working until just about 5am, sleeping for 3 hours, getting up at 8, walking to the convenience store for some coffee and breakfast, getting home, popping the first redbull of the day and then carrying on the studying.
I was furiously trying to fill my little head with knowledge all the while under the gun that I hadn't realized it was going to be so hard. After the first exam, I figured that this class would be no different... I was wrong. Needless to say I didn't feel as confident as I usually like to when it comes to exams but I was able to answer enough questions that I think I did reasonably well (plus I only needed to get 45% of the points on the exam to pass the class with a B).
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Surprise, surprise - James is having a hard time studying for these exams. I hate studying. I really dislike the way that classes are taught and here's why. Our educational system is built to reward small impulses of work. What I mean is that tests measure a student's performance on one day; papers measure how well a student can prepare less than a day's work; cold calls measures a student's ability to scan the text before class. How can educators figure out a way to constantly assess a student's true knowledge and understanding? I don't have an answer to that.
I know that some may say that rewarding knowledge will then disenfranchise those that aren't as "smart" as another. I dissagree. I'm not a smart person in so much as that I can't just walk into tests and beat them. I have struggled and toiled for every grade that I've received ever since middle school. There has never been a subject that I could simply do well in without a lot of work. This tells me that someone can build knoweldge through hard work.
If we reward knowledge, as a society, then we maintain the balance of rewards as they stand today: some people would still be able to get by with less work than others. However, the shift would change society in a positive way. By rewarding knowledge, our culture would have the opportunity to have a larger mean knowledge compared to today. The benfits of this are far reaching and go well beyond my ability to ponder amid exams. But think, what would our world be like if we cared more about knowledge than grades? Or if grades measured knowledge and not temporary recall.
All this was a bit of procrastination on my part but I think it has value. What do you think? Do you think that our system and society would be better served if knowledge were rewarded rather than tests etc?
I wanted to throw a link up to send you all over to my www.jamesmconnors.com blog to check out the latest post. It is a short essay about the value of Irish educational systems in comparison to American systems. You can find the article at http://www.jamesmconnors.com/pontification/irish-education-or-american-you-decide. In other news, I've posted up more photos to the Ireland photo set at www.flickr.com/photos/nalgene1080 please take a minute to look through them when you can. I'll be tagging and describing them in the near future.
This semester, I have been studying abroad in Dublin, Ireland through the Boston University Dublin Management Internship program. Unlike many of the other BU abroad programs, we directly enroll in a host institution rather than taking classes at a Boston University student center. This means we are taking the actual Irish classes along with Irish students as they work towards their degrees. This interaction and firsthand experience has allowed me to gain an interesting perspective on differing educational systems. Here at the University College Dublin Quinn School of Management, the curriculum, course requirements, and credit hours are very different for equivalent degrees in the United States. There are a number of reasons that I think the educational environment is different here. First, students do not pay for their school tuition, the government does. As much as it is elitist to say, I think this may contribute to student buy-in as far as the educational process goes. Since they have no financial responsibility, as compared to US students, students may not take classes as seriously as they might otherwise if there was a financial stake in their coursework.
Second, many Irish students have a three year program to earn their Bachelor's Degree as compared to the American four year system. When looking at the curriculums, the Irish spend their entire university career in the college of their major taking courses that relate directly to that major. There are not the same sorts of "general education" or "elective" course requirements as we have at Boston University. It seems that by reducing the course load of outside classes, Irish curriculums are able to graduate students a year faster than most American colleges. I wonder whether this has an effect on the work place and hirability. One might question maturity and experience given students are hired into firms for full time work at the age of twenty-one rather than our traditional twenty-two.
Finally, the Irish curriculum and teaching style that we are experiencing is very different from that which we are used to at Boston University. Classes are almost exclusively lecture style with little to no classroom participation and minimal feedback. The instructor will generally talk about notes they have prepared in a PowerPoint presentation or an Adobe PDF that then displays on a projector. Classes tend to be about three hours long with a break in the middle and meet once a week. In contrast, the longest class I had experienced prior to UCD was two hours, met twice a week, and was VERY interactive. Even our large lecture style courses tended to interact either by cold-call, interactive clickers, or other real-time feedback.
I have not yet formed my opinion about what system is "better" since I have not really gone out and experienced what it is like to work alongside these students. In a little over a week, I will be starting an internship in downtown Dublin where, among other goals, I hope to experience firsthand what it is to work in Ireland. I personally prefer the BU system and curriculum because it works better for me, or perhaps because I have grown up with it, so to speak.
What do you think? Does the Irish system of education sound better to you? Is it more fun? If you were a hiring manager, who would you rather hire? Post a comment or drop a line to james.m.connors [dot] gmail [dot] com and let the community know what you think.
