When I started my MA, I was working full time at a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) company called Salesforce – most specifically for their B2B Marketing product, Pardot, as a data specialist and customer advocate. I was blessed with an incredibly supportive team and had already been working with them for six months before I started classes. I left the team this past April to focus on my last semesters before graduation, but the friendships I made with my colleagues are still going strong. My former team is split in multiple offices around the world – Atlanta, San Francisco, Sydney, and Dublin! Obviously, once I signed on for this trip, I let my Dublin friends know immediately that I was going to be visiting and that I have to see them. The free day made the most sense for all of us: tonight we went out to dinner at the Hairy Lemon followed by delicious gelato at Gino’s!

In the picture from left to right is Clare, Evelyn, and Jessica. Clare and Evelyn are both Irishwomen (Clare is actually from Belfast) but Jessica is not – she’s from Idaho! She had been working for Salesforce for a couple years when an opportunity to relocate to Dublin came her way and she jumped at the chance. She’s really the perfect person to talk to about understanding yourself in a brand new place and feeling dislocated – we may be feeling out of place being here for a week or so, but she’s been here for a few years with her son, which certainly took some getting used to! I also think it’s entertaining that I’ve experienced some things in Dublin that Clare and Evelyn haven’t – Clare had never had Gino’s Gelato before tonight!

Seeing them just for this one night made me miss them and the whole team so much, but I know one thing: if I’m ever in Dublin again, I have friends to help me feel at home.