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Irish Adventures: A Cultural Insight

Hi, my name is Anis Raihana. I’m from Malaysia. In January 2017 I became a Stinter and started an internship within the area of chemical engineering in Dublin. This blog outlines the cultural differences between my home country and Ireland. Whilst I also talk about how unique Ireland truly is. I hope you enjoy!

Moving to Ireland for an 11-week internship experience with lots of adventures around the island was the best decision I have ever made, despite feeling heavy hearted to leave my loved ones behind. I had tons of fun and gained heaps of knowledge. I knew I did not regret taking such a big decision almost a year ago when I rejected a local internship offer. Of course, this involved a rollercoaster of emotions and patience but most importantly, I had the opportunity to observe and learn about a new culture.

Due to the fact that it has a long history on monastery sites during the golden age, Ireland is known as the ‘land of saints and scholars.’ The Irish culture is unique in its own way.

 (Some of the Stinters I met) 

Irish Adventures: A Cultural Insight

 

The Irish Humor!

One of the first things I realized about the difference between Malaysian and Irish culture is wittiness and humor. Malaysians typically joke around with their closed ones, unlike Irish people who can joke around with strangers without anyone feeling offended. One day, I was buying a card from Spar at the place where I worked at, the cashier played around with me by not letting me take out my bank notes from my purse. I did not realize it was a joke until I looked at him and he was giggling. My top employer too, teased me when he thought I sailed from Indonesia instead of Malaysia.

Next, Irish or Dubliners, in general, prefer to take public transport rather than driving unless they live far from the city center. On the other hand, Malaysians prefer driving our own cars with public transport being the second option, regardless where we live.

(Walking means you can explore castles!!)

Irish Adventures: A Cultural Insight

Phrases

Malaysians would say ‘okay’ or ‘alright’ after they understand a topic, or ‘Everything will be alright,’ Irish would say ‘grand’ or ‘Everything will be grand.’

Malaysians address customers as ‘sir’ or ‘madam’, Irish addresses their customers as ‘love’ or ‘darling.’

In addition, Irish people are full of praises. Even when it is a small achievement, they would say, ‘Excellent!’ ‘Brilliant work!’ ‘Perfect!’ Unlike Malaysians, we only praise one another when it is a big achievement.

Malaysians say ‘thank you’ or ‘terima kasih’ in Bahasa – a lot but not ‘sorry’ and ‘please’ which are being said for almost everything and all the time in the Emerald Isle.

Your Health is Your Wealth in Ireland

In Malaysia, we work like there is no tomorrow or in other words, ‘work comes first before health’. In Ireland, it is the other way round, ‘health comes first before work.’ Even if it means you have a very light fever, you’ll be sent home immediately.

(Howth is a lovely place to unwind- plenty of fresh air!)

Irish Adventures: A Cultural Insight

Food and Social Time

Rice is our staple food in Malaysia whereas potatoes are the staple food of Irish. Hence, why you’ll be able to buy 1 kilogram of potatoes at €1.

Malaysians love spending weekends at shopping malls ( an exceptional case for myself :D) and our shopping malls close at 10pm every day. On top of that, one can also easily spot a person with sunglasses even at the malls! Shopping streets or malls in Ireland generally close between 6pm to 7pm and even though the Sun is shining brightly, it is pretty rare to spot someone with sunglasses.

Random Fact: There are only 11 toll roads or motorways in Ireland. In Malaysia, there are 33 highways or expressways with toll points. Even so, our government is planning for more toll roads!

Unique to Ireland

You can hear Irish music almost everywhere you go including souvenir shops and on tour coaches, whereas Malaysian music is only being played at certain places or occasions like museums, temples or during weddings and local concerts.

(The amazing Cliffs of Moher)

Irish Adventures: A Cultural Insight

 

At home, we love our beautiful sandy beaches, Petronas Twin Towers, and Mount Kinabalu. While the Irish love their green scenery, sheep, and Cliffs of Moher. We have 7Eleven and Mydin all over the country while there are Subway and Spar everywhere in Ireland. Pubs are the norms and hang out spots in Ireland while Indian restaurants or what we called as ‘Mamak’ are our normal hang out spots in Malaysia.

In terms of time keeping, both Malaysians and Irish are somewhat very relaxed about it. For example, when someone arranges a meeting to commence at 8am, this normally mean 8:15am or even an hour later for Malaysians.

Ireland: A Truly Amazing Experience

All in all, my time in Ireland was craic! I wouldn’t want to trade the experience with anything else. I have definitely missed hearing people say ‘grand’ at all times, on top of striking a conversation with strangers on the streets. If I were given a chance to return to Ireland for either a holiday or even a job offer, without any doubt I’d say YES.

Anis became a Stinter in January 2017 and really embraced her time in Ireland. Anis has many talents and being awesome is just one of them! You can catch more of her writings via her personal blog. Stint Ireland would like to thank Anis for her blog contribution. We look forward to her coming back to visit us in the near future. 

Amy Beam, Public Relations Intern


Amy Beam (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) is a communications student. She was a PR intern with Rachel Dalton Communications in Summer 2015.

Kelly-Ann and Ben

A Q&A with Kelly-Ann, Animation Intern

My name is Kelly-Ann and I am an art student hailing from the glorious and almighty frozen tundra known as Canada. I did an internship in Ireland this spring with an animation distribution company called Monster Entertainment.

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Hanna Sise, Events Intern

“I wanna plan big-scale events, market big-scale events, all across the world. I would love to live in one country for a couple years and then travel to another one and live there for a couple years. I think there’s so much of the world to see. The world is such a beautiful place and you meet so many great people along the way. I know that my dreams are ridiculously big, scattered all over the world. But I just know that I have to go after them and find them.” – Hanna Sise

 

Hanna Sise is an event planning and event marketing student at Stephen F Austin State University. She hopes to plan and market big-scale events while travelling the world.

Cierra Martin, Urban Farmer


“Part of me knows that opening an urban farm and cafe right out of college is a little bit crazy – and I’ve definitely gotten that look a time or two – but I think sometimes it’s those things and ideas that are just a little bit out there that end up creating something truly unique and beautiful.” – Cierra Martin.


A student at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, Cierra hopes to open an urban farm and cafe upon her graduation in May 2015.

Joseph Hulme, Civil Engineering Intern

Joseph Hulme is a student at Wentworth Institute of Technology. As a civil engineering intern with GMC Utilities this autumn, Joe was able to contribute to the Luas (Dublin’s light rail system) cross-city Utility project.

Katie Browner, Occupational Therapy Intern


“My favorite moment of the internship was with one little four year old boy. He’s very low functioning and he loves working on puzzles, more than anything, it’s his favorite activity. When the kids are outside playing, he’s always wanting to work on a puzzle. But he needs a lot of help doing the puzzles.


One day I was working on a puzzle with him. It was a box of puzzles with four different care bears in there. He wanted to do all four puzzles but we didn’t have time to do all of them so he got upset. So I told him we would do them all the next day. And the next day, the first thing when he got here, was he found me and asked me if we could do a puzzle. And I thought he would forget about it and he didn’t. It was so sweet!”


Katie Browner from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA. Occupational Therapy Intern at Little Pals Preschool with Enable Ireland.