Luisa's Internship: Six weeks at an Irish law firm

My journey started on a Sunday morning when I boarded my flight to Dublin around 9 a.m. I had already booked an airport transfer through the organization, so I was picked up directly at the airport. That made things a lot less stressful for me, as I knew someone would be there waiting for me and taking me safely to my host family.

Unfortunately, when I arrived at the airport, I found out that my suitcase hadn’t arrived with me and was still in Germany. But that issue quickly faded into the background after a 30-minute drive, when I got to meet my host family and was simply relieved at how warm and welcoming they were. The family consisted of a mother and her two adult children. The daughter had already moved out, and the son was still living at home. They also had a friendly and affectionate dog who was very sweet.

During my stay, I had booked "half-board," which meant I received breakfast and dinner from my host family. In addition, they would also prepare a small lunch snack for me to take to work — which was incredibly thoughtful and by no means something I had expected. The meals were always prepared with care and tasted great. In my opinion, I couldn’t have asked for a better host family.

My internship started that Wednesday. The law firm was quite demanding at first — which I could understand, as they expected me to understand everything right away. On my side, however, I still faced some difficulties, not because my English was bad, but because it’s quite a challenge when legal vocabulary is involved, and people speak very fast.

But it was all manageable — after about a week, I had gotten used to it, and things became easier every day. One important thing to note is that you should be prepared to be very independent and often take on a lot of responsibility (at least in terms of your work). This helped me grow personally, as I learned to solve problems on my own first — and only ask for help when I really had no solution.

If any other issues came up, I always knew I could reach out to Students Go Abroad, and they would support me with anything I needed.

One particular highlight was the opportunity to accompany my supervisor to court. That was a very impressive experience — a unique chance and incredibly exciting to witness how things work in a foreign country and get a glimpse of a day in court.

During my internship, I enjoyed spending time with my colleagues, gaining new experiences, and interacting with clients. No day was ever boring — there was always something new and interesting to discover.

Since I worked Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., I liked using the weekends to explore more of Ireland.

It was really helpful that the organization had set up a WhatsApp group for all the interns in Dublin at the same time. That made it easy to meet new people and plan trips together.

We visited places like the Cliffs of Moher, Belfast, Howth, Bray, and many attractions in Dublin itself. These trips were amazing — and we were especially lucky with the weather, as it barely rained for four weeks!

In conclusion, it was an exciting and eventful few weeks that I would happily relive any time. The organization planned everything perfectly from start to finish and was always there for me. I would do it exactly the same way again — because the experience was truly unforgettable.