The Diarmuid Gillingham Blog

Sort out the essentials before arriving This may not sound like the most exciting advice in the world, but that makes our first piece of advice any less important. Before arriving in a new country make you know exactly where you will be living and how to get there. There are few experiences, more stressful than arriving in a new country and not having any idea where you are going with a few suitcases weighing you down in the process. This is even more vital is you’re doing your exchange in a country in which you don’t speak the language fluently. So before leaving home to make sure you have the address written down and have details notes on how the local bus or train system will get you there. The third major thing to remember is to make sure your mobile phone and sim card will be useable. This can be useful for Google maps and simply telling your family you arrived in one piece. Finally, speak to your bank in your home country to make sure your card will be usable is your new destinat...

Dear Reader,   I have made a discovery, one that makes my world and hopefully yours make a little more sense. That discovery you ask? It was the moment I realised I was a multipotentialite. A mouthful I know, but that just makes it all the more exciting. A multipotentialite is somebody who has a wider range of interest than the average person and I would argue ambitions too.   This journey started about 3 weeks ago when an Irish man named Nicholas Grundy introduced himself to me and invited me to listen to his TEDx Talk.    Which I did and soon I realised it was like looking at my future self. Nick is a professional photography now, he’s fluent in German, he is a speaker and also somehow has fitted in the time to see much of the world. These are all interest we have in common, but he also told me he is an engineer and has done time in the army. Looking at Nick I saw my doppelgänger, not in terms of the interest we have in common but rather the amount of them. I found...

  There is a wonderful saying that says “people come in all shapes and sizes, and they are all beautiful” A statement that we all need to keep in mind when dealing with people and forming views on them, whether we mean to do it or not.  Everybody is misunderstood at some stage. It could be from a parent, spouse, workmate, friend, sibling or mentor. More specifically groups and types of people can be misunderstood, especially in a society that is so picky about what is normal and expected. With this people can be sorted into certain groups and stereotypes. For example, some people may hear a man is gay and expect him to be very flamboyant. While others may see somebody has tattoos and assume their life has no direction. There are endless examples. The misunderstood group I want to discuss are introverts. In a world where everybody is expected to be happy and social 24/7, introverts can be seen as weird, awkward and boring. So as an introvert, I hope this piece clears up many of...