I Love Surprises; I Always Know What To Expect

The group of Spanish students Liam and I took on the Orientation Tour. They are in front of the city bank.

A running joke that my friends and I had back at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum was that we were expected to do jobs that we were never trained for and hadn't a clue what we were doing.

I guess this is a theme in many work places.

On the schedule for the week, Liam and I were going to do an Orientation Tour. This tour is where we take new students to the program to some of the highlights in Dublin. Liam had done the tour before, so I was planning on just watching and learning for next time.

But of course, that was not to be the plan.

Liam comes up to me as we are about to bring the group into town and tells me that I have to lead half the students by myself. Really? I told him that I had never given the tour before. Not only that, but I didn't study the tour because Khush and Alex were in town. Why does this have to happen to me?

Now I started to freak out. Liam went over where we had to go and what to say. Nothing like cramming at the last minute.

I felt like a loser. I should have studied this weekend for the tour. Also, I constantly feel like dead weight at work. Everyone knows what they are doing and I am the one always asking the questions and being nervous about what is going on. Most of the time I feel like an annoyance to the other activity leaders.

But no matter what happens, the show must go on. While the students were getting ready to go, I was studying everything I could for the tour.

Just when we were about to board the bus, Liam tells me that we don't have to split the group up and we will just do it all together. Praise God! But at the same time I was a little sad about not really doing the tour. I had finally felt confident enough to give the tour my myself. I wanted people to know that I can give a tour!

We were really late getting into town. The students orientation had gone over and with the bus system being the worst, it took us a while to actually get into city center.

Because we were running late, Liam decided to do a condense version of the tour. I was happy with that because we were in the heart of Dublin during rush hour. That is never a good combination.

The first stop was at College Green. College Green use to be a government building, and right across from it is the famous Trinity College.

The next stop was to Dublin City Bank. Liam said that I should talk about it. I said sure. I got on a block and started to talk to the students about the bank. The bank was built during the 1970's. What is really interesting about it was that it was built from the top to the bottom. On the side of the building you can see these black rails. Those were used to bring the materials up to the top. It is believed that under the bank are large vaults were the wealth of Ireland is stored. The wealth of Ireland is represented by a golden globe at the front of the building.

After I had finished my talk, I looked to Liam for approval. He said something about leading the students to Temple Bar, but I couldn't make out what he was saying, so he had to lead the students. I felt like an idiot. I should have lead them, but I was so focused on talking about the bank and getting that information right, that I forgot the next step.

On the way to Temple Bar, I was talking with one of the leaders and the conversation continued while Liam told them a little bit about Temple Bar. I laughed when he mentioned that you had to be 21 to enjoy the fun here because the drinking age in Ireland is 18. He then turns to me and asks if I have anything to add. I said no because I wasn't paying attention and Liam told me everything what to say, so I only say what he says! Again, I felt like an idiot.

Liam then said that I could lead them over the Ha'Penny Bridge and talk about the women statues. I lead the group and told them that the bridge's name stands for half penny because in the 1800's it costs a half penny to cross.

The women statues are of two older women who are shopping. They are there to represent the shoppers of Dublin.

After I told the students about them, I lead them to Henry Street, which is a major shopping area. It was hard to keep the student's attention when they just want to shop.

We went to the Grand Post Office and there was miscommunication between Liam and I on who was going to talk about it. Liam got up on the window ledge and wanted me to join him. Did he see how short my legs are? I can't get up there! Liam just gives me a look and talks about the spiral and the Post Office. Another failure on my part.

The spiral was built for the millennium and many Irish do not like it because they believe that it is a huge waste of government money. It is a large spiral that can be seen from almost anywhere in Dublin. Makes for a great meeting place!

The Post Office is very significant because during the Rebellion of 1916, the headquarters of the "rebels" were in the Post Office.

After Liam was done talking, we let the students have an hour of free time to shop. We didn't get free time. We had to find some office supplies and failed in doing so. I was able to talk to Liam more and found out that he was a really cool, nice guy. He was good friends with Paul, who I had worked with in headquarters.

Free time was soon over and that meant we had to bring the students back to the college. We had to split up the group and that meant that I would have to bring the students back myself. This requires that I know what stop to get off at. Liam, before getting on the bus, asked if I knew the stop. I simply smiled and said yes. I would figure this out, which I did :)

I was really happy that I was able to do some of the tour; lead the students to the next location and get them back to the college. I really wished that I was forced to the tour by myself. I know that I can do it, but always before the tour I think too much about it and I get really nervous. If I am just forced to do it myself, I can prove to myself that I can do it!