Monday and last day at work...Last day of my internship and time to leave back the two wonderfull months I spent with people at the Special Olympics. Some last things to do, mostly, shortly reporting to my manager on the two projects I have been working on, in case something is needed during the month I will be out of the office... And when I say month, I mean it, for by the end of September I 'll be back in Dublin, working for the Special Olympics Europe/ Eurasia :)

Tuesday = flight day and after 4h on the plane (6 if we consider the time difference), I landed in Athens, just for a pleasant (and warm) brake and in order to share in detail with family and friends all about my experience :)

West Cork and the Ring of Kerry, are said to be among the most beautiful places in Ireland. Well said :)

My trip started early on Saturday morning, with a train to Cork to catch. 3 hours later, at 10am, I was in Cork, ready to head to Blarney Castle, which I didn't have time to visit the last time I travelled to Cork. After a 20min drive, I reached at Blarney Castle. A medieval stronghold with extensive gardens, where you can find even tropical plants. At the top of the castle lies the Stone of Eloquence, better known as the Blarney Stone. I became one of the many tourists to hang upside-down over a sheer drop to kiss the stone, so I am supposed to have received the gift of eloquence. Only time will tell if this is actually true :P

Next stop at Killarney National Park and Torc mountain and time for some hiking. Well, my physical condition is at least awful (Note to Myself: one of the things to change!), so nothing intense, however I had the chance to visit Torc waterfalls, and see myself the magic mountain scenery which was harmonically combined with the lakes. After an hour’s walk, it was time to continue with the Ring of Kerry tour. The landscape was astonishing and I was really delighted and full from the whole tour, so the delicious dinner at Kenmare, which was the overnight station, was just an icing on the cake.

Second day of the trip, Sunday, and the weather was more than promising. In contrast to last day’s rain and night’s cold, the sun was up in the sky. After a quick visit to Bonane Heritage Park, near Kenmare, where I enjoyed a 2km walk through Stone, Bronze and Iron Age’s monuments and wonderful view from the top of the hill (according to Irish mountain :P) of the surrounding area, it was Mizen Head’s turn. At the southwesternmost edge of Ireland, the breathtaking scenery cannot be described with words. Mizen Head’s bridge and a visit to the lighthouse (paying tribune to my passion for lighthouses!) made me wanna stay there for the whole day! Unfortunately, there was a train to catch from Cork to Dublin, so a quick stop to a nearby magic white-sanded beach was the best closure.

More than two months have passed by, and this is my last week of the internship, since on Tuesday I am going back to Athens. Mixed feelings, as one the one hand I am going to see my family and friends that I have missed so much after more than two months, but on the other, I 'll have to leave back two amazing months, full of unforgetable experience and wonderful people, here.

Back to work, I see the things I have planned and worked on for the last two months getting a solid shape. Both projects are going on (and on), and despite the fact that my internship is coming to an end, I have decided and anounced to my manager as well, that I 'll continue to help SOEE remotely from Athens. It would be a pitty to let things, now that everything seems to work according to the schedule.

More and more functionalities are intergrated into BPOS, and I am waiting for today's (Friday!) meeting with my manager and the SOEE deputy-president to review some more things, and decide about their implementation or not.

On the other hand, Grant Application Program starts to be more fruitful, as people from National Offices come back from their summer vacation. All these two months, 6 more countries have applied for the grant, while I am currently in contact with 4 more, which I expect to fill in the application within the next weeks.

Tonight I am going to a fundraising event, organized by SOEE, so I 'll have tha chance to attend dog racing, which is really popular here in Ireland. 

And for my last weekend in Ireland, what else but another trip, this time to Cork's countryside and the Ring of Kerry, said to be one of the most beautiful areas of Ireland.

Four wonderful and relaxing days in Amsterdam, Utrecht and the Hague :)

*Since the blog is all about Ireland, I 'll refrain from writting about the trip's details.

Information Architecture it is! (At last... ) I finished with the documentation, and I just saw that these 7 pages took my about 10 days to complete (not really productive:( )! On the other hand, I know that if I am asked to write an IA document again, it will be easier for me, since I now understand better the procedure and can go quicker through the several steps.

Some more work on BPOS website before an unexpected (brilliant but still unexpected!) suggestion from my Microsoft mentor, Cian, about the actual implementation of the functionalities came to confuse me a while. Since it was pretty late and I am going to be off the office until Tuesday, I left it "hanging" as a simple idea.

Back home, for some rest, before starting packing my things! 4 days off to Amsterdam- this will be my summer holidays for this year! See you on Tuesday then :)

Back to work and it was time for IA documentation to finish! Gemma, my manager came back, so I discussed with her several issues, in order to be sure that I am working in the right path, and I got cracking! Some good news arrived from Microsoft on Monday, and more specifically the person in charge of BPOS: SharePoint 2007 would be automatically updated to Office 365 and all the data will be migrated. The bad thing is that this will not happen before late October/early November, but now I wouldn't have to worry about implementing a website using obsolete software.

The documentation was almost ready when Patrick, my assistant mentor, came for some help, on Wednesday. With his previous (precious) experience in BPOS for NGOs, we had a look at some business scenarios where Special Olympics can use BPOS – which was probably more important than the solution itself. After some discussion we picked the 4 most helpful, in my opinion, scenarios and we called a meeting with Gemma. She agreed with the selection of the scenarios and as deeply aware of the exact needs of SOEE, she provided me with feedback and useful details. So Patrick and I started with the website deployment. It is really pleasant to work with such highly talented people, and when he left the office I was glad to be left with all this work to do :)

I spent the whole day working on SharePoint and left the completion of IA for tomorrow. After all, all that was left to be written was the user scenarios part. But since the rest of IA was already reviewed by Gemma, and the user scenarios were set, I yielded to some "action" instead of documentation, without feeling any remorse...

In the evening, after the invitation of a colleague with who I share the same office, I went to the concert "Globe", a music and dancing perfornace of 10 people all over the world. Seemingly irrelevant kinds of music and dance, including Irish harp, fiddle and percussion, Congolese guitar, Japanese taiko (kind of drums), Indian tabla and Brazilian samba and capoeira, Spanish flamenco and Irish dance, were combined in an unexpectedly magical way! It was amazing to see that music is a universal language and, despite the cultural differences, obvious in each country's music, it can bring people together! Glad to be part of it, since the audience took part in the production of sounds, by means of clapping, whistling and using plastic pipes, I thanked my colleague once more and came back home to have some rest.

Full weekend, as always, but this time I didn't leave Dublin. My friend, Manolis, was flying from Oslo to visit me and get to know the city (one of the few European capitals he hasn't yet visited :P). Since he wouldn't arrive before 3pm, I decided to take advantage of the morning, for some house cleaning and a visit to the National Gallery of Ireland, the surrounding area where the famous georgian doors were all around, Merrion Square and Oscar Wilde's statue as well as the Govermental Buildings and more specifically the Department of Taoiseach (I am not sure how is this pronounced :( *edited: it is prononced "tee-shock"! Thx Patrick!* ), which actually is the governmental department of the Taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland.

 

Another week full of Information Architecture and certainly not a really good week, as far as work's progress is concerned. To be honest it is really huge to write an Information Architecture documentation, since there are several different parameters to examine and several different aspects to take into consideration, and I underestimated it. (mistakes are paid, right?) And it can be even more challenging if this is the first time you do it, and several key-persons (such as my manager) are on vacation... So, unfortunately, I got it quite wrong, and 4 days of work went more or less gone, until I realised my mistake(s), late on Wednesday (I had started the documentation last Friday). The bad thing is that I could not either start with the deployment of the SharePoint site before IA is finished and reviewed and approved by my manager, so I was kind of stuck. 

After this small drawback, and with the experience I gained from my mistakes, I put all my efforts in order to move on as much as I could. I even took some reading home, in order to compensate for the "lost" time; it was really a interesting reading after all and through the whole procedure I came to understand better the structure and the need of the organisation. Thus, Friday came before I even realised it and IA was left to be finished from next week.

As far as my social life is concerned, a birthday celebration along with a bithday cake, on Thursday (which ended with me remotely accessing my laptop in Athens in order to install some software in a pc at the house I was invited!!!!), and its corresponding birthday party, on Friday, were my going out. For the weekend, a friend of mine, Greek, living and working as a developer at Microsoft Oslo, is going to visit me, and I am trying to figure out the best schedule, so as to combine the some sightseeing with having a relaxing and enjoying time!

This time my "Explore the Ireland" project lead me to Galway and the Aran Islands, both located in the West part of Ireland, with the later being surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean! Moreover, Galway and the Aran Islands are known as the last "fortress" of Irish speakers, and since I was lucky enough to have an Irish speaker with me, I took advantage of the opportunity to exercise my (elementary) up-to-date knowledge of Gaelic and enrich it with some new (basic) Irish conversations! (I 've always looked up to and appreciated people who tried to speak Greek when they visit Greece, so it was my turn to try to speak another country's language!!)

The really early in the morning Saturday waking up, in order to catch the 7am bus, was the necessary "sacrifice" in order to see as many things as possible. The schedule was already set up by the previous day, indicated by bus and ferry itineraries, so that we would see the most of both places visited.

So on Saturday, we would have the opportunity to visit and walk around Galway before we catch the 6:30pm ferry to Inis Mór, the biggest of the three Aran Islands and the only one we would visit! Even though the weather was really crappy (typical Irish!) with heavy rainfalls, Galway was proven to be a really nice city, small enough to be walked around easily and big enough to be the 3rd biggest city of Ireland, with about 50,000 residents. After a walk to the Eyre square (the central one), the Galway Cathedral and by the Corrib river, we found ourselves in the Spanish Arch, reminder of the city's history as an international trade port with Spain and France, during the Middle Ages. We paid a visit to the local museum and then under tons of water falling into our heads, while walking in Shop street, the central shopping street, we stopped for some lunch at the famous Mc Donaghs fish and chips bar, where I tasted some delicious fried ray wings. We quickly made our way to the shuttle bus to Ros a' Mhíl, the port from where ferries depart to Inis Mór, an hour to the west from Galway.

After about an hour we finally reached Inis Mór and more specifically its biggest village and port, Kilronan. The island is quite small (approximately 12km in length and 3km in width) and more or less flat, so we rented bikes, which is the most popular means of transportation on the island. On our way to our hotel a heavy rainfall soaked us, but the clear sky, and the amazing rainbow and sunset that came next compensated us. Since there was still light in the sky, we cycled towards the eastern part of the island, in order to see the landscape there and more specifically “Teampall Bheanain” (Church of Saint Benan), a church reputed to be the smallest in the world (3.7 x 1.8m). The day ended with a “desperate” attempt to find something to eat, since Spar, the only super-market on the island closes at 8pm, most pubs stop serving food also at 8pm, all restaurants stop serving food at 10pm, and only a chipper cantina was open till late (it was 10:02 when we understood we were hungry!)

Sunday started with a delicious full Irish breakfast, with fried sausages, egg, tomatos and bacon, sweet beans and Irish white and black pudding, both types of pork sausages, the latter containing blood. The energy we took was essential for the long cycling day we had in front of us! First stop for the day was Dun Arann Lighthouse & Signal Tower, located in the island's highest point (I had to carry the bike, 'cause the up the hill was big!) The sun was shining and cycling became easier as we went down the hill (lots of free-wheeling!). At the Worm Hole, a natural rectangular shaped pool into which the sea ebbs and flows, the sea breeze and the sound of the waves as they hit the rocks fascinated me and combined with green slides full of colourful flowers, they made me feel like I am in a Greek island during the spring. . Next stop to Cill Muirbhthe, a absolutely amazing beach, with crystal clear emerald waters, white sand and a blue flag! I was wearing my swimming suit and since sun was up in the sky, and the weather was pretty hot, I thought I could try the sea. Atlantic Ocean it is and the water couldn't be but absolutely freezing! I just went into the sea up to my waist and ran quickly out, as my legs started feeling numb!!!! There were though several brave Irish people swimming!

 

Once we got dry, we headed towards Dún Aonghasa, one of the most spectacular semi Circular Celtic Stone forts in Europe, built by Celtic Tribesman c. 2000 B.C. The fortress is located at the top of a hill, at the edge of a 300m high cliff, and certainly not a place for people suffering from acrophobia! Fortunately, there was no strong wind blowing, so we could safely (at least as safely it could be) go to the edge of the cliff for some breathtaking photos, since there have been incidents where strong wind blew visitors off the cliffs!

Before catching the 5pm ferry to Galway, we paid a visit to the Aran Seal Colony, where unfortunately we didn't see any seals, and last but not least, to the Aran Sweater Market & Museum, where the history of Aran sweater, or fisherman's sweater, distinguished by their use of complex textured stitch patterns, each one of which has a different meaning was on display!

Back to Galway and the weekend ended with fresh oysters and Guinness in Galway, just before we take the bus back to Dublin!

After an astonishing weekend in Galway and Inis Mór, I have to say that it is the best and most beautiful place I 've ever visited here in Ireland (and I can say that I've traveled around quite a lot!). If you find your way in Ireland, visiting Galway and the Aran Islands (not only Inis Mór) is a must!!!!

Back to work and to BPOS Project. So after a really pleasant weekend, it was time for me to continue and finish my SWOT analysis on BPOS roll-out before starting with the Information Architecture documentation (really important before starting with deployment). First step was to conduct a PEST analysis as well, in context of the SWOT analysis, in order to take into account not only internal factors but external too. After submiting the analysis to my manager, Gemma, for some feedback before finishing it, I continued with reading some articles about SharePoint Information Architecture and Information Architect in general, and on Thursday I actually started writing the documentation. Moreover I went a little more into SharePoint 2007 features and potential with some valuable help and guidance from my assistant mentor, Patrick, while waiting for a reply on upgrading to Office 365 (and SharePoint 2010). Information Architecture documentation went on, on Friday, along with some more National offices' applications, regarding Microsoft's Umbrella Partner Grant Program (still running project; just hibernating :D)

On Thursday I also had a meeting with Una O'Sullivan, from Microsoft, one of the persons "behind" TT4G Program (I can't find words to thank you Una for this opportunity :D). It was a real pleasure for me to see her again after our meeting in Brussels, and discuss with her about several aspects of the Microsoft's donation program to Special Olympics, part of which BPOS is. 

Apart from the work, I put aside any trace of tirediness after leaving office and I took advantage of non rainy (aka good) weather and with some good multinational company I explored Dublin Docklands (on Tuesday) and a great pub with absolutely amazing bottle-of-beers decoration and live rock & roll music (on Wednesday). Last but now least, I planned my (as it turns out to be, established) weekend trip; this time to Galway and the Aran Islands :)