Arcadia Ireland

Like most working professionals in Ireland, I am working out of my home.  I managed to collect items like a monitor, mouse and wireless keyboard from the Dublin Center in order to replicate my work station at home.  We have a staff meeting over Zoom every morning at 9.30am in order to bring some normalcy and collegiality to the remote working experience and I often connect with other Resident Directors during the day over our WhatsApp channel.  We are all experiencing the same challenges:  maintaining levels of motivation, planning for the immediate future and perhaps most importantly engaging with our Spring 2020 students that have returned to the USA.

The weather has been decent and I have been able to run just about every day and the weights and the Swiss exercise ball allow me to keep up some sort of a workout.  Such is the lockdown experience at the moment as Ireland entered in daylight savings and flips the calendar to April. 

Dr Thomas J. Kelley, Resident Director  

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Right now, I’m in an office in my house in Dublin 3 where I live with my partner and my 3-year old son. Since the Government announcement on March 12^th, I’ve been working from home. We have all had to adapt to a new routine and a different way of living and operating on a daily basis. I’ve been thinking about the things that I miss the most: my walk to work, my chance to look in clothes shops at lunchtime or the bus journey home or even dropping into my favourite café on George’s street for a pad Thai!

Each day, Tom, John, Carly and I meet at 9:30 for a morning meeting through zoom. Even though we are working from home we are able to be creative as a team and plan for a brighter day when normal life resumes. At times it can be frustrating as my son sees me here and expects me to be free to play games, make animals out of play dough, build castles and tents and just have fun! He is learning ways to entertain himself and he is not a bad student at all! 

What keeps normality is continuing to have a lunch break and get some air out the back of my house. The weather has been nice the past while so it makes it a little easier. In the evenings, when I finish my work, it is straight out to the park with my son. We run and run and run and admire the flowers and the beauty in the simple things. People are keeping their distance of course which feels a little weird but it is what it is right now. Like many things in life, this is temporary and it will pass.

The things I’m grateful for right now are the basics – good health, food, water, a warm bed, a hot shower, good breakfast tea, good family, a car to drive in if the house becomes too much, good colleagues and hope that a brighter day is just around the corner.

My Top Tip: Stay active when you can. Good for mental health and for feeling better physically. If you can’t leave the house there are some amazing Youtube videos and apps available. My favourite app right now is “Fitingo”

 Grainne Hand, Assistant Director

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The body loves routine, so I stick to one. I wake at 7am, and do a 30-minute meditation sitting. I have read that it is a great way to calibrate oneself for the day ahead. My mindfulness generally lasts until I reach the kitchen, where I indulge in another excessively large breakfast 

The Dublin Centre staff meet each morning at 09h30, so I am working in my room from this time up until lunch. A couple of coffee shops nearby are still open, so I make it my business to give them some custom, even if it’s only €3. I generally finish up working at 17h30, and do an hour of exercise; this could be yoga, or a cycle around the Phoenix Park which is, thankfully, close by. After this it is dinner time, followed by reading, listening to a podcast, or watching something on Netflix. Ozark and Better Call Saul are good options.

 I am an introvert, so I don’t struggle with the social distancing or isolation, but I appreciate that those who are more extroverted do. There are some great apps out there for virtually hanging out with friends or family. No harm in switching off from the news, even for a day or two at a time. And do take extended breaks from using your phone.

 I love Stoicism, and it thankfully seems to be in the midst of a resurgence in popularity. Most days I listen to the Daily Stoic Podcast - it’s generally only 3 – 5 minutes long, but it is worth its weight in gold. Many quotes get attributed to the Buddha, but there is one I have always liked “Don’t do something; Just sit there” – it might seem like heresy to those of us who grew up in the West, but people might find it useful during these more sedentary times.

 John Moriarty, Irish Programmes Officer

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 Since March 13th I've been working from my city-centre apartment, along with my two other flatmates. It's been a bit cramped in this small apartment but we're starting to get a little routine now. In a previous role I worked remotely and adopted a WFH-style when writing my thesis last summer so this is a lifestyle that I feel quite comfortable with actually!

 I have so much more energy these days which I wasn't expecting. I'm naturally waking up every morning at 6:30 where I take the time to read or do some yoga via my favorite yoga studio back home live streaming their classes during this time. I then get prepared for my day as I usually would (minus shoes, those are replaced with bedroom slippers) and then open my computer at 9 to get started on the day.

 Living in an apartment complex means there is limited availability to the outdoors - I don't have a balcony or a garden, and it is still a bit too chilly to have the window open. I also don't have access to a car so I am very much limited to the areas in the city centre. I've been starting to go out for walks in the evening but there are still a few too many people for my liking! So once I finish my workday, I do a home workout to get my body moving. Then I get to the kitchen and prepare a recipe from one of the cookbooks or bloggers that I've just never gotten around to! I finish the day off with a movie (lately it's been a Harry Potter film a night) or some Netflix (highly recommend Final Table).

 Top Tip: Turn this into the self-care 'weekend' you've been craving. Light some candles or incense where you can, journal, and put the phone down! Just enjoy having this time to be still and let your world be quiet.

 Favorite YouTube channels: Yoga with Adriene, Yoga with Kassandra, and MadFit.

 Carly Harward, Student Life Officer

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My partner and I live in a student apartment complex in Dublin 8, right on the quays. I was on my spring break for my master’s program when everything started to shut down, so the changes to my daily routine weren’t felt immediately. I haven’t been working for Arcadia long, so it was a bit odd to see all of my ‘hellos’ turn quickly into ‘goodbyes’. Similar to all of you, the other students in my apartment complex quickly left for home, so save for one or two others (and my flatmates, who are Irish), my area is now desolate. I’ve never seen so many empty washers and dryers!

Now that my classes have begun again, I have joined the legion of students on Zoom. I don’t have many classes for my program, so I end up with a lot of unscheduled time. To keep somewhat of a routine each day, I try to make sure I do these three things: read two papers a day for my literature review, get outside for at least an hour, and do something fun that I wouldn’t necessarily have time to do otherwise. Right now, that means playing a lot of video games and letting my partner introduce me to TV shows she likes, such as Westworld and Brooklyn-99.

Just as I’m sure you’re missing Ireland, I’m missing my family and pets back in the US, but this experience has shown me that there’s always something good within the bad. I’ve found that I’m video chatting with people far more frequently that I would normally, and I’ve had conversations with friends that I haven’t talked to in years due to everyone wanting to check in on everyone else. Stuff like this helps build community, and my hope is that this community doesn’t disappear once the virus passes.

My top tip would be to try and stay active. For a workout that you can do in your room with no weights, grab a normal deck of cards. Shuffle the deck and assign each suit an exercise- pushups, squats, dips, and situps cover the entire body, but it’s totally up to you. The number on each card is the number of reps. So, you’d draw the 7 of clubs and do 7 situps, then draw the Jack of hearts and do 11 pushups, etc. By the time you’re finished, you’ll have done about 100 reps of each exercise. Shuffle well!

Alex Velto, Student Life and Resident Assistant

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We would love to hear what your routine is like these days? Email me handg@arcadia.edu and share your story with me....