Days 9-11 - Mercy International Conferencein Dublin

In front of the Mercy International Center on Baggott St. in Dublin

I have not been able to keep up on my blogs because we have been so busy with the conference! What an exciting conference it was. We met so many interesting people and made some international connections!

Every day at the retreat we would start our mornings off with prayer. Then, we would have a speakers who would be one of the Sisters of Mercy who would speak on various topics. We heard lessons about the history of the Sisters, volunteering, communications/marketing and leadership. We would then have a break and return to the auditorium for group discussion. We would break out into breakout sessions, take a tour of the Mercy International Center or have lunch. Our day concluded with dinner and a social. We would be at the conference from 9am to 9pm which made for a good night sleep.

Day 1 of the Conference – This day was exciting, emotional, intimidating and successful. It was exciting because I was in a totally different situation than I have ever been in. It was emotional because I was learning things about myself and leadership that I have never thought of before. It was intimidating because I was one of 140 students in attendance from all over the world. It was successful because I was happy with what we are doing and what the agenda will be for the rest of the Conference.

Day 2 of the Conference – This day was similar to day 1. Today we heard from Adele Howard rsm, she is in charge of Marketing for the Sisters of Mercy. To get involved with this would be something I would love to do. Through these past two days I have met some very exciting people. I was in a group with students from London, Australia, Pittsburgh and my New Zealand roommates.

Our roommates from New Zealand!

Day 3 of the Conference – The last day of the conference wrapped up everything that we learned. We heard from Sister Sheila who spoke on Mercy leadership. She focused on the strategies that the foundress of the Sisters of Mercy, Catherine McAuley, used. I think I will be able to take many of these techniques back to Mercyhurst and use them in my day to day activities. I sat in a session with Sister Adele – the rsm who oversees the Marketing and PR for  the Sisters of Mercy.  We agreed to stay in contact, and I made sure she knew I would be graduating in May!

The Conference was a great learning experience for me. After attending a Mercy high school in Buffalo, and now going into my last year at a Mercy College, I have a better understanding of where my education stems from. Mercyhurst College is only one small part of something bigger, bigger than many of us even know. It was interesting the past couple of days to see the passion that all of the students and chaperones had for a Mercy education. I have learned lessons of leadership and also of spirituality.

There are only two more days left of the trip. We will be exploring Dublin and the surrounding areas for the reminder of our time. I am SO excited!