The group was eager and ready to learn and everyone quickly made new friends through a series of introductory exercises, which included an opportunity to interview each other. We were then led through some inspiring and thought-provoking exercises in intonation, accent and body language by expert Doireann Ni Bhrian as an introduction to some important learning about public speaking. We shared food, coffee, tips about living in Ireland and a lot of laughing as we reflected on what we have found most challenging when it comes to Irish accents and phrases, and everyone left with high expectations of the next five weeks.