As this is my final blog, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped me make this study abroad experience possible. It has been a life changing experience and I have grown so much while being abroad these past few months. I am honored to be a scholarship recipient and thanks to this scholarship I was able to make my dreams of studying abroad a reality.
As a junior student studying Accounting and Business Information Systems, I was able to take my education to an entirely new level while abroad. The education system in Ireland is entirely different from the system back home in the United States. I was able to learn different types of skills through my classes in business technology and Chinese. I found my technology classes to be especially helpful for my Business Information Systems major. My favorite class was my Innovation, Marketing, and New Technology Foresights class. We had a different guest speaker in each class that would come in and explain their experience with business and technology. Many of these speakers were CEO’s or Vice Presidents at large companies or start ups that they created. Their stories varied from how to create a whiskey distillery, how to manage a team in Kellogg’s marketing department, and included two speakers who created companies with new, life-saving medical technology. It was truly amazing to sit in a room with these intelligent Dublin City University alumni. Their stories were informative and inspiring. I learned from their mistakes while also learning to push boundaries and to never give up or lose faith in my ideas.
After a full semester of classes and many adventures, I will be returning to Pittsburgh with the lessons I learned here in Dublin. The main five lessons I learned abroad were:
- To love what I don’t understand
- To value impermanence
- Take Risks and Be Confident
- Relax!
- Don’t take anything for granted
Each of these lessons have a special place in my heart and memory from my time spent here in Dublin. The first lesson I learned during my first few months here was the importance of acknowledging the things you do not understand. Do not let yourself be fooled into automatically disliking something because it is not what you are used to. This can be applied to many aspects of studying abroad, including the simple things. When I first went out to eat with large groups in Dublin, I disliked the fact that waiters do not split bills. Instead the waiter will come to the table with a card machine and you have to tell the waiter how much of the bill you will pay. After a few times, I realized that although this was not what I was used to, it was a better idea. It made it easier for the waiter and it is safer because your card never leaves your sight.
I also learned the value of impermanence and the importance of taking risks. I learned to love change and enjoy my time abroad because I only had a few months away. I took risks to meet new people and learned the importance of being confident in my own decisions.
It is also so important to relax during stressful situations! Unfortunately, things do not always go smoothly, but getting stressed out about it does not fix anything. I have learned to take a step back and just let things work out the way they are supposed to.
I am so incredibly grateful for this experience and I will keep the memories with my for the rest of my life. Receiving this scholarship helped myself and my parents better afford this experience and I am eternally grateful for Pitt Business and the Berg Center’s generosity.
Thank you all for following along with my journey!
xoxo Molly