Hey everyone! My name is Asa Pehlert! For the next two months, I’ll be blogging about my experiences in Sydney where I will be part of the six week Global Business Institute program through Pitt Business.
Hailing from “outside Philly,” I’m currently a sophomore at Pitt where I study Finance and Supply Chain Management. Since I’m a bit of a nerd and love working with numbers, I’m filling up my extra credits with the Certificate in Business Analytics and other stats and computer science classes. I think it’s a good time but given the expressions of horror on my fellow students’ faces when I tell them my favorite class in Pitt Business was Quantitative Methods with Dr. Wendell, I know it’s definitely not for everyone
In terms of my professional pursuits so far, I’ve worked at three different companies. I started my first job shortly after turning 16, working at an outdoor adventure park startup called Treehouse World where I essentially operated ziplines until last summer when I was promoted to manager of daily operating activities. It was an incredibly enjoyable experience for someone who loves spending all his free time outdoors and I would still be there today had I not been accepted into study abroad for this summer.
During the spring semester of my freshman year, I was selected to work at a private equity firm in Pittsburgh called GT Entrepreneurs, where I served as a private equity analyst intern. I did some financial modeling, analyzed different cash flow levels and their effects on business, and produced other reports relevant to firm valuation.
One of the reasons I chose Pitt was the strength of its study abroad offerings since I always knew that I wanted to study abroad. Having done no international travel in a very long time made me anxious about the possibility of going to a country where I didn’t know the language and as a result Australia seemed like a good choice to learn the ropes. Additionally, I want to be able to leverage an international internship in my future search for long-term employment, so the opportunity to work in Australia was very appealing to me. While I have as yet not accepted an internship, I have been actively interviewing and expect to make a decision soon.
While abroad, I hope to enjoy the uniqueness of life down under. Sydney is a highly global city with a vibrant mix of cultures that I can’t wait to learn about and experience and I hope to use the newness of my surroundings to build my confidence, adaptability and self-awareness. I also hope that through my internship, I am able to learn new ways to think analytically and develop a global perspective and understanding beyond what I would get in an equivalent US-based internship as well as obviously continue to build on the professional network I currently have.
I look forward to sharing my experiences with you!