Hello! My name is John Fitch and I am spending the spring semester of my junior year studying abroad in Sydney, Australia. I am doing the Pitt Business Global Business Institute. I am a Supply Chain Management and Marketing double major with a minor in Economics. Outside of the classroom, I am a member of Pi Kappa Phi at Pitt.
I am from Buffalo, New York and I was originally drawn to Pitt because my sister graduated from Pitt in 2017. It didn’t take me very long to fall in love with the city of Pittsburgh, Pitt’s campus and everything the university had to offer. As I got older and began my college search, I became impressed with Pitt because of their highly regarded academics and programs, specifically involving the business school and study abroad opportunities.
I knew for a while that I wanted to take part in a study abroad program while I was in college. Last summer I went on the Plus3 Transfer Ireland Maymester and I loved it. The maymester program was 2 weeks long. 2 weeks was just long enough that I was able to do a lot while there but not so long that it didn’t interfere with my semester or summer. After doing the maymester program, I knew that I wanted to do a study abroad program somewhere for a longer time. I decided to do the Global Business Institute because of the desirable locations that they offered, the ability to take business school classes and the opportunity to be placed in an abroad internship. After knowing I wanted to do the GBI, I was still unsure of where I wanted to go. Regardless of where I ended up going, I knew that I wanted to fully immerse myself in a foreign city and experience both a unique social and business culture while meeting new people.
During my time here in Sydney, I will be taking 3 courses. These courses consist of business courses, Gen ed courses as well as working a full-time internship for Snooper, a Market Research start-up company in Sydney. I am excited to take classes with a foreign focus. I am also excited to work at a foreign company and gain a new perspective on how business is done around the world. I hope to bring back elements of the classroom and the workplace back to the US.
I have traveled all over the world from a young age and truly believe I gained something from every place I’ve been to. I had never traveled to Australia before so I was drawn to Sydney based on an unfamiliar interest. I had a desire to step outside of my comfort zone and I felt that an entire semester in Sydney would do just that. Although I just arrived in Sydney and have a long road ahead, I have already experienced so much and look forward to the exciting semester to come. studying