Hello everyone, my name is Gabriel, I am a junior at Pitt majoring in accounting and global management with a certificate in leadership & ethics. A little bit about me, I am from the Philadelphia area and in my free time I like to play basketball, tennis, soccer, basically anything that keeps me active and involves competition. I have had two internship experiences in the past. One as an accounting intern at Apple Leisure Group (resort management company) and another this past summer in commercial analytics at Incyte (pharmaceutical). 

I am currently studying abroad in Florence, Italy in the Global Business Institute program that Pitt offers. I chose this program because it gave me the opportunity to explore a new culture and the rich history of Florence. The program also offers an internship for business students that I am currently doing at Accord, a tourism company that offers tours all around Tuscany. I hope that through this program I can improve my cross-cultural communication and take myself out of my comfort zone. I already have a lot of experience with European culture, all my family is Spanish. I speak fluent Spanish and have been to Spain many times, which helps me with my adaptation to Italy. A problem I encounter often is being a little shy when speaking in Spanish out of fear of incorrectly saying something. I hope this program will help me overcome this.  

In Florence I am living with five other friends in a very centrally located apartment. The neighborhood is great, lots of places to eat and close to the city center. A supermarket is also steps away from our apartment. The apartment has a rustic Italian interior that really reminds you that you are in Italy. Right now, I am adapting great, having lived in Spain for weeks at a time has really helped. Most of the questions I have been getting from friends and family recently are about the language barrier. I spoke little to no Italian before coming here and I am currently in an Italian class. Communicating in Florence is much easier than other areas of Italy. There is a lot of tourism here, so a lot of people speak English or Spanish. I have only had a handful of times where I had to communicate through signs. Nonetheless, everyone I have met has been very helpful, kind and understanding. There are so many things I have learned in these past two weeks and can’t wait to discover more.