Hi all,

Sadly my time abroad in Sydney has come to an end and I am writing my post from the comfort of my home in the States. But what a journey it has been! Never would I have imagined to have such an incredible experience this semester, of course I thought it would be great, but not this great. These past few months have presented me with a lot of challenges and fun times that I have learned and grew immensely from. 

Initially, I was a bit nervous coming into this program as I came alone without having any close friends in the program. I wanted to branch out of my comfort circle and meet new people to force myself to socialize and put myself out there. And honestly it was extremely challenging at the start to go from having all my friends around me 24/7 to absolutely no one. I definitely experienced anxiety and doubt during the start and had difficulty finding my people that I truly connected with. However, I knew these feelings would pass and I pushed through the discomfort and put myself out there to meet people even outside my program. And guess what. It paid off. Looking back on it, I would never change my experience. Going through the initial discomfort allowed me to really challenge myself and as a result I met great friends that I will continue to see and talk to.

Academically, it was so interesting to experience classes abroad with foreign professors. The learning style was definitely different than what I am used to at Pitt and professors also had different mannerisms and teaching styles. There was definitely a learning curve to the classes, but once we got into it I really enjoyed the assignments and lectures. Since the classes were relatively small with only 6-10 students, we had the opportunity to really engage during lecture with our peers and professors. This definitely was an added bonus and it was not as intimidating to speak out in such a small class. Most of our professors had a lot of global experience in their careers and often shared stories and advice. This was so interesting to learn from and potentially consider for my future career. Overall, the classes I took all had a concentration on the international aspect, so it equipped me with a great global business perspective that I’m excited to incorporate into my classes at Pitt as well as future internships or full time positions. I’m looking forward to implementing the cultural competencies I’ve developed through my classes and just experiencing life abroad in my daily life and future career as I can now bring a new perspective to the table and differentiate myself from others.