In the last few days of the abroad semester, I look around Florence feeling grateful, excited, and sad at the same time. A bittersweet goodbye to a wonderful city and community, I reflect on all the ways I have changed since coming January 8th. It is safe to say, studying abroad was one of the best decisions I made at the University of Pittsburgh.
I was able to create long lasting friendships in my semester abroad. Being a junior in college, studying abroad allowed me to break out of my comfort zone in regards to friend groups. It is easy to create a protective bubble of friends, which can close yourself off from creating more connections. I would have never met the people from my own college without us moving from Pitt’s campus to a new location. I think it is refreshing to be able to create independent friendships, rather than just creating groups. Fostering individual relationships is more meaningful to me. I was able to create a community, so far from home. I am filled with gratitude that their are so many people to miss from study abroad.
As mentioned in previous blog posts, I have become the most independent I have ever been. I have been characterized as indecisive, which is rooted in not being as confident. Although I feel I was able to create a strong community that supports me, I have also been able to become confident in myself and my own decisions. I have grown to be able to trust my judgement as well as enjoy my own company greater.
I have been challenged through classes that involved semester-long projects. In both my International Marketing and International Finance classes, I had group projects that contained a semester-long research process. They involved a final paper and presentation that challenged me. As both classes related to my major course, I found myself becoming very immersed in my work and passionate. The projects allowed me to really lean into my major, and focus on studying current events and major specific subjects. In Finance, I did a presentation of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. This allowed me to learn more about recent market behavior, the tech sector in general, as well as explore class concepts of capital budgeting and the financing of projects. I learned a lot about teamwork and collaboration, as well as the benefit of having multiple minds working on a project. The synergies of my team allowed us to create really powerful deliverables. In my International Marketing course, we had a more creative project, creating a marketing plan for the emergence of Public Lands in the Italian outdoor recreation market. This caused me to take a step back from course work and be able to get more creative. I thoroughly enjoyed my classes this semester, and was able to grow a lot as a student.
Additionally, my academics pushed me as a professional. My classes created experiences that explored business from the Italian perspective. Specifically in my International Marketing class, I studied the business models of international companies. We visited Eately, a company started in Italy that has stores all over the world. This involved a visit of their store, as well as a presentation on their global strategy. Additionally, in a personal tour of the Ferragamo museum, we were able to dive into the brands history and International Strategy. By expanding my knowledge of international strategy, I gained understanding of the importance of culture and preliminary analysis before conducting international business.
I am so grateful to have gotten the opportunity to study abroad, H2P!