Hey y’all! My name is Blake Alexander, and I am a rising junior at the University of Pittsburgh. I am majoring in Accounting and Finance, while pursuing a certificate in Leadership and Ethics. On campus, I am the current recruitment chair of my social fraternity, Sigma Chi, and an active brother of the co-ed business fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi. Also, I am the talent manager for Pitt Tonight, a student-led, late-night talk show where I find musical guests and interviewees in the greater Pittsburgh area. In my free time, I enjoy thrifting, basketball, hiking, and spending time with friends. I am from Houston, Texas which was a major change when I came to college. As I quickly adapted to the Northeast, building new personal friendships, I began growing my professional network through the various career fairs and panels Pitt Business has to offer. With these opportunities, this past spring, I was able to land a part-time tax season internship with a mid-sized accounting firm, DGPerry. I was quickly immersed in the accounting world, gaining new insight and growing my technical and soft skills, specifically when I was introduced to  programs such as UltraTax to prepare individual tax returns. With this experience, it reinforced my passion for accounting and made me eager to continue pursuing my initial post-graduation goals.

In just a few days, I will be embarking on my International Internship Program in Prague, Czech Republic which I am incredibly excited for. I chose this program because to experience an 8-week full time, summer internship was an opportunity I could not pass up. The duality of professional growth with working internationally and personal growth with the freedom to explore was very appealing. From my viewpoint, it was the best of both worlds with the addition of structuring my own routine before/after my work schedule. I chose Prague specifically based on personal interests. I have always been fascinated with eastern European culture as I have a long-time family friend that has lived in Krakow, Poland. Prague with its rich history and old architecture stood out to me as it gave off a romantic character. Unlike other cities that were destroyed during World War II, Prague was left untouched leaving behind a city only damaged by time. Also, I was informed that this summer’s cohort would be the first group to attend a program in Prague post-Covid. This adventure of unfamiliarity solidified my decision on my host country.  

With this experience, I am confident that this program in Prague will develop life-long skills. From a personal standpoint, I will learn how to adapt to an environment like no other. While moving to college was a huge stepping stone due to regional differences, it was still American culture. This will be the first time that I will be living in a foreign country which will bring a huge culture shock. I hope that this will teach me new survival skills on a macro level that I can replicate when it comes to moving to another major city/country later on in my career. I also hope that I can continue to stay open-minded as I will be faced with different mannerisms, activities, food, etc. that I am not accustomed to. Learning how to stay open-minded will only diversify my thoughts even more. Academically, I am most excited to learn the internationally used accounting standard, IFRS, that differentiates from the United States alternative, GAAP. While I do have background knowledge in accounting from my coursework, I will have to take on a whole new perspective when it comes to my workload abroad. To put this in perspective, this is similar to differences between the imperial vs. metric systems, but obviously, much more complex. Having the opportunity to have a grasp on both accounting methods gives me something to look forward to. Professionally, I am excited to learn the work culture of international companies and how professionals conduct themselves. Work schedules are very different from the United States so I am curious to see how much they value their work-life balance. Also, I hope to gain more leadership skills and learn how to conduct myself better in stressful scenarios.

For my internship, I will be working with Kühne + Nagel in the accounting and finance sector. Over the last 130 years, Kühne + Nagel has evolved from a traditional shipping company to a global transport and logistics company that offers specialized solutions for major industries worldwide. This freight forwarding company is headquartered in Switzerland with a presence all over the world, with about 79,000 employees in 100 different countries. I am very excited to be interning for this company and cannot wait to gain more exposure in the industry. While I know I have a lot to learn, my goal is to maintain steady upward progress in my work and prove to be a valuable asset to the company. But for now, see you soon, Prague.