Interning and taking classes in Sydney has been the adventure of a lifetime! I am thankful for the friends I made on the trip, the experiences I had, and for the University of Pittsburgh for allowing me to go on this trip. This trip allowed me to grow personally, academically, and professionally. It gave me skills that I can use in everyday life that are valuable to my success.

I realized I had a lot to learn when I arrived. I faced challenges adapting to the new culture that included navigating a new city, assimilating to different norms, and being far from home. I chose to meet these challenges with resilience. I explored the culture and immersed myself in the ideas and norms I was not accustomed to. An example of this was acclimating to the work culture in Australia while working at Wavelength International, a medical recruiting company.

The internship and class I took contributed to my academic growth. My internship helped apply my learning as a business information systems major. I was able to use the skills while working at Wavelength when they were going through a major overhaul of its old software. I was able to take an urban studies class that met a Gen-Ed requirement. The class helped me learn about the history of Sydney and its position as a global city.

These different experiences helped me to grow professionally. I was able to solidify my hard and soft skills through my internship and class. In the workplace I communicated to solve different problems relating to the major project that I worked on. This introduced me to the global business environment. The project I worked on at Wavelength introduced me to people from Europe, Australia, Asia, and the US and how they worked together to reach a goal. This gave me the ability to network with people I would not have met otherwise.

Cultural competence is a very important skill to have in the global business setting. The hands-on experience I completed makes me an appealing candidate to future jobs that I will apply to. This experience allowed me to be adaptable and immerse myself in a different country. I hope to incorporate these experiences and skills I received for the rest of my time at Pitt. Applying global perspectives to work will help me to make tighter connections with my mentors, professors, and peers.

Thank you for reading my blog posts! My time in Sydney was truly unforgettable. I highly encourage students to do this program if they want to grow personally, academically, and professionally.