It is hard to believe that I only have one month left here in Florence! Throughout my time here, I feel like I have grown and changed immensely. Some of my growth has come from the development and refinement of my ‘soft’ skills. The skill that stands out the most to me is adaptability. In almost every aspect of my life, I have had to adapt to a new way of doing things. This includes schoolwork, living with new people, assimilating into a new culture and language, traveling to different countries, and even being in a completely different time zone than my loved ones. Additionally, my communication skills have grown as well as critical thinking and organization. When traveling to new countries it is extremely important to be well-organized and able to critically think. Most of the time, something during your trip is not going to go as planned and you have to solve the problem on your own. For most of my life, and I think most of others’ too, I have always traveled with my family and had people to guide me. Now, I have been to over 7 countries and navigated them by myself.
In terms of ‘hard’ skills, I think I have developed my networking, budgeting, and language skills. All of our professors here have great life and business experiences that are extremely valuable to hear about. Additionally, I have gone on field trips that have allowed me to network with individuals from industries I am interested in. Networking with them has allowed me to learn a lot more about how to approach an international career and what I want to do in the future. Being abroad has also allowed me to practice budgeting and creating a plan to stay financially secure while having amazing experiences. Lastly, my Italian class (even though it is basic) has allowed me to communicate with locals and build my language proficiency.
Overall, this experience will no doubt have an impact on who I am and how I approach life going forward. The skills that I have developed will help me in the future, whether it is in my career, social life, or in my remaining time at Pitt.
