Dia Duit (or Hello) in Gaelic! My name is Eliza Meyer. I’m a rising junior at the University of Pittsburgh studying architecture with a minor in business. I’m a native Pittsburgher and love my little city! In my free time I enjoy photography, running, listening to good tunes, traveling, and all sorts of outdoorsy activities. Some of these activities include hiking, biking, backpacking, and skiing. One of my new favorite artists is Labi Siffre, who I recommend anyone reading to go check out! At Pitt I’m involved in the Heinz Chapel Choir as a chorister, the Outdoors Club and the American Institute for Architecture Students as an active member, and serve as the executive VP of the Women in Business Club. The Women in Business has been a great piece of my undergraduate life, and I’m proud to say we have won 1st at the Pitt Business Awards both years of my involvement!

I recently made the exciting (and scary!) decision to switch my major from finance to architecture. This is such a recent decision that I am on the Pitt Business blog page and not the DSAS page (lol). At the start of college I believed I would 100% pursue business as my career but always had architecture in the back of my mind and heart. This decision took me 2 years of architecture classes and a whole lot of consideration. My decision came down to a few key factors. Firstly, I want to have a career with a people-driven mission and positive impact. I find that architecture, the mission of creating positive spaces for people to enjoy and utilize, fulfilled this much more than what I saw in finance. Next, I truly love and think about the built environment all the time! I’m excited to move forward with my new major and an internship in architecture this summer.

Truthfully, I signed up for the IIP a while back because I was tired of trying to find an internship in real estate finance for this summer. Finding an internship is hard in such a competitive industry, so after 40-ish applications, I was getting impatient. Feeling that having an internship every summer of college is essential, I applied to the IIP, excited to pursue professional development and get the opportunity to go abroad! I love traveling and admire many aspects of how people in foreign countries live. I’ve had the blessing of seeing the world over my life, going as far from home as Taiwan and Honduras. This helped me feel more comfortable with living and traveling abroad solo. Work-life balance, easy public transportation/walkability of cities, the ability to hop around countries, and the kind people and culture of Ireland all attracted me to travel abroad. Dublin appears from afar to be an industrial city turning modern with a bunch of water near it—which feels a bit Pittsburghy and homey to me.

Personally, I’d like to improve at being independent and confident in being and traveling by myself over the course of this program. I want to become more internationally conscious in the way I experience the world. Pittsburgh is a bit of a bubble, so I’m looking forward to living in a super cross-cultural city like Dublin. I’d also like to take advantage of the proximity of Ireland to the rest of Europe and hop around a bit. Spain, Berlin, and Italy are at the top of my list! I hope to make great friends within my cohort as well as some Dubliners while I am abroad. Hopefully my co-workers will invite me to go to the pub with them after work, as that camaraderie seems to be a great element of Irish work life. I also hope to learn more about my industry and help this guide more specifically with what I decide to pursue within architecture. I would love to improve my skills in BIM software like Revit. It would be great to work on some projects I personally find interesting in design and what is trying to be accomplished.

At the moment I don’t know what my internship will be, so stay tuned to find out! I’m hoping to work at an architecture firm, but I may work in another sector like business if that doesn’t work out. I’m a bit nervous about not knowing where I’ll be placed yet but am looking forward to finding out soon. I’m so excited for the opportunity to intern abroad and can’t wait to update you once I get there!