Hello! It’s now my third day in Pittsburgh on the Haller Global Fellowship Program, and much of my time has been spent getting more familiar with the city around me. I’ve never really been in a proper city for any significant amount of time, but now that I’m living in one, I’ve found out I quite enjoy it! (Below is a deer I’ve seen chilling in the Cathedral of Learning’s yard!)
One of the most immediately striking aspects of Pittsburgh so far is the visual language of the city… or, rather, visual languages. On one hand, you have massive stone structures, such as many university buildings, which are stunningly beautiful in the ways they evoke older styles of architecture. The most pertinent example of this is the University of Pittsburgh’s own Cathedral of Learning, the massive stone tower which houses many of the university’s classes. It is absolutely a crown jewel of the city, and I’m glad to be staying in an area where it’s always in the sky around me!
On the other hand, the modern aspects of the city don’t miss, either. There’s no lack of twenty-first century amenities as I walk down any of the very accessible streets, surrounded by local restaurants and university stores. The diversity of different options for food is incredible: countless restaurants focus on authentic ethnic meals I’ve never eaten. I’m not someone who eats out a lot– or rather, I wasn’t someone who ate out a lot! I’ve already been to at least four different restaurants in my short time here. Many of these were the previously mentioned type of restaurant that features unfamiliar cuisine. It’s quite an enlightening experience!
On a similar note, our group went on a tour of several of the Cathedral of Learning’s Nationality Rooms. These rooms feature styles, art, and are even made out of materials from their respective country. Below are several pictures I’ve taken of a couple of the rooms we toured. Try to see if you can identify their countries! (some rooms have multiple pictures)
As for our current work, our group of ten has been split into three groups, each of which focuses on a certain aspect of the work we’ll be doing in the town of Carrigart in the Republic of Ireland. I’m on the Marketing and Digital Media team, so I’ll be looking into ways that Carrigart is succeeding in marketing itself, ways the town could improve, and new methods it could be using(this is where the “Digital Media” part comes in!) to appeal to more people. Our current assignment is to put together a “Scope of Work”: a document that lists our goals in Carrigart and how we plan to achieve them. It doesn’t have to be exact, and we don’t need to complete everything on the list(we haven’t been to Carrigart yet, after all!) but we certainly need to achieve our objectives. Me and my team are hard at work getting the first draft of this scope ready!