As I come to the halfway point in my study abroad, I’m realizing how much I’ve learned so far during my time. Before going abroad, I had never been to Europe, and only experienced travel with a school group or my family. Doing it all on your own is something completely different, and that has taught me a lot about who I am. Some of the soft skills I’ve learned while abroad are definitely communication, adaptability, and problem solving. When you aren’t fluent in the host language, it’s a lot harder to communicate with the people. For example, at the supermarket where we shop, most of the workers don’t speak English. At first, I tried to communicate by gesturing to them, which did not work most of the time. Eventually I began to look up the names of what I needed in Italian, and showing them my google translate or telling them the name in Italian. It’s also hard to read the signs in Italian! For example, on a lot of the trains here, everything is only written in Italian, so I have had the issue of getting on the wrong car because I did not understand the label on the outside. I’ve learned to ask people instead of just assuming I can sit in any car.
Adaptability is probably the most important skill I’ve learned here. Whether that is being able to change travel plans quickly or getting to class when the bus doesn’t come, I have had to think on my feet. The way professors teach here is also a lot different than in the US. For my midterm exams, my professors did not give out study materials until two days before the exam, so I had to adapt quickly in my studying process to review all the material in time. Problem solving is another really important skill I have improved on. A lot of my classes here involve group work, and the students here are all from different universities in the US. Everyone has a different working style, and I’ve noticed some things about how students from the West Coast like to work compared with East Coast. It’s been really interesting to see, and I feel like I’ve learned a lot about how to compromise with the different styles.
I feel like the skills I’ve learned will help me at Pitt Business because they have made me much more aware of the differences in how people work. At Pitt Business, there are many bright minds with all different backgrounds, and I feel like my time abroad has made me much more considerate of that. I’m excited to use my new skills when I return to Pitt this spring.
