Today marked the start of our focus on learning Irish history and customs before we leave this Sunday! This morning was the midterm for our Managing in Complex Environments class, and the rest of that class will be our work in Ireland as consultants for the town of Carrigart. So, these last couple of days…

The entire Haller Global Fellowship Program group had the pleasure of a tour of Pittsburgh’s Hill District by Terri Baltimore today. Terri is a critical member of the Hill District’s community, having worked to improve and maintain the Hill for over forty years! As someone who hasn’t been to most districts of Pittsburgh, I had…

Today, we on the Haller Global Fellowship Program actually had a taste of what we’d be doing if any of us went on the Appalachia Regional Resilience Program: we went to Connellsville! Connellsville is the second biggest city in Fayette County and where participants of the Appalachia program stay and work during their time. It…

Today, me and my group visited a neighborhood as part of our “Neighborhood Scramble” activity, in which each of the three main Carrigart project groups study a local section of Pittsburgh. While visiting, my group went on a scavenger hunt to take several pictures of buildings or neighborhood features, including something that shows how the…

Yesterday, our group visited St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church. It’s in Millvale, a town just outside of Pittsburgh, across the Allegheny River. In the twentieth century, Millvale was home to a great host of immigrants due to its location near the river, including many Croatian Catholics who would call St. Nicholas their parish. Sixteen years…

It’s the last day of a standard work week, but that doesn’t mean the work has slowed down one bit, at least not yet. Today, the entire group– all ten of us– met with Erin McLaughlin, our liaison in Ireland. She’s part of AllPeopleBeHappy, the Pittsburgh-based nonprofit organization that the University of Pittsburgh is working…

I’m now over halfway through the first week of the Haller Global Fellowship Program, and my time so far has been simply delightful. Not that there isn’t plenty of work to do, but there’s just as much fun to be had! Much of what we’re doing is also not only interesting mentally stimulating in a…

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…