I decided to take a painting course while studying abroad in Florence, Italy. I have always been interested in creating art, but I never felt like I had the opportunity to pursue it. My class was small—less than 20 students—and we were all on an introductory level. On the first day, the professor took us out of the studio and into the city to buy our own art supplies. While it is typical to purchase your own textbooks in college classes, it was a new experience to go out with my classmates and buy what we needed for the class; it almost felt like a field trip. Trips like this ended up... Read More
Pitt Global Experiences Students' Blog
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The best thing about Engineering the German Way Program was that everyday was completely different and exciting. Every morning we would get up early and either cook breakfast or walk to the bakery close to our hotel to pick up croissants and pretzels and other delicious pastries. Munich also had the most delicious orange juice I have ever tasted, and I craved it every morning. During the week our class schedule was different every day, but we would usually start class at 9am. We either had one, two, or three lectures and whenever we had few lectures in the morning it meant we had a very... Read More
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The housing for my specific program was all apartments. My program leaders saw it as a way to fully immerse us into the culture and lifestyle of Italy, so we lived in apartments all across Florence. I had 7 roommates, which was the most that one could have. At first this overwhelmed me, as I had never lived with a roommate before—much less 7 strangers. When we arrived in Florence, we stayed at a hotel the first night while our apartments were being prepared for our arrival. It was there that I met 2 of my eventual roommates, and we instantly got along very well. They were just as nervous... Read More
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My study abroad experience was different than most students in that I did not attend a university in my home country but studied at a global education network comprised of all American students. CAPA offered me several opportunities that I am extremely grateful for, the most being I had a homebase full of familiar faces in an unknown place. Being my first time abroad, I found that extremely beneficial. However, now having this experience under my belt I would have liked the opportunity to easily meet more people from London, which is easier for students who traditionally study abroad at a... Read More
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Hello readers! I am so excited to be writing to you from across the pond in London, England! To start with a little about myself, my name is Hailey Hunter. I’m a rising senior marketing major with certificates in business analytics, leadership & ethics, and public & professional writing. This summer I will be blogging from the Global Business Institute London program, where I will spend 6 weeks with CAPA, The Global Education Network. There, I will be taking the classes, Writing the City as well as Analyzing and Exploring the Global City with a cohort of American students from... Read More
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I had class Monday through Thursday from 9:00am to 1:20pm. My roommates and I would wake up every morning and walk to school together. Our school was on the other side of the city, so we were able to walk over the Ponte Vecchio every day and experience that view. Something I loved about studying abroad through the AIFS program was that they offered breakfast and dinner vouchers that could be redeemed at various local cafes and restaurants. These vouchers lasted me the entirety of my stay, so I was able to save money on food. We would typically stop at one of these cafes on our way to class... Read More
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As a picky eater for the first nineteen years of my life, I would agree that food is the window to the soul. My particularity about what I eat definitely reflected my stubbornness and specificity for my life choices. Like with my food preferences, I was always a bit rigid and stressed out easily when things outside of the norm occurred. I am so glad to say that this experience in Berlin changed that. I felt that as I grew to be a more open and flexible person, my food palate also expanded. Something that remained the same, though, was my affinity for eating out much too often. Even in... Read More
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I was really nervous about talking to people in Belgium because I had never been abroad. Plus, I didn’t really know their languages too well. I took four years of French classes in high school, but that wasn’t terribly helpful because we were mostly in the northern part of Belgium that spoke Dutch. However, there wasn’t really anything to be afraid of.
I was hoping to at least make it to the meeting with my class without having to talk to anyone or make a fool of myself. Sadly, that didn’t even happen. I didn’t even make it to Belgium before it happened. I landed in the... Read More -
Studying abroad taught me a million and one lessons, ones I didn’t even know I needed to know. From traveling on planes, trains, and automobiles, to celebrating home country’s holidays, to breaking down language barriers in non-english-speaking countries, I believe there is no better way to catalyze one’s global competency than studying abroad. However, because there is so much to learn and explore, no one can ever be fully prepared for what they’re getting into. And I am no exception.
One piece of background I wish I would have developed before going abroad was the history... Read More -
My daily life in Salzburg was pretty busy because of the intensity of classes and how short the program was. With four hours of classes a day and only four weeks in Salzburg, there was a lot I wanted to do in a short time. My first class started at 9 am, so I would wake up at 7:30 to get ready, make breakfast, pack lunch and walk to the bus stop by 8:25. Making my own breakfast and lunch was a big part of how I saved money during my time in Salzburg. We would normally go out for dinner most nights to see new parts of the city, so I needed to make up for the money spent there. After my... Read More