Unfortunately, our amazing trip to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam has come to an end. It was an amazing two weeks, and I learned a lot over the time spent there. Had I not received the Plus3 Study Abroad Scholarship from the Thomas Angelo Honors Scholarships, I am not sure I would have been able to go on this amazing trip, and so I am thankful to have received this award.

During our time in Vietnam, we got to do so many amazing things. We learned all about the Vietnam War, going to the War Remnants Museum and the Cu Chi Tunnels. We experienced the development and globalization taking place in the country through our site visits. We even got to have some fun during the trip, spending a day at the beach in Vung Tau and another day traveling around the Mekong Delta. During our classes at the University of Economics and Finance, we learned all about the country, from the rural and urban development  to language classes to a class about Buddhism, which is the biggest religion in Vietnam.

Transferrable skills are important skills to have when looking for and applying for jobs in the future, and I think that while in Vietnam I improved a few of these skills.

The first is my negotiating skills. Negotiations are used across many different types of jobs and fields, and I feel like I did a really good job improving these skills, especially during our time at the Ben Tanh Market.  Many of the different sellers at the market set high prices and I had to use many different negotiation techniques to help drive down the prices. Successfully using all of these different techniques also improved my confidence in my negotiating which is an integral part of being successful in these bargaining scenarios.

Also, during our time in Vietnam, we worked on a group presentation, which helped to improve my adaptability and flexibility, teamwork, and time management skills. Other than the actual site visits to each company, we were not given any set time to work on the presentations, and instead had to work together as groups to figure out what times to meet and what times we would work on the project. We had to use our free time effectively, designating time to work on the presentation while still leaving time to go out and explore the amazing city. Before our site visit to Glass Egg Digital Media (which was my assigned company), we had to meet and figure out which one of us would ask which questions highlighting again the use of teamwork for this project.

I had such a great time on this trip and it was such a good experience for me. From our trip to the beach resort in Vung Tau to the six site visits we had to the trips to different significant Vietnam War landmarks to our trip to the Mekong Delta I learned so many important skills that I can use for the rest of my life, and still had time to enjoy myself and make a lot of new friends, both from Pitt and UEF.

For the next three years, I plan on continuing on the path in Pitt Business to get my Marketing major. Thanks to this trip, I am also now considering getting a certificate in International Business. I am also definitely considering studying abroad again at some point during the next few years, mainly because of the fun I had and the amount of experience I gained during this program.