Hey everybody!
My name is Chad Boyer and I am a sophomore here at the University of Pittsburgh. I am a finance and marketing double major. I chose to do the Plus3 Ireland study abroad because it fits in perfectly with my schedule, and I have always been interested in how Ireland conducts their business. Coming from a family of international business experience, I have already learned a lot about what Ireland has to offer, and I am excited to learn even more on this trip.
Some information about me is that I am from Lancaster, PA. I live in an area that’s famous for being where the Amish live, and although I really enjoy my hometown, it is a nice break to go to school in a city such as Pittsburgh. I played football and lacrosse all throughout my childhood and high school career, and now I play a lot of basketball with friends. As you can tell, I really enjoy playing sports, and I am a big fan of watching them too. More specifically, I am a big Philadelphia Eagles fan. At Pitt, I am member of the Panther Equity Club as well as the Undergrad Finance Club. All of these activities have been great to me, and I am excited to see what new experiences I get while studying abroad.
Some goals I hope to accomplish on this trip are:
Personally, I’d love to get the chance to better understand a culture as rich as that of the Irish. Ireland has both an interesting history and beautiful landscape, so it doesn’t get much better than that. Also, I am very interested in conversing with the locals. I want to know what a typical life is like in Ireland and what they do for fun, as well as what they think about America.
As far as my professional goals, I hope to leave Ireland with a better understanding of how Ireland is dealing with so many businesses expanding into their country, as well as what it is doing for their economy. I think a lot can be learned by examining these instances in Ireland, and it will definitely prove useful later on in my career.
Academically, I am really interested in how Brexit plays out, and how this will directly and indirectly affect Ireland. Seeing this type of monumental shift in action will help me better understand the cause-and-effect relationships within business, and I plan to apply this logic to similar situations that I am studying. The topics that I learn about in class may not be as drastic, but business decisions can always have an impact on the surrounding environment, and I’m excited to be able to think out of the box more about potential consequences and advantages to decisions.
Overall, I am very excited for this opportunity and personally think that Ireland is one of the best places to study in the world, especially at the moment with everything that is going on. This will definitely be an experience I will remember for a lifetime.