Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog where you will be able to follow along with me on my journey to South Korea. My name is Brad Thornton and I am a freshman in the College of Business Administration. I am pursuing majors in Finance and Business Information Systems in addition to a certificate in Leadership and Ethics. At the University of Pittsburgh, I am involved on campus in a few organizations including a professional business organization called Phi Beta Lambda. As a member of Phi Beta Lambda, I have been able to become more professional developed, participate in service events to help our community, and make some of my closest friends. I will serve as the VP of Internal Professional Development for Phi Beta Lambda next year.
I grew up in a small town named Elizabeth, which is about 15-20 miles south of Pittsburgh. I am an avid sports fan, as I love to both play and watch sports year-round. I also enjoy hanging out with friends and watching movies and television shows. I chose to go to the University of Pittsburgh because I have been a fan of Pitt growing up and my brother and sister both went to Pitt.
When I chose to come to Pitt one of my main goals was to study abroad at some point during my college experience. This was important to me as I have not had many opportunities to travel outside the United States so far and I would love to get this experience. The first program that stood out to me at Pitt was the Plus 3 program as it is an amazing opportunity to get credits and international experience after your freshman year. This two-week program is a great opportunity to experience a new culture in a short amount of time and to introduce my classmates and I to new experiences throughout the world. I decided to choose Plus 3 Korea as I believe it is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am interested in the smart systems that we will be studying within South Korea and how it impacts their society. I believe that studying smart systems is very important as smart systems and other technology is going to be an important part of our future and will continue to impact businesses and the world.
When in Korea, I am very excited to be able to experience a new culture while meeting new people and participating in amazing cultural visits. Specifically, I am looking forward to visiting the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), the Royal Palace, and many other historic places within South Korea. Throughout the trip I hope to be able to try new food and explore various places throughout Seoul, Gyeongju, Ulsan, and Busan. It is also a great opportunity to get experience professionally as we will visit some major companies within South Korea that are leaders of their industries such as Hyundai, Samsung, and more. I’m extremely excited to go on this journey and learning experience that takes me from the classroom, to the city, to the world.