Hi Everyone,

My name is Patrick Stevens and I can’t wait until Plus3 Vietnam! I’m finishing up freshman year here at Pitt and am excited for next fall when I will be starting my Computer Engineering classes in the Swanson School of Engineering. I am from a south suburb of Chicago, Palos Heights, Illinois and can say I legally voted there when I was 17 (for a primary, I was 18 by the real election.)

Ever since I was little I wanted to be an inventor and thought it would be the coolest thing to have a patent in my name. When I realized “inventor” wasn’t really a job description anymore I was a little disappointed, but then someone told me they renamed it to “engineer” and ever since I’ve wanted to be one. I picked computer engineering because I love working with the latest and greatest technology, and hopefully my name will be on the patent for the next big innovation.

Here at Pitt, I am in the professional engineering fraternity, Theta Tau, with which I do service projects around the Pittsburgh area and partake in professional development events. I also was in the service to others LLC this year where I participated in lots of other service events throughout the year. Next year I hope to secure a co-op to get my feet wet with some real Computer Engineering work. At home, I work as a youth soccer referee, helping coach and making sure kids can play the game I grew up playing.

My older sister studied abroad in Madrid, Spain last spring and that is what inspired me to look for study abroad opportunities here at Pitt. I chose the Vietnam Plus3 because I talked to some people who had gone on the trip in previous years and they had nothing but amazing things to say about it. They talked about visiting amazing and innovative companies that have blossomed in the growing Vietnamese economy, enthralling cultural experiences like crawling through tunnels made by the Viet Cong during the war, and amazing host students who helped at every step of the way. Since that first conversation, I thought about it, and when else will I have the opportunity to go to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and experience all those things.

I have always been an adventurous person, and I cannot wait for my adventure into Vietnamese business and culture. If you hand me a plate with something you call food on it, there is a 99% chance I’ll eat it and the Vietnamese cuisine makes me excited to expand my palate. After I get my fill on food, I am very excited to see what the firms like Glass Egg Digital Media have to offer and see what business in Vietnam really looks like. Glass Egg in particular interests me because I have always loved playing video games in my free time, and I hope to go into game development with my degree, so I think they will have a lot to offer someone like me in terms of advice on the industry and how to get into it. I am also looking to get a business minor in my time here at Pitt, so seeing how these companies operate behind the scenes and their business plans will be really enriching to that aspect of my education.

I am also very eager to meet the students who are hosting us to see how their culture is the same and different from ours. I think the best way to become a better person is to challenge one’s self with interactions with those who come from an entirely different background and why not explore the exact opposite side of the world to see what those who live there have to offer me and the world.

The 30 hour flight seems a bit daunting, but I cannot wait to land in Ho Chi Minh City and experience it all for myself. To everyone coming along with me,

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