Hi everyone! My name is Ben Schaller and I am from Montgomery County, PA and I’m a freshman in the CBA at Pitt. I’m currently undecided major-wise but am leaning toward either finance or accounting. Some of my hobbies include going to the gym, hanging out with friends, and listening to music.

When I decided to commit to Pitt, one of the major factors was the great study abroad opportunities they have to offer. After seeing that there was a possibility to go abroad during my freshman year, it seemed like it’d be foolish to miss out on. One of the reasons I chose the Plus3 Cyprus Program is because of my love for geography. Prior to this year, all I had known about Cyprus was that it is a small island nation located in the Mediterranean which I thought was pretty cool. On top of this, when I saw the choices I could make for Plus3 with Cyprus being one of them, I instantly wanted to learn more about the country as a whole. After looking into it more and more, I learned about the history of the country and found it extremely interesting. Besides the country being interesting historically and geographically, the program that Pitt offers regarding globalization and supply chain relates to my future interests. Eventually, I hope to work internationally as I am pursuing the International Business Certificate and this program will give me direct insight into topics that hopefully will be very relevant to me when I graduate. Overall, I can’t wait for this experience to begin to develop myself as a future candidate while also meeting plenty of new people from all around Cyprus and building relationships with peers.