It is crazy that I’m on this website writing a blog when I didn’t have a day of site visits and tours. Instead, I spent today in Pittsburgh and at my home in Youngstown, Ohio.

When I think about our trip, I think of how much I have enjoyed being out of the country and being able to experience both the city and the rural parts of Ireland. However, after having time to reflect, I have also learned so much about not only the business world, but myself.

I was nervous to go. I was nervous to go out of the country for two weeks and be independent in an unfamiliar space. Having the balance of being alert and cautious while also being able to have fun is something that I feel I have mastered during this trip.

In addition, I have gained confidence in my networking skills. Thank you to Meade for pushing me out of my comfort zone and encouraging me to talk to the people at Microsoft. I now have a meeting set up with the two people we met! Microsoft internship soon???!!! Haha.

Applying this trip to the business world, I was able to use essential skills like time management and communication. These were used mainly in getting to the site visits as well as interacting with the professionals.

Pitt business has prepared us for many scenarios and taught us many things: professional body language, dialogue, how to reach out, etc… so most of the skills we talked about on the trip only sharpened skills that were already there. For example, a handshake. I knew you should always shake hands, but didn’t know to put your name tag on the right side so the person can easily see your name, and to pay close attention to the force you use when shaking hands. It was nice to use skills I have learned in class and in professional organizations in the real world.

Overall, this trip was so insightful and aided in my personal and professional development greatly. A huge thank you to Phil and Meade for helping me get the most out of this trip and being the best support system over the past 2 weeks.

I hope you enjoyed my blog from the trip, maybe I’ll go abroad again and blog!