Hey everyone, my name is Nick Turek, and I am a first-year business student majoring in finance. I am originally from a town about an hour outside of Toronto, Canada, but I have lived most of my life in a town an hour outside of Chicago. I spent most of my time as a kid playing competitive hockey, and I spent my senior year of high school playing for a team in El Paso, Texas. Whenever possible, I like to spend time outdoors either hiking or fishing. At Pitt, I am involved in Panther Equity, an investment club, and I am looking to add either a computer science minor or a major to my finance major. I plan on going into a career in either finance or operations, and I will be spending my summer in Wisconsin doing a rotational internship for a manufacturing company.
The Plus3 Program I’ll be attending is in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. After looking through all of the possible options for Plus3 locations, I thought that Vietnam was the least likely place I would ever travel on my own, as well as the most interesting to me personally because of everything I have learned about the Vietnam war. I also thought it would be interesting to visit a country that is on the rise as a global business power while it is still in the earlier stages of its growth. In Vietnam, I hope to broaden my understanding of different lifestyles, as North American and European cultures are the only ones I have witnessed firsthand. I am also curious to see the discrepancies in viewpoints between Vietnam’s and the United States’ view on the Vietnam war. Academically, I hope to gain a better understanding of the impacts of globalization on a lower-middle income country that is expanding its manufacturing abilities. I also hope to learn more about how the socialist style of government affects the business and economic development of the country. Professionally, I want to see how Vietnam’s overall culture, approach to business, and operational philosophies compare to those of American businesses I have worked in or observed. Finally, I hope to connect and establish good relationships with the group I am travelling with, as well as enjoy my experience with them while in country.
