Hello my name is Josh Kosmach and I am a first year student at the Swanson School of Engineering studying civil engineering. I am from South Park, PA which is about 35 minutes from Pitt’s campus. At South Park I earned the Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America which inspired my love for the outdoors and for my future career. In the outdoors, I enjoy mountain biking, hiking, and playing frisbee with friends. I also love to get away and go camping for a weekend. My favorite type of music is country, though I will listen to a wide variety just as long as it is not death metal. Additionally I hope to get a minor in business with the end goal of becoming a construction manager.
I chose Vietnam because I want to learn about their culture while fulfilling my goal to travel the world and to visit all 7 continents. I want to be able to expand my knowledge of Asian culture and cuisine. Moreover, one of my great uncle’s fought in Vietnam, and he said that it was an exquisite place to travel to. As a result, I want to go there and see it for myself and then I can talk with him to compare Vietnam when he was there to when I will be going there. This will bring me closer to my uncle while exploring a new culture.
Additionally, since I want to become a civil engineer, I want to learn how Vietnam builds their structures to see if I can learn anything that I can bring to my future career. Moreover, since we live in such a global society, it is important to understand how another part of the world conducts business. That way in the future if I have to conduct business with a Vietnamese company I will have some background, from which to build upon.