My name is Kristen Awakuni, and I am currently a freshman at Pitt Business, and am part of the Plus3 Program going to Vietnam!

I am native to Los Angeles, California, and am planning to pursue majors in finance and global management, and I have the intention of pursuing a minor in creative writing as well. Professionally, I am interested in working outside of the United States while utilizing my financial degree, so I figured that this would be a great opportunity for me to get a glimpse into what international business and management would be like.

At Pitt, I am a general body member of both the Association of Writers Club and Cinema Circle, and am on the Advocacy Board for the Asian Student Alliance. In my spare time, I like playing basketball, rock climbing, watching movies, and writing short stories. I have also been recently getting into Modern Family, which is my current show of choice at the moment.

I have chosen Vietnam as my destination of choice, because I am interested exploring the diverse countries of Asia! I also feel very connected to the Vietnamese culture and practices, as there are is a lot of cultural overlap between my heritage and Vietnam, so I am very interested in seeing and exploring the similarities and differences that exist within Southeast Asian practices and teachings! Academically, I am very excited to see what the Vietnamese university life includes, and how it may intersect or contrast from American universities. I am also very curious as to what the workforce is like in Vietnam, as I think it would be interesting to see what it looks like to work in a homogenous environment, and if there are any values and practices that exist in the Vietnamese workforce because of this.