Hi everyone!
My name is Sophia Gill and I just finished my second year at Pitt! I am majoring in Political Science with a minor in History and a certificate in Public and Professional Writing. After I finish my undergraduate studies, I hope to attend law school and pursue a legal profession. Outside of my academics, I am the Lecture Director for the Pitt Program Council where I have the pleasure of planning guest speaker events for Pitt’s undergraduate students. Recently, we hosted musician and former Disney Channel star Ross Lynch for a sold-out crowd of 500 students! In my personal life, I enjoy hanging out with friends, spending time outside, and listening to music!
This summer I will be participating in the inaugural trip of the Pitt in Romania study abroad program! I will be spending two weeks in the Romanian capital of Bucharest, two weeks traveling throughout the Transylvania region, and one week in the Belgian capital of Brussels. The themes of this program center around the processes of identity formation, the concept of nationality, and the conflicts that come about from these topics. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity and am looking forward to every experience I will be partaking in!
The themes of this program fit perfectly into the areas of Political Science that I find so fascinating and it gives me the unique opportunity to study these topics in a country that has a deep, historical relationship with them. I chose this program because of the opportunity for first-hand experiences that will deepen my understanding and further develop my academic relationship with these themes. I hope to learn all that I can during this program and broaden my academic perspectives by taking classes in an international environment. I am also looking forward to the new types of academic experiences I will have that will differ greatly from what I have done in my classes thus far, providing me with a more diverse academic skill set.
Professionally, I believe that this experience will broaden my worldview and help me to think more internationally. These skills will be invaluable as I work toward my professional goals, as the fields I hope to work in require a broad, global perspective to find the most success and do my best work. Personally, I know that I will finish this experience more confident in my own abilities and come out of it with great memories. I am excited to see what this trip has in store for me, how I will grow as a person, and what new connections I will make.
I hope you will enjoy what I share next from Romania!