Hello my name is Stefan Bordeianu, and I will be studying abroad in Paris for the fall semester of 2021. I will be posting about my experiences in Paris on the Pitt Honors Blog, and I thought it would be appropriate to introduce myself before I begin my series of blog entries.

Although I have lived in the Pittsburgh area for most of my life, I was actually born in Romania and moved to the United States when I was six months old. As a child, I frequently travelled to Europe in order to visit family and accompany my dad to his academic conferences. Later on in high school my family and I lived in Rome for three months while my dad taught a few courses in a study abroad program for his university. Because of this upbringing, I was always inclined to study abroad in college. I was taught the importance of having a worldly perspective at a young age, and I felt that studying abroad in college was a perfect way to expand that perspective.

Because of my aspirations and upbringing, I decided to attend the University of Pittsburgh and declare a double major in Politics and Philosophy as well as French while also working towards earning a certificate in European Union Studies. This academic path coincided perfectly with my study abroad aspirations. But because of the COVID 19 pandemic, I will not be able to study abroad until the first semester of my senior year.

This fall, I will be studying at Institut Catholique de Paris through the Pitt-recognized CEA Paris program. I chose this program in order to take courses at a French university that pertain to my fields of study. CEA was able to offer this option in the most beautiful city in the world, Paris! I always wanted to live in a cosmopolitan city, and studying in Paris will be the perfect opportunity to immerse myself into French language, French culture, and French academia. By studying at Institut Catholique de Paris, I hope to work towards finishing my degrees, making friends in France, and understanding new perspectives that might be different from the ones I come into contact with in the United States.

Outside of academia and my aspirations to study abroad, this summer I was an intern with the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of City Planning. Through this internship, I was able to work alongside city planners in the Sustainability & Resilience Division to find innovative solutions to combat climate change at a city-level. I am also a volunteer fire department in the the greater Pittsburgh area, I play club Quidditch at Pitt, and I sing in my church’s choir. After college, I hope to work in the field of policy analysis for a few years and then attend a graduate school for public policy.