When I finished my last day of the Plus3 Program, I spent my final evening getting ready for bed and packing my bag until 12:30 AM. I passed out for 2.5 hours before waking up for my Uber arriving at 3:30 AM to catch my 6:50 AM flight from Prague to London. After a long eight-hour layover in Heathrow airport, I flew back to my lovely Pittsburgh and proceeded to pass out for a ten-hour night’s sleep. For the next few days, I would be fighting exhaustion and jet lag. While it was disappointing for the program to come to an end, I was grateful to be back in my own bed!
From this program, I have gained a broader understanding of the impacts of culture and history on a country’s industries and engineering companies. The structure of the program allowed me to experience the most Prague could give me in two jam-packed weeks. I learned a lot about the highs and lows of Prague’s history, culture, and engineering through polished presentations and site visits. Outside of the program, though, I got to learn more of everyday and unfiltered Prague lifestyle.
Through this program, I was really supported by my faculty members, Dr. Mary Besterfield-Sacre and Ms. Kaitlyn Washko, and our lovely guide, Jana Pilna. They were constantly working throughout the spring semester and the program to make sure all our site visits, tours, and occasional planned meals were all in order. Without them, this program would have never existed or have run nearly as smoothly as it did.
As I move to the second half of my college career, I plan to keep international studying in my mind for future internships or even a postgraduate program. I’m not sure if I’d return to Prague but never say never! Depending on what I’m interested in these next few years, Prague (or the Czech Republic in general!) might be the place to go.
As for Frederick Honors College students thinking about studying abroad, I recommend starting early to look for a program you’d be interested in. If you are like me and need strong financial support, learning which study abroad programs offer better opportunities for scholarships can make international experiences feasible. I originally thought that study abroad wouldn’t be possible because of the cost, timing, and my tight coursework schedule. But through scholarships, this experience was more than affordable. Additionally, Pitt makes it easy to participate in shorter study abroads (mine was 2 weeks!), allowing you to complete an internship with the remainder of summer while still getting a taste of an international program. Combined with Pitt’s spring semester ending earlier than a typical university, study abroad becomes even more possible!
I hope that anyone considering study abroad programs realizes that it IS possible, even if you think internships or cost may get in the way. Pitt works hard to show its students that it truly cares about its students gaining a global perspective while in university.
