As my study abroad experience comes to an end in Poland, I want to look back on my time in Poland and the Czech Republic as a whole. I came into this experience wanting to understand how the Central European economies transitioned from communism to market systems. Seeing Prague and Krakow firsthand made the concepts from economics classes feel real and actually apply them to what I saw. A few notable observations that I made during the trip were how the Czech koruna and Polish zloty were still being used instead of adopting the Euro. Another observation was the public transportation systems and urban planning they had, as it made the country feel walkable from one side to the other. As time went on during the program, these experiences and observations made classroom discussions easier to understand after seeing these policies in practice.

Moving on to outside of the classroom, I had to adjust to everyday life in two foreign countries for 3 weeks. Living abroad taught me independence, adaptability, and confidence. Luckily, I met some people in my program that I got close with, where we all supported each other throughout the program, so we weren’t all just by ourselves. All of these experiences forced me to be self-reliant and taught me numerous lessons that I know I will carry in the rest of my academic career at Pitt and beyond. One thing I would say I wish I had known before I left would definitely be having some time that is totally unplanned, as those were some of the best memories I had made during my time there.

I would say some of my favorite memories were the site visits we had during our program, as they brought us to places that, if I had been there myself, I would have never seen or understood the reasoning behind some things. Two site visits were a mine and seeing the mayor who had a marionette collection, I definitely thought it would be boring at first, but I walked out of it surprised by how interesting and fun it was with my class. These experiences have definitely changed my vision of my future, as now I want to visit more countries and see all the different cultures and atmospheres they have, and get to fully experience and understand them. A piece of advice I would give to a future Frederick Honors College student considering this program would be to definitely say yes to opportunities, even if they aren’t on the itinerary, as they could lead you to adventures and friendships you never could have imagined.