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Panthers In… Vietnam, Morocco and Bolivia!

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Jessica Crawford
Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Katie Piscopio
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Pitt chapter.

Name: Eliza Kaye

What program are you doing?

I am currently participating on SIT’ International Honors Program on Climate Change: The Politics of Food, Water, and Energy. We had a two-week orientation period in San Francisco before traveling to Vietnam (4 weeks), Morocco (5 weeks), and finally Bolivia, which is where I am now.

How did you get to study abroad?

I always knew I wanted to study abroad but due to my involvement in organizations on campus, I was unable to until my senior year. I was very hesitant to be away from school for half of my senior year, yet after a conversation with Leslie Smedley, the director of Pitt-recognized study abroad programs, I was totally convinced. I knew I had found the perfect program.

What do you wish you knew before you left? 

How much of a travel bug study abroad can leave you with. Before study abroad, I thought I definitely wanted to be in the United States after graduation but now I am leaning much farther towards being in a different country.

What is the most important lesson you learned? 

Ah, such a tough question because I have learned SO much. One of the most important lessons has been taking everything a day at a time and not looking to the future. I think it is really easy for college students to keep looking forward to the next ‘thing’ but being abroad has really counteracted that for me and has allowed me to appreciate everything much more. Another very important lesson I learned is how vital it is to understand different cultures and languages without perpetuating your own. It is often assumed that every country one may travel to will automatically know English, but I believe it should be the other way around. Study abroad has instilled in me a greater passion for languages and knowledge about different cultures around the world.

 

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Junior Economics and Chinese major at Pitt! I am Fundraising chair for our fantastic Pink Level Chapter that was voted "Most Philanthropic" last year. Since I love volunteering and organizing people to help our Pittsburgh community, getting HC members into fun, innovative ways to build this community is my job. We also have fundraisers for both ourselves and our charity partner She's the First. To find out more about their amazing work check out https://www.shesthefirst.org/Look out for our HC Night Out tickets this October! Inquiries: jmc248@pitt.edu
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Katie handles the day-to-day management, development and expansion of our chapter network to ensure that our on-campus presence is stronger than ever. She recently graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied Nonfiction Writing and Communication. Her extensive Her Campus background dates back to 2012 and she has since held the position of Campus Correspondent and Chapter Advisor. When Katie isn’t watching the Pittsburgh Penguins, you can find her trying new restaurants, obsessing over her long list of shows (The O.C., Scandal and Gilmore Girls are top picks) or setting out to find the perfect donut.