Study Abroad

Study Abroad Reflections

Cannes, France (Summer 2019)

AIFS Cannes: Pitt Panther Program

I was grateful to have had the opportunity to attend AIFS French Summer Intensive Course in Cannes, France for 6 weeks. Le Campus Internacional was beautiful and had a beautiful view of the Mediterranean sea. I took courses with not only American students but with students from at least 10 different countries. This immersive course did wonders for improving my French pronunciation of words and speaking comfortably with others. Aside from learning French, I learned a lot about French. Our American group would go on excursions to neighboring towns and even a monastery on an island off the coast. A few of my favorites were the wine tasting at the French monastery and the trip to Grasse, the parfume capital of the world, where we made our own parfumes. My roommate and I also traveled a bit and had mini adventures to numerous cities along the French Riviera such as Eze, Aix-en-Provence, and Nice. I received 6 credits for my coursework I did during this program and finished at the B1 level.

Sydney, Australia and Paris, France (Spring 2020)

CIEE Open-Campus Program: Pitt Panther Program

I was lucky to go abroad for the second time and for a semester. This was a tumultuous time to go abroad. When I was in Sydney, Australia, the country was suffering from massive fires due to the summer heat. However, in the metropolitan area, I was lucky to not see too much smoke – just hazy skies in the morning. Sydney, Australia was my first destination through the CIEE Open Campus Program. I took a Business Ethics and Cross-Cultural Communications course for 6 credits. These courses used real world examples and we even went on field trips to apply what we were learning in the classes. In the Business Ethics course, my professor wanted to show us ethical educational companies and took us to a non-ethical company and an ethical company. She then tasked us with determining which one was the ethical company. I enjoyed my time in Sydney. I tried a lot new foods, went skydiving, and tried surfing for the first time. One weekend, my roommates and I traveled to Melbourne and explored and enjoyed that city as well. After the 6 week block was up, I ventured to Paris, France to complete the rest of my semester. There I was enrolled in courses taught in French – Intermediate French and 18th century Art History. I was able to build upon my French knowledge and enjoyed learning about Art History from a French perspective. One day we were supposed to go to the Louvre on a field trip but due to the coronavirus they closed it down for the day. Ultimately a week later, I was sent home from Paris due to the novel COVID-19. Before I left, I snuck in a weekend trip to Amsterdam and the week before that, our program went to Strasbourg.