Before studying abroad, one of my main goals was to travel and learn about different cultures. With this program, I was, fortunately, able to do just that and it further motivated me to continue traveling and experiencing new countries. This experience was extremely valuable to me in a number of ways as it allowed me to learn and practice my academics in a real environment with various variables as well as explore the beauties of a new culture through nature, cuisine, and the people themselves. Through this program, I really got to think about what I want to do with my future career because we got to hear from a lot of business professionals about what exactly they do within the company.
I was definitely more unsure of my path before studying abroad, but during the trip, I learned a lot more about supply chain and business in general that I think in my future academics I want to focus more on supply chain and marketing. I really enjoyed the international aspect of the business and I want to implement that into my future career. I would love to travel in my future position and interact with locals of the countries, perhaps even live abroad and work for an international company. Additionally, seeing the prominent environmentalism and sustainability initiatives in Costa Rica gives me hope and motivation to advocate for that in my own country and implement it in my career. I have decided to pursue a sustainability certificate so that I can educate myself on the topic and share it with others and hopefully bring these initiatives into large corporations in order to make the world a cleaner and healthier place. In the future, I definitely would work in a company that truly honors sustainability and actively practices it within the workplace.
Personally, this trip really allowed me to form connections with a variety of students, professors, and local business professionals. These connections could contribute to my professional and social network and could benefit me in the future. One of my previous goals was to expand my network and I think I definitely accomplished part of that through this study abroad. We all spent a lot of time together, bonding through different activities and projects where we had to collaborate to come up with business solutions. Overall, Plus3 really influenced my goals in a positive way and motivated me to continue pursuing my long-term goals through more experiences like this one.
