A Vast World

Studying abroad has made a big impact on my career goals and how I see my future. Staying in Austria was such a great experience, and it made me want to go back for a longer period of time. I had always wanted to go to a German-speaking country for at least a few weeks to experience the culture and practice German, but I thought that would be good enough. I stay very busy with my academic pursuits and have a lot of plans for myself once I graduate, so I thought this might me my only trip to Europe for a long time. This study abroad experience, however, has made me prioritize going back. While in Salzburg, I kept thinking about how much I was learning and how much more I could learn if I could spend more time there, so now I’m making time in my plans to go back to keep learning and exploring. Spending time abroad also made living and working abroad seem much more realisitic. As someone who had never gotten the chance to leave North America before this trip, the vastness of the world felt very hypothetical, but studying abroad made it real. I had always daydreamed about living and working in a German-speaking country, but it felt like an unattainable, or at least unrealistic, goal. Now, I’ve met Americans who have moved abroad and worked in a similar field to my own, and I know what it takes to make the leap. My experience also made me want to focus more on getting fluent in German. I have studied German for years and have enjoyed it, but I never really got to apply it the way I did while in Austria. It also showed me that, if I want to move to a German-speaking country, it is going to take a lot of work to be prepared, but it will be worth it. Having that real world application reinvigorated my love of learning the language and has pushed me to take more personal time to study the language, rather than to rely only on my classes at Pitt. Sometimes the future can feel so uncertain and it’s hard to stay motivated in school when you don’t know what it’s all for. For me, this study abroad experience provided me with a realistic life goal to look towards as I push myself through my academic career.