Summer

Infant Mental Health in Ireland: Advancing Practice, Policy and Research

Infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) is a growing and international field of research, practice and policy directed at promoting, preventing, and intervening with children and their caregivers to support optimal developmental and mental-health outcomes for all children.  This course will provide advanced students with professional development and educational opportunities through attendance at the 18th World Congress of the World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIHM) in Dublin, Ireland.  Though attendance at a high-tier international scientific conference with

Pitt at the Women's World Cup

Pitt at the Women’s World Cup of Soccer in Australia & New Zealand 2023 is a 4 week Summer 2023 study abroad program that will engage University of Pittsburgh students with the cultural and global spectacle of the World Cup. For 2023, this program will be based primarily in the host city of Sydney, Australia.  This program will help students understand the local and global implications of international sporting events and their influence on women in sport and gender politics in sport.

Perspectives Expanded

Before this program, my career goal was to become a journalist, and that hasn’t changed. I’ve worked at multiple media outlets, including the Austin-American Statesman, The Pitt News and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where I’ve reported minimally on environmental issues. During my reporting internship at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last summer I wrote an article that explored how climate change is impacting and will impact Pittsburgh’s infrastructure. I wrote about, and subsequently learned a lot about, the city’s failing stormwater management system and rising temperatures.
 

Dutch Dining

 
One of the more disappointing discoveries I made during my study abroad experience is that Dutch cuisine is, for lack of a better word, underwhelming. It’s actually quite famous for being bland with lots of veggies and not much meat. Dutch people’s affinity for fish was influenced by its location on the North Sea, and the country’s colonization gave rise to lots of Indian and Indonesian restaurants. 
 

Museums in the Netherlands

Amsterdam is known for its labyrinth of canals, eccentric homes, and, of course, its vibrant nightlife. But one of the city’s most prominent features that I got to experience while studying abroad is its array of museums. There’s more than 50 museums in Amsterdam which cater to numerous interests: diamonds, photography, cats, as well as art and history. I purchased a Netherlands museum card, which allowed me to visit nearly a dozen museums for about $60. 
 
 

A Day Trip to London

While we were in Birmingham for the studying part of study abroad, the last day of the program we went to London for a day and it was a fantastic time!
 
We took a train to get to London initially. It was really fun getting to travel by train since that is not the most common way of traveling in the US. When we got off the train, we were initially going to take the Tube (or subway), but it was very hectic. Instead, we all piled into taxis and made our way to the hotel.
 

Reflecting on Goals

While I was abroad in the United Kingdom at Birmingham City University in Birmingham, I believed that it had an immense effect on me when it came to some of my goals that I would like to achieve either while I am still studying at Pitt or later in life when I have a job.