Mushroom Factory and Final Dance Lesson

It’s already Thursday; this trip is going by so quickly! We started our day off with another lecture down at the university, followed by another lunch at the cafeteria. After that, we headed down to our next company visit, the mushroom factory. A lot of people say they enjoyed this visit, but I can’t really say that I shared the same feelings as them. It’s not that the tour was boring, it was just that I could not stand the foul smell that comes out of from making mushrooms. I honestly almost threw up! I don’t even know how to explain the smell other than saying that you honestly don’t want to inhale that foul aroma. Aside from the smell, the visit was interesting. We saw the whole process that is involved in the production of the mushrooms. There is a good amount of chemistry that goes into making one of these little puffy mushrooms. My favorite part of the visit was when we went into the giant dark room where the mushrooms actually grew. It didn’t smell in there, and the place was quite interesting! After the visit, we all headed down to the university, again, for our final dancing lesson. Today’s lesson was on rigitone, and it was the most difficult of all the lessons so far! The instructor doesn’t really tell us how to do the dance; he just does it and makes us keep up with his pace. Even though the lesson was hard, they were still fun and I am glad they were part of our itinerary. After the lessons, we gave the instructor a gift for helping us, and then we got dinner. After that, I got back to the hotel where I am blogging and waiting for the Chilean students to take us out again!

LANS Visit and more dancing

Today was a really long day; I woke up in in the morning around 7:30 and didn’t sleep until around 3! Anyway, our day started out with another long lecture, though this one was more interesting and interactive than yesterday’s—so most of us actually stayed awake! We covered more points about the culture of Chile. After the lecture, we headed down to the cafeteria for some more Chilean university food! After lunch, we all got onto the bus and rode an hour or so down to Santiago again to visit LANS. LANS is currently one of the largest air carriers in the world, and the largest in South America. This was the company I had to research and give a presentation on, so I was excited to visit them and get some more information about the company. However, the visit was nothing more than a random employee, speaking broken English, giving us a tour of the website. His presentation lasted very long, and was accompanied with an even longer Q & A session. Most of the questions asked weren’t even relevant to the company. So, needless to say, I really didn’t gain all that much from the visit. Also, we were told that the kids from last year were given a tour of the tarmac and the cabin of one of their planes! All we got was a tour of a website and about a half hour of waiting in the lobby. Anyways, after the visit we got back onto the bus and found our way back to the university where we were taught our last Salsa lesson! Salsa was easier than Rigitone, in terms of physical activity but the steps and moves were quite difficult than the first day’s lesson.  After that we got back to the hotel and got some dinner and now I’m blogging about all the day’s activities.

Santiago City Tour

Today we visited the city of Santiago. Upon arriving, we toured the Santiago Stock Exchange. I was surprised to learn that the Stock Exchange was started over one hundred years ago. After we were lectured about the history and relevance of the Santiago Stock exchange we visited the trading floor. There was next to no one down there because they have an electronic system. I was expecting to see a scene similar to the New York Stock Exchange, but this wasn’t the case. We really didn’t stay at the exchange for long, so afterwards we began our tour of the city. Our first stop was at the Chilean White House where the president works. Afterwards we went to the main square in Santiago, which was the origin of the city. Whenever Spain would create a new city, they centered it around a main square. The square was beautiful, and there was a very old and ornate church on the square as well. We spent a good twenty to thirty minutes in the church looking at all the details. It really reminded me of a church in Europe. After that we visited a museum that outlined the history of Chile. The museum was interesting but everything was in Spanish and there wasn’t anyone around to translate it for us. Its times like this that make me regret not being able to speak a foreign language. Anyway, the museum was fun and we went to a nice restaurant in a small market place for lunch. It was an all sea food establishment, and I’m not really fond of fish. So I ordered some shrimp, and just ate a bunch of rolls—all of the places in Chile have delicious and freshly made bread! After lunch we walked around the market place for a while to shop for some souvenirs. Then we rode off to this mountain that is located in the middle of the city and rode a very sketchy incline up to the summit—and I was quite nervous on the ride since I almost died on one yesterday! But I survived, and the view from the top was breathtaking—even with all the smog covering the city. It really in a shame because the city is so beautiful, but you can’t really get to appreciate it. We spent a good hour or two up there before heading down to a local street with a bunch of boutiques and shopped and got ice cream. Then we returned to the University for our first dance lesson. We learned how to dance rigatoni tonight, it was honestly like participating in a workout video, but it was a lot of fun. We then headed back to the hotel and I’m currently blogging and waiting to head out with the Chilean students later tonight.

Our First Full Day !!!

Today is our first full day here in Chile! I have already had a lot of fun last night and at Pitt the day before, and today was even better! We got to see the University of Santa Maria during our tour of the campus. The university is located atop a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The whole university was founded by a generous donation from a local wealthy Chilean who wanted to promote engineering in Chile. The campus is beautiful; most of the buildings are very old and remind me of the Cathedral of Learning at Pitt. We also met a few of the local students who are going to be with us for our time here in Chile. After the tour, we headed down into one of the classrooms and were given a lecture about the business culture and climate of many South American countries. I thought the lecture was interesting, however, it could have presented a little better. After the lecture, we headed down to their one and only cafeteria on campus. There must have been nearly a thousand students waiting in line to get in. It took us a decent amount of time to get our food. Anyways, after the lunch we got onto the bus and were given a tour of Valparaiso. The city is located right next to Vina Del Mar, which is where we are staying. You literally cross a street and you’re in the other town. It’s essentially one big city divided in the middle. The tour was amazing, I always enjoy visiting new areas and learning about how it was created and its history. The tour was going great until I nearly died! We rode an incline up to the top of a mountain to take pictures and shop at some local stores. However, this nearly ended badly for me. There is a rickety old wooden door in the back of the car that you get in and out of, and me, being the smart person I am, was standing right next to it. Then, as we were passing the other incline on our way up, the car jerked. Everyone was tossed a little and I flew back against the door and I felt it bend back. If I would have hit it even a bit harder, it would have opened, and I would have fallen down the whole mountain! But that didn’t happen and I survived that near death experience. After the tour, we went back to the University to have our first dancing lessons. We all learned how to dance Salsa, and it was really enjoyable. The only bad part was that we were doing these lessons in a courtyard and there were a lot of local students who were watching and laughing at us during the lesson, but they were really fun! Now I’m back at the wonderful Hotel America writing my blog and later tonight some of the Chilean students are going to take us out!

Chile at last!!

Chile at last! We have finally made it to Chile. I can’t wait to finally get this trip under way. Everyone who I have talked to before coming here who has taken the trip says it’s the most fun they have had! Anyway, I wasn’t able to sleep for a minute on the plane and we got into the airport early and still had the whole day ahead. After we got off the plane, we had to go through customs, which was one of the most agonizing and slow processes I have ever gone through. But I managed to survive. After that we packed onto the bus and were all swindled out of a few thousand pesos by a guy who helped put our bags in the bus. Oh well, the ride from Santiago to Vina Del Mar, the city where we’re staying at, took about an hour and a half and everyone was passed out on the ride over. Upon arriving, we got to see our hotel for the first time, and it isn’t pretty! It’s old, run down, small rooms, really small bathrooms and ackward hall ways, but I don’t mind. All we will do there is shower and sleep, so I think I can manage it! After everyone was settled in, we walked across the street to a restaurant called Tiki Taco for some lunch. I shared a huge platter of meats and vegetables with Sarah, and we only finished half of the monstrous pile of food. After lunch, we headed down to see a local soccer match. The game was really fun and different than any other sporting event I have been to before. Everyone was cheering and singing their team’s song. There weren’t many people there, but it was loud. The local team ended up winning 3-2, after trailing 2-0 in the first half. After the game, we headed back to the hotel and were given the rest of the night off. So my friend Aaron and I went down to the casino, sorry dad—it was part of the Chilean experience! I didn’t do too well, but I was easily one of the best dressed people there. It’s not so much about playing good as it is looking good, and I was rocking the suit tonight! However, the Black Jack table destroyed me and I inevitably ended up going back to the hotel depressed and had nothing else to do but start writing my blog, but it was well worth it!

day before we leave

Today has been filled with a lot of waiting and anticipation. Tomorrow we will be heading down to pittsburgh International to finally get ready for our trip to Chile. We will be flying first to Miami and then to Santiago. But before all of this we had a meeting down in the business school to have our pre departure meeting. Nothing really important was done there, a skit we had perform in groups took up the bulk of the time. The skits were basically a large final ice breaker, I really don't like group activities so my participation in it was non existent. Afterwards we went down to south oakland and had a group dinner at a little mexican place. Nothing else really happened after that.

Welcome

My name is Nick Mankosa and I will be going to Chile for two weeks. Look here for updates on my trip.