Upon returning

Ethical Issues:

            Upon reviewing the trip and everything I have learned in Chile, I realize many things are different from the U.S. This includes many ethical differences. In Chile, instead of just a minimum wage there is also an ethical wage, which is higher than the minimum wage and deemed to be the ethically acceptable wage to live off of. Chile also has different building standards due to the earthquake nature of Chile’s terrain.  The Chilean people take on an in the moment type attitude, which transfers into less life insurance and savings account than in the U.S. The Chileans are more concerned with now, not worrying about the future. Gender issues in Chile, I think, are less than in the U.S. They had a woman president in office a few years ago, and equality with genders is important. Pertaining to business, Chile has many less competitors within industries making it easier to enter the market. Just because of the sheer size of the U.S there are many more competitors in any certain industry. For example, the sports bar, California, thrived in Santiago because there was no other sports bar in the history of the Chile, let alone their surrounding area. Millions of sports bars exist in the States and who knows if “California” would have made it, but in Chile, it is a huge hit, and actually the only bar where you can watch the NBA and NFL. As showing by this example, businesses located in Chile may have a greater chance of survival than in the U.S.

Educational Breath:

            In business, being “worldly” is absolutely essential. Learning and understanding different cultures and beliefs is hugely beneficial in the business world.  Being narrow-minded will get a businessperson nowhere fast. The world is global and the more you know the better off you are. This is clearly shown by the Chilean students themselves. Their international experience is inspiring and really shows me how much more I need to learn. Each Chilean student had international experience and all planned on getting more in their college career. They also all know 2 or more languages. This has influenced me to try and improve my Spanish language and learn to be fluent. I also plan on studying aboard in the future of my career. I will study in Italy or Spain for more interaction relations and experience. I learned so much from the Chilean students about how different the world really is and how every culture has a different view on things.  The experience simply cannot be taught in the classroom, everyone should go to a different country and see things for other people’s eyes for a while. I cannot wait to experience more of the world and learn how other cultures view everything differently.

Lifelong learning:

A businessperson knows to survive in today’s global, ever-changing world learning is key. Not just learning in school, but also life-long learning, including life experiences and forming their own opinions. Although, school is very important to learning, much more must be learned based on experience in the certain field they are in. For example, at all the different Chilean businesses each set of skills needed to operate the business effectively was different. Learning how to make compost and how to control the climate in the different phases of mushroom growth are something to essential to learn in the mushroom industry. Yet, in the winery business, a whole new set of skills must be acquired about the wine making process and industry. So, even though school is very important and essential in any education, there are many more things about the specifics of a field that must be learned to run the business. And with the ever-changing technology, one must always be learning different ways to do things more efficiently. Technology opens a lot of new opportunities for businesses and if they are not taken up on then the business may be left behind in the industry. Learning will never be at a standstill and there will always be more to learn.  A successful businessperson understands that life-long learning is the source of continued success and growth in their industry.

Social Environment in Professionalism:

            Social interaction is very prevalent in business in Chile. Chileans are very social people, so discernibly that transfers over to their business transactions. Business in Chile is very personal. Chileans relay heavily on trust when they do business and the forth runner of trust is communication. The best way to communicate with people of a different culture is to be well practiced and understand their culture. Current events are an easy way to start conversations that everyone can relate to and understand.  Many Chileans are well read and keep up with the current news in their country. Their news is mostly the same as ours just in relation to their country, including futbol games, weather reports, and politics. Although it is advised to stay away from politics when first making small talk. Chileans are polite people that like to get along, compared to many cutthroat business people in the U.S. In the United States, your career defines you, while in Chile your personality defines you. I think the Chileans have this right and business is probably a much more ethical and respected practice. I love that Chileans focus on their family more than their career advancement. Family is much more rooted in love and support than a career ever could be.

Functioning Together:

            Functionality in a group setting is crucial in business. Open-mindedness is the key to any successful team in business. It is very tempting to shut down every idea you disagree with in a group setting but that will only deteriorate the group and take for the potential success.  This trip I learned not only to listen and work with engineering students, but also international Chilean students. These two diverse groups taught me a lot of being open to new ideas and learning from each other.  The Chileans had a different view on many things and it was interesting to see things from their perspective and many times I took their views into account and even altered my opinion. Many challenges present themselves when working in a diverse group including miscommunication and biasness, but the important thing to remember is to always keep your mind open and listen and respect each member of the group.   A challenge that could have presented itself is language barriers, but that was successfully avoided because the Chileans spoke beautiful English.  If they did not speak English bonding with the Chileans would have been much harder, not impossible but definitely harder. Thankfully, their English was great and everyone was very nice and super interesting. I found every other person on this trip, Chilean, or American, very interesting and each one taught me something new I would not have known without him or her.

I had an amazing time in Chile, and met so many great people. I wouldn't change any of it, and I cannot wait /hope I get to see all of them again. I want to thank everyone that made this trip possible. I can't thank you enough! :)

            

Day 13: Departure Day

Today I woke up at 10:30 am to get everything ready to leave Chile. I was not excited to leave and wanted more time in Chile with all my new friends. Saying goodbye to everyone yesterday was hard. At around 1 pm, we all met up for lunch and went out to a restaurant on town. Everyone was very tired from the night before still, so lunch was very low key and relaxed. The majority of us got "Lomo a la Pobre" for a final meal, just as a tribute to Chile and because some of us never got to try in on the trip and this was our last chance. This is a very typical Chilean dish they have at almost every restaurant. At first, in the beginning of week 1, we were all skeptical to get the steak, fried egg, onions, and french fries, but at the end everyone ended up loving the meal. I must say it was very good. Just goes to show you, you never know how a culture and their tradition meals/practices might grow on you and you will actually like. After lunch, we all got our stuff and went to the Santiago airport. After we got through security and customs we only had a half hour to sit before getting on he plane ( I like it better this way than waiting for forever). The plane ride was long and I had a hard time sleeping this time. I could not seem to get comfortable. Once in Atlanta, it was a bittersweet feeling of being home and being away from Chile. This trip has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life so far, and I will always treasure my time in Chile. The flight to Philadelphia was quick and easy. Although, when in the PHL airport my luggage was a flight behind me so I had to wait to get my luggage till the next flight came in from Atlanta. On the drive home my mom stopped and took me to a nice lunch (my first meal in the US since I got here!)

Day 12: Thursday 5/19/11

Last day! Activities day! Today we got up early and went for a final shopping trip. I got some last minute things to bring back and also a delicious pastry. After our quick shopping, we all meet up in the lobby to go to the university. We had a quick lecture about the exchange program at Santa Maria (the university). Some people in the group are thinking about studying aboard here in Chile at the university. Then we had lunch in the cafeteria, it was like a fried fish and potatoes with rice and flan for dessert. The flan was nasty, but everything else was pretty good. After lunch we went down the courts to play 'activities' aka futbol and basketball. I played the futbol and had a good time, but got tired of it soon and decided to just sit with the other girls and watch them play. The Chileans are very good at futbol, but we definitely held our own! Then we went back to the hotel to get ready for our pizza party tonight. Werner invited everyone to a gourmet pizza place. When we got to the place the pizza was already out and ALL of our Chilean friends were there. I didn't realize that when we were all together there was so many of us, over the 2 weeks we made about 15 Chilean friends who were all at the pizza place. We had a great time and the pizza was very interesting, it had a lot of different toppings on it-like you would not see in the States. Everything was very good and I enjoyed trying the different pizzas. At the pizza place, the Chileans gave us Santa Maria sweatshirts-that are SO NICE. They are all embroidered with their logo and our logo and they look amazing. I am very grateful. After the dinner, we went with all our student friends to the hollywood pub. After we went to another 'discoteca' and had another long, fun, great night ! I did not want to say goodbye to any of the them! They are such great people that made this whole experience so worthwhile.

Day 11: Wednesday 5/18/11

Today we woke up bright and early to head to Santiago, the capital of Chile! It was about a 2 hour bus ride to get there.When we got there Camilo and Javiar took us to Bolsa, which is the Chilean stock exchange of Santiago. We had a presentation on the basics of their stock exchange, but unfortunately could not view the trading room because it was under construction. So because the presentation was shorter than expected we walked around Santiago for a bit. We went to a museum (not sure of the name we kind of just wandered in) and that was awesome to see all the cool artwork and structures. Then we ventured into a church, and this was the most ornate, decorated church I have ever seen. I was in awe. No one else seemed to be in as much awe as me about the church, I even told Javiar I wanted to get married in the church. He told me I should, but I figured my family didn't want to fly all the way to Chile. ;) After the church we went to lunch at the central mercado, this in fish-market combined with fresh food market combined with flea market combined with restaurant! Naturally, I got fish, well, king crab to be exact. It was like a cheesy, bread-crumby, king crab casserole, and it was delicious. After lunch we went to the top of this huge mountain (on our bus-a little scary) and looked out upon Santiago. Let me tell you, Santiago is the biggest city I have ever seen. It went on for MILES. From the top of the mountain we could see out in ALL directions and in ALL directions was pure city. Yet, their was a visible smog from the pollution and dirt of the city. On top of the mountain were more touristy vendor shops that we all went shopping at. I got something for my brother! On the way home everyone was very tried and feel right asleep. Tonight we are going out together for our final nights here in Chile.

Day 10: Tuesday 5/17/11

SPA DAY! Today I woke up not knowing what to expect. That is something we have come to understand is essential here in Chile, no expectations and usually everything turns out great! Today was similar, when we got to the "spa" is was actually a resort with like a thousand pools. The place was another tropical beauty. The place looked like paradise on the outside, it was huge. Werner set up the whole thing for us and I am so grateful. We had a huge buffet lunch with numerous Chilean foods and options. The lunch was great and I even tried a funky Chilean dessert! Before lunch, I watched some of my plus3ers play the Chilean students in 'futbol'. After lunch, we all laid out in the warm sun. Finally sunny!!! These two days have been the best! After laying out we taught the Chileans a typical American game. Then we all left the resort and went home to get ready for Werner's barbecue. When we got to the barbecue we had great sausage sammiches again, those things are amazing.  The food was great. Then the Chileans taught us more typical Chilean dances, they have so many. We tried to teach them 'US dances' and we soon realized our where less then appealing... we had soulja boy, chacha slide, cotton eye joe, and john wall..... in the words of Jon Bass, "Yay, we have no culture!" Our dances were pretty embarrassing when compared to the chilean dances. I swear all Chileans are great dances... and singers!(Which I know thanks to the karaoke bars.) Overall, the day was a lot of fun and I am not ready to leave in 3 days.

Day 9: Monday 5/16/11

Today I woke up with a little sore throat, but that did not take away from this remarkable day. Today we went horseback riding. I was a little scared at first to get on the horse at first but once I was on I was all right. My horse was relatively calm, thank goodness. We all mounted our horses and rode to the path. Let me tell you, this horse ride was the most beautiful scenery I have every scene. We rode along the beach for a while and then in the desert for a while as well! The sand dunes were incredibly and all consuming my view. On the beach my horse made for a full gallop and I was excited to be going so fast, it was so fun! (no, I did not fall off, I actually did very well!) The whole horseback ride was fun and the views were breathtaking. And to top it all off, my horse was new (they just got her) and she didn’t have a name yet, so I got to name her! I named her "poniente", which means sunset in Spanish! When we got back to the ranch, a huge barbecue was out and ready waiting for us! The grill was fired with steak, chicken, and sausage sammiches! Along with potato salads, rice, and other sides. This tasted like the best food I ever ate!(I don’t know  if it was because I was sooo hungry after the challenges of trying to control a horse, but regardless the food was great!! It was so homey and outdoorsy. On the farm, there were 14 cats(a lot of kittens!!! Soooo cute) along with 3 dogs. Their farm/home was adorable and very cute. Overall, this experience was definitely the best so far on the trip and tops for one of the best experiences of my life so far. After we got back it was still beautiful out and we all went for gelato, we ate the gelato on the rocks facing the ocean. We all found “comfy” rocks to lounge on and watched the sunset over the ocean(I must have known we would do this when I named the horse). Definitely the best day ever!

my horse wanted to do it's own thing here

Day 8: Sunday 5/15/11

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We all woke up very late today, because we had another free day. A group of us went out to look for little shops and food to eat. It’s Sunday so pretty much everything is closed except for the mall. On our way to the mall, though, we were getting a little confused with which streets to take and we just happened to run into Camilo on the corner of a random street. (Shows you how small Vina del Mar can be) It was crazy to actually run into someone we knew in a foreign country. So, after asking him we headed in the right direction.  The mall was huge, but very much like the malls in the US. Just with more stores and a movie theater on the top floor. After the mall, we went to the outdoor vender shops where I got cool souvenirs for my family and friends. By that time we were all very hungry and decided to stop for some pizza. We were all pros at ordering the 4-topping pizza and got a cheese, pepperoni, chicken, and sausage pizza. But stupid us, we ate one hour before we were all going to a very fancy dinner. But, that’s okay we all like to eat! So we got dressed up and walked to the very fancy restaurant, where we had an amazing dinner. We couldn’t read the menu, but we all got what we wanted this time anyway. I got steak and cubed potatoes, which were very good. Then for dessert, I got chocolate lava cake. Delicious. After dinner we all just huge around our hotel and chilled together.

Day 7: Saturday 5/14/11

Finally an off day! And I need it after last night! When I finally got up, Chelsea, Jen, Christine, and I went to do our laundry... much needed clean jeans. We walked all over town to find it, but I didn't mind because I had not seen this side of town before and it was nice out. After gave our clothes over, we meet everyone back at the hotel and went to lunch. We went to a sandwich and pita place Bri say, it was actually very good.  I had a quesidilla and the guacamole was delicious. We relaxed back in the hotel for a bit, then back to get our laundry. It was great to have clean clothes! Oh the little things these days. Todays event was a professional soccer game, I did not know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. Soccer is huge here, and the game was intense. The crowds were wild and made so much noise, I loved it. I even got into the soccer game! I got churros and a class chilean sandwich at the game, yum ! Overall, the experience was a lot of fun, and it made me see why everyone enjoys soccer so much. It makes me wonder why soccer(aka futbol) is not big in the United States, like it is everywhere else.

Day 6: Friday 5/13/11

Today started at 9:30 AM, when we were told to be ready for the bus. We were scheduled to tour Pablo Neruda's house, a famous chilean poet whom I studied in high school. When we got to the small, lifeless town of San Antonio, we were told the tour was not until 4:30 pm and nothing was planned for the time being. I was a little annoyed I had to get up early for nothing, but I grasped the idea of exploring more of the Chilean countryside. After make a few loops around the abandoned city, we terrifyingly took the bus up a mountain with a dirt road. We went to the grave of another poet.. this was a little scary considering the grave was on top of a huge abandoned mountain without any vegetation or life present (except ONE little girl standing alone outside of one of the shacks). I am sure the place is very nice in the summer, but in the winter it was very quiet and abandoned. We went to lunch at a nice restaurant and were filmed for CNN Chile. At the time, we did not know it was CNN so we were a little confused as to why we were being filmed, but us being filmed or photographed seems to happen a lot here in Chile, so I wasn't surprised. I don't know why, other than because we are foreign. The next thing we did to kill the 6 hours we had to spare was visit the world's largest swimming pool. Unfortunately, the pool was drained of it's water for winter, but it was still fascinating and extremely huge. When we finally arrived at Pablo Neruda's house, the house was gorgeous with an amazing ocean view (like everything in Chile). The house was designed to look like a ship, and Pablo had a lot of unusual collections and even made his house into a museum before he died. We spent the rest of our day sleeping in the bus in between the random activities. When we finally got to Regatton class I was very tired, but woke up when we started to dance. Later tonight, we went to "hollywood pub", the casino, and 'discoteca' tonight with the Chilean students. We got to dance Reggaton like we practiced! Let's just say it was a long, but extremely fun day.

Day 5: Thursday 5/12/11

Today I got up very excited for the days events and the day did not let me down. First we went to a winery, called Vina Indomita, the décor and architecture of the winery was beautiful. It was on top of a mountain oh hills with the grape vines lining the hills for miles. The inside was the most fancy place I have seen, next to the university of course, and the wine cellar smelled amazing. After a tour of the facility we got to taste 3 different wines, one white and two red, young and aged. My favorite was the young red wine.

 After the company visit we went to a traditional Chilean restaurant for lunch, I do not care much for Chilean food but the meat and potatoes I had was good. Javier and Maria sat at my table and we had a good conversation, I like Maria a lot, she and I may become good friends. The next company we went to was Lan. Lan is a huge international airline based in Chile. We actually got a see a huge plane in person close up. (I have pictures to prove it) We got to go inside and in the cockpit of the plane! This was awesome!! The plane was so nice inside and it was interesting to see how big the plane actually is in person. Lan gave us a great opportunity, and I am glad we got to go visit their company. I may even fly with them in the future!

After Lan, we had a long bus ride home and then some free time (finally!! First free time since we got here almost!). I got myself together a little bit and then a bunch of us went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. This was decent food. The night ended with everyone going to a club with some Chilean students. This was the best time I had so far because I got to use the reggaton and salsa classes we take in real life. I love how the Chileans dance in their clubs, especially salsa, and it makes me want to learn how even more! This was a great day and I am excited to see if tomorrow has more to offer. 

Day Four

         Today was our first day of company visits. The first visit was to 'my company' called is Bosques del Mauco. The company grows, ferments, picks, packages, seals, and ships out mushrooms. In the beginning, the smell of the fermentation was hard to handle. Very hard to handle, i had to hold my nose to prevent from passing out at one point. Yet, as we much further into the process of mushroom making the process got more interesting and less smelly. I never knew how they made mushrooms and it was shocking to me to see the food come out of the fungi. 

         Next, we got on the bus, for a ride with a fantasic view to go to the second company called Conservas Centauro. This company cans, produces(some), seals, and ships out different tomate products, fruit, prepared meals, and other items. They main product is tomato paste and sause. They even ship out to heinz in Pittsburgh! Although the company was in the off season and the factory was not in production, the tour was still interesting and we got free jams and canned tomatoes!

         After the company visits we went to a restaurant for lunch, called Los Deliciosos, where we all got empanadas again! I enjoyed this meal and liked these empanadas more than the other day. We went back to the university for out last lecture on chilean society. I was interested in the section about the natural disasters and earthquakes in Chile. It scared me, but I still found it interesting. The chilean view on... earthquakes is very different than anyone i have come across in the States. Chileans understand that huge earthquakes will happen and their city will be destroyed, but they totally accept it. When i asked many Chileans about fear of an earthquake they all shrugged their shoulders and said "eh it's going to happen anyway, we have lived through them before."We had another salsa class today, and I danced with a Chilean student. After dance class we had one hour to eat get ready and meet up with the chileans to go out- spare time on this trip so far would be at an absolute none. I have to struggle to find time to blog! So thats all for now, more company visits tomorrow :)

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Day three

Today we went to the University(I remembered my camera today) for more lectures. Today's lecture was about Chilean Business, but the teacher spoke more on Latin America as a whole. The lecture was very long. We breaked for lunch and lunch today was a lot like yesterday. I feel mostly lost and confused on the food I am being served. Don't get me wrong it is an experience and one I am glad I get to have, but cafeteria is a scary place when you don't speak the language. The lecture continued on for three more hours after lunch... Then we presented our projects My group had to change our project last minute because we changed companys from Codelco (a copper producing company) to mosque del bosa (mushroom factory). After class we had a reggaeton dance class. This was drastically different than salsa. Reggaeton is very provocative and the dance the Chileans would do in a "disco tech" basically a bar with dancing.  It was hilarious to watch everyone try and dance reggaeton. We tried, but our ability is a little different than the Chileans ability to dance like they do. The dance teacher this time did not speak english so we all had to listen very hard and try to figure out his spanish. Heres the thing with Chliean spanish it is WAY faster then anyother spanish speaking country. They are known for their fast pace of speech- they say even mexicans or people from spain can not understand them... so obviously it is VERY hard for us. After the dance class some of us went to McDonald's to eat and ordering at McDonalds was soo stressful! I tried so hard to understand what she was saying, but when they speak so fast I get flustered and confused. Thankfully, someone in the program is fluent and he helped me order what I wanted. I did not think speaking spanish would be this hard. The language barrier is a lot more prevalent than I originally thought. A lot of Chileans speak English because they are taught it in school, yet there still people who can not. To end he night we went to the super market! All the spanish labels on the food was funny, they also had a very extensive wine isle.

Day two in Chile

        Today we got up very early and went to the University, we got a tour from our 2 chilean student aids. The University is very beautiful, it is made of all stone buildings, but there is no distinction between outside and inside. There are no doors here in Chile. All the stores and even the school buildings are all doorless- kind of like how stores in the mall, they don't have doors they are just open. The college also had an outdoor pool in the middle of the campus. It is gorgeous, with tropical trees and a view of the ocean all around. The whole college is very surreal looking (kind of like a tropical hogwarts) you can see the ocean from almost every room. A tradition they have at the university is for students who's birthday it is and for students graduating they throw them in the pool for everyone to watch. If they are graduating they get thrown in in their suit and tie(the guys cut their tie and the girls cut a lock of their hair off).
        Later in the day we had a lecture with Jose Cortez about Chilean culture and history. I liked the lecture, Jose was very good at keeping everyone attentive and interested. Later, we had lunch in the university cafeteria- that was a very different experience. I felt like a complete outsider- I can't tell you how many stares we got. And being blonde does not help one bit! It was like everyone could not help but stare at us, we stand out like sore thumbs! The lunch was not very good, it was a pasta that tasted like chicken noodle soup. After lunch, we took a tour of Vina del Mar, Valparaiso, and the next town over. The city is amazing. One of the most beautiful(if not the most beautiful) place i have ever been too. Jose took us to climb a HUGE hill up to the top of a mountain in Valpariso. The view was spectacular. I really liked how all the steps had a cool painting on them- like the whole city was a canvas for art.  The ocean and the hills of multi color houses were like a scene of a movie. Then as we walked some more we came across a little stand that had the "best empanadas in Chile" First, I got chicken and cheese ( which was good) then we all got second ones called 'manjar platano' which is caramel and banana- it was SO GOOD but SO MESSY. I got it all over me! Everyone was laughing at me, because I told everyone I would not get any on me and eat it without being messy... and I was the messiest one! Typical me.
            We went back to the university to go to our salsa class. That was so fun! I have always wanted to learn salsa and it was great! Marquis was my partner and we were probably the best ;) Our salsa teacher was very funny- rather enthusiastic to say the least! When we finally got home after a crazy long ay we all went out to the bar with the chileans (haha no rest for us) We had the drink "pisco" and sang charioke! The girls sang britney spears and spice girls, the chileans loved us.

Day one in Chile !

          As my parents dropped me off in the Philadelphia airport, I knew it was going to be a long day. I meet up with five other girls at the Philly airport, and luckily together we could navigate the way through the Atlanta airport when we got there. At the Atlanta airport, the 5 of us met up with the entire group going to Chile. Our flight to Santiago was at 10 at night to 7 the next morning! That was my first overnight flight, it was harder than I expected to sleep on an airplane. The flight did not drag on or seem to take that long because i was so tired, but i probably only slept in increments of 30 minutes at a time. When we got to Chile, we had to get visas and check through national security. Then we finally got to the bus to take us from the airport to the hotel, we were all very tired. I wanted to stay awake to see my first view of Chile's beautiful scenery, and what i saw of it it is very gorgeous, but I could not keep my eyes open. From what I did stay awake to see, the scenary was different than I expected, there was no grass but rather dirt and trees. On the mountains their were white letter signs telling what city we were in, such as the "Hollywood" sign in California. The Spanish signs also intrigued me, I tried to read and figure out as many as i could (before my weariness took hold of me).
        When we finally got to the hotel, we found out our roommates and headed to our rooms. The room was smaller than I expected, but not that bad. The only major shortcoming is no heat, because it is fall in chile and getting rather chilly! After we got to our rooms we all gathered for lunch, we walked around town till we found a lunch spot. The menu was all in Spanish and proved difficult for a lot of us to understand. Hearing people try to order was funny. Hey, we tried. I am starting to get very used to saying "gracias" instead of thank you. After lunch we explored the area. My first observation: DOGS! Soooo many dogs everywhere... and stray dogs at that. Also, a lot of horse drawn carriages, but mostly dogs all over the place. One certain tan stray seemed to find a liking to us. He stayed with us the whole time we walked around, always keeping up with us and stopping with us when we stopped. We named our stray "Sergio".  :) Many of the strays are hurt and ill, but do not really bug the people, they will walk with you but always keeping their distance. I honestly feel bad for these animals, and wish someone could help them.
         The scenery I come across in Chile was very different than America. The palm trees are beautiful and the ocean is breathtaking. Also, something I very much liked was how on the rocks near the ocean, there was 'graffiti', but the graffiti was beautifully written, inspirational quotes and meaningful bible verses. All the quotes were in spanish, but i could pretty much understand everything they meant. My favorite was " keep looking it up to the sky, not down below."
        When we finally left the beach, we had some free time, and then reconvened for dinner. For dinner we went to a Mexican place, but this time the menu had english underneath the items so it was much easier for everyone to order. I had two steak "medallones" one with mango sauce and the other with hot chili chocolate sauce. The chili chocolate sauce was delicious. Then we got gelato from a local shop. That was also delicious! Overall, today was a great day(with many eye opening events) and I am excited to see more of Chile and it's culture tomorrow!

My new Blog for Chile

I am very excited to go to Chile and see another side of the world. I have never been out of the United States so I am very nervous, but still excited. The plane ride is an overnight flight, and it will be my first experience with an overnight flight- I am interested in how they will serve "dinner". I have started to pack everything, and hope I am packing all the right things. I have no idea what to expect so I am packing a little of everything. Chile should be a great time. I hope I can make great memories and new friends! I can't wait to go!! 
 (http://www.chileplus3.pitt.edu)