Last Day in Chile

Today was our last day in Chile.  We're currently sitting in the Santiago Airport waiting to board our flight to Dallas, TX.  This morning I packed up my suitcase to come home.  I hate packing, but it wasn't too bad this time since most of my clothes were already in my suitcase.  When we were done packing the whole group went to Tiki Taco for our final group meal together.  We went to Tiki Taco as a group our first day in Chile so we thought it would be fitting to go there on our last day too.  After lunch we headed back to the hotel and took one last walk around the rooms and halls to reminisce on our time there.  We then got on our bus that was waiting to take us to the airport.  I think we all slept on the bus so the drive wasn't too bad.  We are going to board our flight to Dallas in about ten minutes.  Once we get to Dallas, we will take a connecting flight to Pittsburgh and then I will take a flight back home to Philadelphia.  The beginning of this trip went by so slow and it felt like we would be here forever.  Now that it is over, I realize how quickly the trip was.  It went by like a blur, but it was so much fun I wish I could do it again.

Horseback Riding in Chile

Today is our last full day in Chile.  I can't believe the trip is almost over already.  This morning we packed on the bus and were taken to a ranch for horseback riding and a Chilean barbecue.  I have never been horseback riding, or even on a horse so I was excited but nervous at the same time to do this.  Before we got our horses, we spent time looking at chickens, boars, cows, and pigs.  They had both adult and baby animals of all of these so it was really cool to see them interacting together.  We then got our horses; mine was named Vavaro (or something like that), which means The Muddy One.  I don't know how my horse got that name because he wasn't muddy at all.  We went on a three hour-long adventure starting off at the beach.  From there we rode through a small river and into a forest area.  We eventually came upon sand dunes and then made our way back to the beach before returning to the ranch.  The scenery that we saw today was amazing.  When we got back to the ranch we had another Chilean barbecue and after I ate I took a nap on a hammock.  When I woke up I went over to the campfire to roast some marshmallows.  Then our day at the ranch was done.  We're now at the hotel getting ready for dinner.  We're going out to get pizza and this will be our final group dinner together.  Again, I can't believe this is over already.

Craziness in Chile

This morning was a free morning so Evan, Alyssa, and I went to a pastry shop a few blocks away for breakfast.  After our stop at the pastry shop we went to a street market to look for things to buy.  We didn’t see anything too interesting so we didn’t buy anything.  After this we headed back to the hotel to see where everyone else was.  We met up with Sarah in the hotel and went to the beach to rent a beach cruiser.  The thing barely worked so it took all of our leg strength to get it to move.  Every single person that we passed stared at us and a lot of them laughed at us also.  We almost lost control of the cruiser into traffic and we crashed into a concrete wall at one time.  After all of the adventures of driving on the streets we took the cruiser back to the stand.  We headed back to the hotel again and met up with our whole group to go paintballing.  I’ve only been paintballing once before in my life so I wasn’t really sure what to expect.  When we got to the paintball field we spilt into teams and played capture the flag.  We played three rounds and my team lost all three times.  We had a very limited amount of paintballs so we ran out of ammo very quickly each round.  I got shot twice but I also shot three people so I didn’t feel too bad about myself.  It was more fun than I expected it to be but I wish the company was able to give us more ammo so we could’ve played longer.  Tomorrow is our last day in Chile; I can’t believe our trip is almost already over.

Last Company Visits

On Wednesday we had our last two company visits of the trip.  Our first visit was to Hela, a hardware producer.  The company specializes in producing and distributing hardware supplies.  We were taken around the factory and were shown how they produce their various brushes, such as paintbrushes.  Inside the factory it was very noisy, so we had to wear earplugs.  There was a lot of machinery being operated so we also had to wear protective goggles while we were inside the factory.  Our second company visit of the day and final one of the trip was to Centauro, a canned food manufacturer.  The owner of the company took us around the manufacturing plant and gave us samples of canned peaches, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, and pumpkin paste.  The peaches were the best peaches I have ever had in my life; I wish I could've had more.  I don't really like tomatoes at all but I even thought they didn't taste too bad.  The pumpkin paste was interesting and it tasted pretty good too.  After this visit we went to get empanadas from a different restaurant than we usually go to.  I like the empanadas at the first restaurant better.  After empanadas, we went back to the University for Cueca dance lessons.  In my opinion, this dance was the hardest of the three we learned.  Even though I was really bad at it, I still had a fun time learning and trying the dance.  After the Cueca lessons, we headed back to the hotel and watched some movies to relax a little bit.  Some of us headed to Subway for a snack and just like McDonald's, Subway in Chile tastes just like Subway in the United States.

Company Presentations

This morning we woke up and made our last trip to University of Santa Maria to present our company presentations.  We presented our projects to Professor Jamie and answered his questions about our companies.  We still haven't visited two companies so two of the groups were at a little bit of a disadvantage because they didn't have a lot of information about the companies.  They still did a great job though and Professor Jamie liked all of the presentations.  After the presentations, we had lunch in the cafeteria for the final time.  We then went back to the hotel, but my friend Aaron and I were still hungry so we went to get pizza down the street.  We order one pizza, but they gave us two, we were surprised to find out that they had a two for one deal.  After the pizza our whole group went to play soccer again with the Chilean students.  We played on a very small turf field so the game was very fast paced.  We played for about maybe two hours then headed down to the mall with Camilo, one of the Chilean students.  With his help I was finally able to buy a new lock for my suitcase.  I thought the mall would be somewhat different than the malls in the United States, but it was basically the same as the malls in the United States.  Once we finished at the mall we headed back to the hotel to get ready for tonight.  We're heading out to the karaoke bar again tonight to do an encore for our fans.  I'm sure everyone there will be glad to hear our amazing singing voices.

Surfing Sunday

This morning my friends Aaron, Mike, Nick, Nik, and Allison and I had plans to get surfing lessons from a friend of one of the Chilean students.  She met us at our hotel at 11:30AM like planned and walked us a few blocks to her friend's pick-up truck.  We thought we were going to take the city bus to the beach so this was good since we didn't have to pay anything.  We got to the beach were the surfing lessons were being held and the two people who brought us said goodbye and left.  So we were on our own at a beach however many miles away from our hotel.  We went to the front desk at the beach and managed to tell them that we wanted surfing lessons.  We got in our wetsuits and they gave us our surfboards.  After a few warmup stretches we were out in the water learning how to surf.  I thought it was going to be very difficult and that I wouldn't be able to do it, but it was a lot easier than I thought.  It was an awesome feeling when I was able to catch my first wave.  We probably surfed for about three hours before we had to give our gear back to the store.  We walked to the closest bus stop since we were on our own and we had to find the right bus to get back to our hotel.  We got on the first bus that came to the stop and it dropped us off near the hotel.  After walking around the town we eventually found our way back to the hotel.  We felt so accomplished.  We then we to get empanadas since we were so hungry from surfing.  After the empanadas we went back to the hotel to relax a little and to get cleaned up.  Later on we went to Tierra del Fuego for a gourmet dinner.  The restaurant was right on the edge of the ocean so we had a great view out of the windows.  The food and dessert were great.  Once that was over we headed back to the hotel and have been just relaxing since we got back.  Tomorrow we have to present our company projects to the Chilean professors and students.  I hope they enjoy our presentation.

Spa Day

Today we had an amazing day.  We went to a spa and resort with the Chilean students.  When we got there we had empanadas as a snack and then we started playing soccer against the Chilean students.  We played four on four with a goalie.  I used to play soccer when I was younger so it was a lot of fun to be able to play again.  We played a few games against them and my team lost every time, but it was still an awesome experience.  After soccer we had a big buffet for lunch.  The food was great and the dessert was even better.  After lunch we went back down to relax by the pool.  Some people went swimming, but the water was freezing so I didn't.  The people at the resort started playing a game for us where they would play a song from a movie and we would have to guess the movie.  If we got three questions right, we would win I prize.  I came close, but I only got two questions right.  We played foosball also by the pool. This was definitely the most fun day we've had Chile.  After the resort, we went to a Chilean professor's house for a Chilean barbecue.  We had sausage on a roll at the barbecue and they were delicious.  After the barbecue we headed back to the hotel.  We all rested for a little while and then a few of us went to McDonald's for a late night snack.  A few of my friends and I about to leave right now for surfing lessons.  I have never been surfing so I don't expect to be very good.  It'll still definitely be a lot of fun though.