Final Thoughts

ETHICAL ISSUES

I think that the United States has many different views on a lot of things than other countries do.  I saw, when I visited Chile, a lot of things that are different, industry wise, than in the States.  For example, minimum wage in Chile is less than a third of that in America, meaning that this would be a major change when taking an industry abroad.  The general public needs to be less wasteful, however, because basic necessities like clothing are significantly more expensive.  Also, Chilean businesses are less diverse, gender-wise than ones in the United States, mostly because they are not required to be.  This means that if a company were to move from the United States to Chile, they would have a hard time keeping up with the United States diversity requirements, if they still needed to.  Lastly, I noticed when we visited Centauros, that the hygienic standards for a food company are much more lax in Chile than they are in the US.  This was a bit worrisome, being as they are a global company, but also it means that any food company would probably have an easy time moving from the States down to Chile, but would have a hard time maintaining the standards set in the US.

EDUCATIONAL BREADTH

I think that learning about another culture and another country is an invaluable experience that any student should have, regardless of their major or future plans.  Learning about another culture expands your way of thinking and teaches you to see the world in a different way.  Without this ability, no one would ever learn to solve problems in a different way, and nothing would ever get done.  We as a society need to learn to embrace all of the knowledge we have access to, and that includes that provided by other cultures. 

As an engineer, this is particularly important to me.  People often describe engineers as problem solvers, and to properly solve a problem, I need to implement all of the information I have.  The more information I have access to, the better a solution I will be able to achieve.  Also, once I have all of the information I need, it is helpful to be able to think about the problem in many different ways.  Understanding other cultures can help with both providing another set of information about my problem, but may also give me a unique perspective on being able to solve it.

I think that abroad programs, and cultural experience in general, is an experience that every student should have, in every educational background.

LIFELONG LEARNING

A lot of the students I talked to over the course of my time in Chile expressed the need for on-the-job learning.  I think it is a common thing, in people of all schools in all countries, that everyone feels school only lays the barest of groundwork.  Most people feel that, once they enter the work force, school hasn’t really fully prepared them for the things they need to do.  A lot of people I have talked to say that once you start a job, you really learn the things you need to know to do that job well.  School helps, of course, to get you to the point where you are able to learn and understand those things, but true understanding comes with practice.

Technology changes a lot of jobs as well.  For example, companies like Hela will be dramatically changed as they become more automated.  I fear for those who work for them when their jobs become obsolete.  Still, even as technology advances, we will always need people who understand how to use the technology and can properly run each individual piece.

People have always said, “You learn something new every day.”  This seems cliché, but it is really true.  It is impossible to spend your life never learning anything.  In a field like this one, that is really good.  Being an engineer requires me to keep a limber and open mind, and constantly learning is a great and necessary part of that.

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

The Chilean students seemed to, almost without exception, know more about the social and political situation of their country and the world than I do.  Most of the students had visited other countries, and most spoke another language.  Several students even spoke three languages.  I realize that, not only do the people in Chile know more about Chile than I do about the United States, they know more about the United States than I do.  I was never one to be very informed about global or local news, but I never realized just how poorly informed I am. 

One thing that really surprised me about the social environment in Chile was the emphasis on American pop culture.  In every bar or club we visited, popular music from the States blared on the speakers, and every student preferred American music to Chilean bands.  Even restaurants and street art were often themed with pop culture from the US, especially the Simpsons. 

Everywhere we went, people seemed to look up to the culture in the States, which I found perplexing, to say the least.  Here, we make fun of and degrade our culture constantly, but there, they think it is something to aspire to.  I honestly am not sure how I feel about that.

MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TEAMS

I have always had trouble communicating with people; it is part of why I became an engineer.  Engineers are often expected to be socially awkward and not particularly proper in society.  However, I think it is important for me to try.  The world is not full of engineers, and not all engineers think like I do.  In fact, any effective group needs people who think and see the world in different ways.  If a group is not diverse enough, they run the risk of not being able to come up with solutions, due to a lack of points of view.

Unfortunately, communication in these types of groups is difficult.  Different people from different backgrounds tend to communicate in different ways.  For example, I often have trouble deciphering the subtleties of others, especially when it comes to non-verbal communication.  I often accidentally offend people just because I didn’t know I was being offensive.  I know that this is something I have to work on, as it is an important part of working in a group with others who communicate differently than I am used to.  Problems like these make inter-disciplinary work uncomfortable and difficult, but it is extremely necessary nonetheless.  As time moves on, I know that I will need to work on these problems so that I am able to be more of an asset to a group like this in the future.

Goodbye

May 17, 2013

Today, I got up in time to visit the artisan shops on the beach before we left.  I had a bunch of extra money, and needed to burn the last of it.  Hannah, Alex, and I went to the beach early, but soon realized that most of the artists didn’t open till later in the day.  We walked around the stalls that were open, then got lunch.  We then returned to the beach and found plenty of crafts to spend the last of our pesos on.  Before we did, I managed to snap a picture of all of the different kinds of money we had in Chile.  There is also a 1 peso coin and a 20,000 peso bill, but I didn’t get any of those.  The 5 peso coin is so rare, in fact, that I actually borrowed it from Dave, who was the only one to get one all trip.

I bought a ton of new souvenirs, and spent all of the money I had left, and then the three of us returned to the hotel, in just enough time to finish packing.  A few of our Chilean friends turned up to say goodbye.  I think that at this point the fact that we were leaving really hit home for a couple of people, I’m surprised no one cried.

The bus ride to the airport wasn’t too long, and after we got through customs and security, we only had about an hour or so to wait to board.  I got dinner with Brendan and spent the last Chilean Pesos of the trip.  When the plane arrived and we all boarded, I looked across the aisle and out the window, and said my last goodbyes to Chile.  I do hope to come back someday, I had a great time.

Horseback Riding

 May 16, 2013

Today, we went horseback riding.  I had been before when I was young with the girl scouts, but never like this.  The ranch with the horses was amazing and beautiful, and there were a surprising number of animals there besides horses.  There were dogs a plenty, as usual, but these dogs actually belonged to the owners of the ranch, unlike all of the strays we see every day.  Besides the dogs, however, there were also pigs, chickens, cats, and a single calf.  The calf was only 5 days old, though he was already as tall as my hips at the shoulder. 

When waivers were signed and everyone had leather leg protectors strapped on, we went and divvied up the horses.  I asked for a horse with a non-tranquil personality, because last time I went riding, the horse was slow and boring, and I wanted to have a fun ride.  I ended up with a beautiful brown horse, named Dorailla, who did not seem inclined to listen to my directions at first.  While we were riding, however, I learned that Dorailla wanted nothing more than to gallop constantly.  Whenever I loosened the reigns even slightly she would run full tilt until I managed to force her to stop.  I stayed on the saddle and actually had an amazing time.  If I go riding again, I want another horse that loves to run.

After we returned to the ranch, we had a barbeque around an open fire pit.  The ranch owner made a variety of meats, and everything was accompanied by various potato salads and Pico de Gallo.

One thing I will miss when we go home is that there is Pico de Gallo everywhere here.  In restaurants, before the meal, servers will bring bread and Pico to the table.  I have never had it with bread before, but I definitely plan to bring this tradition home with me.  It is delicious and I will miss it a lot.

Tomorrow we return home, and based on the state of my back, I do not anticipate a comfortable plane ride.

Spa Day

May 15, 2013

Today we relaxed at a spa for most of the day, and then retired to a professor’s house for a barbeque.  The spa was more of a country club, with tennis courts and pools, but there was no equipment for rent.  I considered swimming, but it was too cold for that to be comfortable.  I ended up getting a much-needed nap in the sun, as well as a lunch much better than the free lunches prior. 

The barbeque was a lot of fun and the food was spectacular.  I’ve noticed that here, in Chile, eating pork is a lot more common than in the US.  In fact, pork is more common than beef in a lot of circumstances.  The dinner tonight, for example, consisted of spiced sausages and kabob skewers.  The sausages, of course, were pork, and even though I usually don’t like pork very much, I have found a new love for a spiced sausage with Pico de Gallo on it.  The skewers had several meats, including fish, chicken, beef, and lamb.  I suppose I am just used to seeing beef everywhere as an alternative to pork, but that may just be personal experience.  I am Jewish, and, even though my family does not keep kosher, we don’t usually eat much in the way of pork.  I only noticed this week, because Alex keeps kosher and has been running into this problem occasionally. 

The grill over which the meat was cooking soon had another purpose as the sun went down and the temperature rapidly dropped.  I am surprised at this every evening.  Home in Reston, the temperature stays pretty steady when the sun goes down because the humidity holds the heat in the air.  Here, however, it is dry and all of the heat is from being in the sunlight.  This means that every night the temperature drops considerably.  I still haven’t gotten used to this, and, as we leave in 2 days, I suppose I’m not likely to.

Company Visits

May 14, 2013

Today we had the last three company visits.  We went to a brush company called Hela, a canning factory calles Centauros, and a Mushroom factory called Bosques del Mauco. 

At Hela we were on the production floor and saw several different kinds of brushes being made. I was surprised that the process was not nearly as automated as I expected.  Every machine needed people running it and feeding the materials into it.  I thought that the production line would be less reliant on human labor, but at every stage, people are extremely necessary.

At Centauros we saw where the production happens, but the factory was not running at this time of year.  In the summer, the factory is full of fruit, and all of the production lines are active with fruit canning.  While we were there, we saw ketchup being made, and Italian sauce being packaged.  Both of these products were made with a store brand label for a local supermarket.  I had never thought about where store-brand products came from before, but I guess now I know.

Bosques is a mushroom factory that produces it’s own compost.  Because of this, the entire place reeked of manure.  The smell was terrible, and giant piles of compost filled the yard, steaming, making the smell inescapable.  Once we got inside, however, the smell receded enough that it wasn’t unbearable.  It was replaced by the smell of humidity and mushrooms.  That smell isn’t exactly my favorite, but it was better than the compost.  We got to see the rooms where the mushrooms were grown and picked, as well as the packaging station.  I was surprised, once again, at the lack of automation in the company.  Each mushroom was picked by hand and packaged individually, and the process seemed really inefficient.

The company visits were informative, but all we wanted to do by the end was go back to the hotel and wash off the smell of manure.

The Last Lecture

May 13, 2013

Today we had our last lecture, well our last visit to the university, at least.  We left the hotel and took the public bus one last time to the university in Valparaiso.  There we presented our company presentations to the professor at the university.  These presentations had been completed and presented once before our departure.  The presentations were each about 10 minutes long and each one was on a different one of the 5 companies that we are visiting during these 2 weeks: LAN, Viña Indomíta, Hela, Centauros, and Bosques del Mauco.

We had all seen these presentations before, and few of them had changed much.  Because we had already visited Viña and LAN, those 2 presentations had incorporated some of the things we had learned while there, as well as some of the pictures that individual students had taken. 

Luckily, we did not have to eat the cafeteria food today, but unfortunately, that meant we had to go to the mall and eat at the food court.  The food courts in Chile are no more appetizing than the food courts in the US, and they have many of the same restaurants.  Our options included McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Subway, and a hot dog place.  Intimidated by trying to remember the names of ingredients in Spanish for Subway, or figuring out how to ask for a hotdog without guacamole (I don’t know why, but every hot dog has guacamole, which is not a good thing for those of us who don’t like avocado) I ended up at KFC.

After that appealing lunch, we went to a nearby turf field to play soccer with some of the Chilean students.  I did not play, due to a hurt back, but I enjoyed sitting and watching on the bleachers with Brice.  I did manage to stretch out my back later in the evening, with some help from Hannah.  I'm really sad that I did not get to take pictures today, but I did get some on other cameras that I may eventually get to have a copy of.