Best. Day. Ever.

Today was literally the best day ever.  After today, I am 100% living abroad at one point in my life.  We finally got to sleep in today and did not have any lectures.  We woke up and went to a company visit, the company I was in charge of researching before the plus 3 Chile trip- Indomita, the wine company.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  The vineyard takes place in two major valleys located in Chile and 1 type of wine is grown in each.  The company is located on top of the valley overlooking all the vineyards.  The sun was shining and the view was unbelievable.  One of the main workers at Indomita took us on a tour.  We learned about the different factors that affect how wines grow and what types of wine they can even grow.  Factors like climate, temperature, steepness, etc. affect the wine.  We then took a tour inside the company and saw the large steel containers that the short aged wine is stored in.  We also saw the barrels in the basement that the aged wine is stored in.  One interesting fact I learned about Indomita was that all the grapes are picked by hand- that is literally mind blowing.  Afterwards, we came outside on the porch of the company overlooking the vineyard and tasted the wines.  We were taught the exact ways to taste wine and how to stir and smell it.  We tried two red wines and a white wine…I really liked all of them, but my favorite was the white wine.  This was literally so much fun, just sitting drinking wine at 12 am.  After the company visit, we drove another hour and went to Pablo Neruda’s house for lunch and a tour.  Pablo was a famous poet in Chile.  The restaurant is connected to his house.  We had a reserved table outside overlooking the ocean…I was amazed.  It was literally the prettiest restaurant set up I have ever seen.  It is a really nice place and we got clam appetizers, fish for lunch, and a unique pastry for dessert.  After the meal, we went down to the beach and rocks and just laid on them and took pictures.  It was the most amazing, relaxing time ever.  It was such a nice break from earlier in the week with the busy schedule.  It made me want to move to Chile and never leave.  We took a tour of Pablo’s house and learned about his life.  He was buried outside his house which was really sad to see his grave.  We then visited some of the shops on the street and I did some shopping for my family and friends!  I was so tired after the long day, so we just came back and just chilled.  It was the best day I have had in Chile so far.   





View from the vineyard!









View from our lunch spot at Pablo's house



Molly, Carly, Alyssa, and Me at lunch overlooking the ocean!



I love Chile! 

Mushrooms...yuck

Today was a busy, busy day, but not one of the best.  We first started out with lectures at the University.  Today our lectures were on Chilean culture, music, and how to do business with Chile.  When we were learning about the music, the professor showed us multiple videos of the local Chilean dance and songs…it was so interesting!  It was also really informative to learn about how to do business in Chile.  We were able to learn about the way Chileans work, for example, they are never timely when turning anything in or getting tasks done and Chilean family is a major part of Chilean business.  This was extremely helpful, for me and other business majors in particular, because if I ever need to do business in Chile/South America, I will have some general knowledge.  Next we had lunch at the University and today’s lunch was actually pretty good; we had pasta and salad.  Compared to the previous University’s lunch I think anything could have been better.  After lunch, we had a company visit…the mushroom company.  Before Chile I have been dreading this company visit.  When we got off the bus, I literally thought I was going to throw up.  The smell was so bad.  We all got really attractive hard hats and had to wear steal toed boots- perfect.  The owner of the company took us on a tour of the entire company.  We started off outside viewing the manure used as the mushroom food.  I had no idea mushrooms needed food, but I really did not need to see/smell it.  We then walked through the company, through the rows and rows of mushrooms growing.  It was interesting to see how mushrooms are made, but it was really gross as well.  If I didn’t like mushrooms before, I definitely will not like them anytime in the future.  Straight from the mushroom company we went to our final reggae tone class.  We all smelled lovely after the company visit…the class was really fun, but sad that it was the last one.  I will seriously miss our dance instructor.  That night some of the Chilean students took us to a bar and then to a club in the casino.  It was a really fun time!         

Me, Jorge, and Alyssa at the mushroom company with our attractive hair nets and masks..

Packaging the mushrooms

At the bar!  (Molly, Carly, Alyssa, and Me)

LAN company visit pictures

 Plus 3 Chile group at LAN airlines 

 Four of us at Journal Club 

(Alyssa, Carly, Me, Molly)

Plus 3 Chile group in Santiago!

LAN company visit!

Today we had more early lectures at the University!  Today's lectures were much better and more interesting...they were about the Chilean culture, previous earthquakes, literature, and the history of Chile.  The man running the lectures was a past student in Chile who was involved in the program that worked with the Pittsburgh students.  We ate lunch in the Unversity again, but it was not very good.  It was an empanada filled with meat and onions.  We also had Flan with it, but I could not eat it because it was so disgusting...lunch was not very good today.  Today's visit was to LAN airline company.  LAN is the main airline company in Chile.  We sat in on a presentation about the company and were able to ask a ton of questions about how the company does business with other parts of the world, how they developed into the major company in Chile without any competition, and how they are planning on improving their planes.  We were also able to get pretty close to the planes, but were not able to go in them.  It was very interesting to learn about this company and the types of decisions Chileans make in their business, for example, during their hiring process, people are required to speak spanish and english.  It was a great experience and very helpful to learn.  The company visit was all the way in Santiago again so by the time we got back to the hotel, it was time to go to salsa class.  Today I had a new partner and we practiced more advanced steps...I am pretty good I must say so...just kidding! Haha.  Lastly, after salsa class, the chilean students picked us up around 11 pm and took us to a club called Journal.  It was two stories and we all sat around and mingled with other Chilean students.  Also at this club were a lot of other international students as well.  There was a ton of dancing and it was a lot of fun!

Santiago!

Today started off brutal because we had to wake up at 6:30 am to go the stock exchange in Santiago, Chile's capital.  Santiago is 2 hours after from our hotel so we got to take a little nap on the bus.  The Stock Exchange itself was very interesting and we got to see a whole presentation and visit the trading floor.  Afterwards, we took a bus tour and walked around Santiago.  We visited museums, the cathedral, and many other famous locations.  The chilean students, Javier and Javier, walked us around Santiago and took us to a fish market for lunch.  I got steak!  It was a very fun environment and there were guitar singers all around the market singing to us.  In the market we were also allowed to go to shops and see more figures part of the Chilean culture.  I bought a few things for my family :)  We continued to tour Santiago and went up a huge incline to see the whole city.  It was unbelievable!  I could literally see everything..Chile is beautiful.  We also walked up a lot of stairs to the top of the mountain and saw statues of the Virgin Mary in a large garden.  When we came back down to ground level, we went to another local market and got ice cream.  We picked our yogurt flavor and real fruit!  I got vanilla and strawberries...it was sooo yummy.  We got back to the University and had our first Reggae-tone dance class.  I liked this way better than salsa because it was more fun and we actually danced to songs I know of.  Once this was finished, we went to the grocery store to get some snacks and experienced our first visit to Pizza Hut!  We went to bed early to try to catch up on sleep.

Trading Floor at the Santiago Stock Exchange

 Fish Market!

Santiago with the police force on horses!  

(Me, Carly, Evan, Stefan)

View from the top of the incline at Santiago

University, Bus Tour, and Empanadas!

View from the University 

Another view from the University 

(Alyssa, Molly, Me, Carly)

Some of the art painted on steps/walls around Vina Del Mar

Me loving the palm trees around Chile 

Empanadas!

At the Karaoke bar (Alyssa, Carly, Molly, Me)

EMPANADAS

Today was the first day we attended lectures at USM, the University in Chile.  We got to the University and it was amazing.  It is right on the beach...if I went to this school, I would never be able to go to class.  It is covered in plants and palm trees and unique designed buildings.  You look out any window and there is the ocean.  Some of the students took us on a tour of the school and we soon began our lectures.  In our 4 hour lecture (soooo long...) we learned about Chile and its comparison to other neighboring countries.  It definitely was not the most interesting lecture, but it was informative.  At 1:00 pm, Javier, one of the students from Chile working in the program that deals with the American students, took us to the school cafeteria for lunch.  We had sausage, mashed potatoes, salad, and bread.  Chileans LOVE bread we have learned.  It wasn't amazing, but the lunch was eatable.  The cafeteria was crazy busy...we sat at the same table as a ton of the other chilean students and were able to interact with them.  After lunch, we met two other girl students who took us on a 4 hour bus tour of Val Pariso and Vina Del Mar.  This was unbelievable.  We climbed hills, took the incline, saw amazing statues and buildings, etc.  The girls, Daniella and Valeria, took us to a local restaurant and got empanadas...these are the most amazing food anyone can ever eat.  ChileIt is fried bread and we can fill the middle with whatever we want.  A lot of people got seafood and meat in theirs, but I ordered a tomato, cheese, and pepper empanada.  We really want to bring empanadas to the states and put dessert in them since they do not make this kind..omg they would be to die for!  After empanadas, we had our first salsa class.  The class is from 7:30-8:30. The first half of the class is solo salsa where we can learn the moves and the second half is when we pair up with a partner and learn how to move together and do turns!  I am definitely joining the Pitt Salsa club back at school!  Later that night a few of the Chilean students came to our hotel and picked us up to go to the karaoke bar.  We tried the signature drink- Pisco Sour- and it was really good!  Then me and Evan were the first to sing karaoke and we sung Total Eclipse of the Heart!  It was really really fun and we were able to really get to know the Chilean students!