Hola, from Vina del Mar!

Our second week in Chile has been pretty exciting. For work, we’ve been busy starting a project, setting up an international internship program for the University of Vina del Mar. I’m excited because it presents a lot of learning opportunities that are relevant to our field! It was great that our supervisor actually had a talk with us on our first week, and asked us what we expected and wanted to learn from our internship. I have to say that I’m relieved that fetching coffee/tea won’t be on my list of duties.

In fact, they actually encouraged us to attend an Expo, and represent the University. We were able to talk (schmooze) with local business representatives and network, in hope of gaining partnership and collaborate with them on our project. And on our walk home, we tried the famous Chilean empanadas. And yes, they were melt-in-your-mouth delicious! (Actually, just thinking about it is making me crave for it).

I have to say that being an intern at a University has its perks. On the 10^th of June, Samantha and I were honoured to have met Senor Juan Guzman Tapia, the judge who indicted and prosecuted the former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet. Although I admit to previously knowing very little about the history of Chile, it was a humbling experience to meet someone who had the courage to fight for human rights. Hearing him speak, and talk with other students about his experiences was truly inspiring.

Since we previously took a ‘lazy’ weekend, we decided to join other international students (Americans, French and Germans) to a trip in Concon, Chile, for horseback riding. We were both apprehensive at first, as neither one of us had experience with horses, but we figured that it would only involve the horses walking by the beach. However, within twenty minutes, I discovered that my horse didn’t like walking as much as he loved trotting and galloping! Luckily for me, my fear and nervousness quickly disappeared and I ended up enjoying and loving the experience! Not to mention that the views were spectacular – we went around the beaches, sand dunes, and marshlands. Chile really is a beautiful country!