If you didn't know already, I am most definitely not a morning person. I enjoy sleeping in and have a lot of trouble dragging myself out of bed before 10 or 11 on most mornings. So you can imagine my joy at having to get up at 6:45 on Wednesday Morning so we could set off on the bus by 8. It also didn't help that I made the ill advised decision to stay up til about 2 in the morning the day before. Nevertheless, I dragged myself out of bed and caught a little extra sleep on the bus as we headed off for our first company visits.
Our first visit was at Codelco, the copper smelter. We had to get attired in all sorts of safety gear: steel toe boots, helmet, goggles, neon orange vests, and gas masks just in case. It all looked rather ridiculous but i guess it was probably the smart way to go since the factory did appear very dangerous once we got inside. We learned about all of the processes the copper goes through to be refined and I was surprised by the complexity of it all. I was actually able to put some of the knowledge I obtained in my chem class to understand the electrolytic refining process. Who knew something I learned in a class would ever actually come in useful? We also got an earful of safety tips and pointers for how to behave in the smelter and learned the 5-1-1 code: use your five senses, take care of yourself, and focus on the activity. Apparently grades are given out in numbers so if we followed the safety instructions they would add up to 7, which i guess means we get an A! Inside, the smelter was actually really cool and we got to see a lot of the processes at work, like the molten copper being poured out after going through one of the refining process as you can see above. I was really impressed with the whole process and I found the engineering side of it very interesting.
Next, we moved on to Centauro, a canning company that makes and packages various goods, from tomato sauce to soup to canned peaches. Once again, I was not sure what to expect but I really liked the whole tour, even if we had to wear funky hair nets the whole time. The manager was really nice and helpful and it was really cool to see exactly how the food was packaged. And we got a free can of soup and a package of tomato sauce! I have to say, I really love free stuff.
Our long day continued with a return to the University of Santa Maria and another lecture taught by Mimo. This one dealt with Chilean culture, from arts to tourist sites to cultural differences. I really like hearing about the latter because I actually felt like my viewpoints and attitudes towards life correspond more with the Chilean way of thinking than the American way which I found very interesting. We also got to watch some fun soccer and food videos and Mimo surprised us with empanadas to eat while we watched. Again, free stuff is awesome.
The day ended with one final salsa class, where we not only danced with partners but were mixed in with Chilean students as well. It was interesting to say the least. I feel like I did pretty good for never taking a dance class before in my life. Who knows, maybe I'll even take a few more classes in the future... Overall, the day was long but I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to the next company visits and our upcoming free weekend. More to come soon!
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