Pre-departure Predictions

• My international experience to date is:

I have been out of the country three times. The first two times was just to England, I have some family there on my mother's side. Last summer I went to Europe and visited France as well. I have never been to South America, or anywhere South of the equator, however.

• I want to go to Chile because:

Chile is like no where I have been before. I've been to Europe before and feel that I should take advantage of the oppertunity to visit somewhere different. I'm very curious to see the cultural differences between their country and ours, something you can never really grasp until you visit it first hand.

• I think the main professional work differences I will experience will be:

I think that the business atmosphere, especially in port city like Valparaiso, will be more industry oriented. The impression that I get is that most of the revenue for businesses comes from exports of different products made in Chile. I'm willing to bet that the workers in Chile have a different work schedule than we do here in the United States as far as time off and work hours go.

• I think the main cultural differences I will experience will be:

Probably the biggest cultural difference I expect to find will be the friendliness of the people. I think people in the United States are friendly for the most part, but I just have a feeling that the Chileans will be more openly friendly to unfamiliar people.

• I think the main political differences I will experience will be:

Well first of all, they have a woman president, something the United States has never been able to say. It is interesting to me that Chile has achieved that before we have. I think that politics in Chile is probably similar to here in the United States, most people follow it and stay educated on it. They seem proud of their leader, also something the United States cannot say right now.

• I think the students I meet in Chile will be:

The students in Chile are probably pretty similar to the students in the United States. I'm sure they are in tune with their academic lives as well as a thriving social life. I think they probably have many of the same interests we do. I think that we will get along really well and I'm really excited to meet them and see the similarites or contrasts with the lifestyle of a college student in Chile.

• I predict I will be surprised to find:

Whenever you travel to foreign places you find many things that you didn't even think about being different that will surprise you. It's hard to predict what these things are going to be, especially in a place like South America which is completely different from anywhere I've experienced in the past. I'm sure I'll comment on them when I encounter them there in my blog throughout the trip.

• I think the major differences in living conditions will be:

I think the cities will be slightly more clustered with everything closer together than we are used to here in the United States. I do not expect to find many suberbs like we see here. I think the neighborhoods will be similar to something like South Oakland where the houses are close together along the streets.

• Anything else you want to say:

I'm a big fan of traveling to other places and Chile should be no exception. It'll be nice to get a little traveling in after the stress involved with finals week. I think it will be a learning experience on many different levels, not just from an engineering standpoint but also maybe more importantly, a cultural standpoint.

May cannot come soon enough.