Hi! I am Blu Trush, a first year engineering student traveling with the Plus3 program to Costa Rica.

I am from Cincinnati, Ohio, making me a Bengals fan and a Cincinnati Skyline Chili lover. Still staying on the true Cincinnatian bus, this summer I will be working with Cincinnati’s MLB team, The Reds, as an intern. Essentially, I will be doing whatever the office needs–real intern style–but I am specifically hoping to work in the data analysis section of their company. On campus, I hope to join Society of Women Engineers (SWE) next year and possibly a few other organizations, as this year I have really tried to figure out this whole college experience.

The program I am traveling with, as mentioned earlier, is Plus3’s Costa Rica trip. I chose this program because what we will be studying is incredibly interesting to me. I am an industrial engineering student who has the dream of working in food manufacturing, this means that the Costa Rica trip is everything I could want and more from an educational standpoint. Since we are studying banana, coffee, tropical fruit and chocolate industries, everything we might see is exactly what I want. With all that, this international experience will be exceptionally helpful in gearing me for a professional future, but also allowing me to see the world in a way I have not before. This is my first time out of the United States so I am extremely excited to engage in another culture that is so different from my own.

With this trip I hope to learn a bit of Spanish, as my current skill is at a zero, as well as also learning how these large corporations operate so efficiently. The homestay is such an individual and special occasion to absolutely get the most out of our short time in country. But, outside of the educational aspect of this trip, I am really excited to EAT. Food manufacturing is so interesting to me because I have worked in restaurant culture all my life. I see an importance for food beyond the nutritional and taste aspect. It brings peoples together and mends differences, which is why I am so honored to be able to make these new relationships with not only my peers, but these Costa Rican families willingly taking us into their homes. This trip will allow me to see an international side of food and dining, and to be immersed in a community of which our food products come from.