Today I woke up at 8:45, feeling refreshed after a full eight hours of sleep, the most I’ve gotten on this trip by far. In terms of company visits, this was by far the day I was most excited for, as we visited Medochemie, a pharmaceutical manufacturing company. I’m majoring in chemical engineering and the pharmaceutical industry is what most interests me about this field, so I was excited to gain insight into one of these companies.

Upon walking into the Medochemie premises, I was in awe of the marble reception desk and staircase, open layout, and glass walls that make the small facility feel large. After a short introduction video, which told us that the mission of Medochemie is to provide everyone around the globe with quality drug treatments in a sustainability-supporting manner, we were greeted by the Quality Operations Senior Manager. She walked us through the various steps Medochemie takes in order to comply with GMP (Good Manufacturing Practise) standards, explaining that everything from the raw materials that arrive for production to the equipment and final product is thoroughly tested for compliance. This presentation included historical cases in which GMP was not complied with and caused tragedies that could have been avoided. I was happy to know how thorough they are with ensuring their products are up to standard, especially as their goal is to provide them inexpensively so they can serve a broader community. We then toured the premises and got to see their warehouse, which was huge and had the most efficient layout I’ve seen. To allow for maximum storage, the shelves moved to create corridors that changed rather than have spaces between each set.

After Medochemie, we had some free time for lunch then went to Columbia Shipmanagement. I have to admit, I was not looking forward to this visit very much as I’m not particularly interested in shipping. Shockingly, this ended up being my favorite company visit of the trip so far. I was immediately impressed when we walked into the room and were all gifted with a reusable water bottle. We’ve all been noticing that for a country that seems focused on sustainability, reusable water bottles are nonexistent, and we’ve been buying plastic ones all trip. This company confirmed its sustainable mission during their presentation when it highlighted it as one of its main goals to eliminate single-use practices on its ships within the next 2-3 years. After the overview of the company, we were directed to the emergency room, where a team will organize in the case of any emergency onboard one of their 400+ ships, and formulate a plan. I could have sat and listened for hours about the steps in place and examples of previous emergencies, such as engine failure or refugee stowaways. Finally, we were in the control room to learn about how they ensure ships are on the correct route. We got to see a map of all their ships all over the globe, and as a classic literature fan, I was excited to see one named Jane Austen.

From the full night of sleep to the surprisingly exciting company visit, today was a great business day.