At Arenal Mundo Aventura we learned about the behind the scenes operations of the zip lining industry in La Fortuna. This is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country because it offers everything tourists are looking for, like waterfalls, rainforests, and adventure experiences. Because of this popularity, there is a lot of…
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Day 8: Straight Heat
Today started with a tour of the Tan Cang Cat Lai shipping port, where we had to wear extremely fashionable fluorescent safety vests and hard hats. Seeing the port in all of its glory and magnitude was certainly not something that you see everyday, especially such a popular global port; the company focuses on efficiency…
May 18th – I got stuck on our tour
Today we visited an ecotourism business that has been operating for over 20 years, protecting 1,300 acres of forest that borders a national park and serves as a natural bridge between two protected areas. The revenue from their operations is what funds the conservation, which means that without the tourism, the forest would not be…
Postcards from Morocco: Profit Meets Purpose
It’s Day 10 in Morocco! And another beautiful day in Rabat! We started the day off with a site visit to the Technopark of Rabat, where we met with young Moroccans from the Moroccan Center for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (MCISE). Social Entrepreneurship is a term that we haven’t heard so far in Morocco, but…
Saving Nature Through Tourism
Today we learned about Arenal Mundo Aventura and how the company combines adventure tourism with conservation. The presenter explained that most of their visitors come from the United States and Canada, but they are also trying to attract more tourists from Europe. Since La Fortuna is one of the most visited places in Costa Rica,…
When can AI do my landscaping work?
Today’s topics were quite broad, with one being social entrepreneurship and the other AI. Given the differences, we were all presented with the choice to pick one or the other to write our blogs on! Given how I plan to eventually get the certificate for AI foundations in business through the University of Pittsburgh, I…
Soaking It In (Literally)
With Costa Rica holding 6% of the world’s biodiversity, they carry a significant responsibility to care for it. As a developing country without oil reserves or an abundance of raw materials to lean on economically, they have had to look at what else they have to offer. That answer was ecotourism, turning their natural environment…
AI and the changing world
Today was a great day. I got up, grabbed a delicious breakfast, and headed to Technopark Rabat. It was really interesting meeting the local companies there. At first, I thought it was just another Technopark, but it turned out to be a different company, MCISE, renting space within the park. Even though they were separate…
Day 8: From Buenos Aires to Colonia
Today we visited a small town called Colonia right on the Uruguay border. After an hour boat ride we arrived to one of the most interesting towns I have ever been to. The architecture in Colonia is especially amazing. Each building is built mainly out of stone and has been preserved over hundreds of years….
Day 7: Frolicking Around Augsburg
Friday was our first extremely chill day. All week, we had been constantly on the go with so many events planned and things to do. It was also the first day we were able to sleep in since we did not need to be at the university until 1:30. I use the term “sleeping in”…
Day 6: Once Upon a Fairytale
A castle up in the mountains has always been my vision of a classic fairytale life. The prince saves the trapped princess, and they live happily ever after. That is exactly how it felt being there in person. We drove about an hour and a half to make it to the tiny town where the…
Day 5: Orange is the New Human
Today, we took the streetcar all the way to KUKA. I think this will probably be the most interesting company we visit because of how different it is. They are really the backbone behind many of the large car manufacturing companies we are touring. However, they do not just build robots for the automotive industry….
Prepaid VS Obras Sociales
Today we went to the city campus of Austral, where we had numerous speakers. In the morning, we had the medical director from OMNIT and then 2 representatives from Amtena. We learned that prepaid insurance companies and obras sociales are both important parts of the healthcare system because they help people access medical care, doctors,…
Argentina –> Uraguay
Today officially marked one week since we arrived on our study abroad trip, and instead of spending the day in Buenos Aires, we traveled by boat to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay. It was a completely different experience from the busy city atmosphere we were used to all week. Once we arrived, we took both…
Munich Travel: Saturday
The train ride was very smooth and efficient. Similar to public transportation back home, the outside of the station felt somewhat dirty and depressing. However, the inside of the German train was very nice. It felt state-of-the-art, clean, and much more well-kept overall. The atmosphere in Munich was awesome. The city felt both historic and…
Chat are we cooked?
One of the biggest takeaways from the AI discussion was how important adaptability will be in the future. AI is developing so quickly that it is impossible to ignore the impact it will have on society through education and the workforce. A lot of the conversation around AI focuses on negatives such as job loss…
Top Food Contenders
I started off the day by thinking I should go for a run sometime before leaving so I can post it on Strava. We will see if this actually happens though because sleeping in always sounds better. When reading the itinerary, I really didn’t think today was that daunting with only two site visits. However,…
Day 8: Row Row Row Your Boat
I couldn’t forget my passport this morning as we headed off to Cat Lai terminal for one of our last site visits. Cat Lai terminal is one of the biggest shipping terminals in Vietnam, and we were able to hear about the logistics of how they run everything. They told us about how sometimes there…
Day 8: Cargo and Cashews
I started the day by suiting up in a hard hat and reflective vest so that we could start our tour around Kat Lai terminal (seen above). We started by looking at the cargo being removed from the ships (cover image). It was super cool to see how efficiently the shipping containers were removed. I…
Entrepreneurship and Dancing Days
Today started with me waking up and getting to the CCCL by 9:00. Once we got there, we had a talk with Farah, the head of the CCCL. She told us about her journey into entrepreneurship and how growing up in Morocco, she still felt the effects of colonization in everyday life. I thought that…