Hello! Crazy to think that the program is almost done and we leave in a couple days. Sorry for the late blog. I was not feeling well yesterday and ended up sleeping pretty much from when I got home from Henna to this morning. We had a very interesting and informative lesson today on AI….
Tag: Summer 2026
Wrapping up our La Fortuna Adventures
Today, we visited Arenal Mundo Aventura, or AMA, where we attended an informational lecture about the organization and went on a walking tour around the property. We were able to see both the nature surrounding the park and the different zip line courses throughout the rainforest, which I found very cool to see, as we…
Pitt to Uruguay
One of the most interesting things I learned during this trip so far is honestly how Argentina’s healthcare system is even still functioning with the amount of economic pressure it faces. During presentations from both the Omint Group and the administrators at Austral University, they openly admitted that they almost wake up every morning praying…
Perón, Power, and Public Healthcare
Today was a little different from our other days focused mostly on hospitals and clinics. We spend much of the day touring the city and learning more about the history and culture of Buenos Aires. One of the coolest things we saw was a building that was once the tallest concrete building in the world,…
Gus Coleman – Day 9: Insurance vs Obras Sociales
Today we went downtown to the campus of the University of Austral for a day where we focused on Argentina’s healthcare system. We attended a session with a representative from OMINT who explained how private insurance companies operate including payment structures, access for patients, and regulations of the sector. We then receive a presentation from…
Gus Coleman – Day 8: Day-Trip to Uruguay
Today we woke up very early, at 6:45, to take a boat from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento. It ended up being one of the most memorable days of the trip. We boarded a large ferry that crossed the Rio de la Plata and arrived in Colonia, where we began with a historical walking…
Day 9: Back We Go To Austral!
Today I went to a side campus of Universidad Austral and learned about the business part of healthcare. Our first speaker talked about how coverage and financial responsibility in the public system is 36%, social health is 48%, and private is 16%. There are 7.6 million people enrolled in prepaid healthcare and 159 institutions have…
May 18th: Cash Conservation
Today, we visited Arenal Mundo Aventura, an adventure park that includes ziplining, waterfall rappelling, horseback riding, and more activities. Most of profits from these activities go towards the conservation of the national park and private area that the property is on. The property is over one thousand acres large and it includes one of Costa…
Obras Sociale vs. Prepaid Insurance (Day 9)
Both prepaid insurance companies and obras sociales serve an important role in Argentina’s healthcare delivery, however, each serves different portions of the population in distinct manners. One commonality between the two is providing access to medical treatment through a network of hospitals, clinics, and physicians. Both types of systems also help consumers by reducing the…
These amenities are nuts…
Day 8: Cat Lai Terminal and Dan On Food We visited two companies today: Cat Lai Terminal and Dan On Foods. At Cat Lai, we saw the hard work behind moving shipping containers for imports and exports at a terminal operating 24 hours a day. The organization of the port seemed entirely dependent on efficiency…
Day 8: Cat Lai & Dan on foods
Cat Lai Terminal had to be my favorite site visit so far. I did not expect to find a port so interesting, but seeing all the containers, ships, cranes, and workers moving at once made me realize how complex trade really is. Every part of the process matters and it was all this work just…
Day 8: Double Site Visit
Some operations at the Cat Lai port that really interested me were the rice packing system and the inspection system of the shipping items. The rice packing system really interested me, because the system was still being operated with basic machinery and people. I feel like it is really rare to see machines that are…
Even the Volcano Looked Chill Today 😎 – 05/18
La Fortuna, fue un placer. Today is our last day in La Fortuna, and tomorrow we head to Monteverde. Today the most relaxed day of the whole trip, we went to one business presentation, to the town to eat, and after we had free time. Which I used to write this blog, work on my…
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…
Day 8 – Amazing Arenal Adventures
Arenal Mundo Aventura (AMA) really stood out to me because it’s not just an adventure park; it’s a business built around protecting nature. The park was started in 2005 by four Costa Rican partners who wanted to show that tourism and conservation could work hand in hand. Of the 560 hectares of rainforest, only 10%…
Day 9: Dikes > Dams
Today, I may have seen the most advanced form of engineering I have seen in my entire life. We took a trip to Deltaworks today, which is the Dutch dike project to protect against flooding. In 1952, there was a devastating storm where water rose 4.2 meters above sea level and flooded a large portion…
Day 8: Flying Cows
Today was our first full day in the city of Rotterdam. After a hearty hotel breakfast, we headed over to the infamous floating farm in the city. Here, the farmhouses are 30 different cows as well as various small crops in a vertical garden on their sublevel, and even a cheese factory within the establishment….
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…
Day 9: BCU Nursing Conference
The day we have been anticipating our whole trip finally arrived- the day of presentations! Before we even left for the UK, we were put into groups with differing topics to explore. My group, for instance, was given single parents as our group of people to look into. The main goal was to research how…
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…