Day 9: Presentation, Lecture and Soccer

We played soccer again today with Chileans. This is something that I really enjoy. To start the day we went to the university for the last time of the trip. The University of Fredrico Santa Maria has been so nice to us and it’s sad to think that this was the last time we would be at this place. We did our presentations today and I thought we did better than I had planned. Our lecture was followed by some questions that had us thinking. We were asked about the economics of Conservas Centauro. This was followed by a question and answer portion about Chile in general. I have learned so much about the culture this trip. I could see myself having another extended stay there. The people are friendly, the dogs on the street are friendly, and even better the people are accepting when I am trying to speak to them in their native language. We then had a short break that was taken up by Stefan and I getting some PizzaPizza. The best part of the day followed our lunch break. We went to a soccer field in the middle of the city. There were locals playing and we picked a couple of them up to play with us. These were some authentic Chileans and lived up to the stereotypes being that they were very good at the sport they have grown up with. We are now back at our room and I am about to take a much needed nap! I am so sore from a combination of soccer for the last two days and surfing. I am also pretty much sleep deprived and can tell I’m starting to slow down. This is all completely worth it! These two weeks have been great so far and I expect the next few days to maintain this path.