Mariana Latta Suazo (mechanical engineering)
My name is Mariana and I grew up in Kitchener, Ontario and am now in my 4th year of Mechanical engineering at UVic. I picked engineering because of my love for math and science, and my desire to use this knowledge for practical applications.
For my international co-op, I was working in a Hydraulics Lab at the Universidad de Concepción, in Chile.
Working in civil engineering
This lab was part of the civil engineering department, and had various different water channels where they ran many different kinds of tests, studying flow, waves, turbulence, scour, and more. I was tasked with helping repair and set up a narrow water channel, and build a wave generator for it, to help educate and demonstrate wave concepts to students.
This involved 3D modeling, design, 3D printing, prototyping, programming using an arduino, and testing. Despite my work being very mechanical, I loved getting to learn more about civil engineering and coastal engineering. My supervisor was amazing, she was extremely helpful in getting me the international co-op, and she was very supportive throughout my stay. I also worked closely with a lab technician, and there were a few other students working in the lab completing their capstone projects or grad research.
Connecting with Chilean culture
As for motivations for completing an international co-op, I’ve always wanted to go and live in Chile, as my mother is Chilean and I grew up speaking Spanish at home.
This felt like a big part of my culture that I hadn’t really had a chance to explore. I’ve always felt that traveling to a country for just a few weeks isn’t enough time to fully appreciate the culture, or to see things that aren’t just tourist attractions. I wanted to come for several months to learn as much as I could and see as many different things as possible.
Taking part in the culture
I was really lucky that I got a few weeks off during the Chilean summer to explore. My host family took me camping in Conguillio, a national park in Chile. This was by far the best part of the whole trip. I went swimming every day in a beautiful lake looking out at the Sierra Nevada, I hiked up the Volcano Llaima (One of the largest and most active in Chile), and I saw an 1800 year old Araucaria tree. It was all absolutely gorgeous!!
Some of the other highlights included watching music events at UdeC, exploring the gorgeous campus, and admiring many of the city's murals. I was also lucky to be able to attend many symphony concerts (I was amazed it only cost me $6 to watch a professional orchestra), and also attend REC (Rock en Conce), the country’s largest free music festival, which had about 120-150 thousand people in attendance when I went.
The hardest thing for me to adjust to was the meal schedule! They often don’t have lunch until 2 or 3 pm and it’s the big meal of the day. Dinner is often 8 or 9 pm and often is just bread with some simple toppings and tea or coffee. This could get quite frustrating as I would get very hungry at the wrong times, and I never really got used to it.
Learning about yourself
Other than the mealtimes, most of my challenges revolved around my identity and how I fit into this culture. I'm a native Spanish speaker but since I grew up in Canada with only one fluent parent, I have an accent when I speak and people would always point it out.
Everyone who pointed out my accent also complimented my speaking abilities, but it still frustrated me a lot at first as I grappled with my identity and accent. Over my semester, I grew to accept this, and it made me feel a lot of understanding for my mother, who immigrated to Canada 25 years ago.
I think an international co-op is an excellent way to get to know yourself better. While abroad, you’re surrounded by unfamiliar places and people and it can be both challenging and rewarding to learn how to live in this new place. This experience is all about pushing your comfort zone constantly, and growing as a result. I highly recommend it to anyone who’s considering it!