Overview of the Week
This week, we stayed in the San Jose/Escazú area over the weekend, and then continued working on our projects as usual for our internship.
Birthdays and Goodbyes
Crowded Multiplaza Escazú
On Saturday, we met up with the San Jose group and went to Multiplaza Escazú to do some casual shopping. After a few hours walking around the mall, we took an Uber to a place called El Mestizo, which has a wide variety of restaurants to choose from and then several common sitting areas (so everyone can eat what they want). I decided to try the Peruvian option, and it was really good! We also got dessert from a European restaurant in celebration of Raniyah’s birthday!
On Sunday, after going to Mass, I came back, made some lunch, and after staying here for a while, we left for Escalante to meet up again and have gelato and dinner. We decided to choose another location like the one from Saturday where there were several options, and this time, I tried another typical Costa Rican dish, similar to some I have had back at home.
Food from places we ate at over the weekend
Overall, this was a good weekend food-wise, and I am glad we got to try so many new things, and I am glad we got to have several meals with Raniyah for her final week!
Wrapping Up Projects
Prototype made at work
At work this week, we finally got to start prototyping! On Tuesday, we dedicated the entire day to coming up with ways to use the materials we had bought the previous week. We were able to successfully put together two prototypes, but when we decided to test them, we realized that the materials that we purchased were not the right dimensions for the function we needed (because the store we went to was not for medical devices or materials as large as we needed). Because of this, we determined that we would need to print some parts in house, and we got help from the design team and another co-worker to complete these (since we do not have access to the CAD software 🙁 which is one of my favorite things to do). These prints are hopefully going to be ready early next week so we can do some final testing before leaving and give the company an idea of what the next steps should be.
For my other project, I worked on revising the laboratory techniques document that I had made a first draft of and am hoping that we can also make progress on the sample preparation this coming week. Unfortunately, I will not be able to take part in the testing with the meats because the part that is needed for the machine that will be used takes a long time to get ordered and delivered.
Going Forward
It is so crazy to think that next week is our last week here in Cost a Rica. At work, hopefully we will be able to make some final progress on our projects and leave everything in place for the company to continue where we left off. I am planning on having a relaxing weekend again and possibly going to a few places nearby. I am sad for this experience to come to an end, but I am also excited to get back home! Talk to y’all next week 🙂