The first few days of interning.

After my early morning wake up call to meet another intern at the bus stop at 6:30 am my day began!  I caught the first bus, which took me into downtown San Jose, and then we caught the bus that went directly to our company.  We met our mentor at the bus stop and she guided us through a whole day of orientation!  Orientation = slideshows in Spanish for hours. I am interning at Aerocasillas, which is an Internet retail company.  The company assists Costa Ricans as well as other Central American countries to buy products online and deliver them to the customers.  In Central America people do not have the ability to order products online as easily as we do in the United States, which is why they create an Aerocasillas account to receive packages.  We learned about the company and how certain fees were added on to the products shipped from the United States…we then had to calculate the cost of products with the new fees, which was very difficult for me.  I am the worst at math and I told them if they were to assign me math calculations their company would fail, so that ended quickly. :) 

Our second day of work started out at the process center.  We were able to see how each package was processed and how the Aerocasillas system worked.  Customers purchase an Aerocasillas account, which has a yearly fee of $20.00, and then have to pay for taxes, duties, etc. depending on the product they purchase.  At the processing center we observed how packages were accounted for.  Employees weight each package, open each package, account for how many items are in the box, the cost of the product, tracking number and take the invoice out of the package.  The package is then sealed and sent to the delivery department to be delivered to customer’s homes or for pick up at the office. Aerocasillas also delivers mail to the customers and magazines from the United States, the mail is also weighed to determine the price and the customers are billed later.  The Aerocasillas system is pretty slick and they are very organized.  They ensure the best service and have a way to track where the package is at any given time.  

Day three has arrived!  I am officially a city girl because I have the bus system down and am beginning to find shortcuts to make my mornings easier. Today was our final day of orientation and I can honestly say that I can fully explain this company to anyone.  We are going to see how the pick up center works tomorrow and I will finally begin my marketing and public relations internship on Monday!

A few more Costa Rican Observations:

-Costa Ricans eat mayonnaise on everything…. legitimately everything. This will be one thing that I will not add to my diet.

-The streets of traffic throughout San Jose remind me of a school of fish. No one follows the lines and a giant bus has legitimately come so close to running over smaller taxis that I am in on a daily basis.

-When you are anywhere at work you are given a “breakfast break” of about 25-30 minutes.  Many people bring breakfast, lunch and dinner with them to their jobs because they are gone all day.

-Prostitution is legal but street vending is not…hm, something is wrong with this picture.

TGIF tomorrow and excited to adventure to the Arenal volcano this weekend! Buenas noches.