Hola from Puebla, Mexico!

Beunas Noches!

This week I am honored to be attending and speaking at the "3er Congreso Ingineria Textil BUAP" (The 3rd Annual Textile Engineering Conference at Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla). I was invited to speak at this conference by the faculty when they discovered this blog in the summer. BUAP has a College of Engineering, and within this college, they have a Textile Engineering program. Also, Puebla used to be home to one of the world's largest textile industries and even has the oldest textile factory in all of Mexico (which is now a museum). Now, Puebla economy is primarily supported by the automotive industry. This is due in large part to the Volkswagen plant in the city. This is how the University recognized my studies in automotive textiles as a valuable addition to their conference.

To be honest, I did not know what to expect of this experience. I have had one primary contact at BUAP who certainly played a leading role in orchestrating my attendance at the Conference. Beyond information shared directly from this contact, and a few web searches, I still felt as though I knew very little about the University and Puebla. But for those of you who know me, or have been following this blog, you certainly know that I cannot pass-up an opportunity to travel and learn more about the global state of the industry. So I thought I'd give it a try.

After just 1 day of Conference, my expectations have been superseded and I am so pleasured to have been given this opportunity.

This will be a short trip. I spent all day on Tuesday traveling 12pm- 1:30am. Once I settled into my hotel room and connected with my contacts and family to assure them that I made it safely, I fell right asleep. But 7am came entirely too soon. After breakfast and a shower, my contact picked me up from the Hotel and took me to the University. He showed me around the entire College of Engineering and in many of the labs. He also introduced me to the program Director and the organizers of the Conference. All were very friendly! I then sat in on one of the other presenters, from Burlington Industries (a NC-based company) and then met with the translator and technical coordinator to prepare for my presentation. Today I presented about NC State University and the College of Textiles as well as an Introduction to the Automotive Textile Industry. All went well and the students were then given time to ask me questions. This allowed me the opportunity to learn more about their interests and experiences. Most seem interested in learning more about opportunities to study at the NC State College of Textiles for either undergraduate exchange, or post-graduate studies.

After speaking, I headed across town for an interview with an Automotive Textile company. We met in an old Textile Union (El Sindicato) building, once a theater, that has now been converted into a very nice restaurant. It was directly across from this building that the oldest textile facility in all of Mexico was located.

Traffic on the return from lunch was not good. But my BUAP contact kindly drove me to this meeting and back to the University. Along the way, he explained many of the buildings and showed be the Volcano! We returned to the University in time for 1 more speaker. This speaker focused on how to become an entrepreneur. He was very energetic, entertaining and charismatic! Unfortunately, since I do not speak Spanish, I had no idea what he was saying- yet I still enjoyed him.

Following today's conference, I went to dinner with my new amigos, which gave me an opportunity to walk around Downtown Puebla. ITS BEAUTIFUL! Puebla has a very European feel. The architecture is outstanding, the streets are clean, and the food is muy delicioso! This includes my first cow-tongue taco!- Mmmm! This was also a wonderful class to speak more with the students and faculty who accompanied me and learn about the rich history, culture, and the local cuisine of Puebla. My hotel is only a few short blocks from the center of downtown and already feels like home. But for tonight, I will sleep and prepare for another exciting day of Conference.