When asked what they think or know about the country of Venezuela, most people would respond that it is a great vacation spot. However, there is more to Venezuela than tourism.

Lilian Barria, professor of political science, spoke to about 30 people Tuesday in a lecture titled, “Venezuela: Life, Culture and Politics.”

Barria was born in Chile, but was raised for 11 years in Venezuela before moving to the United States.

She started her lecture talking about the country’s location and culture.

She discussed many different foods that the people of Venezuela enjoy.

“One of the most popular meat dishes in Venezuela is carne mechada, which is a stewed meat that is usually shredded. It can be chicken, red meat or fish,” Barria said.

Barria also spoke about the differences in education between the U.S. and Venezuela.

“Venezuela does not have a grading scale of A, B or C. They have a number system from 1-20, so if you are getting a 19 or 20 you are doing pretty good,” she said.

Barria said that the U.S. plays an integral part of Venezuela’s exports. Sixty percent of Venezuelan exports are sent to the United States.

Second to the U.S., they export 5.5 percent of their goods to Brazil.

Venezuela also relies mostly on its export of oil for revenue.

“We are ranked probably in the top five countries that provide oil to the U.S.,” Barria said.

Barria focused at the end of her lecture on the politics of Venezuela telling the audience some amusing stories about the current president Hugo Chavez Frias.

“He has a television show once a week to answer the questions of the people that call in. He has also been known to tell the public exactly what he thinks of political situations,” she said.

“He has also been known to take over all the airways and interrupt normal viewing to talk. He once talked for five hours and said that the next time he does it his talk will last indefinitely,” Barria said.

Vanessa Mendez, a sophomore sociology major, enjoyed the lecture.

“I attended the lecture to learn more about Venezuela. I was really interested to hear about the different foods they eat and about the president’s television show. I didn’t know about that before,” Mendez said.