CHILE - Whirlwind tour of Santiago, Viña del Mar, and Valparaíso

Hey everyone! So last I wrote, I had managed to survive my first crazy week of exams and history overload and was jetting...or rather bussing... off on a weekend adventure to Chile. Now that time is getting rather short here in Argentina we are all trying to take advantage of every opportunity that we have to explore and travel before we have to come back. So, along with Whitney, Deven, and Eric (or as we began calling ourselves 3BP - two blondes, a black man, and a polish man) I boarded the bus to Santiago. The drive there is a rather short one considering the others I've been on and when we went through customs at 3am we were already more than halfway there. Now when we unloaded the bus at 6:30am in the Santiago bus terminal, the first thought on my mind was "gosh its cold"! This was quickly followed by "what the heck were we thinking?"

We had all decided to take the bus to Santiago because we wanted to spend the day exploring the city. What we hadn't really thought about was that when we got there at 6:30am nothing would be open and we would be left in the bus terminal with no real idea of where we were going or what we were doing, and with all our stuff because we were planning to head to Viña (and more importantly our hostel) later in the afternoon. So, we sat in the bus terminal until about 8:30am making a plan for the day. First, we found an ATM to get money we would need for the weekend. Although Chile also uses 'pesos' as their form of currency, they are a completely different type than that of Argentina. Next, we found a tourist information station where we could get a map of the city and suggestions of places to visit. Finally, we bought bus tickets to Viña del Mar for later in the evening (since that was where we were actually staying for the weekend). With a slightly better plan outlined, we set off in a taxi for the center of the city. Lucky for us, the large plaza where we told the cab driver to take us was also next to a pedestrian street with lots of shops and cafés for breakfast. As we walked down the street we saw a Burger King, and a Pizza Hut! Chile has a much stronger western influence where Argentina has more of a European influence. Still in search of a place that had both food and coffee, we rounded a corner and came face to face with a Dunkin' Donuts!!! Being tired, hungry, and excited to see something familiar, we marched right through the doors. After coffee, donuts, and omelet wraps all around we all felt much better and ready for a day of exploring. Eric was the master planner of this day and the main force behind coming to Santiago, so we let him take the lead and headed out the doors towards Cerro Santa Lucia which was just a few short blocks away. Walking down the streets, talking in English and taking photos of all the cool buildings, we must have looked like the stereotypical tourists, but none of us cared. We were on vacation and it felt great to let our hair down and relax for the first time in a long while. Especially with some of our class anxiety out of the way we were all feeling a little more relaxed about life.

We found Cerro Santa Lucia without issue seeing as its a giant hill/castle in the center of town and began walking up the long road to the top. It was free to enter, so we spent a good few hours just exploring. There was a giant fountain part-way up where we stopped to take pictures and then after a LONG and STEEP set of stairs we found ourselves at the very top in a small watchtower of sorts overlooking the entire city. It was absolutely beautiful! And so cool to see this whole city all around. It really reminded me of being on the acropolis in Athens, Greece and looking around at the modern city below. After taking in the view we headed part-way back down to just sit on some benches and talk for a bit. It was so nice not to have to hurry or feel like we were in a rush. For the first time in a long time we just sat and enjoyed. Once we'd gained back some energy we headed back into the city and across a main street to an artisan market across the street. There were a TON of stalls with all kinds of beautiful crafts and gifts. I could've spent HOURS there and still not been ready to leave. However our time was getting short, so we headed back out to walk around a bit more. With Eric's directions we shortly found ourselves in front of the main government building and sat just looking at the building and plaza for a bit. Sitting on a wall looking towards the imposing looking building we decided to play a game with the passersby. Each time someone passed one of us had to guess what their job was. It was a ton of fun and playing in English we definitely got some weird looks, but it was entertaining to try and guess anything about these people's lives. After we'd had enough time to rest (remember we were all carrying heavy backpacks for the weekend) we headed back to the main plaza to look around at the art there before hailing a cab back to the bus terminal. That cab ride was one of the first times I have felt seriously uncomfortable or scared in a car since I've been out of the country. Drivers hardly ever pay attention to lights or lane lines at night in Mendoza, but driving through downtown Santiago in afternoon rush hour this driver was swerving all over the place in and out of lanes, around cars, through stop lights, and cursing when the cars ahead of him didn't drive as expected... Finally we arrived at the terminal in one piece and were all thankful to get out of the car. There wasn't much time until our bus headed out, so we bought water for the ride and sat on the floor talking about the day. The second we had boarded the bus everyone was out! We were all so tired from the complete lack of sleep the night before and from walking around the city all day that the entire 2 and 1/2 hours passed in a flash and when we woke up we were 5 minutes from the terminal in Viña del Mar.

My first impression of the city was crowded! Talk about building right on top of each other, the houses were side by side and a wide variety of colors. Made for an interesting view as we pulled inter the terminal. Then it was right to finding a taxi and the hostel. Thankfully that didn't take long. I certainly wasn't feeling well and I know some of the others weren't either. After a night of basically no sleep and a busy day walking all around Santiago we were exhausted. We checked into the hostel without issue and settled into our rooms before saying hellos all around to the other half of our program that was also in Chile for the weekend. Somehow it had worked out that a ton of people had picked Chile for the weekend getaway and we had all booked rooms in the same hostel. It was certainly going to be a fun weekend. After we'd settled in a bit and looked around people started to talk about dinner and we picked a pizza place a few blocks away with good reviews. Part of the group went ahead and I waited on a few people to get back from the beach. Then we headed to the restaurant as well and met up with everyone else. The menu was certainly interesting and had lots of crazy names for the pizza. I don't remember what we ordered, but it was delicious! After dinner we headed back to the hostel and although some people stayed up to talk or go to local bars, I was exhausted and headed to bed.

The next morning I woke up and went down to the usual hostel breakfast of bread and jam. There was also REALLY delicious juice that was pineapple and papaya! I talked to Lisa while we ate and planned the day. Although Lisa and Sarah had not traveling to Chile with us, they wanted to all hang out together, so we all made plans to head to a beach north of Viña. The boys still weren't up, and I was really hesitant to wake them since Eric for sure hadn't felt well last night. Sarah however was anxious for us to be on our way and woke them up with no hesitation. Then we spent about half an hour waiting on them to get ready. Sarah had planned everything and we left the hostel on our way to the beach. Have I mentioned how impressive transportation is here? Cause this was certainly an example. We caught a bus at the local stop (with some help from the drivers), paid a small fee and took the 2 hour ride to a beac that had been described as one of the more beautiful in Chile. I still wasn't feeling well and slept most of the way. When we finally arrived, Deven and I looked at each other as we climbed out of the bus and into the cold ocean wind... Both of us felt the same way, "I wish I hadn't come." Really the beach would've been fine 5 minutes from the hostel! The wind was super cold and even being wrapped up in a sweatshirt I was cold. We headed into the snack bar and looked around for something to eat (now that it was nearly 1pm and definitely lunch time). The snack shack looked like it hadn't been stocked in months and would shortly be closing down. I was super skeptical of ordering lunch, let alone a burger or empanadas, but the hunger won over and I eventually settled on a ham and cheese empanada. They are SO different in Chile! Much larger and flakier than in Argentina. I was quite impressed actually and enjoyed it alongside a grape soda (which I hadn't had in forever). After lunch Deven and I sat inside for a bit pondering what to do for the afternoon... It seemed WAY too cold to go sit on the beach, but that's where everyone else was, so we decided to give it a try. Stepping onto the sand I finally understood how they were sitting on the beach in suites. Where the air was cold, and felt even colder with the wind, the sand was warm on my feet. In hardly any time I was covered in sun block and happily lying on the sand, basking in the sun. My headache had dissipated a bit with food and the sun felt great. We sat there for nearly 2 hours just enjoying and then decided to go in search of ice cream. Unfortunately the shop wasn't open, so it was back to the snack shack. We sat on the back deck enjoying the cool ice cream and Deven and I decided we were ready to head back. Eric had wandered off and we had no idea where he was and Sarah was on a run. Lisa, however, was happy to stay, so we didn't feel bad about heading for the bus. While we were waiting Eric came back and decided he would head back with Whitney, Deven, and I. We caught the next bus back to Viña and after about 2 hours arrived back in the city. However, the bus apparently didn't drop us off where we got picked up. As soon as we entered the city we found ourselves unceremoniously kicked off the bus and onto a very unfamiliar street. Shops were beginning to close up even though it was about 7pm and we had no idea where we were. We randomly picked a direction and headed out to find someone we could ask for directions. All of a sudden, Eric stopped and pointed, "Its the giant Coca Cola sign!" We'd noticed this flashing sign atop a skyscraper when we came in yesterday and it was a great landmark for where our hotel was! Perfect! After 15 more minutes of walking we found our way to the main-street beneath our hotel. Eric and Whitney decided to tour the shops for a bit but Deven wanted to work on hw and I wasn't feeling well, so we headed back to the hostel. I still wasn't sure what was going on, but I had just felt weird all day. There is no other way to describe it than just weird. We got back to the hostel and I took a FREEZING cold shower before heading to the beach with Caroline. I figured I should at least see the Viña beach and going at sunset could be fun! We watched the sky change colors and attempted to speak in spanish rather than english. Keeping with the touristy theme of the weekend I hadn't done much spanish speaking at all. Oops... When we got back to the hostel people were talking about what to do for dinner. We already had plans though! Another DU friend, Carlie Field (mutual friend of Eric and I) was studying in Chile and had agreed to meet us for dinner and take us out to see the town after. We had a good dinner at a nondescript restaurant and tried the local drink (a pisco sour) for dessert. It was pretty good, but tasted a lot like tequila. We had a great time catching up and hearing about all her adventures. She invited us out to go clubbing with here and some of her friends, but since I was still feeling strange and Deven had to get up early to leave we declined. Whitney and Eric on the other hand were all about going. They walked us nearly back to the hostel and then we split our separate ways. When I got back, everyone and their sister was getting ready to go out. All the girls had had their makeup done (courtesy of 2 girls staying there) and everyone was chilling outside waiting to leave. I mean the ENTIRE hostel was going out together! Turns out they were all going to the same place as Carlie too. I was kinda bummed not to go, but sometimes decisions have to be made. And I was not about to get sick before my parents come. So I went to bed and didn't even hear everyone come back. Even though they apparently had the light on and were talking etc.

Sunday morning we woke up fairly early and had breakfast as usual. Everyone else was a little slower getting out of bed (owing to the late night they had enjoyed). Eventually we all gathered with our stuff. We had to checkout before heading out for the day, but could leave our things in a secure shed until we got back. Unfortunately, we had not known nor accounted for the fact that Chile charges an outrageous 20% tax if you pay for the hostel in local currency. As a result, Sarah and I took a cab to the mall to draw out money and directly change it into US Dollars to pay for the hostel. What a mess! Luckily we had a really sweet cab driver on the way there who helped us out and we somehow managed to time the whole thing so that he was still there when we were done and could take us back. It took about 45 minutes out of our day, but eventually it all worked out fine. Then we were off the the subway station! Today was our day to spend in Valparaíso (aka Valpo) which is a 10 minute subway ride from Viña. We bought our card and we off! It really reminded me of being in Denmark to be honest. The train looked exactly the same and was automated for the different stops etc. We got off at the harbor and enjoyed walking around the artisan marked for a bit. Then with Sarah in the lead (she'd planned everything again) we began our search for a certain outdoor elevator. The hills in Valpo are so steep and houses are so packed together that they have built outdoor elevators or cable cars to take people up the hills. We eventually found the one we were looking for and took it to the top to look around. There was another small market, so we looked through that as well and then just began wandering the streets before heading back down the hill via the road. At the bottom we located a local bus that could take us to the market. Apparently this was where we would be searching for lunch. I wasn't too keen on the idea, but apparently the upstairs restaurants had gotten good reviews and so off we went. A lovely lady on the bus showed us where to get off and we walked into the fresh market and upstairs. At the top of the stairs we encountered a nice man who offered us a menu to look at and invited us into the restaurant. Not wanting to pick the first one we saw, we told him we'd think about it. He politely accepted, but told us to 'be careful of the climate' in the center. It made me uneasy, but I wasn't sure what he was talking about. We soon found out! In the center of the upstairs are a variety of restaurants fiercely fighting for your money and attention. Waiters come right up to you with menus and try to seat you if you even take a look or say a word. It was quite overwhelming and I was not a happy camper. I felt like a frantic mother trying to keep track of all her children! Eventually we had all had enough and decided to go back to the first restaurant. It seemed to have a nicer atmosphere and was on the outside where we could look out the windows. I was SUPER excited to have some seafood for lunch. Chile is known for it, so it seemed to be something we should experience before leaving. I enjoyed a wonderful white fish with a shrimp cream sauce on top. It was delicious! Then we were off to see Pablo Neruda's house. Since there wasn't time to go to Isla Negra, we elected his house in Valpo and started out. Unfortunately the elevator we would've used was broken...so we walked. The entire way. It took us more than an hour and I was exhausted by the time we got to the top. It was a beautiful view. The tour was decent and set up with the wands that have all the information stored by number and room. so as you walked around you selected the numbers to hear the information that matched the location. Once finished we sat outside enjoying the weather before heading back down the hill. At this point I REALLY wasn't feeling good, but there wasn't much I could do about it.

Once back in Viña I stopped at a local bakery to buy some crackers for the bus and they had just put fresh bread out! I bought that instead and managed to eat all of it by the time we got back to the hostel...guess it tasted good! We had a bit of time to kill, so we relaxed on the steps before grabbing our stuff, saying our goodbyes and heading to the bus station. Then, before we knew it we were on our way home. Customs went without issue at some awful hour of the morning and exhausted I arrived back to the apartment shortly after 7 on Monday morning. I crashed into bed for a few more hours of sleep and was out in a flash, regardless of the fact that my parents would be arriving in hours.

There is one thing that I want to mention about this crazy weekend: the transportation!!! Its phenomenal and the US needs to take notice. In my 3 days in Chile I used the following methods of public transit: subway, local bus system, distance bus system (something similar to greyhound), taxi, and routed taxis (with scheduled loops and set fairs). That's 5 different types in 3 days!!! We need to do something about the transportation in the US! I'm telling you, if we had busses like they do here, I'd be doing a lot more traveling within the country! Anywho, that's my soapbox for this post. :)

I hope everyone is doing well and getting excited about the holidays! I can't tell you how excited I am to see everyone and catch up over break. In the next addition look for details from my family's visit and the end of finals!!!

All my love!

I think I can, I think I can... (aka surviving my "history hell week")

Hey everyone! So catching up on all of these takes a lot more time than I expected! I hope you're all enjoying the detailed versions of my adventures. I'll certainly enjoy looking back at them in the years to come. :)

So it had arrived. I work up Monday morning still in a frustrated mess from the sad information the night before and the stress of my pressing exam. Trying to relax I studied in bed for a bit before getting ready for class and enjoying a quick breakfast. Sole had bought a ton of eggs over the weekend, so I made some scrambled. Protein for the exam. :) Finally it was time to go and I walked to the university, managing to bump into Deven on the way in. Together we found the classroom and waited outside for the teacher to arrive. We were all aware that her second year class had an exam at 8am, so it wasn't surprising that we were still waiting for someone to show up around 11...30 minutes after our exam should've started. When we finally did begin, our head professor wasn't even there. It was just the assistant (or Monday professor). The exam was hard! Even with all the studying I'd done, it was still a lot of information, and I walked out of there feeling pretty frustrated and wondering if I'd even passed... I just kept reminding myself that if I didn't I could take a makeup exam on Wednesday and it would be just fine. Caroline, Caitlin, and I started walking towards spanish class and they decided to try something new instead of the usual vegetarian place. So we just continued walking up the main street until we found a corner restaurant that looked good. I was in a pretty down mood and didn't really feel like eating anything, but Caroline talked me into ordering a milkshake and I was really glad I did! It was peach and delicious! I also stopped at a kiosk for some gum and it must have been my lucky day, cause I found a Snickers too! That got hidden away for later when I was sure I was going to need it. I left the others to their lunch and headed to spanish on the bus so that I wouldn't be late. When I got there most people were still sitting outside and enjoying the sun. I found my group of girls and we caught up on the latest news. They could tell I was down and it only took one of them asking for me to break down into tears again. It even surprised me how hard this was hitting. I'd known Sasha wasn't doing well and she was pretty old for a dog, but still...maybe being so far away has made me even more sensitive. Whatever the excuse, I pulled myself together and we headed into class. Spanish was nothing exceptional and we simply went over exercises for the final. I definitely devoured the Snickers during break...what can I say, I'm one of those girls who finds comfort in chocolate. Especially in a familiar candy bar from home. After the rest of spanish it was back home for lunch and a nap. In the evening I worked on attempting to study. We won't know our grades from the history exam until tomorrow, so I didn't have any desire to start studying that again. Instead I looked at my spanish notes and even drug out the tango information for a bit. It was a light night though and I went to bed rather early being emotionally and mentally exhausted.

Tuesday morning I woke up with time to study before class and worked on a little more spanish before heading off to development. It was our last real class. Next week is the "final" and we're having a discussion about the worksheets we have to fill out for that class. I've REALLY enjoyed this class and I'm glad I took it. Although it may seem like a cop-out to take another class from the program, it seemed like a stable and confident decision that I would be able to count on to learn and also to have the support I needed to succeed. In the end, I think it was honestly my favorite class! During break we found out from our TA Nico that all of us had passed the second history exam and wouldn't have to take the make-up on Wednesday!!! Hooray! One step down for the week. After class I walked back home and settled in for the usual lunch and a nap. Then it was a focused night of studying for Spanish and a little for tango.

Wednesday I didn't have anything until the Spanish exam, so I slept late and then studied some before leaving for class. The spanish exam was roughly what I expected and I was super happy to be done with that. One more class checked off the list. I left walking with 3 other girls from class and we had all decided to have lunch together. However when we arrived at the restaurant, I was afraid it would take too long, so I headed back home to drop off school books and study a bit more tango. I met up with the girls as usual at 5 and we walked to our last tango class reminiscing about the semester and fun moments. None of us expected the Tango exam to be complicated. It was all supposed to be multiple choice or true/false. However, it was arguably harder than the history exam I had taken earlier in the week! There was vocabulary on there that I'm pretty sure we never discussed in class, as well as different types of steps and movements... I left feeling absolutely ridiculous! How could I possibly fail a tango exam...that would look great on my transcript. Passed all the hard classes and failed tango... I'm sure I didn't actually fail it, but I was surprised by how hard it was. As per our usual tradition, us girls stopped for ice cream on our way back. I was supposed to be at a meeting with my history group for our upcoming presentations, but when I had texted Caroline, she said they were almost done. Since I had sent in my slides the night before I didn't feel too bad, but I still felt weird about not being there... When I got home I had time to quickly type up a written summary for the group project and mail that off before meeting with Whitney to go buy tickets to Chile. We'd all decided that this weekend was our last chance and so finals or not we were going! The plan was to meet at 8:30pm since most stores don't close until 9, but when we all met and walked to the store, we found that they had closed at 8:30... go figure. Then a surprise Zonda came in without warning and within 5 minutes we were all running back to our respective houses from the blowing dust and grime in the streets. When I got back I actually washed my face and wiped off my arms and legs, it was that bad. The rest of the evening was spent trying to relax and think about Chile while also gathering more details for tomorrow's presentations.

Thursday morning bright and early at 8:30am found us all waiting outside the Congreso auditorium for our professors who were...you guessed it! Late as usual. By the time we actually started, it was already after 9. Predictably, our professor (who has a mild obsession with my friend Caroline) asked us to go 2nd. The poor class didn't know what they were in for (and honestly neither did we). Our classmate, had sent us the presentation after he finished the powerpoint early in the morning, but what we didn't know, was that he had added slides and changed words in our parts so that when we got to our slides we were slightly confused. Overall, I thought that the presentation was a disaster. By the time our group was finally finished, we had been up for more than an hour!!! How UNNECESSARY!!! With presentations like that we really were going to be there until 6pm! At this point we took a short break and students disappeared to the university buffet for a coffee or snack before we continued. By 1pm we had hardly gotten through 4 more presentations... It was driving me crazy to sit there and slowly as people finished their presentations they left. By 2:30 I was the only foreign exchange student left from the 8 in my class. Overall, there were only 3 of us that stayed until the end of all the presentations. They finally ended at 3:30 and I went straight home for a bite of lunch and a nap. My stomach was acting up, so I didn't eat much, but after the nap I felt much better. Then, week of hell down, I left with lighter spirits to meet up with Nico (our TA) and some others for ice cream in celebration of the end of this week. It ended up just being Nico, Augusto (another guy from the class), and me, but we had a great time talking and eating. I headed back to the apartment after a couple short hours to pack for Chile. We were officially leaving at 10:30pm and I couldn't be more excited! Of course Whitney met me at the house at 10 so that I had time to watch the latest installment of Vampire Diaries...I seem to be developing an addiction to this show. Then it was off to the terminal!

So I survived the week. After 3 exams and 7 hours of presentations I had survived. Now its down to my final history exam, one more tango class (just for kicks), and the development final. I'm still crossing my fingers about Sociology, but I still don't know my grade for sure on the project or our global...so that's still up in the air. It was quite a relief to get this week over with. I've been stressing about it for months and with all of it out of the way, it seems like a big weight has been lifted. Even if I'm not yet done, I'm that much closer and feeling much better about the overall outcome. Not to mention, that the day I get back from Chile (Monday) my parents and little brother come into town and I could not possibly be more excited to see them! It will have been just over 4 months since I've seen them and I miss them more every day. If there is anything that this trip/semester has taught me, it is to truly appreciate those who are important in your life. You never know when they might disappear or be gone forever. I know that coming home and learning to show how much I appreciate all of you in my life will be a new focus for me. I certainly wouldn't be the same person without your support, love, encouragement, and strength. To every single one of you who is a part of my life, THANK YOU! You've made my world a better place. :)

I'll save all the fun details of Chile for their own blog coming soon!

Hope things are all well back in the states. I can't wait to see all of you soon!!!

All my love and besos from Argentina!

Program Escape to San Rafael

Hey everyone! I hope you're enjoying the multiple updates lately as I try to catch up with all the fun details of my adventure. Here comes the next one!

As you've all read, school is coming to a close here in Mendoza and with that lovely thought in the distance also comes the dreadful rush of activities/projects/assignments/exams/ and finals scholastic events as teachers rush to finish the material in time for finals. History has been no exception and with our "history week from hell" beginning on Monday, it would have been rather easy for me to skip out on the last program excursion and simply stay locked in the apartment studying all weekend. However, that is NOT what study abroad is about. For all of you reading this at DU (including my advisors and staff) I do not mean to say that studying is not important or that study abroad is all about playing and not about school. My point, is that with such a wonderful opportunity in our programs, there is no sensible reason why this experience should be completely controlled by classes. That is to say, school is very important and I have no intention of slacking off in my last few weeks of classes, but I also refuse to miss once in al lifetime opportunities in a country I might never see again, with people I might never be with again, to lock myself in a room studying Plato and Aristotle. As a result, I packed my bags and signed up for our weekend escape to San Rafael. I certainly wasn't the only one feeling this way and at least half of the students on the trip had brought some sort of study materials with them.

Friday afternoon I awoke after a very long night of sleep to a message from Louisa asking if I wanted to go back to Brazos Abiertos with her. Of course the answer was yes and so we spent another few hours with the children that I have grown to love. When we got back, I skipped my usual siesta and instead focused some solid energy on other homework that was coming up for the week. My goal was to get as much done as possible so that the only things I would take to San Rafael would be those blasted history notes to study. After achieving success with the other assignments, I began packing for the weekend. Our bus was leaving from Independence Plaza at 6:30am on Saturday morning, so the only thing I wanted to have left for tomorrow was getting dressed and heading out the door. Packed and ready, I had a lovely dinner with Sole and Paola before saying goodbye and heading to bed.

Saturday morning at 5:45am is easily the earliest I have been up in months! And it was not an easy task to drag myself out of bed. However, the excitement of the weekend ahead was a helpful motivator and I soon found myself on a bus with most of the program on our way to San Rafael. If I haven't mentioned this before, the town/province we were going to visit is where our program director grew up and where his family still lives, so it is a nice escape for him too. A little after 10:30 we arrived at the cutest little cabins along the river in Grand Valley. After splitting up into rooms and settling in, we had a few hours until lunch. As a result, we shortly found ourselves lying in the sun poolside, soaking up some rays and enjoying each others company. What a relaxing way to spend a morning! I am convinced that this weekend will be just what we need to rejuvenate our spirits for that extra push to the end of classes and exams. A surprise guest had also joined us for the weekend in the form of an adorable black fluff ball who still didn't have a name. This poor puppy had been found by a few of the boys in the plaza that morning and so they brought her in a backpack to our weekend getaway. She was absolutely adorable! I'm pretty sure all of us took our turns fawning over her before it was time to go to lunch. Lunch was delicious and it was really nice to sit with all these close friends and just laugh and enjoy our time together. After lunch it was time for a quick change before everyone loaded into the bus for our afternoon activities on the lake. We took a catamaran out to the other side where there was an empty 'beach' for us to play on and relax for a few hours. The beach wasn't very wide and sloped STEEPLY upward into a hill pretty fast, but we all found spots to relax and some of the braver ones even went into the FREEZING water. I personally had no intention of getting in, but everyone else had a different idea. I was happily standing on the edge trying to get accustomed to the water, when this crazy bee decided to try and land on me. Being slightly allergic, that was the last thing I wanted, so I dove right into the water. It was awfully cold, but worth getting in with my friends to swim around for a bit. When we were shivering and couldn't take it anymore, we climbed out and went to sit in the last rays of the day on the front of the catamaran. What a wonderful and relaxing way to spend an afternoon. When the sun started to set we all packed up and headed back to the bus and back to the cabins. After hot showers and a change of clothes, I met with Deven and Caroline from my history class to start going over some notes. We studied until dinner and although we didn't bring our notes to the table, we were still discussing back and forth the important political authors of the middle age (much to the annoyance of the others at our table). The rule was quickly pronounced that the second any type of food hit the table all home work and studying had to stop...and we dutifully obeyed when the waiter brought the bread just a few minutes later. After an interesting dinner that was much too large to eat, we headed back to the cabins and resumed studying for another hour or so. Then unanimously deciding it was time for bed we turned in for the night.

Sunday morning I was a nervous bundle of indecision. We had a day full of optional activities and I still hadn't decided what I wanted to do with my day or if I would rather spend it studying poolside... Remember that the purpose of this trip was to relax, but I also had to be responsible too. I hadn't missed the entire trip, but I also wasn't going to completely forget about studying for this exam. Eventually I decided that I would go on the hike after breakfast and then decide in the afternoon what I wanted to do then. Play the day by ear I suppose. After breakfast a decent group of us met at the entrance to our little hideaway and waited for the bus to take us to our hike. With a vast majority of us being from CO or of the outdoor nature, we were all expecting a decent hike in the nearby mountains before lunch and had come prepared with water and decent shoes. That was our first mistake...having expectations. After an hour in the bus, we stopped at a scenic overlook to take pictures of the lake below and mountains around. It reminded me SO much of CO at the end of a summer when things are starting to go brown. After some lovely photos, we piled back onto the bus (many of us wondering if we had misunderstood and that this was a bus ride adventure instead of a hike). 30 minutes later we 'arrived' at a pullout spot on the road surrounded by peaks and valleys with, as Argentinean style would have it, no trails. While we waited on our 'guides' to scout a short hike for us since we were quickly running out of time, we snapped more pictures and enjoyed our time together. About 10 minutes later we began our adventure behind our guides and started hiking down into a canyon nearby. It wasn't very long before they realized that hiking through the canyon was impossible for a couple reason. 1) it got super skinny between the walls rather fast and 2) right after that it dropped sharply into the valley below. As a result, we all turned around and started to follow them up and over the left wall instead. This too turned out to be a disaster as we got up onto the ledge and found ourselves scrambling over loose rocks and shale on a rock that sloped steeply into the valley as well... Hmm...so much for a "hike" we all turned around and headed back to the bus. Shaking our heads at what had turned into a very sad excuse for a hike and laughing about how common things like this were. Then as we waited for the stragglers and sat around outside by the bus. A large group of friends sat near the sloping edge of the road that dropped into the valley. Ironically enough, it was at this point that the guides got protective and started telling us to "be safe" and "get away from the ledge". After the more than dangerous hike we had just been on, sitting on a sloping hill was an issue? I just continued to shake my head at the irony of this morning's adventure. After every student had been gathered, we loaded back onto the bus for our 90 minute ride back into camp. There it was time for lunch and time for me to make a decision about the afternoon. Reluctantly, I decided to skip the afternoon activities and instead stay put at the cabins studying and relaxing. I figured I would feel better about that decision afterwards and would enjoy the time to breathe rather than going rafting and stressing that I wasn't studying. Relieved to have made the decision, I happily put on my suite, slathered on the sunscreen and planted myself by the pool to continue studying. As the hours passed, I began to feel much more comfortable with the material and was really thankful I had stayed to relax. It was nice to spend some time with the others who had stayed behind as well and we all enjoyed the time to relax and talk. By the time everyone got back from their adventures, it was time to pack up and load the busses for the drive home. Deven and I snagged seats next to each other and spent the majority of the drive studying. Labeling people and all their famous facts or tossing ideas back and forth about the specific ages and time periods. We took a short break from studying to eat dinner (provided on the bus) and then resumed for another hour or so listening to podcasts about the authors (courtesy of Caitlin). At some point, we both decided we'd had enough and put the notes away in favor of a nap. Pretty soon we were both out and slept the rest of the way back to Mendoza.

I arrived back at the apartment rejuvenated, relaxed, and tanned from the weekend away and was happy to sit down for a snack with Sole and Paola before heading to bed. I wanted to make sure I got plenty of sleep for my exam the next day and for the beginning of this crazy week to come. However, when I checked my mail, I had some seemingly urgent messages from my mother and called her on Skype. Of course the one night we have to talk the internet decided to keep cutting out. Eventually I got the news Mom had been holding for me. While I was away on my relaxation weekend, my family back home had been suffering with a hard decision. Our dog, Sasha, whom we have had for more than 8 years had spent the past few weeks struggling with what appeared to be cancer and over the weekend it started to get the best of her. The decision simply couldn't wait, and my parents had taken away her pain and put her down on Saturday. I was so upset. After such a lovely weekend I had to come home to this news. I broke down in sobs over the video chat and it was all I could do to say goodnight. I went to bed torn and crying. I would have felt just as helpless at home, but at least then I would have been with others for comfort and we could have all been helpless together. Instead, I find myself half way around the world with absolutely NOTHING that I can do. I fell asleep thinking about my beloved puppy and dreading the week that was coming in the morning.

Unfortunately these things happen and the unfortunate news by no means ruined my weekend. It just put a damper on my mood and brought me sharply back to reality. However, I am confident that I can face this next week with my head up and before I know it it'll all be over and I will have survived.

Thanks everyone for reading, and for listening. I hope you're all doing well and I can't wait to see you very soon upon my return!!

Besos and all my love from Argentina!

Iguazú Photos

Hey everyone, so as some of you may know, I spent my last week traveling to and from and also exploring Iguazú Falls. I just put pictures up. This place deserves its own album and is titled Iguazu falls. Again there is a link next to these posts, so check it out and let me know what you think. Looking forward to seeing you all in a few days! I can't believe the semester is practically over.

All my love!

Exams, Home work, and VERY little sleep...

Hey everyone! Here comes the next addition in my attempt to catch up!

Monday began bright and early as I still had to finish writing responses to this week's home work assignment for history. However I finished with just enough time to get ready and go to class. Once there I immediately asked myself why I had gotten up early to make it to class "on time". The professor was of course about 30-45 minutes late as well. He then collected all our assignments and proceeded to call every student by name through the list to observe how many absent days they had acquired and if they were eligible to participate in the class still... Here if you miss more than 25% of the classes you fail the class and have to take it again. For history that meant more than 6 missed classes and it was amazing to me that the approximately 35 Argentineans we had started with were down to less than 15!!! At any rate, we spent the rest of class going through and analyzing students. He didn't even bother to look at the 8 of us and we left shaking our heads and wondering why we had bothered going to class...oh yeah, to turn in our assignments. :( As usual it was off to spanish class. We're down to just 2 more after today and then the final. I can't believe its almost over. Feels like just yesterday that we had arrived from BA and were trying to find our way to spanish class during the first week (remember how frustrated I was with the busses? How much time I spent waiting on them?). After class I went immediately home to work on studying for Sociology. With all the history over the weekend, I hadn't had much time to study for my huge exam! If I pass this exam with a 78% or better and pass at least 75% my class work I won't have to take the oral final!!! Therefore, lots of enticement to study. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) Sole had a couple friends over for dinner (including my uncle Fernando) so I didn't get quite as much studying done as I would've liked before dinner. It was absolutely delicious! We had some type of fish with a white sauce on top, mushrooms in a white wine sauce on the side, bread, and salad. It was SUPER good! Right after dinner it was off to bed for me.

I woke up Tuesday morning and managed to get some studying done before heading off to Development class at the office. As my schedule has gotten gradually busier with the extreme amount of studying, I have begun taking the trolley more often and walking less in order to save time. Its also hard to convince myself to walk when its in the 80's or 90's outside. Class went pretty smoothly. We're talking about the period of Peronism, which I find fascinating, so it was a good class. Then it was straight back home to eat and study. I missed my siesta studying and then went to class hoping that I had prepared enough for the exam. We reviewed a few things before beginning and then the prof handed out our tests... I felt like it went pretty well, but I can never be sure. I know I lost a few points (left one space blank) but overall I felt like it was a decently easy exam. Now I just have to wait for the results... After we met with our group quickly to work out details of the project and headed for home. Christa and I are going to meet on Thursday afternoon to complete our part and mail it in. Hooray for doing an entire project through e-mail! After the exam I went home to work on my final project for Childhood. With all the other work this week, I hadn't even started it! I have a presentation and paper due tomorrow and haven't even started it. The good news was that I had my topic: Child Labor (focused on Argentina). After a good few hours of researching, pasting photos, word, and powerpoint, I was finally finished at 3am!!! Nearly an all-nighter here in Argentina. I went to bed exhausted and knowing that my alarm would ring WAY too soon!

I was up Wednesday morning around 6:30. :( Class was good though to see all the presentations and then I stayed at the office for a bit reading and working more on history timelines... Then it was off to spanish, which went as usual and had nothing super exciting. Then I went home for a nap and even skipped lunch to get a longer nap before Tango. Tango was nothing exciting (although our professor was back). She gave us more theory and technique notes for the exam and we continues practicing basic steps. At the end I was EXHAUSTED and only wanted to go home and sleep. Which I pretty much did. Sole had to work late, so we didn't eat until pretty late. I was practically asleep on the couch when they called me to dinner.

Thursday I woke up and dragged myself to history. Then it was back home for a quick lunch before going to my last volunteering session. :( I can't believe its over too! I am really going to miss these cute kids! We had fun playing with them and coloring to practice english words. Then I rushed home to meet with Christa in a cafe to work on our part of the sociology project. We managed to finish in a decent amount of time with the help of a few snacks and ICED coffee!!! Then I went back home to sit infront of the tv and relax! I watched a few shows with Sole and then headed to bed to catch up on all the sleep I've missed. It was nice to sleep in and since I did not have TOO much going on the next day.

In the next update look for all the details of our San Rafael getaway!

Have a great week!!! I hope to hear from you all soon.

All my love!

WInding Down and Appreciating New Lessons

Hey everyone! SO...as you all know I'm VERY behind on these blog entries... Terribly sorry for those of you who constantly check this for new information. :( I will try my very best to get caught up soon, especially since I am heading for home 2 weeks from today! Can't even believe it. But, let me take you back to the very first week of November...

Monday morning in history started with a discussion about the book we blazed through over the weekend and then we left for spanish. After the traditional stop at our favorite vegetarian restaurant we were off to spanish class. It was the same as usual. Exercises in class and a little bit of home work. Its hard to believe we're winding down the semester already and getting close to the end. After class I walked home and enjoyed a lovely lunch and nap. With no sociology class tomorrow (courtesy of passing both the partials and not needing to take the make-up exam) I didn't have much to study for. However, I did have the history exam hanging over my head for Thursday... As a result, I spent lots of time working on the massive timeline I seem to be developing in order to get my thoughts in order for this class. Overall it was a relatively relaxing evening with little excitement.

Tuesday I didn't have anything to do until Regional Development at 1pm, so I slept in and worked on some more work in the morning. After it was back to the house for lunch and a nap. I'm still amazed at how much I sleep here and I know I'm going to miss siestas when I get back. In the afternoon I worked on some more history and spanish home work. I also attempted to come up with a plan for my final project in my childhood class... We are supposed to have our ideas formulated by tomorrow, but I just haven't found mine yet. I also got to register for my DU winter classes today!!! It was super exciting to pick them out and have plans finalized. What a gift to already know when my finals are for the end of the quarter. All the uncertainty here has really made me appreciate the organization of DU and our USA schooling system. As much as I love my life here and all the people, I don't think I could ever stay another semester just because I can't imagine putting up with another semester of the school system. It was a relatively early night with such early classes as usual on Wednesday.

Our class went smoothly as usual at 8am and after Louisa and I didn't have much to do so we walked to spanish SUPER early and sat in the sun talking about our lives, the semester, things at home, classes, etc. She's such a wonderful friend and I'm really excited to hang out with her when we get back. Lucky there are so many CO students in the program both from DU and CC. I guess the rivalry will remain strictly for hockey... :) After a lovely few hours "studying" and practicing our spanish skills, it was time for spanish class. Our professor wasn't there on time (the very first time for her) and so we all sat and talked for nearly 45 minutes about the classes we'd registered for, what we're looking forward to back in the US, the first things we're going to eat or do. I swear these conversations get longer and more detailed every time we have them. We spent a good 20 minutes just talking about all the things we're looking forward to with school. What an insight this experience has given me into the type of school system I can function in. How different the 2 places are. For example, when I get back to DU, I know that I will receive a detailed syllabus on the first day of class with dates of exams, projects, final, and other important/non-negotiable information. The professor will be in class on time and probably early, If class is going to be cancelled, I will likely receive an e-mail before. Should the teacher not show up in the first 15 minutes, I have every right to leave because class is then considered cancelled. I will have a book to read from instead of disorganized photocopies that may or may not be in the photocopier. And the list goes on. It made me very grateful for the education and opportunities I do have back in the states. After spanish it was back home for the usual quick lunch and nap before Tango. Class went just fine, although the teacher didn't show up...so we were taught by some of the students and worked on basic steps. I feel like this instruction would've been very useful at the beginning of the semester with all the technique and basics, but I understand that they were just trying to get the choreography done for the show. After a shorter class I left to go find my sociology group at Congreso, but to no avail... Instead I somehow missed them. We have a rather large project due next Tuesday, and I am hoping to get as much done as possible before then. Unfortunately I still don't know what part I'll be responsible for. At the apartment, I had possibly the more Argentinean afternoon yet. While studying history and searching every author on Wikipedia (which is a perfectly acceptable source here) I drank mate (the local tea) and ate crackers with dulce de leche. It really doesn't get much more Argentinean than that. :) I feel pretty prepared for the exam tomorrow and honestly I'm just looking forward to being done with it all. THe evening was rather relaxing and I was in bed at a very decent hour.

Thursday I arrived in history very nervous and spent our usual time waiting on the professor studying my notes and reviewing concepts. Class was interesting with a little new information about some of the modern thinkers and the slides are supposed to be in the photocopier later this week... We'll see if that actually happens. The next partial is coming up along with the rest of what I have dubbed "Hell Week with a Focus on History". After class, we waited until everyone had left and then the professor began with me. Asking questions about the 2 books we had read by "Maquievelo" and "Moro". I was nervous to describe them, especially cause one of my friends, Nico, was in the class listening too...but it went smoothly. The professor also collected our timelines and breezed over them looking for dates and people. She said mine was very complete and for the first time in that class I felt proud of my work. I felt awful for 2 of my other friends though, Deven and Caitlin. Both of them didn't pass the first partial and we had all thought from an e-mail that was sent to us that they would get a second chance today too, but unfortunately that wasn't the case, and the professor told them that they would just have to take the make-up exam. :( It didn't seem fair at all that Dylan and I (who had clearly gotten a second chance) would pass the first exam and the other 2 wouldn't. After class it was back home for a birthday celebration in honor of my Aunt Paola. Sole made a wonderful lunch and surprised her with a couple friends at the house. It was a lot of fun and even though I didn't say much the whole meal it was nice to be included and to just be there. I've gotten pretty attached to my Argentinean family and I know its going to be super hard to say goodbye. After lunch it was off to volunteer work. I arrived slightly late, but happy to be there. Unfortunately a not so lovely sight awaited me. Hundreds of donated eggs had been placed in the study room and since a vast majority of them were destroyed, broken, or at least cracked, they had attracted an enormous amount of flies... It was like walking through a buzzing cloud to get to the tables and it almost made me sick to keep swatting at them for 2 hours or to try to walk around the room. Some of the women were going through the crates and throwing away the ones that were completely destroyed, but lots of them remained and when the kids started leaving at the end of the day each child was sent home with a crate of eggs. Usually I look forward to my time at Brazos Abiertos, but today I couldn't wait to leave. With the heat and the flies I had had enough! I happily left at 5 and came back to the apartment for a much needed nap. I then proceeded to relax through the evening and watched an absurd number of movies on TV before heading off to bed.

Friday I spent a decent amount of time working on assignments for history and catching up on sleep. I didn't really feel like going out, so I stayed in for the night. It was nice to finally have a day to just relax and chill. Of course I did also spend time studying for my Sociology exam that is upcoming this next Tuesday. The next few weeks will certainly be trying, so it was really nice to have some time to lay back and breathe before diving right into it.

Saturday I again spent the time studying and working on home work and other assignments. Between all I have to do this next week, my hours were certainly filled. By the time it reached the evening, Sole thought I had had enough time studying for the day and practically sent me out of the house. "You're going out tonight," she said, "Too much studying isn't good for your brain." So with that I left to meet up with a friend Lisa for drinks and to chat. It took us forever to find one another and by the end I was frustrated, but we finally connected and sat down for peach daiquiris and a brownie dessert. It was really fun and we sat and talked for a few house about upcoming exams, classes, the semester, etc. I think its just starting to hit everyone how fast the semester has gone and yet we don't really have time to think about it yet with finals bearing down upon us.

Sunday was completely devoted to history studying. In the afternoon I met up with 2 friends at our favorite local bakery for a study session of history and to complete our timelines. It was quite the project and took us nearly 5 hours!!! Needless to say when I got back to the house I had a history headache, but was no where near done. Turns out that the professor had decided he wanted a written piece about each of our book discussions along with the home work for Monday. As a result, I spent the late hours of Sunday night and early into Monday morning finishing my written version of the assignment from last week, my timeline, and the assignment for the next day. Oh that which does not kill us makes us stronger...or just hate political theory...or appreciate the US system... The lessons I'm learning. :)

Things to look forward to in the next week/blog: Sociology Global (could mean the end of the class for me), Childhood Final (written and presentation), a weekend escape with the program to San Rafael. :)

Hope everyone is doing well! I miss you all bunches and can't wait to see you in a short time!

All my love!

Even MORE Photos!

Hey everyone! So I uploaded more photos today and now they are up to date again. I did change the name of the album to Study Abroad #2, but all the pics are there. I just FINALLY finished up with my finals this week and my family came out to visit, so I have not had ANY time to write. :( That is part of the plan for this weekend! Hopefully look for more blogs soon!

Miss you!

All my love.

More Photos!

Hey everyone,

As some of you may have guessed (since my latest post has to do with Halloween) I am WAY behind on the writing part. However, the photos are current and up to date. There is a new album entitled Weekend Getaways that has the latest photos from last weekend's wonderful escape with the program to San Rafael. Look for more after this coming weekend's escape to Chile!

I hope you are all doing well and I promise to try and catch up on the blog entries as soon as possible.

Miss you all!

All my love!

Searching for the silver lining (ie NOT letting my History class get to me)

Hey everyone! I obviously have found myself quite behind and am now doing my best to catch up. This past week was one of the most academically trying and frustrating that I have ever experienced (and I'm sure even writing about it will find me frustrated again). Anywho...there were also many good points to the week as you shall soon see!

Monday we arrived in history class as usual to await our professor. When he waltzed in at 10:15 (roughly his usual 45 minutes late) and began writing on the board, what showed up were the 'final' dates for the rest of this semester. We all knew that dates for the partial, 'recuperatorio' = make-up exam, and project presentations had been moved. We now found out that they were all moved to the same week right after classes are 'over'. Its honestly frustrating, but at least we for sure don't have the presentations on Wednesday and when I have other class comittments. However, we are going to have class on Wednesday instead. So, I will have class from 8:20-10, 9:30-12 (yes I'm aware there is an impossible overlap), 1-3, and 5:30-7... It is going to be a LONG day. Ohh, and in between the 2nd and 3rd classes is when I have to take my "make-up" oral history exam for the one I missed when I was sick. Talk about a crazy day! After the prof was done explaining the dates and times, he read off our homework for the next Monday and sent us on our way. What a gift that class was out early! I had plenty to do before Spanish. Today was our general birthday celebration and I still had to wrap my gift etc. So in was back home for me. I quickly wrapped my gift and then went to the store to buy food for the party. I was in charge of apples and dulce de leche, which is about like apples and caramel. With everything ready, I hurried off to class. We had a great time! Sitting outside under a tree, we spread all the food out on a picnic blanket and shared stories from our favorite birthday and a wish for the next one. There were all kinds of treats and 2 people even made cake! Carrot cake (which no one here has ever even heard of before) and mocha cheesecake (which was AMAZING)! We also exchanged gifts with our "invisible friend" and I received a delicious bottle of white wine and a bar of chocolate from David. :) I think I'll plan to save the wine for the end of the day Wednesday if the partial goes well. After class I walked home and hardly ate lunch (as a result of all the sweets from class) and took a nap before getting up to study into the evening. History, I've decided, is nearly impossible.

Tuesday I woke up with the intention of studying before class and did for a bit, but not much. Then it was off to the office for class. It is getting so hot outside that its hard to convince myself to walk anymore, so I actually gave in and took the trolley. After class I did walk home and enjoyed a lovely lunch and a quick nap before sociology. Class began with an hour long presentation by another teacher about how to draw a proper concept map from reading an article. Apparently we need this information for the group project we're supposed to start working on. After the presentation, our regular teacher announced that she had our second partials graded and we could either have them then or wait until after class and work on some information first. Of course everyone wanted the exams back, so we spent the next hour handing out exams while she was also trying to explain how the rest of the classes would be laid out for the semester. Next week is set to be the make-up exam, and so if we had passed both partials we don't need to come (which is super nice) and then the following week is the global exam over the 2 mid-terms and the information for our group project. If I pass that test with a 78% or higher I won't have to take the final. When the students heard the percent needed to skip the final, they started arguing fiercely with the professor about the level required. This continued as she attempted to hand out exams. I finally got mine back and was SO proud and excited to see an 88.5% (grade 8) written in the top right corner! I not only passed the second exam, I jumped up 2 and nearly 3 levels from the first one! All that reading and studying last week had paid off!!! I was so excited to tell Sole, but when I got home, no one was around. Instead I began attempting to study history again so that I could do well on the exam tomorrow morning, but that studying was not going well. There is just so much information and so many people that I get them confused in my head. After dinner I pretty much went right to bed so I would be ready to get up and face the day tomorrow.

Wednesday... oh Wednesday... One of the worst days I've had... Childhood went well in the morning (early, but well) and I booked it out of there as fast as possible to catch a bus into town and to class. I ended up on a bus that took the most indirect route possible and finally asked to just hop off at a stoplight (which you technically aren't supposed to do). I quickly walked the block to school and the 6 flights of stairs up to the classroom... I sat through the lecture trying to catch onto what the professor was talking about... and hardly catching any of it. After class, we waited patiently for her to get her notes in order and then she simply started asking us questions about the material and the authors...One question per person back and forth and when one didn't have the answer, she'd turn to the other looking for a response. Clearly we weren't doing very well and with every question, she got more specific and we got more confused. After about half an hour of half answered questions and failed attempts on both our parts, she decided that we would stop there. "I don't know if its the language or the material," she said, "but how about you study some more and we'll try this again next week?" She also asked us to make her timelines to bring to class on the next Thursday when we attempt the exam again. Its her idea of how to better organize the authors and all the thoughts. I have never been so upset in my life. I left the classroom practically in tears behind my sunglasses. While waiting at the bus stop, we bumped into some other girls from the program. and they were really comforting about the whole thing. It amazes me how close we've all gotten here. What a blessing to have all these other students to share experiences and trials with. I made it to spanish and my friend Louisa could tell something was wrong. I explained to her before class and we grudgingly walked into the room... She's so supportive and caring. All through class I sat unusually quiet and at the break my professor asked me if I was ok. I clearly was not, and told her all about the morning. With every sentence about the history class she seemed to get more frustrated and by the end of my explanation she was fuming! She's usually very calm and pleasant, and I've never seen her so upset. She started spouting off about how unkind this treatment was and that they should understand we're a special case being from another country and trying to learn the language and that we were being discriminated against. I wasn't sure if I agreed with it all, but I was thankful for her support. We all went outside for break and I was sure she was talking to the other professors about the situation. When we got back to class, she put a notebook in front of me and asked me to write down the professors' names, name of the class, etc because she is planning to come sit in on the next exam to make sure we are treated fairly. I was in shock! This was not what I had planned and I certainly didn't want it to look like I had gone over the professor's head complaining ... But she would not be swayed. So I wrote down the information. We finished class without any other exciting events and I went home for my quick lunch and 20 minute nap before Tango. When I got home what a wonderful lunch awaited me! I was SO excited. Sole always seems to know when I'm going to need a pick me up type meal. She had made omelets! Egg, ham, and cheese. I was so happy. My short break passed in the blink of an eye and I found myself on the way to tango with 3 other girls from the class. We walked and talked about the week. I wasn't the only one who had become seriously frustrated with professors or the system and its so nice to have each other to confide in or rant to, cause we certainly need it at least once a week. When we got to tango, hardly anyone was there. I knew not many people were coming since it was the practice after the show, but I was surprised that there were only about 7 of us. The first part of the class was spent taking notes about the theory and structure of tango for our written exam on the 18th of November (one more thing to add to the hell week) and then we practiced simple patterns for a bit. It was a lot of fun and I wondered if we had started with steps like this how much better we would've looked in the show. After class I walked home with a bunch of friends and we stopped for ice cream on the way. It was pretty good and just what we needed in a hot afternoon after a rough week. When I got home I was exhausted. With no desire to study I relaxed and watched tv while I waited on dinner. After dinner it was straight to bed. My academic week was finally over.

Thursday since I didn't have class I enjoyed sleeping in and relaxing during the morning. My only commitment for the day was volunteering so after lunch I headed over. The children were their usual happy selves and bounced around the study room and outside. It was hard to get them to sit still long enough to work on their hw, but some seemed to accomplish their assignments. Louise and I were also preoccupied over the babies that were in the room today. One is a few months old and her mom and siblings live at Brazos Abiertos. The other one couldn't have been more that a week or 2 old. Her mom had been pregnant with her when we arrived and I was shocked at how tiny this little girl was! I sat in awe holding her while the kids worked on hw. I had no idea where her mom even was! It makes me so nervous to watch the younger kids no more than 7 or 8 years old carrying around the babies. They can hardly lift them and I'm so afraid they'll get distracted and drop them. We had a good time though with all the caos and children everywhere. After they had eaten a snack and started to file home we decided it was time to leave and Louisa and I walked one of the girls home. On the bus we caught up about the week and discussed plans for the weekend. Tomorrow is the program Halloween party and lots of people seem to be going, so that will definitely be fun. When I got home I took a much needed nap and then set about working on hw. I began on the timeline for history and also tackled other hw for spanish. Before I knew it it was time for dinner and we ate and I was off to bed. Still after 3 months I'm constantly exhausted... Although today it could have something to do with the heat! 102º and sunny here in Mendoza...if this is the spring, I think summer might kill me...

Friday Sole was busy cooking up a storm in the kitchen and I did my best to stay far out of it. Did I mention she's cooking/making most of the food for the halloween party? So I worked on hw all morning and into the afternoon while Sole and Paola worked away in the kitchen. All said and done she cooked vegetables, 4 chickens, 4 pot roast, and made different sauces as well. We're going to have sandwiches and snacks at the party. At 6pm I left with them to go to the house and decorate. The part is being held out in a neighborhood a little north of town and its beautiful! The house was really nice and we set to work with the decorating. Meagan, the girl who is staying in the house helped to and in about 20 minutes we blew up a TON of balloons. The only problem, was that they were black and tasted awful! By the end both my fingers and my mouth were black too. :) After decorations, we sat down at the kitchen table and cut break for the sandwiches. The lady who owns the house had bought "pan arabe" arab bread for the sandwiches and it needed to be cut open. They are kind of like mini pittas. We must have cut at least a couple hundred open before taking a break to dress for the party. With a complete lack of costume options, I had lots of help from Sole and Paola. All said and done, I was Batechica (Bat Woman) and used a mask, black tights, black mini dress, and a black shirt with HUGE sleeves. It actually came out pretty nice. The party was a blast! There were lots of people there and we ate amazing food and danced to music played by DJ's until after midnight. Then it was time to decide what the next step in the plan was. Most people were either headed north to a foreign exchange party thrown by the organization at UNCuyo or south to Aristedes. I personally would've been fine with either option, but I had somehow left my phone at the house earlier and wanted to go back and get it before anything else. No one wanted to come with me on the way, so I went alone back home and by the time I got there I wasn't really sure I wanted to go anywhere. I talked to Sole about it and she said there was no way I was going to the party in Las Heras by myself. It was too far away and too late and not in a good spot of town. So I changed clothes and met up with some friends on Aristedes. However, 5 minutes after I got there, a couple people wanted to leave and go to the other party. Since that had been my original plan and I now wouldn't be alone, I piled into the taxi with them and we set off. Sole wasn't kidding! It was super far away. We had a good time though hanging out in our group and dancing. I got to know the girl who is interning at the program office, Lucia, and we had a really good time talking. I also danced with one of the guys from here (quite the exception for me) and he seemed really nice. As it got later, a few of us decided it was time to go home and we piled into a taxi to head for bed. I crawled in later than planned, but was glad I'd gone out again. Its starting to hit me how little time I really have left here. I want to take advantage of it before its all gone.

Saturday morning did not exist for me. I definitely woke up after 12pm and started in on hw. My plan was to finish everything except the history so that I could spend all of Sunday on history hw. As per their usual disorganized disaster, my history teachers had yet again failed to communicate on the hw front and as of Friday night by mail they had sent us the new assignment: read the 150 page Essay on Civil Government by Locke and answer the following 13 questions in preparation for a class discussion... I swear everyone in that class is ready to overthrow the monarchy of power... Not to mention that when they change the hw at such a late hour, there is no option to go to the photocopier for the book at all... Hence I found myself without the reading material and with very little time to get it done. However, Deven being the WONDERFUL guy that he is offered to let me borrow his book Sunday when he's done. So most of Saturday was spent in my room working on hw and studying. I didn't go out Saturday night either, because I was just too tired and wanted to really make use of my day on Sunday instead of sleeping through half of it.

Sunday morning I continued to work on my timeline for history and then around 12 I went to Deven's house to pick up the book. We ranted a bit about the absurdity of the class and then I headed back home. Its gotten so warm here that I've been forced to break out the shorts, but I have never felt so self conscious in my life. If I thought the attention was bad in the winter...its NOTHING compared to the spring. Oh well, I'm not going to roast to death in jeans and a sweatshirt in an attempt to avoid some of the attention. When I got home, I set right into reading. With only breaks for meals and brief walks around the apartment it took me the rest of the day to finish the book. I spent nearly 9 hours (not counting time out for meals) reading this book! When I went to bed, it was after midnight and I had only scrawled notes in answer to the questions (hoping that like before he would only ask us to discuss and not to turn in our responses). What a week of frustration over school! I just have to keep reminding myself that this is a learning experience and I am growing from all the trials I've had to overcome (especially with the history class). I never thought I would appreciate the US or DU system this much more just by experiencing the system here!

As you can see school is starting to get to me a bit...all of a sudden we seem to be running out of time to finish everything and with the extra wrench of the swine flu earlier in the semester teachers are having a serious issue adjusting. Oh well. Overall I'm still having a great time and learning lots. Spring has hit with a vengeance and everywhere you look the trees are green and some of them are flowering in pink and purple! Its absolutely beautiful and I still have a hard time realizing that I'm here! I hope everything is going well for all of you at home. If you're in Colorado I wish you luck with your crazy October snow days! Its quite surreal to be here in 100º sunshine while classes are being cancelled at home for feet of snow... Watching the messages on facebook has been an interesting mix this week of complaining about the oppressive heat in Mendoza or the absurd amounts of snow in CO. I think I'm in for quite the weather shock when I come home in a few months. :)

Miss you all bunches, stay healthy, and remember I'm thinking of you!

All my love!

Living on Birthdays and Dinners with Friends

Hey everyone, so I'm still trying to catch up a bit, but I think it might actually happen this weekend! Hopefully everyone is doing well. My suggestion for the week, find something you love (and that you haven't done in awhile) and put it on your to-do list! Everyone needs a fun break to look forward too!

Monday was relatively unexciting here in Mendoza. I had history class in the morning as usual and rather than having a lesson prepared for us, the professor read (yes just read) from a lecture written by Bolivar for an hour! Our job was to listen and take notes on the main points. I could've done this at home on my own time! While it was rather frustrating to sit and listen to this, it was also difficult to pick up main points when I couldn't see the lecture. Especially in a different language, it helps me to be able to see it infront of me. Not to mention if there was a word I didn't recognize I had no time to look it up. Oh well, we turned in our notes at the end of class and headed off to Spanish. Most of my friends have made a tradition of stopping at this vegetarian place for food on the way since spanish is from 1-3 and many of them have class after. I tried the food once and its pretty good, but I usually wait until after class to eat at home. Anyway, we all stopped to get food and then started the walk to class. Its a good 45 minutes, but with friends not bad at all. However this day we decided that it was too hot to walk, so we took the bus. As a result we arrived about 30 minutes early for class and I sat down with the intent to read more sociology. I had just printed off the 4th module (finally in the copier) and was planning to read the beginning of it and the remainder of #3 by the end of the day. Class went as usual. No surprises or anything special. We're now working on a grammar tense called the subjunctive and its pretty difficult. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon. I think that's one of the hardest parts of spanish is all the verb tenses. I'm easily mixing them up all the time.... After class I walked home and enjoyed a nice lunch waiting for me. Then I decided that a nap would be necessary before I could study. Otherwise it was just studying all afternoon. I studied up until dinner and by that point I had nearly finished the material! With a little bit of time after dinner I was done with the part of module #4 I needed and nearly done with all of #3. The reading for this exam alone easily hit over 200 pages (all in spanish) and I had nearly completed it!

My first class Tuesday wasn't until 1pm, so I got up a little early and continued reading. I finished the material before class and checked my mail to see if there were any announcements about the exam (please be cancelled, please be cancelled - which in Argentina wouldn't be all that rare). Unfortunately the exam wasn't cancelled, but there was a crossword puzzle for us to do to practice with some of the vocabulary. I saved it to my flash drive and printed it out at the office to work on before class. We were supposed to have 'interviews' this week about how classes are going etc, but they were running nearly an hour behind. As a result, 5 of us filled out the paperwork together at the beginning of our development class and didn't really get an interview. In class our professor told us that all of us had passed the exam from last week and that if we wanted to see the grades he would have the exams with him the next day at the office. After class I walked back home and ate quickly before locking myself in my room to study and finish the crossword. I am DETERMINED to do better on this test than I did the last one. Its mostly about the original thinkers of sociology and I usually get their points mixed up, so I'm trying really hard to sort them all out. When I arrived in class, there were already a few others there, but not many everyone seemed to be pouring over notes and getting those last few minutes of study time in. At about 6pm, a woman I didn't recognize walked into the room and called for the attention of the class. She started explaining that the professor would be there in a bit, but that in the meantime we would be working on an exercise of how to make a proper conceptual map of a lecture. Everyone must have been looking at her like she was crazy. Finally someone put their hand in the air and asked, "What about our partial?" "Oh, you have an exam today?", she asked, seeming rather perplexed. "YES!", we all nearly shouted back at her. About the time our professor came in and they organized the project for the coming week. Good thing too! We couldn't afford to take and hour of our class time on a project when we had an exam to complete. Before we started the exam our professor went over the crossword with us to help review the vocabulary. The exam didn't seem that bad to be honest. I worked hard on it for a long time. Just like the first exam there was matching, definitions, fill in the blank, short answer, and true or false. One of the matching sections was putting the concepts of the thinkers in a box with their name. I know mine wasn't perfect, but I think it went alright. I was one of the last people there, but I felt pretty good about it when I turned it in to leave. I went home to a nice dinner and an early bedtime in preparation for my "día de diablo" or devil day of a Wednesday.

Wednesday morning found me up at 6:30 as usual... Luckily as it gets to be spring the sun is coming up earlier so I'm not in complete darkness anymore. I headed off to class, food in hand and managed to catch the trolley right on time. It was a little chilly but not too bad, and with the weather prediction in the 80's I had decided to brave the streets in a dress. Class went smoothly and then I sat down to work on reading for my history class. I still haven't made up the partial from when I was sick and from what the teachers have mentioned I have a sneaking suspicion it will be soon... When it was time to leave for spanish, I headed off with a group of friends. We've all gotten so accustomed to walking here and its really nice to at least have that exercise to count on. Most of the time its faster and more trustworthy than the busses as well.... In spanish class our professor informed us that we would be having a 'birthday celebration' next Monday to celebrate everyone's birthday. Each person was in charge of bringing a snack/drink to share and we were going to play 'amigo invisible' = invisible friend (ie the Spanish version of secret Santa). Of all the names to draw from the hat, I probably drew the one I knew the least about.... This will be interesting... After class it was the usual rush home before tango. I actually caught a bus part way, so that was a nice change. After a quick bite to eat and a change of clothes (I did not plan to dance in my dress) I met up with some friends to walk to class. Lately there has been a lot of construction in the city that has changed all the bus routes. As a result, we've found it simpler to simply walk in the nice weather than to look for a bus stop. We got to class with time to spare and almost started on time! Usually we're waiting at least 30 minutes for the professor to show up. All through class we practiced the dance over and over, trying to work out all the timing details before the show on SUNDAY!!! Our professor also said that we as a group needed to either decide on Thursday or Friday when we could all come together for another practice. Everyone picked Friday (I was surprised). After class we all filed into a classroom to get our costumes. It had taken a good 10 minutes to decide who was black and who was white. When they handed me the outfit I thought they had to be kidding. I had imagined a pretty, sparkly tango dress or at least something feminine, but what I was handed were what looked like white marching band pants with a black stripe down the side and a 'jacket' of satin material that reminded me of a tuxedo jacket with tails! Not only were the outfits awful! but they said our professor didn't like the black strip and that we had to buy fabric to cover it or sew over it before Friday! I was just a little upset... Back home with my family I explained the situation and we all laughed over the absurdity of the costume. I'm really enjoying having my abuelos here. They're super sweet and lots of fun to talk to. Then it was right to be for me.

Thursday morning brought another history class... This one pretty much sums up Argentina. Exams were handed back and notes announced to the class (not like they hadn't already been sent out in an e-mail with names and everything). My friend Caroline had earned the top score and the teacher called for an applause for her. I've never seen her face so red, poor thing was SO embarrassed. At the end of class the teacher took time to go over the exam and was clearly frustrated with people for getting such low scores. Caroline was the only 7.... By the time she had finished, class was 20 minutes LATE getting out. Then I went to talk to her about a date for my make-up exam. However, there was a more pressing topic from the class. We were scheduled to have presentations next week on Wednesday (not a regular class day) from 8am to 6pm! The class knew they were Wednesday, but had not counted on being there 10 hours! Most of the students had work or other commitments in the afternoon and were asking for a change. Also there was an exam on Thursday that they wanted time to study for. Long story short and 25 minutes of arguing later, the presentations were unofficially cancelled and moved (along with our second partial and recuperatory exam) to the week after classes are supposed to be over.... GRRRR!!! This also meant that should we not have presentations my exam was Wednesday and if we did have them it would be Thursday. Oh the frustration and uncertainty!!! Needless to say I arrived home very upset. Sole and my abuela just shook their heads. "Welcome to Argentina." After a rushed lunch, it was off to volunteering, which went well as usual. When I got back to the house, I started working on some homework. I left before dinner to meet up with some friends to celebrate yet another birthday! This one being my friend Sarah's 21st. We had a great meal at a different restaurant in the center and then the girls walked me back before heading out to go dancing (I simply didn't have the energy). On the way back, as we walked down my street, a group of older men (40's probably) started making comments and cat calls to us as we walked by. This wasn't unusual (being that we were 4 blonde's and a red head) and so we kept walking. What was unusual, was what a younger guy, who appeared to be about our age, said as we walked by. Head down and putting tables away from outside he said in perfect English, "Sorry ladies." I was SHOCKED! He was apologizing for the comments of the other men! I could've hugged him! When I got home it was straight to bed for me.

Friday I didn't have any plans in the morning, so I just worked on hw and lazed around the house. After lunch and a short nap, I left to meet up with my history group. We had decided to work on our project anyway so that we weren't saving everything until the last minute. However when Deven, Caroline, and I met up at Congreso, the other members weren't there....not even 30 minutes later. So we sent them a message and headed down the street for ice cream! When we got back, they still weren't there. At this point we ran into more friends from our program and all went back to the ice cream shop so that they could get ice cream. In a span of 5 minutes the sky turned dark and the wind seriously picked up...another zonda. There was dirt EVERYWHERE from the wind and I decided to go home. Not to mention that my abuelos were leaving in an hour and I wanted to say goodbye. Deven walked me home and I got to spend a few minutes talking to abuelo before we took some 'family photos' and they left for the bus station. It was back to homework for me and then off to my tango rehearsal. The rehearsal was pretty quick (only about an hour). We all walked back to town together and I split off to go to my friend Nico's house. We had made plans last week to work on the project and then have dinner together, but when the group hadn't shown up earlier, I thought dinner was off. Caroline and I received messages though through facebook that they were already at the house cooking and looking forward to seeing us. I arrived slightly ahead of Caroline and was sitting and talking with Nico (who's actually our TA of sorts) and Augusto (who's in our group) when she got there. We enjoyed an amazing meal prepared by the guys of corn tart (kinda like corn pudding in a pie crust), and steak with a white cream sauce. There was also herbed bread and wine with dinner. Of course ice cream was for dessert and after we'd cleared the table, we sat down for a movie. Neither Caroline nor I had ever seen Schindler's list, so the boys had rented it for us. Nico made coffee, and we sat down for the first half. At the intermission Nico made us martinis with a bit of melon liquor, because they're his favorite and I'd never tried one. Then it was back to the movie. By the time it was over at 3, I was exhausted and ready for bed. Augusto's dad picked us up and took us home so that we didn't have to walk or call a cab. I lay in bed for a long time thinking before I could go to sleep. Nothing like Schindler's list to put your life in perspective...

Saturday I worked on hw a bit in the morning before meeting up with Deven to go shopping. Neither of us had been to the 'Plaza Shopping' (yes that's exactly what its called) and so we decided to make an afternoon of it. We had a good time looking around and it was the first time I'd been in a US style mall in months. When we got back we met up with a friend Madeline in the main plaza and walked to get ice cream with her. It was her 21st birthday, and she was having a really good day. After eating ice cream and walking around a bit, we split up to go home and change before her dinner. She picked a great restaurant! The food was delicious and the atmosphere was really fun. There were about 10-15 of us there and we ordered a bunch of sparkly wine to split with the food. Then we just sat and talked for hours! By the end of it, we were all sitting around the table playing Never Have I Ever and hearing great stories about everyone's lives. Everyone was pretty tired by the time it hit 3 and we all split our separate ways to go home. What a fun and relaxing night! I hope my 21st is just like that. Dinner with friends and family, with stories and fun times to remember.

Sunday was dedicated to homework in the morning before Tango rehearsal started at 4. With help from my abuela and Sole my pants had been sewn so that the black stripes didn't show and with that costume, along with all my personal black and white, I set off for the theater. Our prof had told us on Friday to bring clothes we had in black and white and she would see about letting us wear them. I didn't have white pants, but she let me borrow some from her dance company and with Audrey's white tights underneath, it was perfect! Hooray for wearing normal clothes. All dressed and ready, we waited until nearly 6 before the rehearsal even started. When the run-through was completed at 8 we only had half an hour before we had to be back in preparation for the show. My friend Sarah and I took off for the nearest fast food we knew of...a restaurant called Mr Dog 2 blocks from my house. Disgustingly, we managed to run there and eat in a matter of 15 minutes without spilling anything on our all white outfits... I don't plan on repeating that process ever again! With full bellies we walked back to the theater. The show went great and I haven't had that much fun in a long time. It reminded me a lot of the dance recitals I used to be in and brought back all those fun memories. I really miss that... After the show, we got to see our friends that had come to watch us. Practically everyone who wasn't in the show had been there watching. What fun! Unfortunately Sole couldn't make it cause she had been called into work. I was disappointed, but understood and still had a great time. Exhausted I crawled into bed before midnight in preparation for another busy week. Oh the adventures I'm having here. How many people can say they danced a tango performance in one of the most important theaters in the city?!

It was a pretty good week followed by an even better weekend and I can't wait to see what next week brings. Hopefully more adventures and good times with friends. Its so hard for me to believe how close I'm coming to being done here! It seems almost like yesterday that I arrived and yet I'm so comfortable here it feels like I've been here forever. What an amazing opportunity and experience!

Missing everyone bunches,
All my love!

Ooh this has been a long time...

Hey everyone! So I first want to apologize, because I know that I have gotten AWFUL with these posts over the last few weeks. To be honest, I have had an exam every week! And the studying has gotten pretty intense. However, I promise to catch up soon and to be better about posting on time...

SO, this week began with an exam on Tuesday morning in my development class. I had studied over the weekend, using the power points from class and my notes. To be honest, I wasn't all that concerned about the difficulty of the test, but I still wanted to do well. The test went completely fine and I'm looking forward to getting it back. After class I took the trolle back home with some of my friends from class. Usually I walk, but seeing as how I'm still slightly under the weather, I decided to take the easier way. I had a quick bite to eat and then took a short nap before getting ready for class. I grabbed a cookie as I walked out the door (one of the homemade ones from Deven and my adventure) and was still enjoying it when I got out of the elevator. Of course just my luck...who should I run into but Ruben...the man who cleans our building. He made a sign of me eating and when I seemed to be confused, he advised me "No debes comer tanto. Hay que guardar la silueta." I was completely taken aback and left quickly without saying anything. Translated, that phrase means "You shouldn't eat so much. You have to watch your figure." Needless to say I was more than upset. Who was he to tell me that I needed to watch my figure? He's no where near handsome or attractive and for the 10 seconds a week he sees me, if I'm eating a snack how is it any of his business. By the time I got to class I was still flustered and told Krista about it. She just shook her hear. Oh the culture of Argentina. Have I mentioned that being politically correct and having a verbal filter simply don't exist here? Well its the truth in many situations. People are just direct and say exactly what they are thinking. Anyway, class went as usual until my professor mentioned that our second exam would be the following week! WHAT?! The entire class was in an uproar, shouting over one another about how could it be so soon and that we didn't have time to study etc. We were just getting out first exams back in class and in a week we would take our second one over all of unit 3 (which we attempted to finish in class) and the beginning of unit 4 (which we wouldn't discuss in class and which wasn't even in the photocopier yet for us to get the information). Oh Argentina... I left class understandably stressed, but also with my first partial in hand! Not only had I passed, but I'd earned a 7 (73%) which translates to a B+ in our standards!!! I was super excited. At home I had dinner with the family and then went to bed, since Wednesdays are always early.

Wednesday morning I was up early as usual and off to class in the office. Class went as usual and I worked on hw and studying until it was time to go to Spanish. Nothing exciting happened in that class either and then it was home to eat a quick lunch before I had to go to Tango class. Everyone is getting pretty excited, because our show is in a few weeks on the 25th! I can't believe its coming up so soon!!! In class we finally finished the dance and practiced the finale. Over and over we practiced the whole thing trying to get timing right and figure out what poses to do. After class it was back to the house to relax and unwind from the week. I only had one more class to go the next day, so Wednesday nights always feel like the end for me. I also made an attempt to clean my room and make sure everything is organized. Sole's parents are coming to visit tomorrow and I wanted to make sure my room didn't look like a tornado had blown through!

Thursday morning I was up and off to class before anyone else was awake (as usual) and came back for a quick lunch. No one was home, so I heated up some leftovers and headed off to volunteering. It was interesting as usual to work with the kids and just talk to the people there. Louisa and I ended up talking to a woman who is from Argentina but lived in the US for nearly 25 years! It was great to hear about her life and she speaks perfect English! We talked a lot about things she misses from there and she told us how lucky she is that she got to live by the beach in FL and now lives so close to the mountains. Its the best of both worlds. What a positive outlook on life! When I got home, everyone was relaxing and waiting on my abuelos to get here. Their bus didn't arrive for a few hours, so I worked on a bit of homework and made plans to go out that evening. It was my friend Pat's birthday, so they were all meeting up for dinner. I elected to eat with the family and meet up with them later. My abuelos arrived on time and after everyone had gotten settled, we sat down to a nice dinner. I felt like I was back at the beginning of the program again, afraid to say anything that I might make a stupid grammar mistake or something. After dinner I messaged my friends and met up with them at a bar on the main street. The birthday boy had decided he wanted to go dancing, so we all piled into taxis and set off for the club. It was free for ladies, so that was a nice surprise and when we got inside there was still a live band playing. ALL the musicians were wearing satin shirts, and they were super shiny in the stage lighting of the club. For their final song they played YMCA, and we ALL sang along. Then the DJ took over and everyone started dancing. Looking around there must have been nearly 30 or 40 disco balls hanging from the ceiling! The music was pretty good. A mix of songs we knew from the US and songs from here in spanish. About 8 of us had gone dancing, and after a few hours, most of them were ready to go back. Pat and I, on the other hand, were still having a great time, so we stayed until the club closed. :) It was a blast!

Friday I didn't have any many plans for the day, so I worked on hw a bit and relaxed. I also spent some time talking with the abuelos. Early in the afternoon I met up with a project group from my history class to work on our upcoming project. We had lunch together at a café before going to Augusto's house to work out the details of the project. Later that afternoon Sole had to work and Paola had gone to Gustavo's for the evening. When I realized it was only going to be me and my 'grandparents' for dinner I started to get a little uncomfortable. I didn't want to be the intruder in their evening, and I certainly wasn't planning on talking much...it just seemed awkward. So, I made plans to eat with a friend. However, as I was grabbing my keys to walk out the door, when abuelo asked what I was doing and that dinner would be ready shortly? I tried to explain that I didn't want to interrupt their evening and that I could just eat out. "How could you interrupt the evening? We're happy to have you here!" was his response...So not knowing at all how to explain my way out of this one, I thanked him and hung my keys back up... Poor David was so disappointed. I sat in the kitchen on my favorite stool and watched abuelo make dinner and even talked to him a bit. Dinner was delicious though and I even made the salad. After dinner I met up with Louisa to catch up a bit and have ice cream. Then, to make up for dinner, I met up with David and some others at a bar to hang out for a bit. I was pretty tired from the night before, so I called it a rather early night and took a taxi home.

Saturday I really had nothing going on, so I spent the ENTIRE day in my room studying sociology. I was absolutely determined to get all my reading done and study very hard for this second exam. I studied up until lunch and then after as well. Although I did take time for a short nap. I seem to be losing my voice, and I don't want to get sick again, so sleep is important! After the nap it was back to studying. David and I had made plans to go out for dinner in light of the confusion the other night, so we met up at 9 and walked around for nearly an hour trying to decide where we wanted to eat. We finally ended up on the main street with the bars and restaurants and decided to go to a restaurant that someone's host mom had mentioned. It was AMAZING! The night was nice enough to sit outside, and when the waitress found out we spoke english, that was all she spoke to us...we of course responded in Spanish. :) After a delicious dinner of chicken wok, we decided that dessert was absolutely necessary and ordered a tower of chocolate mousse to split. It was DELICIOUS! there were strawberries and pastry pieces in between the chocolate sections. It was SO good! After dinner we walked down to meet up with some other friends. This is going to sound very sketchy, but we all met up at a gas station where we could buy beer and sit outside at tables to drink it. Its actually a nice place and it just makes for a good place to meet up. After a bit we all decided to wander to a different bar and ended up playing pool at a new location on the same street! I hadn't played pool since South Africa, so my skills were awful, but it was fun to try again. Then we wandered to another favorite bar farther up the street and sat outside for a bit. After awhile it got too cold to sit outside and the remaining 5 of us moved inside. For some reason Pat and I decided we wanted to go dancing again, so we headed to a bar called Por Acá which also has a dance floor. We stayed until it closed and this made my 3rd evening with friends in one weekend. I crashed immediately into bed when I got home.

Sunday was spent again dedicated to home work and studying for sociology. The amazing food cooked by my abuelo continued and we had a wonderful white fish for lunch that just fell apart with your fork. It was really delicious. Honestly there were no adventures at all during the day. I was dedicated and determined to finish the reading. I also headed to bed early so that I wouldn't get sick and could get as much sleep as possible. Tomorrow brings another week of adventures and experiences. I can't believe that I've almost been here 3 months already and that I'll be coming home in slightly less than 2! My how the time flies!

I hope everyone is doing well and I hope you all know how much it means to hear from you about your lives as well. Missing you bunches!
All my love!