3 days left in Mendoza!

Wow, what a world wind of a week! I'm posting a picture of one of the wineries I visited on Monday. It was in the Uco Valley which is about an hour and a half away. Also in the Uco Valley is Salentein, one of the most renowned wineries in Argentina..maybe South America. We also got to see that one. I really enjoyed the winery pictured, Andeluna, because the environment was very cozy, very beautiful, and seemed less like a manufacturing plant. From the outside, it looked like it could have been a house in the suburbs. And even with it being a little cloudy, the view was still gorgeous. The rest of the week has been a blur. Wednesday we had our "graduation" from our Spanish COPA classes (the program classes). That night, we had a going away dinner and had TURKEY! It was a little dry, but it was still turkey! On top of that fun stuff, I have been packing like a mad woman. My little cracker jack box of a room has been a complete disaster area! Finally, I have it back in order, but my three suitcases are taking over. I'm packing early because today or tomorrow those of us who are going to Buenos Aires after Puerto Madryn are shipping luggage to Buenos Aires ahead of us, so we won't have to keep it in the hostel.
Monday, 10 of us are embarking on a 23 hour bus ride journey to the eastern coast of Argentina to Puerto Madryn. There we are going to visit a penguin colony (AWW!) and go whale watching! I am so excited! Hopefully, it will be warm enough to go out on the beach as well. We will arrive in Puerto Madryn on Tuesday, December 4th and leave Thursday afternoon. From Puerto Madryn, Katie Rae, Christy, Mary and I are going to Buenos Aires. We've rented an apartment (with air conditioning and wifi) for the 4 nights we'll be there. Austin will also be there 3 of the nights with her parents! It's just going to be one big party in Buenos Aires! I will hopefully get lots of pictures uploaded from our apartment after Puerto Madryn. I can't imagine how great the pictures are going to be! We are going whale watching during peak season, so we are 99% guaranteed to see a whale!!
We've had to say good-bye to some people already and it's kind of difficult..even when I wasn't really close to some of them. It's a weird feeling. I'm kind of feeling numb like I felt before I left too. It's a weird feeling because I've known ahead of time when I'm leaving, where I'm going...it's not like any of these things are new ideas that I am surprised by. Liliana hasn't really showed any emotion yet. She's said before that she will miss me. It's better for me to not really talk about it though. I'm sure we will this weekend. 13 more days!!!

One week left!

Hello! What a past few days I've had. Thanksgiving turned out great ( I posted the pic of the whole group). I will slowly start to add pictures from the whole ordeal. We starting cooking at 4:30 and ate at about 9:30. Natalie's host mom, dad, sister, and sister's boyfriend all ate. Her host parents seemed to like most everything, but her host sister and the boyfriend didn't try much. They kept saying everything was so "raro" and "distinto". They could not get over how many different types of food was in the stuffing: bread, sausage, apples, and sage??? Haha, it was funny. Krysia made a homemade pumpkin pie from scratch for the first time. Katie Rae made an apple pie. Mary was in charge of stuffing, and I was official dish washer! haha. It turned out really well.
Friday was Christy's 21st birthday, so we spent the day at the spas in Cachueata. It was a lot of fun! It was colder than when I went with the family, but it made the water feel warmer. We were prunes by the end of the day. Saturday we went to the Zuccardi party & we felt like such grown ups! It was a charity auction & there were 4 other wineries there with tasting tables. There was live music, too. Katie Rae's host mom bid on a few things and won, and we jokingly bid on a few selections of wine on the first bids. We almost cut it close one time, but luckily someone bid one higher. haha.
Tomorrow we are going on our very last wine tour extravaganza. Salentein is supposed to be the best winery in Argentina, so we figured we couldn't be here and not see it. It's pretty far out, but I called the lady we did our wine tours with when mom and dad were here, and she is cutting us a nice deal. Tomorrow will be a full day! I can't believe one week from now I will be frantically packing up my room and saying good-bye to Liliana. It's really hard to believe.
SEE YOU GUYS SOON!

3 Weeks left!

Hello everyone! Three weeks from today, I will be getting ready to go to the airport in Buenos Aires to come home! I cannot believe it's almost here! It's really gone by quickly. It's hard to believe it's Thanksgiving too! My friend Natalie really wants to cook a "thanksgiving" meal here. Turkey's are really hard to find here & are really expensive, so we are cooking chickens instead. I'm a little aprehensive about how this is going to work out...the kitchens are so small here, I don't know how we (they) are going to make everything. The oven is about the size of a microwave, so I'm not even sure if two chickens will fit in there! I'm in charge of the green salad-smart move. Everyone wants to live through the dinner. haha. I'm really going to miss cranberry sauce. I don't think I've ever even seen cranberries here. Everyone eat a lot of them for me! And I will miss the marsh mellows on top of sweet potatoes. They just won't be the same.
Friday is spa day for Christy's birthday. Her host mom has invited us over to her house that night for birthday dinner. I hope her extended family comes too so we can get the full experience. I've missed out on the big lunches/dinners that last 6 hours and have 20 people. The Lil Miester and I's meals are pretty tranquil. Saturday is the Familia Zuccarhdi party which I am really excited about! I officially finish my classes on Thursday. Our ceramics exam consists of us showing our professor our pieces. I'm really interested to see how this works because she doesn't know any of our names and doesn't have a class roster. I guess she'll ask us our name and then look at our work and give us a grade. haha. After she shows up 30 minutes late, probably. haha, I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!

Have a great rest of the week & holiday! xoxo

San Rafael Pic

Hello everyone! I uploaded some pictures to my Mendoza album-some from Liliana's birthday party and some from San Rafael. I wish I had more pictures of the scenery in San Rafael, but was lazy the whole time and only took a few pictures. We are planning a picture swap in a few weeks, so I think I will be covered on pictures.

The girls and I had our regular Wednesday night get together and planned out just about every second of our last few weeks. This Saturday, my spanish professor is having us all over for an asado in the afternoon. Sunday, Liliana is going to give us a tai-chi lesson in the park, if the weather is "suitable for the chi". Tuesday night, we are taking a sensory tasting at The Vines (one of the few classes we haven't taken yet). Friday, is Christy's 21st birthday, so we are spending a day at the spas..where I went with the fam. Saturday, is the Familia Zucchardi special tasting. I think we might try to visit another bodega near there since we will be all the way out there. It's about 45 minutes away. My cab driver last night told me this event was spectacular and we HAD to go. =) I am really excited!
I have officially passed international relations and history =) Bravo to me! I have a Spanish oral and written final next week & then present my wonderful works of art, and I am officially done on Thursday afternoon! YAY!
No fears about the earthquake! I honestly didn't even know it happened! Haha, Liliana never mentioned it to me either, so it must not have been to disturbing to everyone down here. Have a great weekend! xoxo

San Rafael

hello everyone! San Rafael was a lot of fun! I will upload a picture tomorrow to show everyone. It is really gorgeous and has a different look than Mendoza does, even though they are in the same province. It was a very relaxing trip and more fun than I had anticipated. We stayed in cabins near a river. It was really nice and a good part of our group went. Yesterday marked the one month left mark! I'm so excited! A few weeks ago when all my classes were finishing and I was stressing about my papers I was really anxious to get home. Now as I'm realizing I only have about 3 1/2 weeks left in Mendoza, I'm kind of worrying I'm not going to fit in everything I'd like to do before I leave! November has gone by a lot faster than I had imagined it would. Don't get me wrong, I am still looking forward to being home on the 12th!!
Last night, we went to The Vines again and took a wine & cheese pairing class. It was really interesting and we met a lot of people. We met a couple from DC and another older couples group from New Hampshire. It was really interesting to talk to them; they were all just traveling around Mendoza and Buenos Aires. They were all extremely jealous of us, too.
Exciting news! Katie Rae's host mom here is really good friends with Mr. Zuccardi, the owner of Familia Zuccardi winery! Well, every year there is an exclusive premier tasting at their winery for only 100 guests and you have to buy tickets. Well, Fannie (her host mom) sold us 5 tickets for 35 pesos each to go next Friday! Happy Thanksgiving to us! I'm really excited! I've never been to Familia Zuccardi, but Mary, Christy & Katie Rae have and said it's really great. That's about all the exciting news I have for now. I will keep you posted. XoXo, have a great week!

5 weeks left!

Hello everyone! Shame on me for slacking on the blog entries. I've had a rather exciting week! Monday, I took my final for International Relations. I go next Wednesday to figure out if I passed or not. I finish my History class this coming Monday. After that, it's pretty much over. I've finished my masterpieces (ha) in ceramica & have a skit to perform for Spanish and then our good-bye dinner!
I've also been getting to know the hospital system here pretty well. My wrist has been bothering me off and on for awhile and after biking it was really swollen and hurt. So, long story short, I have a cyst in my wrist! I'm wearing a brace and the doctor said that I could wait until I'm home to get an MRI. He didn't seem like it was too grave of a situation. I'm going to do some research online because I don't really know what to expect when I get back.
This weekend, we have our last excursion with our group. We are going to the southern part of the province, San Rafael. We are staying in cabins and there are lots of outdoor activities. Christy, fell down the steps at her house the other weekend and hurt her knee, so we injured ones will be hanging out this weekend soaking up the rays and getting really cool tan lines from our braces. haha.
Tuesday was birthday day. Liliana turned 64 and her daughter threw her a 60's themed tea party! haha, all of her friends dressed in their 60's attire (which really didn't look too much different from everyday clothes, haha) and met at 5:30 for a tea! We played trivia games about the 60's and it was really enjoyable! She even went to the salon that morning and poofed her hair, wore a head band, and sported some white sunglasses. She said she was going for the Jackie O look. It was a lot of fun. My friend Sarah Beth's birthday was that day too, so I was birthday'd out!
We are doing a sparkling wine and cheese pairing class tomorrow, so it should be a lot of fun! Everyone have a great weekend! xoxo

Bike Tour!

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Our bike tour was successful & we all had a lot of fun. It ended up being a little more involved than we had thought: we left at 10 and arrived back in the centro at 4. In total, we biked about 30 miles, maybe more!! Not with out wine breaks, of course. We visited 3 bodegas (wineries); one of which I'd gone to with the family. The other two were really neat though. Both were small and one, Tierras de Alta only produced Malbec wine and was built in 2001. Pequena Bodega was my favorite and was really old and still used a lot of old processes. There were 3 Germans in our group and one South American. It was a lot of fun, and good exercise for sure.
I have a paper and a final tomorrow, so they have been completely consuming my life this weekend. I will be SO glad to finish this paper. I can't wait to show it to my Spanish professors at Meredith; they have to give me credit for this class! Haha. I cannot load the video on here, so I will make a YouTube account and load it on there. I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great week! 38 days until I am home!! =) xoxo

Happy Halloween!

It's hard to believe that today is Halloween, and tomorrow will be the first day of November! Ahh! Our program is having a Halloween party for us, and we are "required" to dress up. I'm being really creative and going as a tennis player. Liliana won't go with me; she says she's too old to dress up, yet, her birthday party next week is '60's themed! It's funny because I hear her calling around to costume shops asking if they have costumes like "Jackie Kennedy" haha, ohh Liliana.
I have my first final on Monday!! eek, I'll be ready to get it over with. We've started painting our pieces in Ceramica, so that has been fun too. I don't know how much I'm going to bring home. Our teacher started "assigning" projects, so some of those aren't very fun. I'll donate them the Art Department, haha. I know that's what they really want me to do anyway..
This Friday, we have rescheduled our biking through the vineyards tour. Hopefully, it won't rain us out this time. I'm looking forward to it. I finally have all my Chile pictures up, so check them out. I even put captions on most of the them. Let the countdown begin, 6 weeks from today, I will be on US soil. xoxo
Happy Halloween!

Chile!

Chile was an amazing trip! We had really good weather, and the cabana was really nice as well. Austin's family friend, Raul, and his wife showed us around Santiago Wednesday and Thursday. They recommended a really good restuarant to us, and invited us over for lunch the next day. Santiago was a really neat city, and while it did have some poorer areas, some parts of the city were really modern and clean. They even have a subway system, which I didn't really expect to see. Raul's cabana in Vina del Mar that we stayed in was really nice as well, and it was in a great location. The Chilean port cities are really pretty because they are built up on the hills; it's definitely not a flat area. We could see the beach from our cabana, but it was probably more than a 30 minute walk there. The buses were really easy to use though, and it worked out nicely for us. The beach was called Renaca beach. This picture is actually taken in the city of Vina del Mar. We were able to lay out on the beach Friday afternoon, but at about 3:30, it became too cold again. The beach is really windy, so that made it difficult to stay warm! The beach was really pretty though, and the waves seemed so much bigger! I took a lot of pictures and will try to get them up soon. We took a day trip to Pablo Neruda's house in Valparaiso. He's a famous Latin American poet. His house was really neat and had a great view of the city. We got to eat some seafood too, which is hard to find/eat in Mendoza. I really miss seafood! We mostly just hung out and relaxed when we weren't out on the beach or walking around. Friday was definitely our lazy day. We consumed a lot of cereal & ice cream and played card games for hours upon hours. It was definitely a girls weekend-a huge slumber party.
All of my work is picking up, but I have my first final November 5, then I'm done with one class. The 12th, I finish another class. My spanish program class finishes the 21st, and my ceramics presentation is the 23rd! I can't believe it's almost over!
Presidential elections were today. It was a huge ballot in Mendoza because they were voting for governor, senators, deputies, and city officials as well. Their voting system is so unreal. First of all, they have paper ballots in strips of 6 blocks each in a strip. In this election there were 28 of these strips. Each strip is it's own party, but some parties combine together and for instance, one of the candidates for governor is on 6 different ballots. You can either vote straight ticket, or if you dont' want to, you cut each candidate you like from each strip and make your own ticket. It's so confusing; there are over 1000 people on the ballot just for Mendoza, or more. I will try to save some newspaper articles and sample ballots from Liliana.
Her birthday is the 6th, and we are having a "tea party" of sorts at Mariela's hotel. She said there are going to be 35 people there, and there will be games. I'm kind of nervous...I guess I have a week to prepare! Hope everyone had a great weekend! xoxo

Vino

So, I'm procrastinating more on my paper; I just needed a quick break! This is a picture from one of the vineyards, I can't really remember which. First, we went to Catena Zapata which is a 4 generation Argentine family-owned winery. They do export, so look for Catena Zapata! Secondly, we went to Septima which was nice too, but was definitely a lot smaller than Zapata. They have a specifc wine brand just for the US. I think they export like 70% of their wines (mostly to the US). Their export line is called Marraso, if anyone's interested :). Next, we went to a beautiful one down the road from Septima called Ruca Malen, and we had lunch there. It was so beautiful, and a really small operation. Lastly, somehow we made it to Weinhart, which was totally different than the others because it was an older, more traditional winery. Instead of fermenting and storing the wine in metal tanks, they used huge wooden barrels. I have some great pictures of the barrels. They had the worlds largest full barrel? Something like that..with Hiram standing next to it, it made him look like an dwarf.
Thursday night, we went to dinner with Liliana, her daughter Mariela and Mariela's boyfriend, Pablo. Pablo is completely fluent in English, and Mariela is pretty close, so I think Mom & Dad enjoyed talking to them. I didn't have to translate too much, so it was pretty nice! Mom definitely wins the award for learning the most on the trip. Hiram second because he learned to say perfectly "quarter pounder with cheese" at McDonalds. Molly comes in third because she was kind of apathetic about it all, and Dad last because "you can't teach an old dog new tricks!" I told him chorizo meant sausage at every meal!!! haha It was fun though, I didn't mind.
This Wednesday, I am going to Chile with 3 other girls. Some of Austin's family at home had an exchange student from Chile and he now has a family in Santiago. So, he offered Austin his beach cabana in Vina del Mar!! So, we are taking the bus to Santiago (about a 6 hour drive) for a night, then going to Vina. We are going to make a day trip to Valparaiso, which is one of the oldest port towns in South America (with Buenos Aires). Pablo Neruda also has a house there, so we will definitely make a trip there to take pictures and get brownie points with our professors back home. Enough procrastinating, I need to get back to work (yes, I'm doing work!). Have a great week, and Happy Mother's Day! =)

Family & Wine, Safe at Home

Well, they made it back safely yesterday afternoon. It was still hard to say goodbye Friday, but not as hard as it was in July. Now, I think I'm realizing how close December actually is! It does not feel like 3 months have passed by. I know I haven't written in awhile, and I'm stealing internet from my neighbors right now. I can't remember what I talked about last, so forgive me if I repeat. I have a 7 page minimum research paper I'm trying to write on the Falklands War, so my brain is a little mushy. Today is actually Mother's day here! We are having a mother's day "asado" or barbeque in a little bit. The last few days the family was here, we were the busiest. We did an all day mountain tour to Aconcagua on Wednesday. It's only 5000 feet smaller than Everest. Dad was so thrilled that he got to save the altitude on his GPS, 9,546 feet or something. (I uploaded a picture of it on my link). On the way down from the mountain, we stopped at Puente del Inca, which is Argentine's version of Virginia's Natural Bridge. Needless to say, this one is much cooler. It's covered in sulfur deposits and has an old, unused now, hotel built into the side of the mountain. They had a nice mountain bizarre there that we all enjoyed too. We also went to 7 colors Mountain, which was colored because of all the mineral desposits, and it was really interesting too. I am slowly uploading all the pictures. Thursday was winery day- we visited 4. We had lunch at a beautiful winery called Ruca Malen. There, we met a couple from ROANOKE VA, and to make it even more hard to believe, they knew my freshman year room mate, Holly Butcher from Roanoke!!! She works for a wine distributing company in Roanoke strictly distributing South American wines. Cool job, huh? This picutre of Molly and I was taken after our first winery visit to Catena Zapata. Okay, I'm running out of time, but I will continue to upload and update! xoxo

Hola!

Hola! Sunday was overcast so we changed plans and went to "shopping" (that's what they call their mall here). It was jammed packed because of the holiday weekend and weather, but it was still a lot of fun. Uncle Hiram loaded up on Argentine jersey's and rugby shirts, haha, he sported one last night. I'm so proud of everyone because they are at least saying "Hola" and "Gracias." Last night was a lot of fun because we went to Tango show! It was a lot fun and very informative! There were two singers, 3 couples of dancers, and a 3 person band. They also had a short film that they showed in between (with English subtitles) that talked about the history of wine and tango in Mendoza. This show was created for tourists, not just tourists from the US, but also for tourists all over South America. So at the end, they started naming countries and playing a song that corresponded to each country. For the United States they played "New York, New York", good ol Frank. It was really funny/embarrassing. I think last night we had our most successful meal yet! Poor Molly hadn't ordered anything that she'd really liked the whole time we'd been here it'd seemed, and everyone had had trouble ordering from a Spanish menu, even with my help, so I checked out the menu at Hyatt and it was in English, so I was sold. I made reservation right then and there. And Molly ate!! YIPPEE! I think they are all experiencing a little bit of culture shock. Anyway, I'm going to try to upload more pictures now. We are meeting in a little bit to walk to the Park for a little while. It's a really nice day today. hasta luego!

Bienvenidos, Familia!

They made it! Of course they were the lasts ones through customs, but that´s okay. In the Mendoza aiport, there is one little door that they make all the arrivals walk out of, so of course, there were a million people crammed in front on the door-typical Latin American style, invading your personal space. I was really worried for the fam to turn the corner and be greeted by an intense mob of strangers, so it worked out that Liliana and I were basically the only ones left there! We some how crammed all their luggage in a taxi and a her car. She asked me why they brought so much luggage!! I tried to explain that one suitcase was full of peanut butter, halloween candy, and summer clothes for me, but she was still baffled. They all of course were starving from the flight, and Uncle Hiram was especially cranky, so we quickly walked to a restuarant to eat their first Argentine meal. We walked around the centro a little last night, and I took them to Cafe Havanna where the waitresses were excited I brought my family (since I´m such a regular there!). Everyone was tired pretty early, but somehow I managed to get them to wait and eat dinner until 930. We jsut ate pizza, and it was rather comical because we ate outside on a pretty busy street, so it was loud. So you can imagine that Dad couldn´t hear anything, and there were all these ¨street kids¨running around from table to table trying to get you to buy crappy little tours for 3X their worth, so mom was afraid they were going to take her purse off the arm of her chair and Hiram kept trying to buy the crap toys! haha, typical. They didn´t embarass me too badly though! They make me order everything at every meal, so at least I´m getting to speak some spanish.
Today, we had a really great excursion to a valley near the foothills of the mountain, Cacheuta. Cacheuta is known for its hot springs because it´s a volcanic area, so the main attraction is a spa. We took a beautiful horseback adventure around the valley, then had a really nice lunch at the spa. Molly, Mom and I all got $10 30 minute massages that were very good, and we all enjoyed the hot thermal spas afterwards! They have mud treatments that you can use before you get in the spas (you wash it off first) and everyone participated in this but the boys, dad put some on his feet, whimp. Unfortunately, we did not have the camera for this adventue, but we got plenty of pictures of the spa afterwards. It was very enjoyable, and I could have stayed there all day. Our tour guide has been really nice and helpful and has helped us plan two other events so far. Tomorrow is going to be a lazy, park day. I will try to upload some picures tomorrow. Molly, the queen of taking embarassing photos, took plenty this afternoon of us all! I´ll will try to add a mix of both good and bad =)
I am so happy they are here!! Have a great weekend!

Bienvenidos, familia!

Mom, Dad, Molly, & Uncle Hiram are coming Friday morning! Liliana and I are meeting them at the airport! I am so excited to see them! Mom found a good tourist company online that I have been talking to and since we won't have a car here, I think we are going to do some excursions through that company. A day of wine, a day to the mountains, and maybe a horseback riding excursion or a spa day (yeah!!). Molly is bringing her computer to stay connected, haha, so hopefully I will get to update next week. I have Monday off, it's a holiday here. Maybe their hotel has wireless, I'm not sure. It's really close to me, so I'll either stay their most of the time or go back and forth. I'm going to make Molly go with me to my program Spanish class on Wednesday. I think we are just finishing a movie, so it will be harmless. Hasta luego, I will keep you posted!

Tai Chi & Empanadas!

Last night was so much fun! The girls came over around 5 and we had a traditional Argentine dinner at a traditional American time, it was great! We made 40 empanadas and had no leftovers! Natalie's parents are in Mendoza now, and her mom came over with Natalie. They are Cuban, so her mom is fluent, so she and Liliana had a lot to talk about! Her mom got Liliana talking about Tai-Chi, so, as you can see she gave us a little lesson! haha, it was so funny! Natalie's mom is in the background of this picture, and Liliana is in the blue directing us. Looks pretty good for 64, right?
There was a lot going on in the park today! A bunch of us met there to go for a walk, and we walked right into a parade! They were celebrating different types of dances and all of these little girls were all dressed up in flamenco costumes and other traditional outfits, dancing, singing, everything! It was really cool. Then we walked by Club Hipico where Mary takes horseback riding lessons, and they had a huge jumping show going on! It was almost grand pre style; all the people who wanted to be seen were there in the official "polo" brand of Argentina and decked out in their riding gear!
I can't believe the fam is going to be here Friday!! I am so excited, and have pretty much decided where we are eating every meal (which I know that is the most important part of the trip!) and am trying to plan as many wine tastings as possible! haha, I'm really excited. I can't wait for them to meet Liliana! She's offered to drive me to the airport to help pick them up! haha, it's going to be one awkward ride to their hotel! Have a great week everyone!!
xoxo

Buen Dia

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Hola chicos! I hope everyone is having a great week. I have good news to report about grades: I passed my history and politics exam! YIPPEEE! I will find out my international relations grade this coming Monday or Tuesday. It was harder, but I passed it too, I know. This weekend we had a very relaxed time. Mary has been taking riding lessons here and she had her first horse jumping show! It was a lot of fun, and I got really sunburned, yuck. The sun is definitely stronger here. I've had a good week, but it has been very busy week. I've joined a gym, so I am trying to go to that as much as I can in the mornings. Austin and I are still playing tennis (we played this morning). The weather is so beautiful, I had to take pictures when we were in the park last weekend. I will upload them asap, but here is a preview of one. Last Saturday we went to Katie Rae's house and cooked noquis and watched 16 Candles because her family has a DVD player. It was a real treat; I even took my house shoes! It was a lot of fun. This Saturday, everyone is coming over to meet the Lil Miester! We are making empanadas! I'm really excited about it, and I think Liliana is too. She had her friends over last night for cards, and they didn't leave until almost 1AM! They play cards, eat, and drink from about 4 PM to 1 AM, but only in "la casa de mujeres". The women who are married have to go home and cook dinner at 9, so only the single women/widows get to stay out later. Haha, it's quite funny to hear her explain this.
Anyway, hopefully, I will have something really exciting to talk about next time! Hasta Luego!

Hola!

Hola toda! I have had a very busy few days! Most importantly, I have uploaded all of my pictures into the "Bariloche.." album! And, I have added some new pictures to the "Stolen" album from Mendoza, Bariloche, and my room here! The weather has been beautiful this week & I am starting to think I should have brought more short sleeved shirts! Walking around in the city and riding the bus can be pretty warm, but at night, a t-shirt isn't quite enough. I've been able to play tennis twice this week though! Christy's padre here is a member of the Andino Tenis Club, and we can play under his name for 20 pesos a piece. Austin plays club tennis at Davidson, so we went Tuesday morning and this morning and played for about an hour and a half. There clay courts, which I am not as used too, but it is great! It feels so good to play! It has also been a good mail week. Meredith Roberson sent me a US Weekly, so I got filled in on all the US gossip. Everyone was excited to read that magazine! She also sent me a box of hot tamales which are already gone =) And I also got a surprise letter from Brock! The mail works so weird here. Meredith's package took over a month, Brock's letter took a month, but I received a letter from Kristin about three weeks ago that go here really fast! I just don't understand the system--Welcome to Argentina!
I don't really have exciting plans this weekend. I think there is a horseshow in the park, so we are planning on going to that Saturday and then maybe to the zoo as well. I have a midterm on Monday, so Sunday is going to be a study day. No class tomorrow! I plan to ask around at some tourism places in Mendoza and try to determine some things for Mom, Dad, Molly and Uncle Hiram and I to do when they come in almost two weeks!! I am so excited for them to come!! I hope everyone has a great weekend! Hasta Luego!
xoxo

SORPRESA

Whew, I feel like I have so much to tell everyone. First of all, Liliana at lunch today told me she "wanted to tell me something." I knew she'd been married twice, but she'd never really gotten into details about either of them. But today, she told me that her second husbands last name was DILLON! Spelled exactly the same and everything! She said she about had a heart-attack when she received my program packet and saw my name! I just think it is such a weird coincidence. Everyone has trouble saying both of my names, so it's funny for me to think Dillon is a somewhat known name here. She said there is even a famous futbol player in Argentina named "Dillon." Who would have thought?
Our trip to Bariloche, Bolson, and Chile was so amazing! I am slowly uploading pictures, and I hope to have them all uploaded very, very soon. After I upload those, I will add new ones to the "stolen" album as people send them to me. I also took pictures of our apartment here that I will add to that album.
Sunday night, Liliana and I went to Mariela's new house because it was her birthday! She had all of her friends over and her sister from B.A, Maria Pia, came in town. AND, Liliana's ex-husband and wife were there, haha, it was surprisingly fun! Some people tried to practice their English with me, but they didn't know much, so we talked in Spanish. It was a confidence boost!
Monday night, I had my first history "parcial" or midterm. I think it went fine, I know I passed it. Our Profesora loves to rub it in our faces that we don't have important US History dates memorized. She always asks us to compare what is going on in the US in the 1800's as Argentina is fighting for their independence. GEEZ LADY, can you give us a break!? We are trying to listen/comprehend/write in spanish everything you are saying about events we've never learned about before! So of course, she asked us to compare events in 1837 and 1880 in Argentina and the US. I knew the civil war was going on, but couldn't remember dates, so I vaguely wrote about that and slavery. I'm sure she laughs about her "ignorant American students" to all of her Professor friends..ugh. Next Monday, I have my International Relations midterm. We have a Colombian friend, Laura, in that class, so we have a study date on Sunday with her.
Katie Rae took this picture of me concentrating reallllly hard on the zip line or "canopy" as they call it here. It was so much fun! I hope you guys enjoy the pictures. I highly recommend visiting Bariloche! It'd be perfect during Christmas, it would be summer, HINT HINT, family!
Chao!

Puerto Varas

Hola! Even though I´m disappointed the zpack didn´t work as well as I´d hoped, it´s hard to feel too sick and miserable when the scenery around me is so amazing! The drive from Bariloche to Puerto Varas, 6 hours, was so beautiful. We basically drove through national forests, so everything was lush green, there were tons of vacas (cows) and random waterfalls everywhere! The weather once we made it to Puerto Varas was miserable and rainy yesterday, but today most of the morning and early afternoon were sunny and not too cold. Puerto Varas is a port city, but it´s on a huge lake. There is also a volcanoe off in the distance that we can see from our hotel called Orsono. Our hotel is a little outside of our hostel budget, but we made up for it by grocery shopping! We were all so bummed and tired from the weather and our time in Bariloche that we were SO EXCITED to find lots of American comfort food in the supermarket: Edy´s cookies n cream ice cream, crunchy peanut butter, frosted flakes, and preztel sticks! We´ve successfully eaten every meal here for two days for ten US dollars, go us!!
We have been very lazy since we have been here. There are 5 of us here, and two of us are sick, so we´ve taken advantage of nice comfy beds and hot showers, and watched TNT and WB most of the day. Chile is a lot more Americanized than Argentina. It was interesting coming across the border though. We couldn´t bring anything we´d bought in Argentina and no food. We stopped once to leave Argentina and then another time to enter Chile. I guess we were in no mans land between those to stops-it seemed kind of pointless. But, Argentines and Chileans don´t like each other. According to Argentines, Chileans cause all their problems! And another tricky thing about Chile is their peso. 1,000 pesos equals 5 Argentine pesos, and 1.80 USD. It´s so weird to pay 2,000 pesos for papas fritas! And their coins say 500 pesos and 200 pesos. It´s been really confusing for us, another reason to stay inside! haha. We leave tomorrow at 200PM and will have a night and most of the day Saturday in Bariloche to ride another cable car for good pictures and eat lots of chocolate and try their famous waffles! =) Hasta Luego!

Que Lindo! Que buenisimo!

Hello everyone! Bariloche and El Bolson (I am there now) are absolutely gorgeous! Bariloche is the most beautiful place Ive ever seen. It reminds me a lot of Switzerland, Lucern, when I was there. And, it does have a lot of Swiss influence, but was founded by a Britain? Argentines have such a complicated heritage! Anyway, the bus ride was not too bad Friday night. We mainly just checked into our hostel and explored around the city Saturday. We had a really amazing dinner Saturday night and ate all of the regional food- cheese and chocolate fondue, Patagonian Lamb & trout, and Wild Boar! It was very yummy. Sunday morning, bright and early, we took a canopy zip line adventure the bosque of Colonia Suiza, Bariloche. There were 10 ziplines and we rode to tree house type platforms. The longest cable was about 250 meters. I got some really great pictures!! I cannot wait to show them to everyone. After that, we visited a microbrewery and tested frambuesa cerveza (raspberry). Then we walked 7 miles back into town (I hope you read that Coach!). Today, we arrived in El Bolson at about 130 and found our hotel. The town is really small and easy to navigate. The moutnains all have snow on them, and are so beautiful! We hiked to waterfalls today, and then it started to drizzle =( The weather is not looking good for the rest of the trip, but honestly, it is not taking away from the scenary. Tomorrow, there is an Artesenial Fair in town that is supposed to be pretty awesome. I think they have everything from crafts, a lot of wood carvings, artesan beer, cheese, meat...we have no clue what to expect! We are going back to Barilcohe tomorrow night, and leaveing early Wednesday morning for two nights in Puerto Varias, Chile. We are taking a day trip to Puerto Montt, which is the southern most city you can go into Chile before the lakes actually prevent you from crossing to the remaining tip of Chile. Does that make sense? To go any further south in Chile, you have to cross into Argentina. --Just to give you a sense of how far South we are! Del Fin Del Mundo, really!!!
The trip is amazing though, and I am glad our hotel had a public computer so I could write to you all. I bought a Z-Pak over the counter this morning in Bariloche for 37 pesos, haha...I hope it works! My other meds just did not cut it. Gracias a Dios zythromax is the same in Spanish! Have a great week! xoxo

Bariloche Bound

I am eagerly awaiting tomorrow's departure for Bariloche. We leave at 8:00PM tomorrow night and arrive in Bariloche at 1:44 PM. Another lonnnnng journey. I'm really excited about it. There's definitely a lot to see! Unfortunately, it's going to be cold, but at least we can come back to warm weather.
I wanted to tell you all a funny story about Liliana. I know some people remember that when I got my family placement letter under "interests" it said "aikido" (which is a form of marshall arts). Well, Liliana is an instructor and takes classes, but hasn't lately because she has developed a chronic cough and the doctor told her to take a break until she got rid of the cough. Well, the other night, we were watching TV and there was a commercial for some martial arts movie, and it must have made her miss her favorite activity. She got up and went to the closet and pulled out her SWORD and SABER!!! Haha, she told me "watch out"..she followed it with a wicked kind of laugh, that for a second kind of scared me! haha, but she pointed out that they were not sharp. I am so eager for her to get better so I can go to a class and watch her in action!!
I hope that I can make a quick update while I'm in Bariloche. I'm so excited about all the pictures I'm going to get to update and share with you all!! Have a great weekend and a great next week! Hasta Lugego! Wish me luck, SUERTE!

I'm falling behind

Sorry, I am slacking on my blog entries! I actually jinxed myself when I said I was feeling better in my last entry. I had to call the medico on Thursday, and unfortunately, they really believe in bedrest here. So, I was ordered for two days in the bed, three without leaving the house. UGH! Luckily for me, the US Open was on, so I got to watch all the semi and finals matches! I am thankfully feeling much better now.
We have a few days off of school next week in some of our classes, so we are taking full advantage of our time off and heading down to southern Argentina. We are going to Bariloche, which is the lake district! It is supposed to be so beautiful, and a lot cooler-back to the Northface! We are also going to this really neat town that is in all of our guidebooks called El Bolson. It's kind of a "hippy" town, but it has a lot of Swiss influence, so it's the chocolate capital of Argentina! YES! Then, we are going to cross the border into Chile, get our passports stamped, and see Puerto Montt and a few other small towns in the middle of gorgeous lakes and mountains! I will try to update my blog while I'm down there; I'm sure we cannot go over a week without internet access!
I have also taken some pictures of my room, so when I post my pictures from Bariloche, I will post them too. I hope everyone has a great week!
Padre,
Este es para vos: Vos extrano un monton!

There's your Spanish, Dad!

Proof that I can cook!

I am actually cooking! Mom, aren't you proud?! You might think that it is the easiest task possible, BUT you have to roll the dough paper thin to make empanada circles, and I was very good at this! Folding the empanada corners was definitely the hardest part. I think I may suggest to Liliana that we make emapanadas sometime soon. Molly Dillon has already requested that I learn to make caramel apple empanadas like Taco Bell, fast food queen. Hopefully, I'll be able to out due the Bell.
Luckily, the ZONDA wind did not make me sick yesterday. Liliana told me "not to breathe the air today" (haha, OKAY loco Liliana) because the ZONDA had stirred up a lot of dust. We did a mini survey of our families and asked their opinions about the Zonda,a nd some believe in it and others, like Katie Rae's mom said "It's nothing..Argentines just use it as an excuse." So, who really knows?! And my sinus infection is better thanks to Austin, who gave me Mucinex. She came so prepared. My midterms are coming up in a few weeks, so that should be interesting. I guess I should start going to class...broma! (joke). I'm actually reading a famous novel written by Felix Luna. It's supposed to be one of the best novels written about Argentine history. Go me! This weekend, we are going to the zoo!! It should be a lot of fun. I have no idea what kind of zoo this is going to be, but I'm sure it will be fun. Hopefully, they'll have an alpaca!

Hola!

I hope everyone is enjoying the "stolen pictures" album. I will steal more as soon as they are up from our cooking class Saturday. Katie Rae took pictures, so I'm sure she will have them up soon. Cooking was fun! We didn't get to do a whole lot of hands on stuff. We rolled out dough for alfahores (dessert cookie) and for tortitas (bread). We got to make empanadas, which was fun, but it's hard to make the edges look pretty when you fold it. I don't have the best culinary skills, so it might have been pretty easy for everyone else! I did get an apron, which I'm sure my roomates are excited about. I think it's our first apron of the house! We will see how often it gets used. Maybe the fam would like to have an Argentine Christmas Eve dinner! Thoughts anyone? Hopefully, I'll get some practice before then.
This week my sister is beginning to move out of our apartment and into her Bed-n-Breakfast. I hope Liliana doesn't have a break down or anything or become more annoying to me about when I'm coming home, where I'm going, etc. She seems to be pretty active though and has gotten more active as I've been here, so hopefully her social life will start to get into full swing as the weather gets warmer.
Bad news, there is a "Zonda" watch for tomorrow. Liliana has already told me she thinks I should stay inside all day tomorrow and not go to my classes! Haha, as great as that sounds, I don't think I can. Monday's are my busiest days and if I don't go to class, I will be so bored the rest of the week! I know that sounds so nerdy, but I don't know if I could stay indoors that whole time. Hopefully, it won't affect me tomorrow. I already have another cold from all the spring allergies I guess.
Good news! Our Sunday chica dinner group is going to a tango show and dinner tonight! It should be fun! Maybe we'll give tango another try. In my new photo album, there is a picture of Mary and I when we had our first tango lesson. As you can see, we were taking it really seriously!
I hope everyone has a great week! Hasta luego!

Buen Dia

I finally stole some pictures from my friends, so I have horseback riding pictures! This picture is of my horse Picassa and myself. I'm also uploading more pictures that I've gotten from them. I had a really successful day in ceramica yesterday. I ended up buying a book on ceramica because I was having a hard time grasping all the concepts visually. The book definitely helped fill in the wholes, and the first time I sat down at the turno yesterday, I made a vase on my first try, all by myself!! It's not very tall, but it is so pretty, and I am SO proud!
We have our cooking class tomorrow, and I am also very excited. I really hope that I don't burn anything and that the food is edible. I think Liliana is hinting for me to cook something that I like cooking at home for her. Little does she know that my cooking skills are very inconsistent! I have no clue what to make? Please help me with some suggestions. If I can find some peanut butter at Walmart, maybe I'll make peanut butter cookies? She inhaled the peanut brittle I brought from home. Peanut butter is very rare and hard to find here. Dulce de leche is the peanut butter of South America. Also, they mayonaise like we eat ketchup. And it comes in these gross bags that you squeeze out! Thank goodness I don't like it! And also, another weird factoid, they have this stuff called "Salsa Golf" that is a mayonaise and ketchup mixture and it comes in packets like ketchup! So gross. I stick to mustard.
Have a great weekend! Hasta Luego!

El Zonda

Has anyone anyone ever heard of the Fohn in the Alps or the Chinook of the Rockies? Well, there is El Zonda in the Cuyo region and Mendocinians talk about its effects all the time. According to my guidebook and verified by Liliana, the Zonda is a strong air current that occurs in this region because of the Andes and my cause light headedness because of a drop in air pressure and can cause migraines. Because the Andes are so huge, we don't feel the strong winds in the city, there are actually taking place in the air above us. But, we still feel the effects. I got a lot of headaches when I first arrived, and I blamed it on various things, but yesterday, out of no where, I got the worst migraine I've ever had. I really never get headaches, but I was miserable yesterday and into the night. I ended up going to sleep at 8:15 until 10:30. Liliana swears its the Zonda. El Zonda also raises the temperature and lowers the humidity. But I don't think that there's anyway to predict it's coming? I'm really puzzled by it, but it obviously effects me a lot!
This weekend we are taking a cooking class sponsored by our COPA group. We are going to learn to make some of the regional foods here, empanadas, locro, flan, etc. I'm looking forward to it. Everyone knows I need all the cooking help I can get! Hasta Luego!

Ceramica y Flamenco!

Yesterday, I was very artsy. I finally had my first day of ceramics class AND I saw a Flamenco show last night! Ceramics was a lot of fun & I got reallllllly messy. They don't have electric wheels here so you have to keep the momentum going by kicking the wheel with your foot. And, as a novice, I was slinging clay and water everywhere trying to get the hang of it! It was fun though, and after three tries I actually made a vase! It's more of an abstract work of art. The teacher must think I'm creative and talented, when really I just didn't have the vase centered so it was crooked. Nonetheless, he told me that I could "fire it." So I guess by next class I'll have my first handmade piece?! We will see. Hopefully, my mistakes will continue to go in my favor. I'm definitely going to the supermarket (similar to our walmart) to buy a smock and pants of some sorts.
Last night, some of the girls and I went to Teatro Independencia and watched a Flamenco performance. It was really entertaining and intense! They danced for about 2 hours with an intermission. The theatre was really cool and really old. It was a great excuse to dress up. Horseback riding is tomorrow, so hopefully I will be able to get some interesting pictures! Also, I am uploading some of my skiing pictures from a few weeks ago, so check them out. Hasta Luego!

It's not 30 degrees anymore!!

Hola!! I have had two beautiful days in Mendoza! I finally don't have to wear my Northface, which is good because it smells like every place I've been the past month! I have finally uploaded all of the pics from my Jujuy, Purmamarca, and Salta trip. I think they are mostly in that order. There is a picture of the Alpaca!!! And of the infamous Graciela. She loved Natalie, and they are hugging in one of the pictures. Natalie is the type of person who will talk to anyone and joked around a lot with Graciela. Graci asked her if she was Jewish or if any of us were, Natalie replied "No, I'm Catholic" and Graci said, "Good..but I'm okay with the Jews, too." Haha, welcome to a Roman Catholic country! We also had trouble with our estufa, as you can tell in one of the pics. Katie Rae tried to demonstrate that the heater was falling off the wall.
Fortunately, we have learned our lesson and have already started planning our September trip to Bariloche! We've found nice Hostels and have already bought our bus tickets! We are an organized and focused group of girls!
Everyone told us that the Art department at the University was very organized, and I have witnessed this first hand. Our "first day" of ceramics class has been moved again to tomorrow afternoon! Hopefully, I will be able to report soon. The best dance company in Mendoza is performing this weekend, and we are all going to the show tomorrow night! It is supposed to highlight Flamenco and Tango! Saturday we are horseback riding in Mendoza near the Andes. I hope the weather continues to be perfect! It looks like I am going to have an exciting fun-filled weekend in Mendoza!
Molly Dillon, good luck at Elon this Friday!! I can't wait to hear all about it! xoxo

What an Adventure!

My first traveling adventure in Argentina has been a success. Our buses were pretty spectacular and were actually more spacious than any airplane I've ever been on, don't get me wrong, 19 hours is still not very much fun! Jujuy was a pretty boring town, so about 2 hours after we got off the bus, we got on a different one and traveled to a neighboring town called Purmamarca. We hiked along a trail called Camino del Colorado and it was amazing because all the rocks were different colors. It was really beautiful. The town was very small and had a lot of artisans. Alpaca is really popular there, and I am proud to say that I have fallen inlove with Alpacas! They are absolutely adorable; miniature llamas! In Salta, I got to take a picture with one! He didn't have much personality, but he was a lead rope like a horse =( but he was cute. Hopefully, I'll be able to upload a picture. I got a lot of great pics.
Our housing situation was a little sketchy in Salta. The Hostel "lost" our reservation and it was a holiday weekend so, we had a lot of trouble finding a second place to stay where we'd all be together. Long story short, we rented an apartment from a lady name Graciela (there's a pic of that too). It was dirty and cheap, but we had a blast! I think I went the longest without showering than I ever had. I missed my bed in Mendoza SO BADLY! I didn't sleep under the covers and since the heater didn't work, I slept in just about everything I brought with me. We got back at 8:30AM this morning and I scrubbed every inch of myself, slept for four hours, and feel like a new, well traveled person!
I am lucky to have such a great group of girls to travel with; we definitely made the best of the situation, and Graciela loves us! We are sending her a copy of our group picture, and she's mad that she didn't have a chance to put on any make-up. She couldn't say Austin's name, and kept trying to prounounce it and one time I snickered a little bit (because it was really funny sounding and everyone thought so) but she playfully turned around and popped me on the arm! She was a fireball!
I hope you enjoy the pictures! Have a great week, and good luck to everyone starting school!

Jujuy & Salta tomorrow!

Tomorrow, I begin my 20 hour bus ride to Northern Argentina! I am very excited! Fortunately, my History teacher assigned us a book to read by September, so I'm going to go buy it. What perfect timing, :/. I hope the picture link on my blog is working okay..wireless is slow, so it's taking me awhile to upload pictures, but I am doing it as fast as I can! I can't wait to take some pictures while I'm in Jujuy and Salta. I will be sure to fill everyone in on Monday or Tuesday of next week. My ceramics class also starts next week, so that will be exciting too! Have a great week and weekend! Chao!

Penitentes

Our skiing adventure yesterday was successful. We rented equipment and got transportation from a local place that picked you up at your house the morning of and handled all your equipment for you. Basically, my rentals, transportation, lift ticket, and food for the day cost $95 USD! Pretty unbelievable. The one downside was that I was the last person to be picked up and the attempts by mis amigas to save me a good seat, failed. I had to crawl in the VERY back of this church van sized bus and squeeze in between two gigantic Portuguese men. It was very cramped. They smelled of cheap cologne and the other girls swore they remembered them from the boliche. I don't know, but we made sure we were the first ones on the bus when it was time to leave!
The ski resort was completely different from anything I've ever skiied before (granted that's only Wintergreen), but even some of the other girls from out west said it was different too. There are no signs-none that distinguish difficulty, names, or even where the slopes are. It's just mountains and a ton of snow. You can pretty much go wherever you feel brave enough skiing. There was one sign that "showed" where the slopes were and it was just a bunch of different colored squiggly lines going down the mountain, but it's all the same hill! It was an interesting structure, but nonetheless, breathtakingly beautiful. And...we are all sunburned! My nose hurts so bad, I look like rudolph!
Our big Jujuy and Salta trip is Wednesday. So, I will write again before then (hopefully) then probably won't be able to until Monday or Tuesday. I hope everyone had a great weekend, and have a great week!

School Days

School has officially started. My schedule is pretty hectic on Mondays- I´m in class from 1 until 9! But then I have an easier schedule on Tuesday, 1- 8ish, and Wednesday is my last day of class, 1-3! I think I can deal with hectic Mondays if it means I have 4 day weekend! Two of my friends are in all of my classes, so that works out well. Since the classes are so long, we get breaks, so during those breaks we chat in English and try to piece together the parts of the lecture we didn´t understand. I´m taking an International Relations class and an Argentine History and Politics class. Then I have my program´s spanish class and ceramics starts next week. I´m pretty happy with it, and I think it´ll go well.
We have a Thursday, Friday and Monday off next week so about 7 of us are going to northern Argentina from Wednesday to Monday morning!!! We are going to Jujuy and Salta. We bought our bus tickets today. Going, it´s a 20 hour bus ride (to Juyjuy pronounced whoo-e-whoo-ee) haha. I´m really excited. Supposedly, it´s warmer. Salta is a really old town and there lots of preserved buildings and churches. There are also impressive, colorful, salt dunes. Interesting..I will keep you updated on that!
I am planning on taking a Tango lesson tomorrow night at the Fitness club a bunch of us joined. I think there are about 6 of us going. I hope it goes well..hopefully, I´ll learn something! I want to add more pictures soon..thanks for the comments and the emails! I really enjoy getting them! =) Just know if you send an email Monday, I may not get back to you until Wednesday!! =) Keep reading! Chao!

Hi everyone! This is a picture from the vineyard Alta Vista where we had a tour this weekend. We learned about the process and early that day we visited local artists. We had lunch after the tour at a museum and learned to tango (kinda). It was a very fun Saturday! I'm glad the Andes show up in the background in this picture; I was hoping they would. It was really breathtaking to always look to my left and see those huge mountains! I hope that when Mom, Dad & Molly come in October we can go back to the same vineyard and I can get a summer picture. It's going to be interesting to see how everything has changed from Winter to Spring. Ignore the date on the picture, I figured out it was like that after the picture was taken. I am going to try to make a separate website for my pictures and I will put the link on here as soon as I can. My battery is low, so I will blog later and give an update on how the classes go this week! Hasta Luego

Snow!

Let it snow! The past two days, I have enjoyed (kind of) snow in Mendoza! It hasn´t been sticking, but it has been really pretty-really big snow flakes. The mountains look really pretty, so hopefully I can get a pick this afternoon from my apartment rooftop. I didn´t have my camera the first day it snowed because I didnt know and the second day, you couldnt really tell in the pictures. Hopefully, the snow capped mountains will show up! Wednesday, we had a 2 hour break, so my two friends Mary and Krysia and I were going to take the bus to the Regata Club, which is a fitness center in the Park that we can join monthly at a student rate. Since it was snowing, we didn´t want to walk the whole way and we thought the bus we got on would take us closer to the club. Well, unfortunately, we ended up in Godoy Cruz, the neighboring town, 6 miles outside of Mendoza. The bus driver literally stopped the bus and said ¡Chao! We had to get off, walk to the next bus stop, in the snow, and take the bus back to campus for an orientation. Our little adventure lasted an hour and 45 minutes, hence, we didn´t join the club. It was quite scary at moments, but thankfully we were all together, so it was mostly amusing to us. We are all a little timid about getting on another bus now, haha, we survived.
My public university classes start on Monday, so that should be interesting. I changed my schedule around, so I have classes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday only. Sweet! A lot of us are taking a ceramics class and it´s for 12 hours a week, Monday and Tuesday, but you only have to go a minimum of 2 hours a week! I think as long as you can get your pottery made, you are fine. Our director told us that the art department is the most unorganized facultad in the university and to not get frustrated. Supposedly, all of our classes are going to be pretty different than what we are used to. For instance, there is no tardy policy. Professors dont´care when you arrive to the class because they figure it´s your loss, not theirs. They also will allow you to answer your phone and they will answer there. Students and professors can smoke in class, sleep, drink, eat, make out. (PDA is very socially acceptable here). Hopefully, I´ll have some good stories to share next week! All I know is that I am sitting in the front, like the geeky foreign kid, and not looking around!
Tomorrow, we have a wine, art, and tango excursion in Mendoza. I´m pretty excited, I think it should be a lot of fun. I will give you a report Monday or so. Have a great weekend! xoxo

My First Class

Well, I survived my first Argentine class. My professors name is Elbio Rodriguez and the class is investigacion de mercado. It´s a business class and luckily, there are a lot of words in the business field that are cognates, and of the 10 or so he used, I was able to pick out. Other than that, I didn´t get a whole else! haha..He did give us a website that we have to go to and print some materials out for a TEST next Thursday. So, that should be interesting. I´ve printed the materials, so I hopefully, I´ll understand them by Thursday. Students don´t use books here, they use ¨fotocopias¨ apparently, they don´t really pay attention to copy right laws. But you have to buy the photocopies when you start the class, then the materials that I printed today are just supplemental readings. I´m not sure if I will stay in this class or not; it depends on my other classes and how they all schedule with each other and if I can get to them on time. The class today was downtown, about a 5 minute walk from my apartment, but the public university where the majority of my classes are is about a 25 minute bus ride-trolly ride. It will be tough. But the Professor was nice, he introduced me to the class twice, which was mortifying. But no one laughed or gawked too much. One girl, Romina, came up to me afterwards and told me in brock English that she speaks spanish and didn´t understand much that he said, haha..isn´t that comforting? Oh well. It was definitely an interesting experience. I was able to scribble down some complete sentences and a few key points (i think) and looked up some words I didn´t know. Some of the words I thought I heard, didn´t exist, so, maybe I´ll catch them next time! haha
So, I´ve been watching a lot of tv, probably too much, (but it´s so easy to do considering dinner isn´t until 9:30 and I´m usually out of stuff to do by 5 or so) but I was able to watch Latin American Idol!! Unfortunately, it doesn´t have English subtitles, but you really don´t need to know what they are saying because like the American one, you can hear who is good and who is terrible. It is pretty hilarious, and I think it either comes on tonight or tomorrow. It´s getting close to the end. It´s funny how closely the judges resemble the American judges. The ¨Paula¨ is totally made up and glamorous, the ¨Simon¨ is metro and clearly opinionated, then they have the ¨bigger guy¨ who´s funny and makes jokes, etc. Anyway, I thought I would share. Talk to you later!

Semana Dos

Well, I have survived my first week and first full "Argentine" weekend. My friends and I tried out the popular Escra Boliche. It was interesting to say the least. Other than having a live band, it was comparable to clubs at in Raleigh, not that I've gone to a lot of those. It is better than City Limits, haha. We had a good time though..there were about 14 of us from our group, so it was nice. We didn't quite make the 6:00AM time, but I guess 4:00AM isn't too shabby.
Classes at the private University (Congresso) started today. I'm trying out a business class tomorrow morning, but I don't know if it is going to fit in my schedule. It will be interesting to see what it's like. I am really nervous about interacting with Argentinian students. I'm sure they will be nice and helpful, but it is intimidating.
We had a group walk around Parque San Martin on Sunday and it was luckily a really pretty day. Apparently, there is a free aerobics class from 9-1 on Saturdays and Sundays. Picture a Hispanic Richard Simmons on a stage shaking his hips Shakira style to about 50 Argentinian women!! It was hilarious! I have some pictures our group participating, so hopefully I will upload them soon. Wish me luck with classes this week! I hope everyone had a great weekend!

En el fin del Mundo

Hola! I do not have many exciting stories to share, but I will update you on a few topics. The food has gotten a little better, still weird. I had lentil soup for lunch today, and it was better than I had first thought. Liliana also made me flan, so that was a nice treat as well! We also had spaghetti last night, so I've been full and satisfied for the last 24 hours, not just full! haha.
My mandatory Spanish class started yesterday, and it is going well. We are reviewing now, blah. But I need it. It stinks actually being in CLASS! I keep imagining my parents and family on a CRUISE right now and Molly Keel at the lake and I am a little envious! I guess what goes around comes around when in late October and November I get to wear shorts =) I hope to see more of the city and take some pictures this weekend. Hopefully, I will be able to upload some by early next week.
Class "shopping" at the private university starts Monday. I am visiting one class there. Wish me luck. Luckily, I can walk, so I don't have to be worried about getting lost in the transit system.
Oh, for the past two days, the teachers at the public university were on strike and the entrance to our campus was blocked off! Unfortunately, our class was not affected because our teachers are not really paid by the state/province? But once the second semester classes start, if our university teachers go on strike, NO CLASS! How nice! It supposedly happens a lot at the beginning of a semester, so keep your fingers crossed! Today they were burning stuff in the entrance way (small piles on the asphalt), but no one seemed to think this was dangerous? The police weren't even there! Jose (our director) said it's typical Latin American fashion, bienvenidos! (welcome)
"En el fin del Mundo" is an expression Liliana always says to me when I get that blank look on my face after she's tried to communicate something with me. She tells me "Caitlin, you are at the end of the world! Don't worry! You will understand soon."
Hasta Luego

La comida

Buenos tardes! I´ve been getting some questions about the food and I am sad to report that it is not as grand as I had thought it would be. I´ve had a few good meals out. Empanadas are good (i´ve had cheese and onion empanadas), but my host mother does not have very good meal choices. I had a weird lunch yesterday. It was rice, with two fried eggs on top. It was weird, but good once you broke the egg yoke over everything and poured a lot of salt on it. Last night, was the weirdest of all though. It started out well: homemade mashed potatoes. Then, she gave me two hot dogs with it!!! Two hot dogs and mashed potatoes! I thought Argentina was famous for its ¨bife¨?? Today for lunch, I had boiled chicken with a lot of PEAS, carrots, onions, and some awful green olives. I ate most of it, except the olives. She asked me if I wanted more instant pea ´sopa¨ but I kindly declined. Hopefully, when I go back to the apartment, she will offer me tostados and cafe (which is what I have for breakfast every morning). At around 5, I usually have a snack, or everyone does in Argentina. Now, don´t get me wrong, I´m not starving, but I guess my expectations were too high about the food. If it weren´t for bananas and dulce de leche, I might be starving though.
I´ve found that it is 10X easier to talk to Liliana (my host mother) in spanish than it is to talk to my friends. we rarely talk to each other in spanish, and if we do it´s ugly sounding spanglish. Friend lingo is much harder to translate than proper, descriptive spanish. I was able to carry on a conversation in Spanish with Liliana about politics today during lunch. It turned out to be quite interesting. The presidential elections for Argentina are in October (or september, no se) and President Kirchner´s term is up, but his wife is running. I dont´really think anyone likes her, but she´s running. So, I compared her to Hilary Clinton and asked Liliana if she knew who she was and she said she did, but she didn´t think anyone liked her either, haha. Liliana reads a lot, and she knew about Obama too. She like Bill Clinton though. And when I asked her if it bothered her that he´d had such a public scandal, she said No because he was a good president the rest of the time and that was all that mattered. I thought it was a good insight, and it was definitely interesting to know someone else´s perspective. I think the US has an obsession with people´s personal lives and that a lot of other countries focus on more important aspects like policy, international relations, the economy, etc. .. Hmmm, what a novel idea?
Hasta luego!

Internet cafes

I abruptly stopped writing because my airtime ran out at the internet cafe. Fortunately, the cafes dont´close during siesta. Siesta is taken very seriously in Mendoza and everything is closed from 2-5 everyday. Most everything is closed on Sunday. It is literally a day of rest. My madre explained to me yesterday that they usually don´t eat a heavy dinner on Sundays. However, I didn´t figure this out until about 11:00PM, so I had instant pea soup. yuck. Not the most delicious meal I´ve eaten here...I will know for next Sunday. I really enjoy cafe con leche and te con leche. I could live off of that!
Now that I have found the internet cafe, I should be able to get on the computer more regularly and keep the blog updated. I will try to let everyone know when I´ll get on so we can Skype. I think you can group chat on Skype? Anyway, I´m off to exchange some money! 3 argentine pesos = $1 USD!! whooo'hooo!!
Hasta Luego!

I have so much to say!

I feel like I could talk for hours! I am slowly able to communicate more and more with my mother and sister everyday, but it is very frustrating when we misunderstand each other or don´t know what the other one is saying. Fortunately, they both speak a little English, so if it´s really bad, they will speak a little. Our entire group met up this morning for orientation, and it was really good to see everyone and figure out where everyone lives. Most of the friends I´d made live closer to the huge park in Mendoza and closer to our university. But once it gets warmer, I´m sure we will be walking more and it will be easier to meet up. I haven´t figured out the bus system yet, but I´m sure it cant be that difficult.
I have fallen in love with dulce de leche. For those of you that don´t know, it is a caramel looking stuff and it´s sweet, but not too sweet. My favorite way to eat it is on bananas. mmhhhhmmmm.

Buenos Aires!

Today has been a very busy day, and it's not quite over yet. We did a bus tour for most of the day and went to a pretty cool cemetary in the middle of the city. Basically, if you are somebody in Argentina you are buried there..it was pretty neat. We had lunch on the Rio de la Plata which is looks more like an ocean. It separates Buenos Aires from Uraguay. There, I got my first taste of Argentine time. I believe we got to lunch around 1:45 and were finished eating about 3:45. Everything is three courses and lonnnnnnggg. It's nice for us because we are all getting to know each other, but it's hard to think that all our meals (except breakfast) will be like this. I've had three "cafes" today, which is probably helping my lack of sleep, but I love coffee and so do Argentines.
Our orientations have been very helpful and the director, Jose, is really nice. Today is the last day we are supposed to speak English, even with each other. Luckily, we meet our host families tomorrow when our plane lands in Mendoza around 8:30 PM. I'm hoping everything will go well. We've figured out that some of us supposedly live near each other, which is nice. Hopefully, we'll be able to meet up and walk to the university. My family lives in downtown Mendoza and that's about all I know so far.
One of the things we've talked about in orientation is how different Argentines spend their time, especially at night. Jose told us that after we eat dinner with our host families around 9:00 or 10:00 PM, we should take a nap until 1:00AM, then shower, and then go out for the night! And, the craziest part, is we should come back when our host mothers are preparing breakfast! I have no idea when I'm going to sleep or when my classes will start. We do get to participate in Siesta from 1:00-4:00 everyday but Monday & Wednesday (because of our mandatory class). I'm going to have to work on my ability to nap. Now, if I were Kristin, siesta would be no problem (haha!) I'll keep you posted on how I adapt to this new schedule.
I'm getting low on battery, so I don't know if I'll be able to get on again until I can buy one Sunday (hopefully).
Thank you all for the emails and posts!! I really, really enjoy being able to read them when I get the chance. I will email you back when I can, I promise. Hasta luego!

The Big DELAY

Well, it's 12:35 AM and I am still in Miami. My 11:20 PM flight has been delayed twice until 2:45 AM. Luckily, there are about 25 of us hanging out in one corner of gate E8. I hope all this waiting will make me tired enough to sleep through the night on the plane.
Everyone I've met so far is really nice. The majority are girls and everyone seems different and unique in their own way and many of us are from different parts of the country which is also interesting. There are 4 girls from Davidson College & 2 girls from Chapel Hill, so everyones been playing the "Do you know who "such and such" is?" game. Oh well, it passes the time. For the most part, everyone is nervous about their spanish speaking skills, which makes me feel better. I think it will work out well if a lot of us are on the same levels. I've also found some people who are interested in skiing, so hopefully, I can do that soon!
Mom, Dad, Molly, Molly Jo, Kristin & Brock, thank you for the very nice send-off today. I really appreciated it. And Happy Birthday Andrew!

The Big Day

Whew, 5:25PM will be here before I know it. I hope many of you have received my massive email. Please be patient with me as I am new to blogging, however, I have been taking notes from Liz & Meredith, so hopefully, I will live up to theirs :).
As promised, here is my address. I cannot receive mail at my host family's house, so this address is the Butler Study Abroad office at my new University, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo.
Caitlin Dillon
COPA Mendoza
Institute for Study Abroad
Barrio Dalvian
M27-C1
M55000-Mendoza
Argentina

I will also put my phone number on here. I get free incoming calls, but have to buy airtime. I would love to get a QUICK call (that's for you Dad).
54-9-11-40924431
Also, I've downloaded Skype which allows you to talk through your computer, and my Skype name is caitlin.m.dillon
Once I get settled in Mendoza and begin classes, I will figure out the best methods of communication. But it's safe to say that I will receive emails and have the easiest access to checking my email.

I look forward to hearing from you all! Take care, and remember while you're sunbathing at the pool, I'll be skiing in the Andes. =)