finalmente...el final día de clase

So...I just finished the written part of my final exam. I think I did well! (I hope... :D) In about thirty minutes I have my oral part. I´m not to worried about it. After class I am going home with Joanna and then we are taking a cab to the bus terminal where we will leave for BUENOS AIRES. It is an all night bus ride again, so hopefully I will get some sleep which is very unlikely. Tomorrow we are going on a city tour and then visiting various museums. I am really excited to see the capital city. Then on Saturday we have some free time to get lunch and do what we want. Saturday night we are going to a Tango Show which is where you eat a fancy dinner while watching Tango!! We do a few more touristy things on Sunday and then we get to fly back which is awesome because it is only an hour flight! My family is throwing an "asado" for me on Sunday night. (That is kind of like a barbeque). Everytime they talk about me leaving they start to tear up, so I can already picture the tearful goodbye haha! I fly out of Cordoba at 5:40 pm, and several of the other month students are on my flight to Santiago. Then I am on my own to South Carolina! I am excited about coming home and a sad about leaving. I am going to miss my family here and hope that I will have a chance in the future to see then again. The two girls that I have gotten really close to here live in Florida and Vermont. This month has flown by because I have been so busy all the time. I can´t wait for football season!!!!!! And I definitely can´t wait to move into my new apartment!!!!

Anyways, the past couple of days have been filled with studying and relaxing. Last night Joanna and I went to a Mexican restaurant that was reeeeaaaalllllyyyy good but a different kind of mexican food that I am used to. Then again my bus from hell (N4) took an hour to come to the bus stop! haha but oh well, soon I will have my car again. After this trip, I am very very very appreciative of my car! :D (Thanks Dad and Mom!!!)

I am off to talk about Mate!!!! And then off to Buenos Aires!!!!

¡Chao!

¡¡¡¡¡San Rafael!!!!

hola...
sooo I am going to post pictures of my weekend in San Rafael eventually, but my camera just died...so...I am going to steal pictures from Joanna and post some of them for now. This weekend was amazing. We stayed in a cute little hotel for really cheap, took tours of two wineries, and took a tour of La Cañon de Atuel. We rented bikes all day Saturday to get around the town. I´m pretty sure that I biked atleast 15 miles!!! Haha, it was really fun though. It is hard to explain everything in one post, but I will bring pictures and stories home with me. :D I really needed this trip. It was relaxing, and a lot of fun!!!

photos.

San Rafael...here we come!

ok so I have great news! Today I bought a bus ticket to San Rafael, Mendoza. San Rafael is a town outside of the city Mendoza in Argentina. It is about a 10 hour bus ride, and Joanna, Mary Beth, and I decided to go there this weekend. This is our only free weekend, and we wanted to do something fun rather than just sit in Cordoba. So...we are going to San Rafael. Apparently you can rent a bike there and travel everywhere on bike. I am sooo excited about this. There is hiking, rafting, rock climbing, and skiing. Mendoza also produces 70% of the countries wine, therefore, we are going to go to some of the vineyards. Our professor said that she thinks it is the prettiest place in Argentina and has some of the neatest things to do. We are not completely sure what we are going to do yet, but we´re thinking about hiking and maybe parasailing. We are leaving friday night and will be back monday morning. I am way excited!

Yesterday, I had my horseback riding adventure. We went riding through the foothills, and even forged a river on our horses. Yep, what can I say I am a pro Gaucho (their version of cowboy). :D Anyways, It was quite fun and very pretty, but I didn´t get the chance to take any pictures. :( My host mother made me another scarf. And I am going to miss Valentina´s birthday this weekend but my host family said that I shouldn´t worry about it because this is a chance of a lifetime. Tomorrow I have a meeting with Alfredo (the program coordinator) about my experience and the program. I had a crazy taxi driver last night, but it was ok because Joanna and Mary Beth were with me. Anyways, got to go!!! :D

Chao...

el fin de semana

This past weekend was packed full. On Friday night, I just spent time with my family talking and eating and hanging out. I wanted to get to bed at a decent time because we had a long long day ahead of us and I was starting to become sick. Saturday was sooooooo long. We met at the University at 9:30 and headed to Alta Gracia (a town just 45 minutes outside of Cordoba). In Alta Gracia we visited the Estancia first. This estancia was founded by the jesuits of Spain in the 1600s and is now made into a museum. It was good but it was almost like being in class for the entire day because our profesor came and gave us a lecture in each room. Then we had lunch which was extremely good (I had lasagna. But it was different the normal lasagna in the US. It was sooooo yummy). Then we went to the museum of Che Guevarra. Aparently Che lived in Alta Gracia when he was young because of the dry conditions of the town (he had asthma). And it is now made into a museum all about him. If you study history, then you probably know somewhat of who Che is. But I did not. He is a revolutionist from Argentina, and went from country to country starting revolutions because of dictatorships. He worked hand in hand with Fidel Castro (apparently when Castro was good. I never knew that, but I guess I need to brush up on my Cuban/South American history :D) Anyways that was another very boring ordeal, but I made it through alive. Sunday (as I said in my previous blog) was spent making Budin de Pan with Joanna, Shoko, and my host mother. I will have to make it when I come home because it is very different and very good. I am sick, and my family has been taking very good care of me with many cough drops, hot teas, and they even made me a scarf :D!!! haha. anyways. I am soooo excited about tomorrow because I am going on a trip through the Sierras on horseback! ¡Hasta Luego! :D

they are going to hate me for this.

soooo last night, joanna, shoko, and i got together at my house to make a traditional argentine dessert for class today. we made budin de pan. it turned out really well, and last night was really fun because we got to spend the whole day with my family talking. (which is the best way to learn). things are going well here. :D miss you guys!!!!

here is a video of our bus ride to the Che Guevarra museum.


one more of our wait in a coffee shop.

recap.

so i am finally going to write about what has been going on here in argentina. the pictures that i posted a couple of days ago are over about the past week. the pictures of me in a pink wig were taken at a peluca party. peluca is wig in spanish. anyways over the past week i have done so many things. i have taken horseback riding lessons, gone to a gaucho festival in Cosquin, eaten nasty food, eaten good food, spent time with my family, and spent time with my new american friends. today i have my first big exam which i feel like i am not ready for even though i studied all last night and this morning. we always have so much homework and sometimes i feel like i can`t experience argentina because of all the work i have to do. but anyways, things are good. my family is amazing. mom and dad will be happy to know that i am being taken care of very well. my mom here cleans my room everday, does my laundry, makes my food, and sends me to class with a snack in hand. :D i feel like i am 10 again haha. so i guess when i am get home i will be spoiled and have to wake up to reality. the kids are great and i am very glad that i was placed with a family with kids. i think that it just adds so much more to my day. i have one free day and that is valentina`s birthday (my sister here) so i will be spending that day at her birthday party. i have become really close to two girls here: johanna and mary beth. i have only known them for 2 weeks but i feel like i have known them all my life. haha. yesterday was a monumental day for argentina and it will go down in their history books. AND I WAS HERE TO EXPERIENCE IT!!! it is a really long story but if you would like to be informed i`m sure that you can go to cnn and check it out. they have a really corrupt government and president and i feel for the people. but yesterday the people won for the first time in ages and everyone was celebrating in the streets. i do miss certain things like: grits, fresh vegatables, my car, san jose`s, and of course my family and friends. my spanish is continuing to get better which is great. i understand almost everything that my family and teacher says now, but i am still struggling with the talking part. sometimes my brain just wants to shut down, but this is an intensive month so i hope that it will help me in the long run. i saw a movie here in spanish: walle! it was really good and the guy who sold us our tickets was like you know that the movie is in spanish right? and we were like si. haha! it was good but the talking parts were really fast. i understood the majority. tomorrow we are going to some museums alllll day. and sunday i have free so i am looking forward to that. hope it is not too hot there!!! the weather is great here, haha!

chao