Thursday
May 3rd- Day 64
Our bus
got into Rosario around 4 and we took taxis home and got a little bit of sleep
before getting up for class in the morning. Susan and I went to our UCEL class
and then I sat in the café and waited for Maddie’s Spanish class to get done so
she could walk home with me. While we were in Ushuaia, our package from our
sorority sisters arrived so we were ready to open it right away! We got a few
notes, some fruit snacks(!), and a bunch of Ring Pops left over from a meeting!
We were pretty excited about all that. After that, I took a really long nap
because I was dead from our trip and sleeping half in a bus and half in a bed
last night. Later on I worked on some homework and ate ravioli for dinner with
my host mom. She also made Jell-O so that was a nice thing to come to as well.
Day 65-
Friday May 4th
I had
Spanish this morning and we got our tests back. I did better on this one than
the first exam so I am pretty happy. Afterwards I sat in the café for a while
to go through pictures and write about the trip. I went home for a quick
sandwich for lunch and then Maddie and I met in the park to study for our
history test. We have to get up and go take our test at 10am tomorrow since our
professor was sick one day and we got a week behind on class. That sure doesn’t
happen at Simpson! Rickito was over for pork and mashed potatoes for dinner and
to stay overnight. He is the grandson that has been the least interested in me.
After dinner, I asked him if he wanted to try a candy from the US and at first
he said no, but then he agreed and he thought the blue raspberry Ring Pop was
pretty awesome, especially since it turned his mouth completely blue. I think I
might have earned some brownie points with that. After dinner I returned to my
studying for the morning.
Saturday
May 5th- Day 66
I got
up and took my test at UCEL, it wasn’t too difficult at all. I think I did
pretty well on it. I went home for lunch and then walked to one of the parks
where a few of us were meeting up to hang out in the afternoon. We sat and
talked for a couple hours and made plans for a movie before I went home for
dinner. My host mom and I had chicken and salad for dinner while my host dad
had to do some work. After dinner I went to the movie theater with a bunch of
the girls and we saw The Lucky One. This one was in English with subtitles so
it was obviously easy for us to follow, but I like reading the subtitles along
the bottom to see how everything translates. We went to a late showing, so
after the movie it was already 1am so I took the bus home and went to bed.
Sunday
May 6th- Day 67
I woke
up early and met Maddie, Susan, Haley, Melissa, Kayla, Caitlyn, and Addi in one
of the plazas where our transportation to Victoria was going to pick us up. We
all decided to go skydiving! Since we had to go to Victoria (the city right
across the river from Rosario) to go, we got to cross the bridge finally! We
left Rosario around 9:30ish or a little before. After that, I lost track of
time for most of the day because we were all so excited! We met a few other
people in the plaza that were going and we all went through a short training
session when we got to the flying club in Victoria and then we all paid and
signed in and then we started to get going. There were 2 of us with 2
instructors (and the pilot of course) in each group that went up. Maddie and I
went first since Maddie was one that needed to go soon or she wouldn’t go and I
was one that wasn’t really nervous at all. We took off and got going up and up.
We flew over the river a bit and really from the sky, we could’ve been in Iowa!
When we were up where we needed to be, Maddie jumped first and then it was my
turn. It was pretty exhilarating and awesome! They took video and picture of a
lot of the fall and the girls on the ground were taking pictures for everyone
else too. We had about 35 seconds of free-fall before the parachute opened and
then we had a nice ride down. I’ve wanted to go skydiving forever, so why not
here?! It was a lot cheaper here than in the US, especially adding the pictures
and video. We were all really glad we went! We spent most of the day there
since we had to wait for everyone to jump because the instructors and pilots
are the ones who drove the van and car from Rosario where they all live too. We
napped outside some because we were all still pretty tired. I got home around
8:30 and then my host parents’ daughter Eleonora and her husband Rodrigo came
over for dinner. We had a typical Argentine dish that I already forgot the name
of and am going to need to ask again. A lot of it was kind of like a stew or
roast where a bunch of vegetables were cooked with the meat, but then served
separately. There were a couple types of meat, potatoes, a kind of sweet potato
(that was not orange though), carrots, onions, pumpkin, and a couple kinds of
beans. Also, we had some corn on the cob- it wasn’t Iowa, but it wasn’t bad!
For dessert we had peaches with cream and dulce de leche and then we all
watched my skydiving video and looked through some of the pictures from
Ushuaia. By then it was late and I was ready for bed, it didn’t feel like it was
Sunday yet, but I knew I had school in the morning.
Monday
May 7th- Day 68
I got
up and had Spanish this morning and then sat in the café with Susan, Caitlyn,
and Juan Francisco (one of the ambassadors) to wait for the other group to have
their Spanish class. I got my skydiving stuff uploaded to my computer so I can
share it sometime this week. After, we went to an orientation for a group that
is here for a May Term from Tennessee and helped to welcome them to Rosario. It
is Haley’s birthday today, so a big group went to Fellini’s for lunch together
after that. I went back to the UCEL café to work on some stuff and look a few
things up before I finally headed home for the day. I was actually looking
forward to Monday all weekend because I knew after class my clothes would be
ready at the lavanderia and I had nothing
left to wear after Ushuaia! Not much better than picking up a clean load of
laundry all washed, dried, and folded for you!
Tuesday
May 8th- Day 69
I had
my Spanish and history classes today and then I headed home. I spent the
afternoon doing homework for my communications class that I had been putting
off and took a pretty decent nap because I have had a lack of sleep for a while
(note: I haven’t gotten to sleep in past about 8:30 since before Ushuaia and it
ain’t workin for me). Later on my host mom and I had salad, chicken, and rice
and then I went to the English class at UCEL with a few other students and then
came home and went to bed.
Day 70-
Wednesday May 9th
Wednesday
is usually my day to sleep in, but not this week. Susan and I had to meet our
group from our public health class to visit a hospital for a group project we
have to do this month. We met them and walked together to one of the public
hospitals in Rosario. We went to a children’s hospital and talked (or rather
the UCEL students talked while Susan and I listened) with a sub-director of the
hospital. It was really interesting to see how different the conditions are
between that hospital and the hospitals I am used to seeing in the United
States. I would like to visit one of the private hospitals here to compare as
well, because I was honestly a bit shocked. A lot of the public parts of the
hospital like the hallways and waiting areas (not the actual rooms, which we
didn’t see) are in open air and it’s just a bunch of people waiting around with
their kids. There are the ever present stray dogs from the streets running
around inside the hospital walls too, it’s pretty crazy. The public hospitals
like this are completely free and are for the people who can’t pay for
insurance and their own bills. People with insurance can go to them and use
their insurance so the hospital (and government and whoever is funding the
hospital) don’t have to cover them, but the waits there are longer. The doctors
are generally the same as the private hospitals. I believe someone told me at
one point the doctors kind of rotate between hospitals and clinics so the
people in the public hospitals are getting adequate care. After the hospital
visit, we walked back to UCEL for our communications and reflection classes.
Communications was interesting today. A few of us that were returning from
Ushuaia didn’t go to communications last week and before our trip our professor
Graciela told us instead of getting the assignment from the other students, our
writing assignment could be writing about Ushuaia- obviously the more
interesting topic. During class we were going around and reading our writings
and the other students had an assignment about the recipe for their favorite food
from the US and then we were running out of class time and she happened to call
on me in the back to read mine, so I did. While I was reading it, my professor
actually starting crying a bit because she thought it was really pretty. She’s
been to Ushuaia and liked it a lot so I guess it got to her a little, I never
thought I really wrote very pretty- maybe I’m better with words in Spanish?
Anyway, it kind of made my day and made me feel like I’m doing pretty well with
Spanish. After class I talked to Susan, Maddie, and Kayla for a little while
and then I walked home and hung out in my house for a while in the afternoon
and went for a run. I went to another English class with those three girls
tonight and it was another interesting experience. My host parents and I ate a
late dinner of shepard’s pie because of that and they were also gone later at
the vet with Bernarda (the dog) because she is a little sick. She had a bad
cough kind of thing yesterday and it was weird and I’m 50 kinds of nervous
because the poor dog is already 17 ½ years old and I really hope nothing
happens to her while I’m here!
Thursday
May 10th- Day 71
Susan
and I went to our public health class as usual this morning and then I walked
home. Maddie was at the bus station a while later buying our tickets to Mendoza
because she had to go there anyway so while she was doing that I was
researching and booking our hostel so we are ready to go for our next trip! I
did some homework, cleaning, and packing for the rest of the morning and
afternoon and then it was my week to go volunteer with the kids at La Escuelita
for a couple of hours. After that I came home and was on the computer for a
little while and Eleonora came over and a little while later my host mom came
home. We had dinner early because my host mom thought I was going to English,
but I didn’t end up going because I hadn’t finished the last part of my
homework for Friday. My host mom, Eleonora, and I talked for a couple hours I
think over our chicken milanesa and potatoes dinner and Eleo had to leave for
her friend’s birthday party that was on our block. After that I finished my
homework and got all my stuff together because we leave for Buenos Aires right
after classes tomorrow.
Friday
May 11th- Day 72
After
my Spanish class and the projects class Caitlyn and I grabbed some empanadas
quick and then took a bus to the bus station to meet the group and head to BA
for the night. Our bus was a little late and we didn’t get to BA and our hostel
until it was already kind of dark. Our hostel was on one of the peatonals
(streets for only walking with lots of stores) so we ran down to a couple
stores, one of them being a shoe store where I think almost all the girls
bought shoes. Maddie, Susan, and I bought some the first time we were in BA and
now we all have them! I somehow managed to talk myself out of buying another
pair even though I really wanted to (see: I have no money and I’m saving every
cent for traveling at this point). After that a group of us went in search of a
decently priced pizza joint because it was late and we didn’t want to cook,
eventually we found one and shared some pizza and had a fun dinner together. I
went back to the hostel and went to bed at a decent time because we had to get
up super early for the ferry ride to Montevideo, Uruguay.
Saturday
May 12th- Day 73
We left
the hostel at 6:15am and walked the 10ish blocks or so together to the Buquebus
(the name of the ferry) station and met up with Wolf and everyone and went
through security and all that business since we were leaving the country. We
decided to take this trip as a class because our visas in Argentina are good
for 10 years, but only for 90 days at a time or you have to pay a fee. So Wolf
added this trip into our program because, why pay a silly fee when you can use
that money to travel to another country and renew your visa in the process?! I
like the way she thinks! The ferry left at 8 and we got to Montevideo shortly
after 11. The ferry was definitely the biggest boat I’ve ever been on since I’m
lacking a cruise as past family vacation, but the water did get a little rough
during the ride. I slept for a lot of it because it wasn’t a full load of
people and I took a little row of 3 to myself and laid down quite comfortably
other than they had the air conditioning or something cranked up a little high
and it was kind of cold. When we got to Montevideo we went through customs and
we walked to the hostel together because it was pretty close to the port and we
got ourselves settled. Susan and I left right away to find a bank so we could
take out Uruguayan pesos (which we were terrible at the conversion rate and
ended up having to go again later the same night because we only took out about
$35 US dollars worth… oops, sorry dad! The ATM turned out to be on a peatonal
and there were artisans and things so we started our sightseeing right then.
During that we found out that like Rosario, Montevideo has a California Burrito
Co. so we found our dinner for the night as we are forever craving burritos,
especially when they have black beans! We continued on to one of the plazas and
from there we saw Teatro Solis which I’d read a little about in my guide book
so we walked over there and it happened to be just in time for a tour so we
paid 20 pesos ($1) for a tour in Spanish and checked it out. It was the first
theater in Uruguay and it was pretty. I’m sure it’s nothing compared to Teatro
Colón, but I can only base that off of pictures because the price for a tour of
Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires is ridiculous for non-Argentineans. After that we
walked down to the coast to check out “La Rambla” which in Uruguayan Spanish
means something like “path along the coast.” It was a little chilly today so
there wasn’t a lot of people and we weren’t in a very popular part of it so we
didn’t get much of a feel for it because we decided to head back to the hostel
to grab another jacket and Google map where the other places we were interested
in were. After finding something close I had written down that was supposed to
be good on Saturday afternoons, we headed to Mercado del Puerto (Port Market).
It ended up not being at all what we expected- we thought it was going to be
outdoors and all artisan stuff, but it was actually indoors and was a couple
souvenir shops and a bunch of parillas grilling asado. It was along a couple
peatonals so there were some artisans and we checked those out a little and
then we walked around comparing prices of the places inside, got a free sample
of a popular Uruguayan drink, Medio y Medio (literally- half and half: half
champagne, half white wine) and then we found the cheapest one and found a seat
up on the bar stools where you’re up by the parilla and can see all the food
and we ordered one chorizo (sasuage) each and a plate of papas (French fries)
to share and a water to split too. The food came fast and it was awesome! We
were pretty happy with our choices! There was a couple next to us and the man
finally asked us why we were drinking water and we replied, “porque es barato”
(because it’s cheap)… he proceded to ask one of the cooks for another glass and
poured us a Medio y Medio to try. Of course, we already knew we liked it, but
he was a little borracho (drunk) and he didn’t care. We kept talking to them,
he was really funny and his wife was really nice and not quite so borracha. He
ended up ordering another bottle of Medio y Medio to share with us and we kept
chatting away. They started talked to another couple on the other side and told
the couple that we were studying in Argentina and so they came and talked to us
because they were from Argentina; and not only were they from Argentina, they
live in Rosario! We talked to them for a few minutes and found out they live in
the Centro district where we live and own 3 optic shops that we’ve probably
walked past 20 times since we’ve been here. Susan and I ended up sitting in
there for like 2 hours and we had a great afternoon talking with the different
people even though we weren’t really doing anything very exciting. At night,
Susan, Caitlyn, Maddie, Nicole, Kelsey, Nathan, and I went to California
Burrito Co. for dinner and we met some Uruguayan guys in our hostel that are in
a band and one of their friends was playing that night at a nearby bar so we
went with them to check that out night and it was pretty cool to see and hear,
definitely something different.
Sunday
May 13th- Day 74
We got
to sleep in a little bit today and we left to go to Punta del Este at around
10am. Punta del Este is about 2 hours away from Montevideo (can be only one in
car) and it’s an international hotspot for beaches. We made a few stops along
the way checking out some other places with our tour guide and we saw the
“point” of Punta del Este and a famous sculpture that is in the sand in one
spot and we dipped our toes in the water of course since it was a really nice
day. We went to the mall for a quick lunch during the day and we headed back to
Montevideo. When we got back we didn’t really do anything because it was
already 6:45ish and getting dark. One of the hostel workers likes to cook and
the day before he offered to make us dinner so some of us took him up on that
and we each gave him some money to go to the store and he made us chicken
stroganoff with rice and papas and it was delicious! He was a very good cook!
After dinner I showered up and went to bed because we were leaving early the
next morning.
Monday
May 14th- Day 75
We had
to be up and ready by 9am for our little tour bus to pick us up and take us to
Colonia, the oldest city in Uruguay. In the past it went back and forth about 7
times between being under Spanish control and Portuguese control (as Uruguay
sits right between Brazil, a Portuguese country and Argentina, found by the
Spanish) until it was finally given to the Spanish, along with the rest of
Uruguay, as a gift to the Spanish. It is a pretty neat little place, we mostly
explored the old part of the city and went looking for souvenirs to spend the
rest of our Uruguayan pesos before we returned to Argentina where they’re worth
nothing. We had a little walking tour and some free time and then we met back
at the bus and it took us to the Buquebus and we went through all that again
and then boarded and grabbed the 45 mintue ride to BA. Colonia is a lot closer
to BA- you can actually see the skyline and buildings of BA from certain spots
in Colonia with the naked eye, and even more with the wicked zoom on my camera.
I took a little series of photos to demonstrate from the top of a lighthouse Susan
and I climbed up (photos to come later since I haven't gotten them uploaded to my computer yet). In BA we took taxis to Retiro and got on buses to Rosario. We
got back to Rosario around 11:30pm to a taxi strike so I got on the bus to come
home with another girl that lives near me instead of waiting for the few
‘pirate’ taxis that were running. Generally at that time it’s better/safer in
taxi, but we didn’t have any problems on the bus. My host mom warmed up my
dinner when I got home and then I went to bed because Tuesday was back to
reality after a day of school.
Tuesday
May 15th- Day 76
I had
Spanish and history today, Spanish went by pretty fast, but history kind of
dragged on and on and on today since we were all pretty tired. Our professor
also lost track of time and let us out 20 minutes late which is kind of a lot
when your class is already 3 hours long, she’s lucky we like her! We got to see
our tests finally and I rocked that baby just as I though. We have quizzes
every week and my first two were honestly pretty horrible but I’m in the groove
of things now. After class I walked home and ate a little lunch and got caught
up on all the important things… in other word e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter and
all those great wastes of time. I went and met Wolf for ice cream later on
since we’re supposed to meet with her every three weeks or so and it had kind
of been since the end of March when I last met with her one on one, but it’s
fine because I’ve been good and problem free! After that I walked back home and
started in on my communications homework and getting caught up on blogging and
journaling before dinner. We had steak and mashed potatoes tonight and some
soup as usual. My family is definitely the typical Argentines in that they eat
a lot of meat. That’s one of the
stereotypes we were told beforehand that I think it’s pretty true. After dinner
I finished up my homework and went to bed excited to sleep in for the first
time since before Ushuaia!
Wednesday
May 16th- Day 77
I had
my two classes today and after our reflection class Maddie and I stayed for a
while in the café to do some homework and things. It was already dark by the
time I left so I took the bus home and did some more homework when I got home.
We had spinach lasagna for dinner and flan with dulce de leche for dessert and
it was all delicious. Later on a group of ambassadors, a few Simpson students,
and some other students from the US who have arrived in groups in the last week
or two met up together so we are starting to get to know them a little. They
are all only here for a month or so, so they will be leaving even before we do.
Thursday
May 17th- Day 78
Susan and I went to our class in the morning and
then I walked home and got some of my homework for Friday done. I was tired
since I was up late last night and decided to take a nap… it ended up being a
really long nap after I didn’t get the switch all the way to “alarm on” so
therefore, it never went off and I slept the entire afternoon away. I did a
little more homework when I woke up and then my mom and I had soup, salad, and
some cut of steak or something for dinner and then I finished up all my homework for my classes tomorrow
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