I just got back from 24 hours of travel time and it is so weird to be home. I miss Argentina and everybody already.
The final banquet was amazing!! There were 300 people there and the whole night went fantastically. We performed our Tango show and Tanner made a really cool movie of the whole semester. All of our host families went. After the programmed time, we had a dance party until 2 am. It was really fun to all dance together. After, a lot of us headed over to the Drink Gallery. They kept it open especially for us to celebrate our last night in BA. It was a fun night hanging out with everyone and then staying out really late...con mi amigo. I got home at 4:30 in the morning and then got up the next day to finish packing and leave.
It took me 3 flights to get home. 4.5 hours to get to Lima, 8.5 hours to get to LA, and then 1 hour to get home. I slept most of the time because it was at night and I only had 3 hours of sleep the night before. I can't believe I'm home. It is weird that everyone speaks English, so Kelsey and I cannot just talk normally and expect nobody to understand what we are saying. I also have almost spoken Spanish so many times to different people...especially ordering food and saying thank you or excuse me. The culture shock is weird. It sucks going from being around so many fun people to practically no one. I am sad that this experience has ended, but I cannot wait to reunite in the fall. This will be a time of my life that I will never forget.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Tango pictures
Here are pictures of us practicing for the final banquet:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051083&l=13994&id=8505998
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051083&l=13994&id=8505998
Monday, April 21, 2008
Spiritual Retreat/Visiting Estancia
This past weekend 15+ pepperdine students and our faculty family went to an estancia just outside Buenos Aires. Right now there is a fire burning the campo outside of BA, which is creating horrible smoke throughout the city. We thought that by getting away, the smoke would be better, but it was not that much better. The weekend was fantastic. We had Friday off of school, so left that morning. Thursday night we went to LOST, the best hip-hop club in BA and stayed out until 4. So the beginning of the retreat was spent sleeping. We only had programmed time at night, so there was tons of free time. Kelsey and I got massages for 50 pesos (less than $20). We rode horses, slept, read, and just hung out.
The theme of the weekend was "change" and looking at the ways we have changed over the semester, whether it is our prospective on the world, on God, or on our values. We spent time in small groups talking about about specific reflections of the semester. My group really bonded and we talked way into the night about our experience. As a whole, the weekend was really rejuvenating and I got to spend quality time with people I hadn't gotten to know very well, as well as Kelsey and Jessie. I was dreading coming back to a week of finals.
This is my last week in Buenos Aires. We have classes Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and finals on Thursday and Friday. I have absolutely no time outside of school this week, which is not how I want to spend my last week here. This next weekend, I have nothing planned, but I will be done with school, so will be able to truly enjoy my last weekend. Next Monday, we have our final banquet where all our host-families come and we thank the staff and teachers. Part of my Tango class will be performing as well as a band of Pepp students. I am excited for this week to be over and to start the weekend.
pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050876&l=4500e&id=8506204
The theme of the weekend was "change" and looking at the ways we have changed over the semester, whether it is our prospective on the world, on God, or on our values. We spent time in small groups talking about about specific reflections of the semester. My group really bonded and we talked way into the night about our experience. As a whole, the weekend was really rejuvenating and I got to spend quality time with people I hadn't gotten to know very well, as well as Kelsey and Jessie. I was dreading coming back to a week of finals.
This is my last week in Buenos Aires. We have classes Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and finals on Thursday and Friday. I have absolutely no time outside of school this week, which is not how I want to spend my last week here. This next weekend, I have nothing planned, but I will be done with school, so will be able to truly enjoy my last weekend. Next Monday, we have our final banquet where all our host-families come and we thank the staff and teachers. Part of my Tango class will be performing as well as a band of Pepp students. I am excited for this week to be over and to start the weekend.
pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050876&l=4500e&id=8506204
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca!!!
So I just got back from Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca and it was a fantastic week. Kelsey, Jessie, and I flew out Saturday Morning to Cusco, Peru. We spent Saturday and Sunday in Cusco, adjusting to the altitude and shopping. You have no idea how many souvenirs we purchased. We ran into Russ, another student, and went to dinner with him both nights. On Monday morning, we woke up really early (before 6 am) to head for a train to Aguas Calientes. We saw part of the Inca Trail on the train ride and were so glad we chose to take a train instead of the 4-day hike. Aguas Calientes was a pretty boring town, just a stopping point for Machu Picchu visitors. We went to the hot springs, which were quite disgusting and smelled gross. All of the restaurants begged for us to stop there, all of which offered all-day happy hours, 4 for 1. We got bored half way through the day so decided to walk down the road along the river to see where it would take us.....Randomly we see Russ and another Pepperdine student, Brian. They had already been up to Machu Picchu, so we got advice from them and then Brian almost missed his train back. We went to bed early to get up before dawn for the second day in a row to take a bus up to Machu Picchu.
Machu Picchu was amazing. When we got there, the clouds were still covering most of the ruins, but the view of the Andes was amazing. We got to walk along part of the Inca Trail and saw many llamas. There is one mountain next to Machu Picchu called WaynaPicchu and only 400 people are allowed to climb it per day. We decided that was a must and head up at 8:30 ish in the morning. The hike was straight up and took about an hour. We were dying and didn't know how we would get down. I took a picture of the path and later I looked at it and couldn't decide what I was trying to take a picture of. We were practically rock climbing. Once at the top, we stayed there for several hours, reading and eating lunch (haha...a really early lunch). We spent the rest of the day wandering around the site and sitting and reading in the beautiful Andes. That night we took the train back to Cusco.
Wednesday, we headed in a bus to Puno and Lake Titicaca. The bus ride was uneventful. We got off several times to see various sites, but all were pretty boring. Once we got to Lake Titicaca, we were so glad to be staying in a hotel. For the past 4 days we had been staying in hostels and packing and repacking almost every day. It was nice to have our own room and bathroom. It was also so nice to not have to worry about having to pack everything up. Puno was also a pretty boring town, but the lake was beautiful. Lake Titicaca is the highest lake in the world. It was cold, but very sunny. Thursday we just relaxed and wandered around Puno. Friday, we went on a boat to Uros Islands and some other island. Uros islands were made of over 40 man-made floating islands. It was soooo cool. Everything was made out of reeds... the ground, the houses, the kitchen, the boats, everything. The next island we stopped at was actually an island. We walked around the island and had lunch there.
Saturday, we returned to BA!!! Overall, I really liked Peru. The people were nice and the country was surprisingly clean. The food was horrible and hot chocolate was disgusting. Peru has beautiful landscapes and the best souvenirs. I like Peru, but i was so excited to return to BA. I only have two weeks left here. That is both a sad and happy thing. I am so excited to go home, but I am going to be sad to leave this group of people and sad to leave Argentina.
Here are pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050311&l=6e7df&id=8505998
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050312&l=76c46&id=8505998
Machu Picchu was amazing. When we got there, the clouds were still covering most of the ruins, but the view of the Andes was amazing. We got to walk along part of the Inca Trail and saw many llamas. There is one mountain next to Machu Picchu called WaynaPicchu and only 400 people are allowed to climb it per day. We decided that was a must and head up at 8:30 ish in the morning. The hike was straight up and took about an hour. We were dying and didn't know how we would get down. I took a picture of the path and later I looked at it and couldn't decide what I was trying to take a picture of. We were practically rock climbing. Once at the top, we stayed there for several hours, reading and eating lunch (haha...a really early lunch). We spent the rest of the day wandering around the site and sitting and reading in the beautiful Andes. That night we took the train back to Cusco.
Wednesday, we headed in a bus to Puno and Lake Titicaca. The bus ride was uneventful. We got off several times to see various sites, but all were pretty boring. Once we got to Lake Titicaca, we were so glad to be staying in a hotel. For the past 4 days we had been staying in hostels and packing and repacking almost every day. It was nice to have our own room and bathroom. It was also so nice to not have to worry about having to pack everything up. Puno was also a pretty boring town, but the lake was beautiful. Lake Titicaca is the highest lake in the world. It was cold, but very sunny. Thursday we just relaxed and wandered around Puno. Friday, we went on a boat to Uros Islands and some other island. Uros islands were made of over 40 man-made floating islands. It was soooo cool. Everything was made out of reeds... the ground, the houses, the kitchen, the boats, everything. The next island we stopped at was actually an island. We walked around the island and had lunch there.
Saturday, we returned to BA!!! Overall, I really liked Peru. The people were nice and the country was surprisingly clean. The food was horrible and hot chocolate was disgusting. Peru has beautiful landscapes and the best souvenirs. I like Peru, but i was so excited to return to BA. I only have two weeks left here. That is both a sad and happy thing. I am so excited to go home, but I am going to be sad to leave this group of people and sad to leave Argentina.
Here are pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050311&l=6e7df&id=8505998
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050312&l=76c46&id=8505998
Friday, April 4, 2008
Update
I feel like I haven't updated in a while. School has been busy with tests and a lot of work, which really sucks. I am so excited to go on Spring Break to Machu Picchu tomorrow. This week for our group convo dinner, we went to a Greek restaurant and actually threw plates! so crazy. I didn't want to throw mine, but Kelsey made me. We had Wednesday off, so Kelsey and I went to Cafe Tortoni, the oldest cafe in Buenos Aires. That night, we went to see RENT el musical and it was entirely in Spanish! I know the storyline, so I was able to follow. I also could understand what they were singing and the differences between English and Spanish are pretty funny. Last night I practiced for the Tango show that we are doing at the final banquet. I am still loving Tango a lot. I'm leaving tomorrow, so I will be out of contact for about a week.
Here are pictures from Iguazu and Bariloche:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048546&l=92f0f&id=8506204
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049725&l=2078e&id=8505998
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049726&l=68f7b&id=8505998
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049728&l=250c8&id=8505998
Here are pictures from Iguazu and Bariloche:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048546&l=92f0f&id=8506204
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049725&l=2078e&id=8505998
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049726&l=68f7b&id=8505998
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049728&l=250c8&id=8505998
Friday, March 28, 2008
Bariloche
So my family came last Monday and spend Mon-Wed in Buenos Aires. I got to show them all the places I hang out and we went to a Tango show. Unfortunately we didn't tell the travel agent that i have already seen Senor Tango, so I got to see it for the 2nd time!!!! (kind of a disappointment) On Thursday, my mom, dad, Hilary, Kelsey, Jessie, and I all flew down to Bariloche, the lake district. Bariloche is kind of Lake Tahoe....very scenic with tourist towns.
When we got there, we unloaded at our hotel, Design Suites and went to the civic center/downtown area to look around and eat lunch. We had lunch at this place call Crocadila or something like that. It had great pizza and later we found out that Mike's "uncle" owns it. The downtown felt like we were in Switzerland or some ski-town. Bariloche is known for its chocolate so of course we had to walk around and taste the various chocolates and ice cream. In the main square there were tons St Bernards and their owners "pimped" them out. They were trying to get us to pay money to take a picture with the dogs....they had baby ones too! That afternoon we went to Cerro Otto, which was a look at point you get to by gondola. We had coffee in the rotating restaurant.
The next day we took an all day boat tour to see Puerto Blest, Lago Fria, and Puerto Fria. It was a lot of fun to be on the boat, but not so fun to be with tons of other tourists. We walked around and saw great views. The next tour day we took a 7-lakes drive. It was pretty boring because we sat in a car ALL day, but the view of the lakes was amazing. We saw the world's shortest river and got out of the car at different scenic points. The last tour we went on was to Isla Victoria. It was my favorite because we split from the group once we got there, so it was nice just to be with the 6 of us and nature. That day it was Easter, and my mom decided to bring easter eggs for a hunt on Isla Victoria. I'm 20 and Hilary is almost 18, so we are definitely too old for egg hunts, but it was still fun. Jessie found the golden egg. My mom and Hilary went swimming in the lake....brrr. Overall, the tours were fun. We were the only ones that spoke English and the tours were completely in Spanish. The tours lasted all day. We would leave by 9 am and get back just in time for dinner at 8pm. They were exhausting days, but really fun.
Other than tours, we spent our time eating and at the hotel. The food in Bariloche was amazing. I did not eat one bad meal. Food in Argentina in general is not my favorite, but Bariloche food was soooo good. We had italian, traditional parilla argentine, fondue, and a brewery. Each place was amazing. I had never had meat fondue before, and it was surprisingly good. I really can't describe how good the food was. The dinners were probably one of the biggest highlights of my trip.
Monday, we flew home and Hilary and my dad continued on to Calafate. It was a great Easter break and I was happy to get to see my family (minus Sallie).
When we got there, we unloaded at our hotel, Design Suites and went to the civic center/downtown area to look around and eat lunch. We had lunch at this place call Crocadila or something like that. It had great pizza and later we found out that Mike's "uncle" owns it. The downtown felt like we were in Switzerland or some ski-town. Bariloche is known for its chocolate so of course we had to walk around and taste the various chocolates and ice cream. In the main square there were tons St Bernards and their owners "pimped" them out. They were trying to get us to pay money to take a picture with the dogs....they had baby ones too! That afternoon we went to Cerro Otto, which was a look at point you get to by gondola. We had coffee in the rotating restaurant.
The next day we took an all day boat tour to see Puerto Blest, Lago Fria, and Puerto Fria. It was a lot of fun to be on the boat, but not so fun to be with tons of other tourists. We walked around and saw great views. The next tour day we took a 7-lakes drive. It was pretty boring because we sat in a car ALL day, but the view of the lakes was amazing. We saw the world's shortest river and got out of the car at different scenic points. The last tour we went on was to Isla Victoria. It was my favorite because we split from the group once we got there, so it was nice just to be with the 6 of us and nature. That day it was Easter, and my mom decided to bring easter eggs for a hunt on Isla Victoria. I'm 20 and Hilary is almost 18, so we are definitely too old for egg hunts, but it was still fun. Jessie found the golden egg. My mom and Hilary went swimming in the lake....brrr. Overall, the tours were fun. We were the only ones that spoke English and the tours were completely in Spanish. The tours lasted all day. We would leave by 9 am and get back just in time for dinner at 8pm. They were exhausting days, but really fun.
Other than tours, we spent our time eating and at the hotel. The food in Bariloche was amazing. I did not eat one bad meal. Food in Argentina in general is not my favorite, but Bariloche food was soooo good. We had italian, traditional parilla argentine, fondue, and a brewery. Each place was amazing. I had never had meat fondue before, and it was surprisingly good. I really can't describe how good the food was. The dinners were probably one of the biggest highlights of my trip.
Monday, we flew home and Hilary and my dad continued on to Calafate. It was a great Easter break and I was happy to get to see my family (minus Sallie).
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Iguazu Falls!!!
Fantastic weekend to Iguazu Falls. A group of 6 of us, which turned into a group of 9, spent the weekend visiting Iguazu Falls. I learned a lot from this weekend, especially about with who and how I like to travel. Iguazu is about a 2 hour flight from Buenos Aires, or a 18 hour bus ride. Taking buses places is really popular in Argentina. We decided to take a bus because it was only $150 round trip instead of $300 round trip. On Friday, Kelsey and I told our group to meet at the Pepperdine house at 1:00 pm to get to the bus station by 2:10 pm. One person wanted to meet us there, another forgot her passport, another forgot his credit card, two others decided they wanted to make a last minute grocery store stop (I know that doesn't add up to 9, but others went with the people who forgot stuff). So Kelsey and I were left just the two of us and it was 1:30 pm by the time everyone had shown up and left to do their separate errands. We made our way to the bus station, which was so huge. There were over 150 desks of different bus companies, similar to checking in at an airport. Our tickets were at desk #121. The attendants pretended they didn't speak English, so I made a complete fool out of myself trying to explain that I was here to pick up tickets. We got on the bus and ran into another group of Pepperdine students doing the same trip we were. Altogether there were 14 of us on the bus. I'm sure everyone else hated us. The bus ride was actually not that bad for being 18 hours long. We left at 3:00PM and stopped many times to pick up more people along the way before arriving in Puerto Iguazu at 9:30AM on Saturday. The food on the bus was disgusting, but the boys were very appreciative to take Kelsey and my meals. Everyone was jealous when Kelsey and I took out Peanut Butter for dinner. For the most part, we all slept well. Our seats only reclined a little bit, but somehow I managed to fall asleep.
Once we were in Iguazu, we went to our hostel, Hostel-Inn, to drop of our bags. The hostel is probably the biggest hostel I will ever see. It had a huge eating area, lounge area, swimming pool, ping pong, pool tables, someone to help with activities, bbqs, free brazilian dance show, and more. We dropped our bags and made it to the falls. The whole morning was very slow because everyone had their own agenda of what needed to be done before getting to the falls. Once at the park, we first went on the lower falls circuit where we got on a boat to get close to the bottom of the falls. We took off our shirts and put on life vests and got on the boat. They drove us around the bottom of the two different falls and then drove us under a tiny fall coming off the island in between the two huge ones. Kelsey and I thought the ride was over, but they started driving towards the smaller of the two huge falls. All of a sudden, we were driving straight into the falls. It was so scary, I was under Iguazu Falls. The Iguazu Water Falls actually were falling on top of me. After coming out from under the falls, we were completely soaked, shorts, tennis shoes, socks, and all. Then, the driver took us under again. Kelsey and I thought that one time was enough....it was so scary. After the boat, Kelsey and I wanted to take the train to the falls called Devil's Throat. The train closed early, so we wanted to make sure we spent lots of time at Devil's Throat because it is the highlight of the park. The rest of the group wanted to explore the island between the water falls, so we split up. The whole group didn't understand why Kelsey and I wanted to do our own thing, but we were both tired of having to stop and wait for everyone to be able to move on. We stopped to have a cookie break, where Cotis, a native animal, attacked Kelsey and stole our cookies. A park ranger had to get the cookies back from us. We went on the train and then to the Devil's throat. The view and sound was amazing. It was something that you can't take a picture of or describe adequately enough. You have to be there to truly experience it's beauty. We spent a long time just staring at the water falls. You can see Brazil from where we were looking, but the Argentina side seemed better than the Brazil side. We saw the other group going out when we took the train back in. Kelsey and I stopped for a pizza and beer lunch for $3 each....everything is so cheap in Argentina. It started getting cold and rainy, so Kelsey and I relaxed at the Havanna coffee shop, sipping chocolatada (hot chocolate) until our group was ready to leave. Overall, it was an amazing day.
We returned to the hostel, were we fit 9 people in 6 twin beds. The boys complained how expensive the hostel was...40 pesos or $13.... so they tried to sell their beds or half of their bed to the part of our group who didn't have one. The boys also didn't want to spend any money on dinner so bought pasta and cooked it and ate left-over ham and cheese sandwiches from the bus. The girls decided to go into town where we went to a artisan pasta shop and got 1 kilo of pasta, 1 liter of sauce, and 2 liters of drinks for 9 pesos each or $3. Generally, people take dry pasta to go, but they are willing to cook it for you. 1 kilo of pasta is more pasta than you can imagine. When they brought the plates out, we thought that 1 plate would be enough for 2 or 3 people and 1 plate was actually for 1 person. The next morning we woke up and got back on the bus to take another 18 bus ride home. There was a baby and snoring, which made this ride less plesant. Also at one of the bus stops, there was a doctor giving yellow fever shots for free. Kelsey and I were kind of creeped out by the whole thing, but almost half of our bus got of and got shots before continuing, including at least 5 pepperdine students. We got home at 6 am and had class at 9 am. Overall, very good weekend.
My parents and Hilary are now here to visit and we are leaving on Thursday to go to Bariloche, which is the Lake District.
Once we were in Iguazu, we went to our hostel, Hostel-Inn, to drop of our bags. The hostel is probably the biggest hostel I will ever see. It had a huge eating area, lounge area, swimming pool, ping pong, pool tables, someone to help with activities, bbqs, free brazilian dance show, and more. We dropped our bags and made it to the falls. The whole morning was very slow because everyone had their own agenda of what needed to be done before getting to the falls. Once at the park, we first went on the lower falls circuit where we got on a boat to get close to the bottom of the falls. We took off our shirts and put on life vests and got on the boat. They drove us around the bottom of the two different falls and then drove us under a tiny fall coming off the island in between the two huge ones. Kelsey and I thought the ride was over, but they started driving towards the smaller of the two huge falls. All of a sudden, we were driving straight into the falls. It was so scary, I was under Iguazu Falls. The Iguazu Water Falls actually were falling on top of me. After coming out from under the falls, we were completely soaked, shorts, tennis shoes, socks, and all. Then, the driver took us under again. Kelsey and I thought that one time was enough....it was so scary. After the boat, Kelsey and I wanted to take the train to the falls called Devil's Throat. The train closed early, so we wanted to make sure we spent lots of time at Devil's Throat because it is the highlight of the park. The rest of the group wanted to explore the island between the water falls, so we split up. The whole group didn't understand why Kelsey and I wanted to do our own thing, but we were both tired of having to stop and wait for everyone to be able to move on. We stopped to have a cookie break, where Cotis, a native animal, attacked Kelsey and stole our cookies. A park ranger had to get the cookies back from us. We went on the train and then to the Devil's throat. The view and sound was amazing. It was something that you can't take a picture of or describe adequately enough. You have to be there to truly experience it's beauty. We spent a long time just staring at the water falls. You can see Brazil from where we were looking, but the Argentina side seemed better than the Brazil side. We saw the other group going out when we took the train back in. Kelsey and I stopped for a pizza and beer lunch for $3 each....everything is so cheap in Argentina. It started getting cold and rainy, so Kelsey and I relaxed at the Havanna coffee shop, sipping chocolatada (hot chocolate) until our group was ready to leave. Overall, it was an amazing day.
We returned to the hostel, were we fit 9 people in 6 twin beds. The boys complained how expensive the hostel was...40 pesos or $13.... so they tried to sell their beds or half of their bed to the part of our group who didn't have one. The boys also didn't want to spend any money on dinner so bought pasta and cooked it and ate left-over ham and cheese sandwiches from the bus. The girls decided to go into town where we went to a artisan pasta shop and got 1 kilo of pasta, 1 liter of sauce, and 2 liters of drinks for 9 pesos each or $3. Generally, people take dry pasta to go, but they are willing to cook it for you. 1 kilo of pasta is more pasta than you can imagine. When they brought the plates out, we thought that 1 plate would be enough for 2 or 3 people and 1 plate was actually for 1 person. The next morning we woke up and got back on the bus to take another 18 bus ride home. There was a baby and snoring, which made this ride less plesant. Also at one of the bus stops, there was a doctor giving yellow fever shots for free. Kelsey and I were kind of creeped out by the whole thing, but almost half of our bus got of and got shots before continuing, including at least 5 pepperdine students. We got home at 6 am and had class at 9 am. Overall, very good weekend.
My parents and Hilary are now here to visit and we are leaving on Thursday to go to Bariloche, which is the Lake District.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Fun Weekend
So another week has gone by. I can't believe how fast this experience going. I have already been here almost a month and a half. Crazyness.
Friday night, Kelsey, Lauren, and I had Mexican food for dinner. The place was empty when we got there and four tables of people showed up while we were there. The food was decent for Mexican food, which is hard to find in Argentina. The food was incredibly cheap for dinner. I got asado tacos and it came with 4 tacos and it was only 12 pesos, or $4. The tacos were actually really good. It was definitely worth it! The rest of the evening kind of went downhill from there. We waited at the P-dine casa to go out with people and eventually Kelsey and I left with 4 other guys. College boys are super cheap, and refuse to pay for transportation and don't want to spend any money on drinks. Our group decided to go to a pool hall, which was 20 blocks away. After getting lost and spending too long walking, we finally made it to the pool hall. Right after we sat down, the boys decided that the drinks were too expensive. They wanted to walk 20 blocks back to where we started and then take a bus in the opposite direction to meet up with some other people. By that time it was 1am and Kelsey and I were tired of wandering around so took a taxi home, which by the way, only cost us 10 pesos total, or 5 pesos (less than $2) each to go back the 20 blocks we had just spent the past hour walking.
Saturday was much better. Kelsey and I went on a picnic! I brought Peanut Butter here from the US. So we went to Coto (the grocery store here) and bought bread, chips, lemonade, and chocolate. We took the Sup-T and then walked to a park. Lovely company and delicious food. It was a fantastic lunch and it was a really beautiful day. In the afternoon, we hung out with other students at another park, and then a cafe, and then at the Casa. Kelsey and I opted out of going to the circus, where almost everyone was going, and decided to have a really good dinner out. We picked a nice place in my travel guide in Palermo Hollywood and then wandered around that area. Dinner here is late, so we went at 9PM. The food was amazing and great ambiance. Kelsey and I had wine. I had steak and mashed potatoes and Kelsey had ravioli's with cream sauce. The steak was one of the best steaks I have had in my entire life. There was sooooo much of it. Then Kelsey and I had a brownie con helado for dessert, very rich. Everything we ate tasted so good. We came back to the Casa and watched Love Actually and then went out with Travis and Andrew to a bar. It was really fun to go in a small group and just talk. I got home at 4ish in the morning. So much fun. I love how it is so easy to go out with different people here and everything is so relaxed.
Sunday, I got up and went to church by myself at 11am. It was a Catholic church three blocks from my house. The church had services at 9, 10, 11, 12:15, and two more services in the evening. I thought that the whole church wouldn't be full because the church has so many services, but it was full. I was surprised that it only lasted 45 minutes. I could understand the scripture because it was also written down in a bulletin, but the speaking and songs kind of lost me. I decided that I don't really like going to Catholic church, and that I miss singing songs I know. The church was filled mostly with older people. I was happily surprised to see that women served communion, read scripture, and lead music. I hope to attend a protestant church to try out. The rest of the day has been spent doing homework and relaxing. I have some tests this week...no fun. Next weekend I'm heading off to Iguazu falls and then next Monday, my family comes to visit!
That's all for now :)
Friday night, Kelsey, Lauren, and I had Mexican food for dinner. The place was empty when we got there and four tables of people showed up while we were there. The food was decent for Mexican food, which is hard to find in Argentina. The food was incredibly cheap for dinner. I got asado tacos and it came with 4 tacos and it was only 12 pesos, or $4. The tacos were actually really good. It was definitely worth it! The rest of the evening kind of went downhill from there. We waited at the P-dine casa to go out with people and eventually Kelsey and I left with 4 other guys. College boys are super cheap, and refuse to pay for transportation and don't want to spend any money on drinks. Our group decided to go to a pool hall, which was 20 blocks away. After getting lost and spending too long walking, we finally made it to the pool hall. Right after we sat down, the boys decided that the drinks were too expensive. They wanted to walk 20 blocks back to where we started and then take a bus in the opposite direction to meet up with some other people. By that time it was 1am and Kelsey and I were tired of wandering around so took a taxi home, which by the way, only cost us 10 pesos total, or 5 pesos (less than $2) each to go back the 20 blocks we had just spent the past hour walking.
Saturday was much better. Kelsey and I went on a picnic! I brought Peanut Butter here from the US. So we went to Coto (the grocery store here) and bought bread, chips, lemonade, and chocolate. We took the Sup-T and then walked to a park. Lovely company and delicious food. It was a fantastic lunch and it was a really beautiful day. In the afternoon, we hung out with other students at another park, and then a cafe, and then at the Casa. Kelsey and I opted out of going to the circus, where almost everyone was going, and decided to have a really good dinner out. We picked a nice place in my travel guide in Palermo Hollywood and then wandered around that area. Dinner here is late, so we went at 9PM. The food was amazing and great ambiance. Kelsey and I had wine. I had steak and mashed potatoes and Kelsey had ravioli's with cream sauce. The steak was one of the best steaks I have had in my entire life. There was sooooo much of it. Then Kelsey and I had a brownie con helado for dessert, very rich. Everything we ate tasted so good. We came back to the Casa and watched Love Actually and then went out with Travis and Andrew to a bar. It was really fun to go in a small group and just talk. I got home at 4ish in the morning. So much fun. I love how it is so easy to go out with different people here and everything is so relaxed.
Sunday, I got up and went to church by myself at 11am. It was a Catholic church three blocks from my house. The church had services at 9, 10, 11, 12:15, and two more services in the evening. I thought that the whole church wouldn't be full because the church has so many services, but it was full. I was surprised that it only lasted 45 minutes. I could understand the scripture because it was also written down in a bulletin, but the speaking and songs kind of lost me. I decided that I don't really like going to Catholic church, and that I miss singing songs I know. The church was filled mostly with older people. I was happily surprised to see that women served communion, read scripture, and lead music. I hope to attend a protestant church to try out. The rest of the day has been spent doing homework and relaxing. I have some tests this week...no fun. Next weekend I'm heading off to Iguazu falls and then next Monday, my family comes to visit!
That's all for now :)
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
EFT, Part 3
Punta Arenas was the final stop of our EFT. All the cities at the end of the world are small and distant from all other, so Punta Arenas had a very small-town feeling. We went on a tour of the city the day we got there. We took two buses and stopped at a look-out point over the city. Then we went to a museum. The museum was very strange to me because it was decorated in a European style and felt like I was visiting a museum house in Europe, except it wasn't as impressive. After the museum, the majority of the group walked back to the hotel, leaving 12 of us. The tour guides were confused and we condensed onto only one bus. We went to a cemeetary but it was pouring rain, so we got soaked. We were ready to go back to the hotel, but we made one more stop at another museum. That night for dinner, Rafa took us all out to dinner. We were very excited, but he took us to a traditional Chilean meal...hot dogs and pizza. The pizza was the appetizer and was ok after you took off the ham and tomatoes. The hot dog was the grossest thing I have ever seen. It had mayonnaise, guacamole, and other disgusting things that shouldn't be on a hot dog. In addition, the hot dog itself looked gross. Rafa felt bad, so treated us to dessert back at the hotel. That night, Jake, Justin, Kelsey, and I decided to go out to a bar. 10 others eventually joined us. The place we went was a lot of fun. It was a Wednesday night, but full of local people. We got a table and just enjoyed being in the culture of Chile. There was a table of young people (our age) next to us, so we introduced ourselves and joined our tables. We talked to them in Spanish for a while. It was so much fun. They turned on music and part of the bar became a club. Kelsey and I got asked to danced by two guys from the Chilean navy on their way to Antarctica. Kelsey's was tall and handsome and mine was shorter and not really attractive. In S. America, people dance more respectfully and if a guy tries to dance inappropriately with a girl, she stops dancing with him. So the guys that were dancing with us were very nice. They spoke to us in English too. During the slow songs, my navy guy told me that he loved me and that we could live together in Chile and start a family. I just laughed at him. He wasn't be serious, obviously, but he was trying to have a good time. Kelsey and I were soon ready to go to sleep, so left our Chilean navy guys and had Jake walk us home. Overall, it was a really fun night and I had a great story to tell everyone. I know have the possibility of a life in Chile.
The next morning we went to the airport for a long day of traveling. 3 flights later and after 14 hours of travel time (due to a delay in Santiago), I finally was back home in Buenos Aires. Classes are in progress again, and I am both excited and sad to be here. I wish the EFT could have lasted forever.
The next morning we went to the airport for a long day of traveling. 3 flights later and after 14 hours of travel time (due to a delay in Santiago), I finally was back home in Buenos Aires. Classes are in progress again, and I am both excited and sad to be here. I wish the EFT could have lasted forever.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
EFT, Part 2
I really enjoyed being on the cruise. Forcing 60 college students to hang out only with each other for 4 days is amazing. People could retreat to their rooms, but really there was no escape from getting to know everyone in the program. We made several stops on the cruise, but there also was a lot of down time. I enjoyed the time on the boat as much as the excursions because I played a massive amount of card games. Egyptian Rat Screw, Hearts, and a new game I learned, called 45 were just some of the games that I played. I basically dominated most of the games, and everyone learned that I was pretty much always up for a game of cards. We did other bonding things on the boat too. There was a bingo night, and after we played music and had a dance party. Also, this semester we are having a tournament of different events that everyone in the program is going to compete in. So I have a team of 8 people and the whole group played a game to see how well we know our teammates. I now know first, middle, and last names of my team, hometowns, greatest fears, majors, minors, biggest turn-on, ect. During the actually group game, certain teams got really competitive and there was a lot of arguing about who was actually winning and how to score the game. The bonding time on the boat was a lot of fun.
The excursions were absolutely breathtaking. The first stop was at Cape Horn. For each excursion, we took little boats. There were only a couple of boats so we had to be ferried into each stop. Since half of the boat were at least 65, loading and unloading of the boats took quite a while. Cape Horn was beautiful. We had to get up and off the boat by 7 am, so we were all tired, but the view was amazing. There was also a huge statue/monument that we hiked/walked to. We were required to wear our life-jackets every time we left the big boat and they wanted us to wear them on land as well...kind of weird. I guess they didn't want us to loose the life-jacket. So anyways, the trip to Cape Horn was early and cold, but very beautiful. I sat down and just stared at the ocean and the view. I could have spent the rest of the day just sitting and watching, but everyone was eager to get on our way.
The next stop that afternoon was at another island. Kelsey and I got the impression that we were going to see something to with Aborigines, but it turned out we were going on a hike to a look-out point. We had two options, the hill hike or a beach walk. All the pepperdine students did the hill hike. I wore a lot of layers because we were so cold that morning at Cape Horn, but hiking definitely got our blood pumping. 10 minutes in, our group stopped and took off all our layers and left them to continue up the mountain. I was at the front of group and Rafa, the P-dine BA director, was almost running up the hill, so I tried to follow as best I could. Once we got to the top, again the view was incredible. We all sat down and just looked out. One of the wilderness leaders tried to get us all to be completely silent for 2 minutes and just listen to nature. We started out pretty good, but then one of the boys farted and everyone cracked up. The older lady was laughing so hard and her husband thought it was the greatest thing ever and later asked to take a picture with the guy from our group. soooo funny. I could have stayed longer just looking, but we eventually headed down the hill where we were met with hot chocolate. YUM!
The next day, we didn't have an excursion until 5 pm. So we spent most the day playing cards. The excursion was a boat ride...in the small boats... to look at glaciers. There was actually boats that went out at 3, 4, and 5 pm to accommodate the entire boat full of people. Rafa decided that he wanted to go on every tour, so he snuck his way onto a boat for each time slot. The glaciers were gorgeous. We saw birds that kind of looked like penguins, but could fly, so were not penguins. Little parts of the glacier fell every couple of minutes, which was pretty cool to watch. We all tried to yell and whistle to get a big piece to fall. On the way back to the big boat, we drove close to some waterfalls and the boat driver tried to get us wet.
The final excursion was the last morning at 7am to see penguins! It was definitely a memorable experience, but also my least favorite excursion. There were hundreds of penguins everywhere, but we were on a roped off path so we couldn't get too close to them. They smelled really bad. We were up so early that morning that the sun was rising as we were getting off the boat to see the penguins. That sunrise was pretty spectacular. There were penguins on both sides of the path and every once in a while a couple of penguins would want to cross over to get to the ocean. We tried to sneak up on the ones that were crossing, but they would chicken-out and turn away. We headed back to the boat, and then a couple ours later we arrived at Punta Arena for our last day of the EFT. I will give another update about Punta Arena soon.
Pics of the Cruise: http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047118&l=dead2&id=8505998
Pics of Penguins:
http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047120&l=0a00c&id=8505998
The excursions were absolutely breathtaking. The first stop was at Cape Horn. For each excursion, we took little boats. There were only a couple of boats so we had to be ferried into each stop. Since half of the boat were at least 65, loading and unloading of the boats took quite a while. Cape Horn was beautiful. We had to get up and off the boat by 7 am, so we were all tired, but the view was amazing. There was also a huge statue/monument that we hiked/walked to. We were required to wear our life-jackets every time we left the big boat and they wanted us to wear them on land as well...kind of weird. I guess they didn't want us to loose the life-jacket. So anyways, the trip to Cape Horn was early and cold, but very beautiful. I sat down and just stared at the ocean and the view. I could have spent the rest of the day just sitting and watching, but everyone was eager to get on our way.
The next stop that afternoon was at another island. Kelsey and I got the impression that we were going to see something to with Aborigines, but it turned out we were going on a hike to a look-out point. We had two options, the hill hike or a beach walk. All the pepperdine students did the hill hike. I wore a lot of layers because we were so cold that morning at Cape Horn, but hiking definitely got our blood pumping. 10 minutes in, our group stopped and took off all our layers and left them to continue up the mountain. I was at the front of group and Rafa, the P-dine BA director, was almost running up the hill, so I tried to follow as best I could. Once we got to the top, again the view was incredible. We all sat down and just looked out. One of the wilderness leaders tried to get us all to be completely silent for 2 minutes and just listen to nature. We started out pretty good, but then one of the boys farted and everyone cracked up. The older lady was laughing so hard and her husband thought it was the greatest thing ever and later asked to take a picture with the guy from our group. soooo funny. I could have stayed longer just looking, but we eventually headed down the hill where we were met with hot chocolate. YUM!
The next day, we didn't have an excursion until 5 pm. So we spent most the day playing cards. The excursion was a boat ride...in the small boats... to look at glaciers. There was actually boats that went out at 3, 4, and 5 pm to accommodate the entire boat full of people. Rafa decided that he wanted to go on every tour, so he snuck his way onto a boat for each time slot. The glaciers were gorgeous. We saw birds that kind of looked like penguins, but could fly, so were not penguins. Little parts of the glacier fell every couple of minutes, which was pretty cool to watch. We all tried to yell and whistle to get a big piece to fall. On the way back to the big boat, we drove close to some waterfalls and the boat driver tried to get us wet.
The final excursion was the last morning at 7am to see penguins! It was definitely a memorable experience, but also my least favorite excursion. There were hundreds of penguins everywhere, but we were on a roped off path so we couldn't get too close to them. They smelled really bad. We were up so early that morning that the sun was rising as we were getting off the boat to see the penguins. That sunrise was pretty spectacular. There were penguins on both sides of the path and every once in a while a couple of penguins would want to cross over to get to the ocean. We tried to sneak up on the ones that were crossing, but they would chicken-out and turn away. We headed back to the boat, and then a couple ours later we arrived at Punta Arena for our last day of the EFT. I will give another update about Punta Arena soon.
Pics of the Cruise: http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047118&l=dead2&id=8505998
Pics of Penguins:
http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047120&l=0a00c&id=8505998
Friday, February 29, 2008
EFT, Part 1
I've decided to write about the EFT (educational field trip) in parts because I want to remember and write everything I remember.
First, the whole week was amazing!!! The whole Pepperdine group flew down to Ushuaia, Argentina, the most southern city in the world. Also it's called the end of the world. We spent a day in Usuaia and then a 4 day cruise around Cape Horn and the Strait of Magellan. Our cruise ended in Punta Arena, Chile and we spent a day there before flying home to Buenos Aires. The beauty of the cruise was comparable to Greece or Sea of Cortez....After living in a big city for almost a month and then going on this trip, I realized how much I appreciate nature and could spent a large part of my life just looking at a landscape.
We started the trip off at the Buenos Aires airport. When traveling with 60+ people, we definitely make a scene and it's a little embarassing. It was pretty fun to have us all on one plane. We arrived in Ushuaia and took a bus to our hotel. Jessica and I were roommates and the hotel was amazing!!! The view from our room was spectacular. We overlooked the ocean and the view was absolutely breathtaking. All of the Pepperdine programs get to spend the same amount of money on the EFT's, but it is a lot cheaper for a big group to travel in S. America, than in Europe. That means that our group in BA gets to travel in luxury and stay at the nicest hotels available and take expensive cruises. So the hotel we were at was gorgeous. The hotel had a pool and hot tub too, all indoors because it is pretty chilly at the end of the world. We went swimming in the pool, which had a portion outdoors where you had to swim under a little strip of plastic to get to. Again, we had a really nice view.
The next morning we woke up to do a day off-roading trip in Ushuaia. We piled in 7 or 8 jeeps and headed towards lakes. Zach, Bill, Kelsey, Jessica, Mariah, Becca, Alyssa, and I were in the same jeep with a crazy driver. He was the owner of the tour company and knew English pretty well. He forgot his iPod that day, so we listened to his cassette tapes, we had two options, Vivaldi's 4 seasons or Beastie Boys. He was 35 and had traveled around the US and had a rat tail (from when he had long hair). He was hilarious because he told us jokes, but the only ones he knew in English were dirty jokes. On the off-roading, we stopped at several look-out spots and lakes. We even drove through the edge of a lake. It was windy and cold at some spots, but sunny the whole time. It was a long day of driving and we drove in really bumpy areas where I thought our car would flip. Overall, very fun and we saw many beautiful lakes. That afternoon, we headed toward the boat for our cruise.
Ushuaia Pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047117&l=f268c&id=8505998
I'll continue on Part 2 soon.
First, the whole week was amazing!!! The whole Pepperdine group flew down to Ushuaia, Argentina, the most southern city in the world. Also it's called the end of the world. We spent a day in Usuaia and then a 4 day cruise around Cape Horn and the Strait of Magellan. Our cruise ended in Punta Arena, Chile and we spent a day there before flying home to Buenos Aires. The beauty of the cruise was comparable to Greece or Sea of Cortez....After living in a big city for almost a month and then going on this trip, I realized how much I appreciate nature and could spent a large part of my life just looking at a landscape.
We started the trip off at the Buenos Aires airport. When traveling with 60+ people, we definitely make a scene and it's a little embarassing. It was pretty fun to have us all on one plane. We arrived in Ushuaia and took a bus to our hotel. Jessica and I were roommates and the hotel was amazing!!! The view from our room was spectacular. We overlooked the ocean and the view was absolutely breathtaking. All of the Pepperdine programs get to spend the same amount of money on the EFT's, but it is a lot cheaper for a big group to travel in S. America, than in Europe. That means that our group in BA gets to travel in luxury and stay at the nicest hotels available and take expensive cruises. So the hotel we were at was gorgeous. The hotel had a pool and hot tub too, all indoors because it is pretty chilly at the end of the world. We went swimming in the pool, which had a portion outdoors where you had to swim under a little strip of plastic to get to. Again, we had a really nice view.
The next morning we woke up to do a day off-roading trip in Ushuaia. We piled in 7 or 8 jeeps and headed towards lakes. Zach, Bill, Kelsey, Jessica, Mariah, Becca, Alyssa, and I were in the same jeep with a crazy driver. He was the owner of the tour company and knew English pretty well. He forgot his iPod that day, so we listened to his cassette tapes, we had two options, Vivaldi's 4 seasons or Beastie Boys. He was 35 and had traveled around the US and had a rat tail (from when he had long hair). He was hilarious because he told us jokes, but the only ones he knew in English were dirty jokes. On the off-roading, we stopped at several look-out spots and lakes. We even drove through the edge of a lake. It was windy and cold at some spots, but sunny the whole time. It was a long day of driving and we drove in really bumpy areas where I thought our car would flip. Overall, very fun and we saw many beautiful lakes. That afternoon, we headed toward the boat for our cruise.
Ushuaia Pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047117&l=f268c&id=8505998
I'll continue on Part 2 soon.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Señor Tango
Last night, the entire group went to a Tango show called Señor Tango. It was definitely a tourist spot, but also a very good show and dinner. We sat at 6 huge tables and our food was brought right away. I had the best salad I've had yet in BA, it was in a cracker/bread shell and had some kind of basil/oil dressing. Then we got to pick our meal: steak, chicken or fish. Kelsey and I always order one chicken and one steak to share, so we don't get stuck with something gross. However, the 3 or so times we've been out on group dinner, we both prefer the steak. So from now on we will only order steak. Then we had a disgusting dessert...It was supposed to be 3 flavors of ice cream and a little brownie, but it all tasted disgusting. The show started at around 10:30pm and began with real live horses and gauchos, not what I expected from a Tango show. Apparently, it began with a historical part of where Argentina came from. Then the show went on for 2 more hours. The dancing was very entertaining, especially the number where you could basically see all of the female dancers' butts :) They also had parts where someone would sing or the band would play and that wasn't as cool as the dancing. It ended fantastically with everyone on stage singing "Don't cry for me Argentina" in Spanish. By the time I got home, it was 1:30 am....a late night once again.
On Saturday, I leave for Chile for the Educational Field Trip. I am sooooo excited. It is supposed to be really nice and we are taking a cruise around the very southern tip of South America. We just got the itinerary yesterday and it looks really exciting. I'll be updating next when I get back from Chile.
On Saturday, I leave for Chile for the Educational Field Trip. I am sooooo excited. It is supposed to be really nice and we are taking a cruise around the very southern tip of South America. We just got the itinerary yesterday and it looks really exciting. I'll be updating next when I get back from Chile.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Boca Game and Zoo and more
This weekend I decided to stay in Buenos Aires, so I could see more of the city and hopefully relax. On Friday night, a few of us went to an amazing Italian restaurant called Brocolini. It was a cute, with red tablecloths, and nice waiters. Argentina is kind of like the US because practically everyone's family immigrated here from somewhere else, especially Europe. So the italian food actually is pretty good. After we went to this restaurant/bar called Acabar. It is a board game bar, so they have tons of tables in this well-lit restaurant and you go and pick out a game from the shelf and play. It was so much fun. We tried to play Taboo in spanish...it was so funny. They even had rummikub!
On Saturday, Kelsey, Jessie, and I went to the Zoo. It only cost 8 pesos (about 3 dollars) and it was a huge zoo with almost every animal you would want to see (except penguins). It was sooo hot and I felt bad for the animals who don't like warm weather, especially the polar bear. The zoo was a little sad because I felt like some of the animals looked sad and lonely. Maybe that's true at any zoo though. There also were some animals native to S. America. One was a rodent that was the size of a pig. It was so weird. And these rabbit/dog/deer animals just roamed free. It soooo hot!
Saturday night, Kelsey and I had dinner with Dr. K and her husband (the visiting faculty family) and some other students. After we played scrabble, and Kelsey and I dominated!!!
Sunday, Kelsey and I went to the San Telmo fair. It really big, but not as fun as the Recoleta fair. The San Telmo fair was much more of a antique fair or garage sale than a crafts fair. I like shopping for homemade argentine goods way better than looking at antiques. Also, it was very touristy and everyone spoke English to us. When people speak english, I feel like they are trying to rip me off and I just would rather them speak in Spanish.
Sunday night, a group of 13 of us went to the Boca game. They were playing Argentina jrs. In Buenos Aires, there are two major teams, Boca and River. They are huge rivals. So we went to the Boca stadium and there were tons of fans and everyone was crazy! The fans knew tons of songs/chants that I wish I could have understood. It was definitely an experience. Getting home was a huge hassel. We were in Boca, a sketchy neighborhood and their were millions of people everywhere. The only way to get around at night is by taxi or bus. We wanted to take a bus because there was one that went to our house right from the stadium, but each but that passed us was completely full already and there were about 100 people waiting with us for that bus. Eventually, we started walking and spent 30 minutes trying to get a taxi. We finally got home that night, but it took a while. Now I'm at school and I wish that I could just travel and hang out with people. Doing homework is not too bad, just sitting in class is really boring and I would rather not. O well.
On Saturday, Kelsey, Jessie, and I went to the Zoo. It only cost 8 pesos (about 3 dollars) and it was a huge zoo with almost every animal you would want to see (except penguins). It was sooo hot and I felt bad for the animals who don't like warm weather, especially the polar bear. The zoo was a little sad because I felt like some of the animals looked sad and lonely. Maybe that's true at any zoo though. There also were some animals native to S. America. One was a rodent that was the size of a pig. It was so weird. And these rabbit/dog/deer animals just roamed free. It soooo hot!
Saturday night, Kelsey and I had dinner with Dr. K and her husband (the visiting faculty family) and some other students. After we played scrabble, and Kelsey and I dominated!!!
Sunday, Kelsey and I went to the San Telmo fair. It really big, but not as fun as the Recoleta fair. The San Telmo fair was much more of a antique fair or garage sale than a crafts fair. I like shopping for homemade argentine goods way better than looking at antiques. Also, it was very touristy and everyone spoke English to us. When people speak english, I feel like they are trying to rip me off and I just would rather them speak in Spanish.
Sunday night, a group of 13 of us went to the Boca game. They were playing Argentina jrs. In Buenos Aires, there are two major teams, Boca and River. They are huge rivals. So we went to the Boca stadium and there were tons of fans and everyone was crazy! The fans knew tons of songs/chants that I wish I could have understood. It was definitely an experience. Getting home was a huge hassel. We were in Boca, a sketchy neighborhood and their were millions of people everywhere. The only way to get around at night is by taxi or bus. We wanted to take a bus because there was one that went to our house right from the stadium, but each but that passed us was completely full already and there were about 100 people waiting with us for that bus. Eventually, we started walking and spent 30 minutes trying to get a taxi. We finally got home that night, but it took a while. Now I'm at school and I wish that I could just travel and hang out with people. Doing homework is not too bad, just sitting in class is really boring and I would rather not. O well.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
I love Tango!!
So I took my first Tango class yesterday and it was a lot of fun. I had forgotten how much I love to dance. There is a two to one ratio of girls to boys, which sucks a lot. She is also having an extra class to prepare for a performance at the final banquet, if you want to be in it and pay a little extra money. I can't wait. The class is big and it goes pretty slow for me, so I can't wait for the extra class, which i'm sure will be small because not a lot of people like performing. I want to go to Tango clubs now, but I'm not sure any guy here is that into it. It was hard enough convincing 8 guys just to take the class. I'll see how it goes.
I put up some pics....to view them you do not need a facebook. all you need to do is copy and paste the links. Then click on the first picture and you can look through these photo albums
My Room in BA:
http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046359&l=08f2e&id=8505998
Beginning BA Pics:
http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046360&l=dba45&id=8505998
Uruguay:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046361&l=6ba41&id=8505998
I put up some pics....to view them you do not need a facebook. all you need to do is copy and paste the links. Then click on the first picture and you can look through these photo albums
My Room in BA:
http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046359&l=08f2e&id=8505998
Beginning BA Pics:
http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046360&l=dba45&id=8505998
Uruguay:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046361&l=6ba41&id=8505998
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Tango and Malenga
This week, I have just had normal classes. I didn't actually realized that a lot of my days would be spent at Casa Pepperdine in a class room. The professors are ok. They come from the UCA, the catholic university here. Some are really boring, but I like my humanities 313 professor and my economics professor. It's cooled down a little bit this week, which has been nice. It is still warm, but with a nice breeze.
Last night, I meet up with my mom's cousin, Randy, who was down in Buenos Aires visiting. She took Kelsey and I to a Malenga (at least that's what i think it's called). It was a big dark room with tables around the edges and a dance floor in the middle. They offer Tango classes every night of the week, and then have a band play later on in the night. We came late, so just watched the class and waited for the music and more professional dancers to come. At one point, Randy and I tried to learn a little by ourselves and the teacher came and asked us if we had partners, we said no, and he tried to dance with me. This was my first tango experience, so I had no idea what the steps were. I just let him lead me and tried to follow my best. After a couple minutes, the music ended and we sat down. Randy finally asked someone what time the band was showing up for the more performance part of the night, we got the time wrong....1:30am was when it started and it was only 11. We decided to just go home after that.
I start my Tango classes with Pepperdine today. I'm really really excited. I just hope I get to dance with a partner. I don't know how they are going to handle having more guys that girls. We'll see. I'm trying to plan my spring break and easter break trips, Kelsey and I want to go to Machu Picchu for one and Patagonia for the other. Hopefully we can figure it out.
That's all for now!
Last night, I meet up with my mom's cousin, Randy, who was down in Buenos Aires visiting. She took Kelsey and I to a Malenga (at least that's what i think it's called). It was a big dark room with tables around the edges and a dance floor in the middle. They offer Tango classes every night of the week, and then have a band play later on in the night. We came late, so just watched the class and waited for the music and more professional dancers to come. At one point, Randy and I tried to learn a little by ourselves and the teacher came and asked us if we had partners, we said no, and he tried to dance with me. This was my first tango experience, so I had no idea what the steps were. I just let him lead me and tried to follow my best. After a couple minutes, the music ended and we sat down. Randy finally asked someone what time the band was showing up for the more performance part of the night, we got the time wrong....1:30am was when it started and it was only 11. We decided to just go home after that.
I start my Tango classes with Pepperdine today. I'm really really excited. I just hope I get to dance with a partner. I don't know how they are going to handle having more guys that girls. We'll see. I'm trying to plan my spring break and easter break trips, Kelsey and I want to go to Machu Picchu for one and Patagonia for the other. Hopefully we can figure it out.
That's all for now!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Uruguay and Sunday
We went to Uruguay this weekend. Wow, I can't believe it was so easy to travel to a different country. So....Kelsey, Lauren, Diana, Jessie, Michael, Alex, Jessica, Alyssa, Miriah, Becca, and I all took a boat to Colonia, Uruguay on Friday. We bought the tickets on Thursday and tried to book a hostel. The tickets were almost all gone, so we all had to buy first class tickets $100 for both ways, instead of $70 in regular class. The boat ride was really fun, we played cards and signs and they even brought us champagne. After getting off the 1 hour boat at 10:30pm, our group split up. Kelsey, Lauren, Diana decided to stay in Colonia and the rest went to Montevideo and some other beach on a bus at 6am the next morning.
Colonia was a very pleasant town to visit. We thought we were going to the beach in Uruguay, but aparently Colonia doesn't have a beach to lay out on and the water was a gross color brown. We found our hostel around 11 pm, but they didn't have any idea that we were coming. They only spoke spanish and told us that we didn't have reservations. She wasn't very helpful and told us she could split the 4 of us into 3 rooms, all with other people. Finally, she showed us a room with only four bed and no bathroom. We took that room at an instant even though we would have to use the community bathroom (i.e. the one that everyone in the hostel can use). It only cost $11 each per night and it seemed really clean and nice for a hostel, and they had breakfast.
Saturday, we woke up and walked around Colonia. It was really empty until the afternoon. We went to an artisan fair and wandered around the historic town. I don't really know why it's historic, but it was all really old and the streets were cobblestone. We had lunch sitting at a restaurant in the street and for $7, I had pizza, wine, ice cream, and coffee. I really didn't like the wine, but everything else was great. I think I'm going to live off of pizza because I seem to eat it a lot. We went back to the hostel and napped after lunch and then walked to dinner. Kelsey and I had steak and french fries....it was the biggest meal ever and we made friends with our waiter, Diego. After we got dessert at another restaurant and listened to their live music. At 12ish, we decided to go back to our hostel, and a band was playing on the street next to ours. They all were dressed up in nice purple shirts and ties and tons of people were in the street sitting watching them. Sunday, we woke up and it was raining, so we took a taxi to the port to get back on the boat...again in first class with champagne. Then, we were back again in Argentina. I can't believe that we actually in Uruguay, it kinda seems unreal. I mean who says, I went to Uruguay for the weekend. Who actually even goes to Uruguay in general? Haha...on that note, we ran into a couple from Pacific Palisades at lunch on Saturday who just bought land in Uruguay and visit it frequently. Anyways, I'm back in BA and am excited to see more of the city.
Today, a group of the students got together to have a small group, to talk about how we are doing and support eachother and worship. I'm really excited for this and it seems like a fun group of people. I haven't been to a church yet in BA, but the majority of people are Catholic, so I'm interested to see what their traditional churches are like.
So ya, that's what is going on so far. I just got back from ice cream....I LOVE this place called persicco and they have the best ice cream ever. Oh, and I'm also in desperate need to do laundry.
Colonia was a very pleasant town to visit. We thought we were going to the beach in Uruguay, but aparently Colonia doesn't have a beach to lay out on and the water was a gross color brown. We found our hostel around 11 pm, but they didn't have any idea that we were coming. They only spoke spanish and told us that we didn't have reservations. She wasn't very helpful and told us she could split the 4 of us into 3 rooms, all with other people. Finally, she showed us a room with only four bed and no bathroom. We took that room at an instant even though we would have to use the community bathroom (i.e. the one that everyone in the hostel can use). It only cost $11 each per night and it seemed really clean and nice for a hostel, and they had breakfast.
Saturday, we woke up and walked around Colonia. It was really empty until the afternoon. We went to an artisan fair and wandered around the historic town. I don't really know why it's historic, but it was all really old and the streets were cobblestone. We had lunch sitting at a restaurant in the street and for $7, I had pizza, wine, ice cream, and coffee. I really didn't like the wine, but everything else was great. I think I'm going to live off of pizza because I seem to eat it a lot. We went back to the hostel and napped after lunch and then walked to dinner. Kelsey and I had steak and french fries....it was the biggest meal ever and we made friends with our waiter, Diego. After we got dessert at another restaurant and listened to their live music. At 12ish, we decided to go back to our hostel, and a band was playing on the street next to ours. They all were dressed up in nice purple shirts and ties and tons of people were in the street sitting watching them. Sunday, we woke up and it was raining, so we took a taxi to the port to get back on the boat...again in first class with champagne. Then, we were back again in Argentina. I can't believe that we actually in Uruguay, it kinda seems unreal. I mean who says, I went to Uruguay for the weekend. Who actually even goes to Uruguay in general? Haha...on that note, we ran into a couple from Pacific Palisades at lunch on Saturday who just bought land in Uruguay and visit it frequently. Anyways, I'm back in BA and am excited to see more of the city.
Today, a group of the students got together to have a small group, to talk about how we are doing and support eachother and worship. I'm really excited for this and it seems like a fun group of people. I haven't been to a church yet in BA, but the majority of people are Catholic, so I'm interested to see what their traditional churches are like.
So ya, that's what is going on so far. I just got back from ice cream....I LOVE this place called persicco and they have the best ice cream ever. Oh, and I'm also in desperate need to do laundry.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Ave. Florida y mas
So first I should give you a brief update on life...
My host family isn't as great as I described them the first day. They are hot and cold...I suppose. They definitely don't like the other student or I to be on their part of the house or in the living room. Our rooms and the kitchen is our only territory. Also, I learned that I am supposed to do my own dishes, sounds obvious, right. At first, they were over the top in doing everything for me, but I quickly learned that was only at the begging and that I do my own dishes. I love my roommate (she isn't really, but that's the easiest thing to call her). We haven't really hung out outside of our appartment that much, but we talk all the time and it's nice to have someone other than my parents to talk to when I'm at home. Also, we steal wireless internet from other people in the building. The internet only works about ten percent of the time.
Yesterday we took the SupT (metro) to Avenida Florida and walked around. Avenida Florida reminds me of Santa Monica, but triple the number of people and stores. It is for pedestrians only and there are street performers and tons of little shops on the side. Very fun place to walk around.
Last night, lots of people from Pepperdine went to a club called LOST. I have class this morning, but I went anyway. We met at the club at 2 am, so I tried to sleep a little before we left, but it didn't work. Aparently, it is the only hip hop club in town and it was pretty fun. I liked dancing with the pepperdine crowd, but the other guys lingering kinda creeped me out. I got home at 4am and we were the first ones to leave. People were still arriving at the club. Now I have class at 9 and I'm really tired. That's the way in Argentina though. I'm not sure I'll go clubing a lot.
This weekend I'm going to the beach in Uraguay. We take a boat there. It should be fun.
My host family isn't as great as I described them the first day. They are hot and cold...I suppose. They definitely don't like the other student or I to be on their part of the house or in the living room. Our rooms and the kitchen is our only territory. Also, I learned that I am supposed to do my own dishes, sounds obvious, right. At first, they were over the top in doing everything for me, but I quickly learned that was only at the begging and that I do my own dishes. I love my roommate (she isn't really, but that's the easiest thing to call her). We haven't really hung out outside of our appartment that much, but we talk all the time and it's nice to have someone other than my parents to talk to when I'm at home. Also, we steal wireless internet from other people in the building. The internet only works about ten percent of the time.
Yesterday we took the SupT (metro) to Avenida Florida and walked around. Avenida Florida reminds me of Santa Monica, but triple the number of people and stores. It is for pedestrians only and there are street performers and tons of little shops on the side. Very fun place to walk around.
Last night, lots of people from Pepperdine went to a club called LOST. I have class this morning, but I went anyway. We met at the club at 2 am, so I tried to sleep a little before we left, but it didn't work. Aparently, it is the only hip hop club in town and it was pretty fun. I liked dancing with the pepperdine crowd, but the other guys lingering kinda creeped me out. I got home at 4am and we were the first ones to leave. People were still arriving at the club. Now I have class at 9 and I'm really tired. That's the way in Argentina though. I'm not sure I'll go clubing a lot.
This weekend I'm going to the beach in Uraguay. We take a boat there. It should be fun.
Monday, February 4, 2008
First day of spanish boot camp
Today we started bootcamp spanish. I'm in Span 152, the lowest one offered here and there only 4 people in my class including me. It was fun and I'm going to pick Spanish up so fast. We watched the super bowl at the Pepperdine house last night, but there were no US commercials, sad. On Sunday, we went to Recoletta, which was an open air market and the Hard Rock Cafe. We figured out how to take the bus to get there. Buses are weird because .90 pesos gets you five blocks on a bus, but if you pay 1 peso, you can go as far as you want. 1 peso is like 33 US cents. The vendors at Recoletta sold many different things. One lady took oranges, dried them inside out to make little boxes and then painted the tops. Really cool looking. Another guy took old SupT (the subway) tickets and folded them into each other to make little statues and paper weights, using the colors on the ticket in different ways in each thing he made. It was sooo hot there. A band was playing in the park in the middle of the fair, so we went and sat down and watched. Argentines love this drink called mate, which is really really intense tea. They drink it out of this weird bowl and it looks like they are doing drugs. Today was the first day of actual class/orientation. Every monday, we have an asado, which is a BBQ....very good. I had chorizo. Tonight I'm going to bed early because I haven't had more than 6 hours of sleep a night since I've been here. That's all for now :)
Saturday, February 2, 2008
My first two/three days...
The flight to Argentina was the longest flight of my life. After waiting 5 hours in the airport, we boarded and then waited another hour to take off. The flight to Santiago, Chile was 10 hours, or 11 if you include the hour we waited before take-off. Thank goodness I got to sit next to Kelsey. Kelsey, Jessie, and I checked in together so we all sat in the same row, in the middle of the plane. The entertainment was great on the plane. I watched Shallow Hal, Everwood, Martian Child, and more! After arriving in Santiago, Chile at 6:30 am friday morning, we took a 1.5 hour flight to Argentina. People from Casa Holden, the pepperdine house, met us. There are 30 new students this semester and 30 ones returning for a 2nd semester. I feel like I already knew at least 8 of the new students before I got here, so that is good. Once in Argentina, we had a bbq and short orientation at the casa holden and then our families came to pick us up.
My family is really sweet. My mom held my hand to the taxi and then showed me around their 7th floor appartment about 6 long blocks from the casa holden. My room is small, but very nice. My family also has another student from Boston, not from the Pepperdine program staying with us. Her name is Kristen and she is also nice, but she seems to be gone more than I. She barely knows any spanish, which gives my confidence a boost. There are 2 bathrooms in our house, but 1 shower, so we all share the 1 shower. Later, my mom took me on a tour around her block to show me the internet place and the laundry place, ect. She held my hand the entire time. My parents really like talking to me and we are communicating really well. Dinner was ok, not the greatest. We had soupy mashed potatoes, bistec...but it looked like meat loaf, and salad. Fruit for dessert. I went out with people from Pepperdine after dinner at 11 pm. We met at casa holden and I took a taxi there. I hope eventually I can walk to casa holden at night, but my parents didn't want me to walk alone at night the first night i was there. I got back from being out at 1 am, by taxi, and accidently rang the doorbell because it looked like a light switch...woops. Taxi's here are really cheap. It cost me 5 pesos each way, which is less than 2 dollars.
Today we went on a bus tour of Buenos Aires. I have now seen all the historical sites that I was looking forward to....where Eva Peron, Evita, is buried and the balcony where Evita gave her speeches. Really cool. I'm getting my cell phone stuff figured out right now. I rented a cell phone from casa holden, but you need to buy a phone card and then activated it on your cell phone to be able to use it. Also, my house doesn't have internet, bummer. Kelseys does. Apparently neighboors do have it and their previous exchange students were able to use it, so i'm going to try that later. My mom's cousin is in town, so i'm hoping to call her up once my phone starts working.
That's all for now. :)
My family is really sweet. My mom held my hand to the taxi and then showed me around their 7th floor appartment about 6 long blocks from the casa holden. My room is small, but very nice. My family also has another student from Boston, not from the Pepperdine program staying with us. Her name is Kristen and she is also nice, but she seems to be gone more than I. She barely knows any spanish, which gives my confidence a boost. There are 2 bathrooms in our house, but 1 shower, so we all share the 1 shower. Later, my mom took me on a tour around her block to show me the internet place and the laundry place, ect. She held my hand the entire time. My parents really like talking to me and we are communicating really well. Dinner was ok, not the greatest. We had soupy mashed potatoes, bistec...but it looked like meat loaf, and salad. Fruit for dessert. I went out with people from Pepperdine after dinner at 11 pm. We met at casa holden and I took a taxi there. I hope eventually I can walk to casa holden at night, but my parents didn't want me to walk alone at night the first night i was there. I got back from being out at 1 am, by taxi, and accidently rang the doorbell because it looked like a light switch...woops. Taxi's here are really cheap. It cost me 5 pesos each way, which is less than 2 dollars.
Today we went on a bus tour of Buenos Aires. I have now seen all the historical sites that I was looking forward to....where Eva Peron, Evita, is buried and the balcony where Evita gave her speeches. Really cool. I'm getting my cell phone stuff figured out right now. I rented a cell phone from casa holden, but you need to buy a phone card and then activated it on your cell phone to be able to use it. Also, my house doesn't have internet, bummer. Kelseys does. Apparently neighboors do have it and their previous exchange students were able to use it, so i'm going to try that later. My mom's cousin is in town, so i'm hoping to call her up once my phone starts working.
That's all for now. :)
Friday, February 1, 2008
I'm here
Just wanted to let everyone know that I got here and am safe. I don't have time to update now, but my family is great and my spanish isn't that bad.
I love and miss you all.
I love and miss you all.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
I'm leaving in a week
So I'm so excited and really nervous that in just over a week I will be on an airplane leaving for 3 months where I will live in Argentina. I will be writing on this blog to update all of you, my friends and family, how my trip is going and what I'm doing. Wow, I can't even begin to think about what my life will be like in a week.
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