Me encanta mate.

Me encanta mate. I LOVE mate. Ok, so very random, but today I met with some friends from my spanish class to "study" for our final. not much studying actually happened, but Miguel, who also went to argentina last semester brought stuff for mate!!!!!! Oh it took me wayyy back. All those lovely afternoons spent tomando mate with Karina or those late night with friends from la iglesia. Such good times!!!!!! I can't wait to go back! This time last year I was starting to freak out about leaving. weird.



Also weird that I graduate in 5 months!!!!!! CRAZY!!!! I can't believe how fast the semester's going!!!


and only 6 days till I visit Katie in DC!!!!!!!!!!!! Hooray!!!

¿Y? Me voy a recibir? Puede ser....

So.... graduation drama has been dominating my life lately. Last thursday I received an e-mail from the all powerful graduation lady who has to approve everything you've ever taken and say if you've completed all the requirements. She basically holds everyone in the college of education and health professions graduations in her hands. WELL, she decided that I hadn't met the fine arts requirements, because basically, I hadn't. But in my defense, I had had 2, that's dos! separate advisors (both of whom I consider to be pretty wise and knowledgeable people) tell me that my 2 2000 level Spanish classes would fulfill that requirements under the humanities category D. The graduation lady apparently disagreed. Meanwhile, my advisor is out of town for the week, and wants me to talk to a high up person in the department, who wants me to talk to the graduation lady, who wants me to talk to my advisor, who wants me to talk to.... get the picture? vicious cycle. But finally, after talking with and e-mailing all of them, I secured a meeting with the graduation lady. She proceded to explain to me that if I switched course catalogs to 08-09, the Spanish would meet one of the requirements. But not the other. I needed a fine arts. I did not want to take a fine arts. She wanted me to take a fine arts. I suggested maybe making one of the spanish lit classes or classes I'd had in Argentina count as a separate humanities category C. She said that's not a fine arts category A or B. I said that although I understood it didn't meet the requirements, it seemed crazy to me that 160 plus hours (the general requirement for graduation is 124) is still not enough. She sighed and said she thought it would be. She looked at my overachieving, 160 plus hours, honors, study abroading transcript and let me count both the spanish classes as fine arts. En fin, I'm going to graduate after all. HOORAY!!!! Then I got a parking ticket. But when the graduation lady tells you she'll meet with you with a half hour's notice and there are 0 open student spots on campus, you just do it. 3.25 years down, 27 weeks to go!!!

"¡Pensé que eran argentinos!"

Ok so on Monday a pretty terrible day became the best day ever. It was completely crazy and full of failures. I had to turn in this giant application for a state funded undergraduate research fellowship. I thought it was going to take half an hour. Try that times 4. I was supposed to be in Rogers at interpreter training (I've been interpreting for parent teacher conferences in Springdale and now in Rogers. It's so much fun!) at 12 but didn't finish with the application stuff till after 1. Oops. That meant I had to skip class and go to the 6:30 training. But first I was supposed to go to Springdale and start my thesis. But justo cuando llegué the whole school had to go to an assembly. Turned around and came home. But then things start looking up because I got an awesome halloween package from my mom! Then somehow we arrived late to the training. Oops. It was super intimidating because of course my friend Cooper and I were the ONLY white people. So we walked in late and there was this really intimidating woman speaking so fast in Spanish. But then the best thing in the entire world happened. At the end of the training this woman next to me asked us where we were from and when I said I was from Dallas she turned to the other women at the table and said "¡Mira! Son americanos! Pensé que eran argentinos!" She thought we were Argentines because at some point during the presentation she heard me speak when I asked a few questions. BEST THING EVER!!!!! I mean, she heard me say all of like 3 sentences but either way, a native Spanish speaker thought I was from Argentina. Best. Day. Ever.

Dormiré cuando muera

So I don't know how it came to be that it is already almost november and feels like the semester started just a second ago. I didn't think time could go faster than it did in Argentina, but apparently I was wrong. Life has been completely insane and I can't believe that in just 6 months I'm graduating. And then everyone is leaving and I start the MAT. crazy. this semester, it is a huge struggle to get everything done in the right amount of time. I don't understand how I became worse at time management than I was freshman and sophomore year (when I was actually a good student and did things with friends at the same time). Now either all my time somehow evaporates magically or I just don't use it well. Gotta be the first one. No time for anything, and I don't even know how because I'm not even in that demanding of a major. oh well. I'll sleep when I'm dead I guess :) Actually today was a kind of chill day, hence the blogging. But maybe one day life will slow down a bit.

Un finde para recordar

Yesterday the #10 razorbacks played #1 Alabama in our biggest game of the year. Almost 77,000 people were at the game, a record for the stadium. But it was everything leading up to this game that made it so insane. First of all, let's talk about the crazy people that started camping outstide the stadium MONDAY before a game on SATURDAY AFTERNOON. By the time we put our tent up on Wednesday there were 53 groups ahead of us. Insane. I was there all thursday and friday. That was a sight too, because there were a million people, and we were just chilling on the sidewalk reading picture books for our children's lit class and then the football and basketball teams came by and brought us free pizza. And even though it poured Thursday night and we woke up completely drenched on Friday morning, it was so much fun. Friday though, now that was really something. Friday night there were over 120 tents set up along Stadium Drive. And it seemed like the entire city was driving by honking and high-fiving the students on the sidewalk. It was like a really weird parade, because we were the ones standing there, but everyone was driving by to see us. And it lasted for over 4 hours. This woman from the dean's office told us that she'd been working there for 35 years and had NEVER seen anything like it. It's things like that that make me so glad to be a razorback. Arkansas doesn't have any professional sports teams, or even another D1 school, so the entire state LOVES the razorbacks. It's an insanely unifying factor. The next morning was freezing, and I determined that 7:00 in the morning is an inappropriate time for school spirit, although more appropriate than 3:30 in the morning. Fortunately the sun came out a little later and one of the girls in our group brought us all a ton of great snacks to munch on as we waited 5 hours to be let in the stadium. And oh the game. The first half was probably about the best first half I've ever seen, and the second half was sooooooooooo close. But in the end, we just couldn't do it. As incredible as it would have been to have won, there's a reason Alabama is ranked #1 and we are #10. But on the bright side, I really think we are capable of beating every other team we will play this year, so here's hoping!

Los Avestruces con sus ojos diabólicos

So this weekend was insane. Skyping with Paula for over 5 hours (!) friday. Girl's pizza night on friday. Farmer's market saturday. Getting Jet- Elizabeth's new foster dog saturday. Getting locked out of the Orchard (Erin, Keila and Elizabeth's house) saturday. First football game saturday. Elizabeth's birthday salida saturday. Work sunday. Church sunday. Elizabeth's family birthday dinner sunday. Gentry zoo monday. And way too many nights past 4:00am. But such a good, fun weekend!

And the Gentry zoo might just be one of the most fun places ever!!!!! It's a drive through zoo so you stay in your car most of the time. But there is a giant petting zoo at the end. And you're not technically supposed to roll down the windows and feed the animals but....

And it's kind of one of the coolest things ever getting to touch all those wild animals, zebras, buffalo, deer, kangaroos, llamas, camels, longhorns, monkeys, baby lions, lemurs, etc... But oh the emus. One of the most terrifying creatures ever I think. And even more so when they're sticking their heads into your car trying to attack you. Ok we can't exactly be sure that they wanted to attack, but they have this diabolical look in their eyes and they just come at you. Definitely not friendly. And they were EVERYWHERE!!!!



But still, the gentry zoo is definitely a northwest arkansas hidden treasure!

So after such a wonderful labor day weekend, I could really use an entire week to catch up on sleep. But I guess that will just have to wait because senior block starts bright and early tomorrow morning :) (Oh and I finished Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry! Such a good book! Tomorrow our book order books should come in! I'm telling you, best major ever!

And Colossians is awesome. My new goal: "and now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness." 2:6-7. Love it!

Aprender nuevos idiomas

So I'm kind of awful at keeping up with this blog now that I'm back. Whoops. But this week so much has happened. Mainly, I started school again and I'm all moved into my apartment (and loving it) and my best friend moved to Virgina. So far I love the senior block (especially my math and children's lit classes)! And my spanish teacher is from Argentina!!!!! I'm so excited!! She's wonderful. And I've been skyping a ton with Katie , Paula, and Carolina. So much fun! And we all started using this livemocha website to learn new languages. Paula and I are learning portugués, Carolina is learning Italian (even though she already pretty much knows it) and, best of all, Katie is learning SPANISH!!!!!!!!! It's so exciting!!!! And she's totally dominating!!!! So far I only know the basics in portuguese. Eu não sou um homem, eu sou uma mulher. Eu não sou baixa, eu sou alta. Ele menino é jovem. Ela mujer é idosa. Tchau. Hahaha, I can kind of say what people are and aren't, but only to the extent that they're man/woman, young/old, rich/poor, and short/tall. Haha. But it's fun. I think it's pretty exciting learning something completely new for a change. Not that I didn't do that in Argentina, but still... Oh and also, my friend Flor is making official plans to come visit me for spring break!!!!!!!!! And Paula and all the girls are coming next year! I can't wait!

It's kind of strange being back on campus after having been gone for so long, but I decided that I really love the U of A. Argentina may beat the U.S. in some things, but the U.S. has this whole college thing right, I love the way our campus is! I miss the cityness of Buenos Aires but I really love Fayetteville for college. I love that everyone wants to give us free food and t-shirts and everything really. I love that it's like a whole little city but with all basically the same aged people in the same stage of life. I love that we're all here kind of being adults but not really with many responsibilities. I love the times when we have breaks between classes and just get to have picnics beneath shady trees on old main lawn or just hang out at Starbucks. I love the school spirit. And I can't wait for football to start!!! College is great. Genial!!! ¡La vida es sueño!

Dejada plantada con amigas

So, now that I am back for real in the U.S. I'm not really sure if my blog has a point, but I kind of like it anyway. So we'll see. Vamos a ver. So I'm really worried that I'll lose a lot of my spanish now that I'm not using it all the time, so I decided that I need to do everything I can to keep it up. The other day I went to the library and checked out like 6 novels in spanish, watched/read some news in spanish, and today I found a radio station that's más o menos. Writing that all out, it seems kind of overboard, but I know how easy it is to let it all fall away and I am determined to maintain as much fluidity as possible. The lady next to me on my plane back to the U.S. was a bit inspirational and told me all these stories of how if you really want to accomplish something, you'll find a way to do it. So this is me trying.

Also, I am continually amazed at the ways in which the Lord has blessed me. I remember very vividly being alone in my apartment in Buenos Aires and missing the kind of close friendships I have back here. And now it amazes me how many wonderful argentine friends I've made and how close we've grown. I think I've talked to just about every single one of those etnología girls every day since I got back. During Argentina, God began to really teach me what it looks like to really rely on him, and then at just the right time (as I started to learn how to do this) he blessed me with an amazing group of friends. Not just convenience friends while was in Buenos Aires, but real friends that call me on skype from the other side of the world just to chat and even though the connection was bad, we end up talking for like 2 hours. And Paula, after hearing that I got stood up for a skype date, offering in all seriousness to text him and ask him what he's doing por dejarme plantada like that. Hilarious. Or like with Karina, who I grew so close to that I spent 3 days straight actually living in her house with her family, and then found out that she'd never invited any other friends to quedarse dormir at her house. These are the kinds of friendships that I never saw coming. I feel like after study abroad trips or camps or things like that, everyone comes out with so many new friends that they never end up really talking to again. I really hope that's not the case here and that I can maintain these frienships that have come to mean so much to me.

And completely unrelated but also true, I am so very excited to go back to work at the preschool on Monday. I'm kind of a crazy, but I am ridiculously attached to my job. I don't know why I love it so so much, I just do. I hadn't heard anything from the preschool though since January so I wasn't even sure if they still needed me, but I found out yesterday that they do! I'm teaching a Spanish enrichment program and so excited. But it could be interesting because when I went by today, they couldn't find my curriculum or get a hold of anyone who knows where it is. So I'm just pulling stuff together on my own for monday. Haha, it all seems so very unorganized and Argentina-y. But either way, I am so thankful just to have a job, not to mention one that I love so much. And tomorrow I'm going to waco for a wonderful weekend with Katie and Melanie. So here I am, with really amazing and fantastic friends and family and a wonderful job. Sometimes I just can't even believe my life.

Salida y Llegada

So this is the end. Goodbye Buenos Aires, Hello McKinney, TX. It's really crazy leaving and being back. I have very mixed feelings about it. I cried and cried and cried some more leaving Buenos Aires and all of the wonderful wonderful friends I made. But there are definitely some things that I will not miss (in no particular order):

1. The overabundance of mayonesa (mayonnaise). When you walk down the condimentos aisle of argentine grocery stores you find about 80000 brands of mayonnaise, 2 kinds of ketchup, 1 type of mustard, a couple chimmichurri sauces and maybe some soy sauce. But they put mayonnaise on EVERYTHING. ¡Qué asco!

2. Poop on all the sidewalks. Buenos Aires petowners rarely show any consideration for the city's 4 million pedestrians.

3. Not having internet in my house. It's kind of stressful when everytime you check your e-mail there are 20 new messages.

4. The food. Ok, so maybe I'll miss empanadas and asado, but in general the food just doesn't have as much flavor as I'd like.

5. Paying for water in restaraunts. And on top of that, the lack of appreciation for ice.

6. The terrible hair. mullets, rat tails, dreadlocks, or all three at the same time.

7. Taking the subte and being crammed in with so many people that you're actually lifted up off the ground mosh pit style and held there until the next stop.

8. Baby sized coffee cups

9. The unstructured way of doing things. Sometimes tranquilo is good, but sometimes Argentina is so chill that it stresses me out.

10. the cell phones, having to buy tarjetas de crédito to load minutes every few days, paying 5 pesos a minute for every phonecall-i.e. only being able to send text messages.

Haha, oh Argentina. But I will miss everything else. Like mate, the ISA staff, being called Katy, hugs and kisses every time you say hello and goodbye, speaking spanish ALL the time, the giantness of the city, having public transportation, calling everyone (even people you're not very close with) amor and corazón- so friendly and affectionate, fruterías on every block, hearing waka waka every 10 minutes, the passion for fútbol, having friends from all over the world, the iglesia, wednesday english lessions and chats with Karina and her family, my crazy and wonderful etnología friends, listening to everyone try to say my name and other things in english, the lovely porteño accent, pomelo (grapefruit) everything, all of the dogs, the wonderful mix of old and new, the architecture and interestingness of the buildings, the really pretty, old fashioned keys, the plazas and trees in the middle of all the buildings, that everyone has a nickname, cafes con leche, staying up all night, maru's crazy faces, poli saying ¡qué asco! at everything, the phrase "dale", having a word like "lindo" that describes all things good, and I think I could go on forever.

Buenos Aires, te quiero y te extraño muchísimo. Even though it was only home for 5 months, it feels like a day but at the same time, forever. The most wonderful experiences of my life. I take away nothing but really really great memories! I think I will love Argentina forever. I don't know when, but I will definitely be going back some day! But for now, here's to a great summer, time with family and old friends, and a wonderful senior year!

La última semana

I can't believe how fast all of my time here has gone by. So so fast, but so wonderful. Really, no lo puedo creer. This week was filled with wonderful friends and goodbye parties. I hate goodbyes, but it's so wonderful to have made so many friends, to miss them and know that you'll be missed as well. On Sunday we tried to go to a feria in Mataderos, but it was cancelled due to bad weather and the Arg. vs. Méx. game. Vamos, vamos, Argentina! After the game we had a goodbye party/sushi night at Flor's house. Surprisingly enough, I loved the sushi! ¡Qué rico! Then monday I spent all day working on the monografía, turned it in a bit late, but igual, ya terminé. I don't know how it went though. Then I went out to dinner with Karina and stayed over at her house again. Haha, these past 3 nights I've been at other people's houses! So much fun. Then on tuesday we had a little intensive month reuinon. Wednesday was my last night out with Luiza and Ann. So sad to leave them. I love those girls! Then on thursday I went to Uruguay with Michelle. We went to this quaint little historic town called Colonia, which was the original portuguese colony a long long time ago. Then to the Moreno's house for a delicious dinner and Eze's birthday. Friday Poli came over to my house and helped me pack! Soooooooo nice! I still can't believe she did that, and that she fit everything in my suitcases! Milagro! I made brownies for the ISA staff and Ana and Dante from the frutería next door. But I had to make them in the neighbors' oven because ours broke. Then off to ISA for a final goodbye. SO sad, but really really good. Then the last trip to starbucks with Hedvig and the goodbye party at the church. Then saturday morning the Argentina game and goodbye to the girls from etnología. ¡Qué tristezas las dos cosas! And goodness, between friday and saturday I don't think I have ever cried that much in my life. It's so hard to leave. But really, I can't believe how completely amazing and wonderful this whole experience has been. I feel so blessed to have met so many wonderful sweet friends and to have had so many incredible adventures! And I will definitely be back.

Mar del Plata

So last Friday was the ISA goodbye luncheon for all the Belgrano people. It’s weird to think that I’ll probably never see most of those people again. Except Julie of course! I mean, I didn’t even know most of them very well, but still, it’s kind of sad. And I’m really sad to see Erica go. I love that girl. I guess it’s more sad to think that they won’t likely see each other ever again, and they all became such good friends these past 4 months. I don’t want to think about saying goodbye to my friends here. Way too much to handle.

But then I got to spend the whole weekend in mar del plata, a city about 5 hours away from Buenos Aires and right on the coast. It was freezing, but so much fun! It's actually a really cool town. Or city I guess, it has like 3 million people, but it kind of feels towny, which is nice. It's got beautiful beaches, a fun metropolitany down town or centro, mountains and a lake. And some very lovely people. Kind of a bit of everything! I still think it's really funny though that as sad as I was to leave mar del plata, I still love coming back to Buenos Aires.

Ok so I think I actually figured out how to post pictures. You know, just in time for me to leave in a week and a half. What?

And just a few words on the bus station in Retiro. Most stressful thing ever. I hate it. And it can not possibly be an efficient way to run things. So the tickets say it will be within these 14 or so platforms, and you just have to rush there and look at all of them. And there’s no waiting area really, so everyone just stands there in the middle of the walkway. And nobody has any idea which buses go to which platforms until they arrive. Un quilombo! Fortunately this time, there were lots of people that worked there helping me (unlike when I went to Mendoza with Ann and we ran all over the place without a clue), but either way it was stressful. But finally I came upon a group of other people going to mar del plata on my bus. A woman from England and several people from Scotland. And the bus was late (better than early) but eventually I made it on board. And coming back from Mar del Plata was easy breezy. I guess it's just buenos aires that it tricky.

And on Tuesday, in case you haven't already heard, we played Greece in the world cup and won, 2-0!!! Such an intense game! We didn't score until well into the second half! Kind of stressful. But it was sooooo much fun. We reserved a table in this restarant with the girls from my etnología class (that I am now officially and successfully done with!) and watched it on this giant screen! Also I guess I should rescind my comment about the USA team. Maybe they are kind of good. But either way, not as good as Argentina. This sunday we play México!!!!


And then we all went to the obelisco to celebrate with all the other crazies! It was so fun. And I bought a jersey! So I'm officially Argentina now.

¡Waka Waka! Esto es África...

Actually it's Argentina. But that's Shakira for you. So the World cup started last week and let me tell you, Argentina (and maybe the whole world) is going crazy over the mundial. Una locura! I mean, professors cancel class, the elementary and secondary students actually have official days to watch the games in class, and everyone and their mom is walking around wearing celeste y blanco (blue and white). I’m loving it! And after a win, everyone goes down to the obelisco and celebrates. Even in the rain. For the first game, I went to a big watch party at the church where they projected the game on the wall. So fun, even if I did get there after the only goal. And then today I went to a café with all twenty-something girls from my etnología class. The café was packed and looked so funny with every single person facing the TV. And the people laughing as they walked by on the street and looked in the window. And in case you hadn’t heard, we dominated South Korea!!! This game was much more exciting. Vamos, vamos, Argentina! Vamos, vamos, a ganar!!! I think I’m starting to like fútbol. Not that I disliked it before, I just didn’t care. But now I think I could kind of get into it. But it definitely makes me miss fútbol norteamericano. Just much more fun in my opinion. Although maybe not quite as skilled athleticism, but I’m not sure. And maybe the U.S. should just stick with that kind of football, because in their game their only goal was an accident by another player. Sad.

So the end is approaching. I’m already done with 3 of my classes. Normativa was a close call- I failed a trabajo práctico because I used the phrase a sí mismas without the tilde (and Paula had even corrected it for me, I just didn’t see it!). Seriously, not another mistake in the whole paper and it was desaprobado. Sooooo frustrating, and the profe handed them back right before we took our test. Perfect. But in the end, by the grace of God, I did really well on the exam so I think it’s ok. And then I had my history exam on Tuesday and just have to go back and get the grade next week. I’ll turn in my final essay for etnología tomorrow, and then it’s just the 10-15 page monografía and a few little things for mitos y leyendas. Crazy. But I’m seriously having trouble focusing on school lately. Yesterday I spent a ridiculous 9 hours or so writing 6 pages on Los grupos indígenas del área litoraleña de la Argentina. Just so hard to focus and just get it done. But hopefully the monografía will go a bit better.

Most of the ISA people are leaving this Saturday, so tomorrow we’re having a little goodbye luncheon. And then it’s just two more weeks for me. Crazy! But I’m going to aprovechar every last minute! Oh and this weekend I’m going to Mar del Plata!! =)

¡Qué casualidad!

What a coincidence!!! -There you go, Kaitie. That's the English translation.- So last night was a really great night, and filled with such strange coincidences. I went out with Luiza and Ann to this bar called Sugar (not to be confused with the salsa club, Azúcar) in Palermo Soho. And it was so good that the three of us got to hang out together, because it had literally been more than a month and a half since the last time we were all together! It's a really cute little bar with fun lighting, good music and lots of seating. And even though I had been there once before and we had seen people there speaking English, I didn't realize that it was an estadounidense bar (because it had been a few argentines that told me about it). But apparently it is. The owner is from the U.S. and the majority of the people there are too. Maybe ESPN on the tvs should have tipped me off. But anyways, Ann, Luiza and I were sitting in this big area talking and I heard this guy with a thick southern accent. I thought, ok, I have to ask where he's from, because you just don't hear too many of those in Buenos Aires. Turns out he's from Oklahoma but he goes to school at the U of A!!!!!! Crazy! And we knew a lot of the same people! And he was there with another guy from the U of A! And they're both here through ISA. Crazy. They were actually at the bar with a whole group of ISA people that are spending the summer here. Crazy. So we hung out with them all night. Such a fun group. And it was just really really funny to be sitting in a bar in Buenos Aires, Argentina with some people from my same study abroad program and my same school. Weird.

Another great coincidence for the books, last weekend I went out with my friend Monica, who I met through the church, and we went over to her friend's house before we were going to go to a boliche. So there was a bunch of us hanging out, and I asked Monica who's appartment it was. She said it was Pierina's, a girl from Venezuela. I thought, that's so weird, I know a Pierina from Venezuela too! Turns out, it's the same person. I had met Pierina a couple of months ago at this bar with Ann and some of the intensive month girls. And my friend Jillian had met Pierina there somehow and we were all just talking. But then I never saw her again after that, we were just facebook friends. But then sure enough, she goes to the same university as Monica and I ended up hanging out at her apartment all night! Crazy! Also, that night was just hilarious because we started out at Pierina's apartment and then went to this club, Lost. We were on a list to get in and we waited in line and everything, but then they only let a few of our group in. But didn't give us any explanation whatsoever. So we waited in line again, but as soon as we got up to the front they wouldn't let us in again! It was so weird. So we decided to go to this other club nearby, but couldn't get in there either. So then we decided to go to a kiosco (little convenience store things they have everywhere) across the street to get somethign to eat but right when we got there, it closed too. Rejected. We ended up just going back to Pierina's house and hanging out, which was still fun. Because I don't really think it matters to much where you go or what you do as long as you like who you're with. But just a funny night of being rejects. Los rechazados.

Another completely unique experience in Argentina happened yesterday afternoon. I went to an Argentine game show. My friend, Polen, had auditioned for this game show, 3, 2, 1, ¡A ganar! a couple of weeks ago, and then they called her to be on it! It's a COMPLETELY ridiculous game show. Lot's of pies in the face, inflatable obstacle course things, crazy musical guest stars and world cup trivia. Oh Argentina. But so Polen was on it and I got to be in the audience with her mom and four of our friends from school! And as it wasn't a very big audience, we were on TV. Crazy! I have done a lot of crazy things here, but I don't think I ever imagined myself in the audience of an Argentine game show.

Oíd mortales el grito sagrado: Libertad, libertad, libertad!!!

So this weekend we celebrated Argentina's bicentenial! Which was so exciting. It's really cool that I got to be here for it! I had a 5 day weekend, fantastic, filled with fun and festivities. On saturday I went to a youth conference thing with some people from the church, which was a lot of fun, and then went over to my friend Mariela's house and watched a fútbol game and hung out a bit in between sessions. I met this girl Monica from El Salvador. She's really sweet! I hope we get to know each other better and get to hang out more. Then on Sunday I was supposed to go to Parque de la Costa with the girls from my etnología class but it was pouring!!!! So instead we just hung out at my friend Polen's house and watched movies and played card games. It was a lot of fun! We spent the night over there and had a little slumber party (and of course got very little sleep). I seriously don't think I have ever laughed that much in one day! Also, it was just really fun to be back in a real house instead of an apartment (Polen lives in tigre, a city outside of Buenos Aires, so it's all mostly real houses). Then on Monday I went to an espectáculo for the reopening of the teatro colón, which is like the largest and most well known theater in south america (it had been closed for remodeling a few years). It was sooooo cool. It was outside and they projected all of these video things and had dancers and all in a show that told the history of the theater. But there were about 80 million people. It was insane. Then we met up with some other friends and saw some of the concerts and a tango show and fireworks. And then Tuesday I hung out with Ann a bit (so good to see her again!!!) and then met up with some friends from the church to watch the parade. This parade was incredible. It was made up of 19 floats and told the history of Argentina. And the floats were insane!!! They were a lot more like works of modern art than floats, I don't even know how to describe how cool they were. But it was an extremely looooooonnnnnnnggggggg parade. And I learned some great new songs, including part of the national anthem (the title of this blog is the first part of it). And ¡Ya lo ve, ya lo ve, él que no salta es un inglés! This one everyone sings and jumps up and down (because he that doesn't jump is English). I think it stems from the Guerra de las Malvinas with England.

But this whole bicentenario thing is really cool. In various classes and things since I've been here, people (especially Argentines) have commented on the country's lack of pride, but this weekend was completely the opposite! Very very patriotic. Which makes me happy. Because I love this city and this country so much, it's good to see the people who live here show it too.

¡Más aventuras!

So I have like 6 weeks left here in Buenos Aires. Crazy. I'm not ok with that. But these past couple of weeks have been so so so much fun! I've been hanging out with the girls from my etnología class a ton, which has been so good! We went to this giant shopping center a couple of weeks ago and then I went with my friend Flor to a fiesta for the birthday of one of her friends. Really fun. And then stayed the night (morning?) at her house! Then this weekend we all went to an asado! ¡Qué rico! Where we played twister and on the playground like 5 year olds and spent the whole day muriendo de risas =) I also taught them how to play spoons, and created a pretty awesome mixture of spoons and chancho va! Then on sunday night I went to an outdoor music festival with Flor and her friend Pablo! Next Monday and Tuesday are holidays so on Sunday we're going to parque de la costa (the argentine equivalent of 6 flags) and having a slumber party at my friend Polen's house! Also this weekend I went to a Salsa class with Agata, Julie and Erica. Really fun, but really hard and kind of stressful seeing as I have no rhythm whatsoever. ¡Soy pata dura! But it was still really fun! Then I went out with some of my friends from ISA to this really cute, kind of fancy area called Las Canitas. And Friday I went out to dinner with friends from la iglesia. Really fun and delicious! And I taught my friend Oliver a little bit about Texas and comida picante. Haha.

Also, I'm having so much fun teaching English to Matías. On Wednesday I went over to their house around 2. Taught a little English, drank a little mate, hung out ALL day with Karina and left at 1:30 in the morning. Haha, what?

And, I FINALLY can have hot showers! In the bathroom there hasn't been hot water (just kind of lukewarm) since I got here, and I finally got up the courage to talk to Miriam about it and turns out all she had to do was crank up the water heater a notch. So hooray! Hot showers in the morning = best thing ever!

And I have a fantastic 5 day weekend coming up! Yay! Happy 200th Birthday, Argentina!

p.s. Pat, I went to the national library. It kind of looks like a spaceship, but made for a productive day of studying.

Viaje Lindísimo

Las cataratas de Iguazú: uno de mis lugares favoritos desde ahora en adelante. So this weekend I went to Iguazú Falls with ISA, only one of the best trips I've ever been on. So so so much fun! We left Thursday around 7 in the afternoon en micro. The bus ride was a little more than 12 hours, not too bad, but I couldn't sleep at all... We did watch two movies- Up in the Air, with George Clooney (terrible and depressing. Don't see it) and Motivos de no enamorarse (kind of weird at first but overall really good). And I hung out with Julie the whole trip, so it was so so so much fun! Then on Friday morning we arrived at Las Ruinas de San Ignacio, which is this old old mission set up by Jesuit Priests during Spanish colonization. This tour guide from the national parks, Margarita, was with us all weekend. She was very sweet, talked non-stop, translated the most random things and maybe could have been nominated for what not to wear, but was very fun. And the ruins were really cool. There were dogs everywhere, and one of them, Patricio, followed our group around.

Next we went to a chacra, which is a kind of plantation, where we ate incredible asado, dominated in volleyball (haha not.) lounged by the pool, and went on a tour of a yerba mate factory. Then we had another 4 hours on the bus to get to Iguazú. We watched where the wild things are. Extra terrible movie. Really disturbing and disappointing. But our hotel was so nice. I roomed with Julie and this girl Erica that I met in Rosario. So much fun!

Saturday we were at the national park all day enjoying the most beautiful waterfalls in the world. ¡Increíble! And we had such wonderful wonderful weather. It had actually been raining the past 7 days until we got there, but we had nothing but sunshine and wonderfulness! It was perfect! We took this boat out to the falls and got completely drenched but it was so much fun. Then we went to this spot where you are standing in Argentina but you can see Paraguay and Brazil. They're both just across these two little rivers. When we got back to the hotel we explored the town a little bit and then lounged by the pool some more. Then we hung out in the hotel and watched tv. Yep, we're cool. Portuguese wheel of fortune and mtv. Then that night I went out with some of the ISA people to have caipirinhas, since we were so close to Brazil. And it was really funny because we were definitely the only people in the bar. And we played pictionary telephone and 20 questions. But I don't really think Puerto Iguazú has too much of a night life because it was a Saturday night and the bar closed at 12.

Sunday we went to this Guaraní village. The Guaraníes are an indigenous group from Argentina and Brazil. It was really cool learning about their culture and history, but felt very strange and uncomfortable. We felt kind of like we were invading their lives, or at a zoo. But these are real people. It was weird.

Then we went to the airport because HOORAY!!! We were flying back to Buenos Aires. The bus rides really aren't too bad, but an hour and a half flight is so much better! I wasn't able to sleep the night before either, so I was so so tired when we got back. And it's just always nice to come back to Buenos Aires. When I see the city, it just feels like home. I realized I have exactly 2 months left here, which is insane. Everything has gone by so so fast. I'm not ready to leave yet, but I guess I'll just have to aprovechar al máximo the rest of my time here and come back some day!

And I definitely recommend Iguazú. By far one of my favorite trips. Although actually Mendoza and Rosario were so fun too. So how great is it that all of my experiences here are so wonderful I just can't even pick a favorite!!!? I love this life.


Oh and p.s. my dad got a job!!!!!!!!! Best weekend ever!

¡Éxito! Al fin!

So I finally conquered the oven. Success at last!!!! Saturday night we had this big joint service/party at the church and all of us were supposed to make/bring something dulce. So I wanted to make brownies again. Actually people had requested that I bring brownies again, which considering the fact that the last batch was all completely crumbled when we ate them, so I felt pretty good. But I was afraid I was going to have to ask my neighbor to come turn on the oven for me, which would have been really embarassing. However, I figured it out all by myself and didn't even burn the brownies! Hooray!
And Friday was really fun too! After my Spanish class I went and got coffee with some of the girls, and then later that night, we all went over to this girl Fanny's (first of all, I'm friends with someone actually named Fanny, isn't that great? Second of all, she's from Finland! And very sweet and funny) apartment. And my friend Agata came too, so that was really fun. It was just a lovely evening hanging out with such wonderful girls!
And then Sunday I met some other girls for lunch and went and saw a movie, Un Noche Fuera de Serie (Date Night, haha) with Ann. ¡Bárbaro!
And I had a presentation in Estructura Social.... tonight but it went alright. More importanly, it's done!!!! I've decided I'm done stressing about that class and just going to roll with it.

In other news, my house no longer smells like apple cider vinegar. Which is really a whole other story. But last weekend Miriam had asked if I could be in the house on Saturday morning for this new woman to come and do a bit of cleaning. So this woman comes, but rather than clean, she paints the walls with apple cider vinegar (except for my room, thank goodness!). I had absolutely no idea why. I thought maybe it was some sort of cleaning technique, but it kind of just made the walls look dirtier. The whole thing seemed very strange and made the whole apartment smell soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad. Then later I mentioned it to my friend Karina and she told me it's something some people here do before they paint, but, get this, it's to ward off spirits and cleanse the room of negative energy. Also, Miriam keeps random plain rocks all over the place, which is apparently a thing too. So while the house did smell horrendous for a few days, at least it should be free of negative spirits right? Haha, I mean, just what is this life I live? Insanity, but you gotta love it!

Thursday I go to Iguazú falls with ISA! Yay! Going to be so much fun!

¿Cómo se dice.... en inglés?

So this past week has been super wonderful! On Tuesday I started giving English lessons to this boy, Matías (11), from my church here. So much fun. And I absolutely love his family. Last weekend he and his mom, Karina, asked me if I could start giving him lessons, and at first I was really nervous that I was just going to confuse the kid more, but it's actually been really fun so far. So I went over to their apartment Tuesday night at like 7:30 and didn't even end up leaving till 1:30. Ha! Crazy. But don't worry, I wasn't teaching English that long. Matías is also learning English in school, but he really doesn't like the teacher and the way it's taught, so hopefully I can make it easier for him. He already knows a lot of the basics, so we started out with just some vocab and working on stuff he missed in class, and then I had bought this Sherlock Holmes book for English beginners and we read from that. Matías really doesn't like to speak it, but he understands a lot. And did I mention that I love his family? They're so wonderful. Karina is oficially one of my new favorite people ever. She's really young, like 33 or something, and so funny, and the sweetest person ever. And then there's the dad, Sergio, who is also hilarious and very nice. And the grandma, very sweet and grandmotherly, and then the brother, Joaquín, who's 5, and the most adorable thing in the entire world. Later that night Joaquín got all into the English also and kept pointing to different things and asking me how to say them. It was so cute. And then, one of my other favorite people in the entire world, Agata, came over and we all ate dinner. So I was just hanging out with some of the best people ever, and just chilling and talking the rest of the evening and eating comida riquísima. Such a great day.
I went over there again on Thursday and we worked on identifying verbs and subjects and such in sentences with the verbs to be and to have. And then we played Guess Who? completely in English. Hilarious. We used a lot of hand motions and pointing and things like that, but after a few rounds Matías was really getting the hang of it. I really thing this whole thing helps me just as much as it helps him, because whether I teach in a bilingual program or not, I'm going to have ESL students. So this is great practice!

Asombrada por un Amor Incesante

So I came across a sample chapter of the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan the other day. I had completley forgotton how great it is and how much God uses it to draw my attention back to him. It can be so easy, especially while studying abroad here, to be selfish and think that life is all about me. But how ridiculous is that? Who am I to steal God's thunder? I was walking outside last night and caught the very beginning of a big storm. The whole sky filled with lighning and the rain just pelted down. Such power! I couldn't help but marvel at how powerful my God is! And it's definitely a very good thing that he's in charge and not me. I mean really, how ridiculous would it be if the world was in the hands of someone who depended on weather.com to tell her whether or not to take an umbrella? Who am I to think that I know better than God? Who am I that I have ever done anything that God, the creator of the universe has not first allowed me to do? God, GOD, for/by whom all things were created, “all things in Heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him" (Col. 1:16)
We get so mad when people steal our ideas/work, or when someone acts like they know exactly what they're talking about but really is just wrong. It's annoying. So how in the world is it, that God, GOD, who is the only one ever that has any sort of a right to pride, isn’t so completely furious or annoyed at me, tiny speck in comparison with the magnitude of the creator of the universe, with absolutely nothing that He didn’t give me? How is it that he doesn’t throw me out of His world completely? How on earth is it that I ever even had a second chancel, not to mention a million more chances? God demands justice. So there has to be consequences. And in that light, Jesus makes perfect sense. For "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Col. 1:17). Because God, GOD, creator of the universe, loves me (tiny speck that does nothing but trash His masterpiece and steal His glory and demand His attention and his blessings) soooooooooooooo much that He exercised the punishment that I deserve on His son rather than on me. It's completely overwhelming. That he would not only spare me but offer me an eternity more wonderful than I am even capable of imagining! Such grace is… I don’t even have words to describe it. That God pursues me! That God is jealous for MY attention! What? I mean, seriously, how backwards is that? How can there be love like that? I can’t even fathom how much love that is. That I could ignore, or worse, reduce such love and passion is completely absurd! How am I not completely overflowing with this love every second? I'm amazed, asombrada, by such an unceasing love!

Dejar para último momento

Leave for the last minute. That’s what the word procrastinate translates to in Spanish. And while I am not leaving anything for the last minute, I didn’t feel like starting this week’s reading for Estructura Social just yet… So right now, I’m going to enjoy this lazy rainy day a bit longer, and then start. This morning when I woke up, it looked like it might rain and I thought, wonderful! I could use a good rainy day. But what I did not take into account when I was hoping for rain this morning, is that rain might bring cold weather. Which it did. At least for today. But I’m hoping it’s just temporary seeing as I didn’t really bring any winter clothes.
Earlier today I got hooked in to reading several of my friends blogs, and noticed that a lot of them have little music things on their pages. It’s kind of fun seeing what other people are listening to right now. So here’s a little sampling of what I’ve been listening to lately here in Argentina:

1. Él Nos Ama- Seth Condrey This is a translation of the song How He Loves and a new favorite of mine! Actually I’m quickly becoming a fan of all of Seth Condrey. He’s kind of got a Jason Mraz-y sound, but with lyrics that center around the Lord. Fantastic. (I think he’s got a cd in English too).

2. Causa y Efecto- Paulina Rubio

3. Ni Roses ni Jugetes – also Paulina Rubio Yeah I’m kind of hooked on her now.

4. Dámelo- Juanes Always good.

5. Guapa- Diego Torres (Since I got here, I’ve heard this song EVERYWHERE!!! I kept getting it stuck in my head, but I didn’t know what it was called and could only ever remember the first few words of the chorus. And actually, I had those wrong. Needless to say it took me a very long time to actually find this song.)

6. The Beat- Ben Rector- Just when you thought every song would be in Spanish. This is from his new cd and I love it. Actually really the whole cd is fantastic. But if you’ve ever listened to him that wouldn’t surprise you.

7. Memphis- Coffey Elizabeth Templeton got me hooked on him. He’s different. But really good.

8. I’ve gotta feeling- Black Eyed Peas- Also played everywhere here.

And here’s a little look at my coming week: going to the movies tonight with some girls from the church, starbucks with Coni tomorrow morning, lunch tomorrow with a girl on staff with Cru here, birthday dinner for Ann tomorrow night, normative grammar class Thursday (which I love!), Barrio Chino with a family from the church Thursday afternoon, ISA tutoring and Myths and Legends Friday afternoon and then later hanging out with those girls I think, and then, who knows?

Ok, well anyways, time to start homework for real now, Chau~

Pasta/Manteca de Maní

So one thing that I’ve decided is definitely underappreciated in the U.S. is the ability to buy a jar of peanut butter for a couple of dollars in just about any store in the country. Apparently the obsession with this delicious fantastic condiment (is it considered a condiment? I’m not sure…) is strictly Estadounidense. Because it’s definitely not readily available in Argentina (Nor in Europe, I’m told). ISA told us that one of the big grocery store chains here sells it but one of my friends went last week and they definitely didn’t have any. In a city of 14 million people, you wouldn’t think it would be that hard to find, but it is. I actually hadn’t been craving it too badly until about three people mentioned it to me in one day. Then I couldn’t stop thinking about it. But did some research and learned about a few other places that sell it: Groceries stores in Barrio Chino (although you have to watch out for their expiration dates), Kosher supermarkets (where I bought mine), fancy Dieteticas (they sell all the organic things and dietary supplements etc…), or when all else fails, the U.S. embassy. It’s kind of expensive here, but so worth it I’ve decided.

So naturally, right after buying my peanut butter and bread I was ready for my peanut butter toast. And I lucked out because when I got home Mariela, the woman that cleans the apartment, was there. Usually she’s not there on Friday afternoons, but this week Miriam needed her an extra day. Because Miriam doesn’t have a toaster and I didn’t know how to turn on the oven (it’s a gas stove and you have to light the pilot light every time). So, everything was great and I enjoyed my peanut butter toast and a bit of dulce de leche :)

So the next day, I was going to make some more, but I guess I didn’t pay very good attention when Mariela showed me because I couldn’t for the life of me figure it out… And we just have this little cigarette lighter to light it. Anyways, I fought with oven very hard but it definitely won. The oven remained un-lit and I just burned my thumbs. One day I swear I will master this oven. But for now, we are definitely not friends.

¡Adelante con fuerza y cariño!

So continuing with the crazy fastness of life here, practically right after I got back from Rosario, I left for Mendoza for Easter Break. And this was the most crazy trip ever. My friend Ann and I really wanted to go, and several of our other friends were going too. They had already made their plans and everything, Ann and I were just being kind of slow. So Friday night we're frantically trying to make hostel reservations and buy bus tickets. The hostel worked out great and we ended up with reservations at the same one as the other girls, so that was really good. But we didn't end up getting bus tickets till Monday night. To leave Tuesday night. Crazy! So we left Tuesday night at 10:30, and this is something so different about Argentina too, I'm constantly amazed at how relaxed everything is here. Even on our bus tickets, it doesn't say a terminal and a little gate thing, just 15-25. So you just kind of have to find the right terminal and the bus is going to pull up between gates 15 and 25, so you just watch for it. Oh and of course we get there an hour early, just to be safe, but end up being completely rushed because all the people we ask have no idea which terminal we need to be in. So we get on the bus at like 10:25 before it leaves at 10:30. I have no idea what happens if you miss it, I'm just glad we didn't have to find out. So we had a 14 hour bus ride, but it wasn't so bad because the seats lean all the way back, and we left in the night so we just slept most of the way. Except that when I woke up the next morning I was very car sick. So that wasn't so fun. But we got to Mendoza around 12:00 the next day, and the other girls weren't arriving till 7:00 the next morning, so Ann and I had the whole day to just hang out and see the town. It's such a pretty town. It reminds me so much of just any little mountain town in Colorado. So pretty. We walked around a lot and this guy at our hostel had invited us to an asado (huge argentine barbeque thing) at the hostel for dinner that night. So we get back to the hostel between 8 and 9, when he told us to be there, but there was definitely no asado happening. We waited around a bit and then right as we were leaving to go get food on our own, we see the guy, Jota. He tells us that it's still happening and he's just about to go buy the meat with these other girls. The three of them are all friends from Buenos Aires. So we go with them (to Walmart, ironically) and by this time it's like 11. So there we are, 11 o'clock at night, at Walmart, in Argentina. What? And by the time we get back to the hostel, it's already after midnight. So we're waiting and waiting, thinking surely they're going to start cooking soon, but apparently the guy that was supposed to bring the wood for the fire didn't come. But nobody seemed too concerned, just me and Ann. We were hungry. So then one of the girls starts cooking the meat in the oven, but by the time we start eating, it's 2:00 or 2:30 in the morning. Ridiculous. But we were just hanging out and eating dinner with a bunch of people from the hostel and having a good time until about 4:30. Crazy.

Then the next day, Ann and I did a Bike and Wine tour, because Mendoza apparently is famous for their wine. So that was really fun, we just rode around this town on these bikes and toured all these vineyards and wineries. The first place we went to was really small, but the people that worked there were so nice. One of them is an artist and Ann is an artist too, so they invited us to come back and paint with them later. So cool. Then we went to a couple chocolate/olive oil factories. Soooo much fun! We tried this fresh olive oil, and then all these different olivy spreads on bread. And then all these different marmelades and dulce de leche spreads. And then chocolates, and then licqueurs. Everything was so good! And then of course we went back to the first place and painted for a bit. And they let us keep them and everything for free! Then they took us back into town because our bike deal didn't include transportation back to the city of Mendoza, and one of the guys just hung out with us and showed us all around. We went up to this big monument of General San Martín (he helped practically all of South America gain independence from Spain) and watched the sunset over the mountains. So pretty. Then the next day we went whitewater rafting with the other girls. Sooooooooo much fun. But also really hard. We drove up to this really pretty place in the Andes mountains and it was just the 6 of us girls in our raft with the guide, and Federico, who went along with us in a kayak for safety. The river, río Mendoza was a class 3. So that was really cool. And we looked really awesome, because we had to wear all this gear, like wetsuits, fleeces, jackets, life vests, and helmets. We were intense. When we got started, our guide taught us all the commands and how to row. Adelante- forward, Atras-backward, Todos Adentro- everybody inside, Alto- stop, etc... And he was hilarious. And not afraid to call you out for not rowing strong enough. Which was kind of intense. And sometimes he would say the most random things, like "Adelante con fuerza y cariño" which literally means Forward with force and care. It was so funny. And right as we were pulling up to the shore to stop for lunch, two of the girls fell out of the boat. It was hilarious! And good that it wasn't in a dangerous part of the river. And then they set up lunch and made it all look so nice. 10 points for presentation. Then after lunch we switched sides and that made it a lot easier. The whole trip was so so fun and the whole time I kept thinking, "wait a minute, I'm whitewater rafting through the Andes mountains right now, what?!" But we were sooooo sore afterwards. Every single muscle in my entire body hurt the next few days. That night I came down with some sort of stomach bug, so that was no good, but I was mostly better the next day. That was our last day. The other girls did their bike and wine tour (and I was so glad we did ours before, because we were so so sore from rafting) and Ann and I just kind of hung out. We walked around and went to some of the artisan fair things, and then just hung out at the hostel. We ended up playing Texas Hold 'em with this guy from Brazil and two girls from Sweden. So much fun. And hilarious, because the guy just really wanted to play poker, but with 3 girls we were talking the whole time and he had to explain everything like a thousand times. But I won!!! But I'm pretty sure it was just luck, because one time I had a flush and won and didn't even realize it. So then that night we left for Buenos Aires. This time it was a 16 hour bus ride and we were so sore and exhausted that it was a little bit miserable. But we made it. And then right after I got off the bus in Buenos Aires, there was this news crew doing a story about people traveling for the long weekend and they interviewed me. It was crazy. I didn't have any idea which station or if they'd even air it, but later that day one of my friends told me he saw me on the news!!! Crazy!!! So yeah that was a completely wonderful trip, so much fun, but it's good to be back and relax just a little bit. Except all my professors just assign all these things they expect us to do and read, not sure what that's about, but either way, I've decided I pretty much have the best life in the entire world.

Rosario

So it's been kind of a long time since I last posted, but these past couple of weeks have been crazy! Two weekends ago I had an excursion to Rosario with ISA. Rosario is another city in Argentina, about 4 hours away. So that was really fun. We left Saturday morning around 9 and got to Rosario around lunch time. I wasn't sure about the trip at first, because during the trip meeting the day before, I didn't see a single person that I knew. But as always, it all worked out, and it turned out that several of the people I met on the día de campo excursion were on this same trip. Once we got there, we basically had the whole day free, and then a light show on the lake that night. My roommate for the weekend was this girl named Ashley, who was actually the real life roommate of my friend Michelle (the other girl that goes to USAL). She's really sweet. So that day, we just kind of hung out and walked around the city. We went to el monumento de la bandera which is where the Argentine flag was first created and raised. It was really cool, and kind of reminded me of what the washington monument must be like. We got to go up to the top and see the whole city, which was pretty cool too. And the town is right on the Paraná river, so it was really pretty. It's actually a pretty big city, but I don't know, I guess compared to Buenos Aires it felt really small. You could still walk everywhere, but during the day the streets were mostly empty and everything was so quiet. Later that night we went to el parque independencia where we saw a light show on this lake. That was pretty cool, kind of like fireworks except with fountains. And the best part was that the whole thing was choreographed to the most random music. It started out instrumental stuff, then some opera, and then My Heart Will Go On, from Titanic. No joke. Oh and then some Walking on Sunshine and random stuff like that. It was hilarious. The funny thing about Rosario was that even though it was so quiet during the day, there were about a thousand people on the streets at night. It was insane. Walking around at midnight every single restaraunt was packed. Young, old, it didn't matter. Crazy. Then the next day we had a really delicious breakfast and then a city tour. Our city tour was on our bus, but it was cool because we got to get off every now and then and see things. So that was really fun and I feel like I got to know some of the ISA people better. And there's this one girl, Sol, who works for ISA and was on a couple of the other excursions and always kind of intimidated me. I don't really know why, she just always kind of has this "too cool" vibe and she's really really pretty, and on the other excursions she was just always kind of off on her own and never really talked to anybody. But then the day before the trip I just happened to be on the same Subte car as her and we started talking and she's so sweet and such a cool person!!! She's only like 26 or 27, has studied just about every subject in the world and now works for ISA and is doing photography. And then on the excursion she was a lot more open too. It could be because it was a longer excursion and she had more time with us or I don't know, maybe just the other ones she was having a bad day. Who knows. But I really liked getting to know her better and now I can't wait to see her again with the other ISA stuff. So the whole trip was realy fun, but so so fast. We left Saturday morning and got back Sunday night, and I feel like we did a thousand things in between. Crazy. But really good.

Una Semana Relinda

I enjoyed this week so much! ¡Fue re linda! Tuesday after class I sat in Plaza Almagro reading for my Argentine Social Structure class, and it was just such a beautiful day. Wednesday, since I don’t have class, my friend Michelle and I went to the zoo! So much fun! Re divertido. I mean, the zoo was soo pretty, kind of sad, but they had some good animals. And then Thursday, since I still didn’t have any internet in my house, I went to a café and worked on homework the whole day. I met this Argentine girl named Coni, she’s so nice. I was talking on the phone (probably really badly) with my friend Ana and afterwards Coni asked me where I was from and we started talking. Jaja she even helped me with my homework! So sweet. Before she left she gave me her e-mail address and phone number. She’s learning English too, so I think maybe some time we’ll get together and she can practice English and I can practice Spanish! That night I went and saw the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus movie (the one Heath Ledger was making when he died). It was super weird, but good. Oh and I found out that I passed my intensive month class with a 9! ¡Excelente! And Friday I went to the ISA office to have Ana or Paula correct the grammar in my homework and this one was a lot better. There were still a ton of errors, but it was a lot better. I mean, this one wasn’t nearly as long as others, nor were the ideas all connected, so maybe that’s why it was easier, but I was so excited because it was just much more grammatically correct than my other ones. ¡Me estoy mejorando! Yay! ¡Otro día superbien! But Saturday was the best, by far. I went on a picnic with a bunch of the people I met from the church and it was so much fun. We went to the Rosedal at this lake in Palermo (¡re lindo!) and just spent the whole day eating, talking, walking around and drinking mate. So much fun. The night before I had made brownies (an experience for sure) and everyone really liked them, so that was great too! There were about 15 of us and really it was just so perfect. I’m starting to feel much more comfortable around them. Then, after we left the park we went back to the church to play ping pong, talk, and drink more mate. I don’t really know why exactly, but it was just kind of the perfect day :)

Las Materias

Tuesday I went to a class on Argentine History. It was good, but at 8:30 in the morning! Re temprano. For me, it’s hard to pay attention so early, and the professor was kind of old and hard to understand. But it was fine. And there were several other international students, so I don’t think it should be too terrible hard. But it’s supposed to last from 8:30 to 11:45. ¿En serio, más que 3 horas? Fortunately we ended early, and if that happens every time, it shouldn’t be too bad, but I don’t know if I can sit there fore 3 hours and 15 minutes every week and just listen to the professor talk and take notes. Thursday I tried another section because I thought it was only an hour and a half, but turns out it meets twice a week. Oops. So my first day I already felt re perdida. So lost. And although I could understand the professor perfectly, she was so intimidating. She kept saying things like, “Come on guys, this question shouldn’t be that hard, what’s the answer?” She seemed harsh, and while I like that it’s only an hour and a half twice a week, I don’t think I’m going to go back. Friday I had a class called Sistemas Políticos Comparados de Latinoamérica. Compared political systems of Latin America. Also from 8:30 to 11:45. I think it will be interesting, but maybe hard because oh yeah, I don’t know anything at all about politics. Jaja, we’ll see how it goes. But it was funny because there’s one professor and 3 adjunct professors, and they were all standing the whole time looking kind of like a gang. Oh and the way the Argentines take notes! They write practically ever word the professor says! It’s like we’ll have been in the class 30 minutes, I’ve got the names of the class and the professor written in my journal, and maybe like one other thing, and they’ve already got 2 whole pages of notes! This could be a problem when it comes time to study. But in my education classes, we never take notes. Ever. And then in the others, there’s always at least a powerpoint or outline to guide the note taking. Here the professors just talk and the students write furiously every word they say. So this could be rough but I guess we’ll see. Monday I start a class on Etnología Hispanoamericana y Argentina. Sounds interesting. And also, it’s really weird to me because it doesn’t seem like I’m in class very much but I guess I am. I only have 5 classes- 3 Monday, 1 Tuesday and 2 Friday (one of the classes is twice a week). No class at all Wednesday or Thursday! Hooray! But it adds up to the equivalent of 21 credit hours. ¡Un montón! At first, I was thinking I should take more, because this didn’t look like very much, but I was talking with Paula and I guess 5 classes is already a lot. Jaja, vamos a ver, vamos a ver. We’ll see!

Primer Dìa de Clases- Màs o Menos

So today was my first day of my classes for the semester. The first class on the agenda was Historia Argentina con Prof. Calderaro. 10:30-13:00. I arrived a little bit early because I didn´t know what classroom to go to, I checked the schedule and after going up the wrong elevator (who knew there was an "old" part of the building and a "new" part?) I finally found my class, room 304. There were also 3 other exchange students from the U.S. I talked with them a bit and then the professor arrived and the other students. The professor started to explain the style of the course and I noticed that the other students´ journals all said "Economìa Polìtica." I pointed this out to the other girls and we quickly realized we were in the wrong class. So we all got up and left and it was very awkward because there were only about 20 students in the class. So we went downstairs and asked the secretary and she said it was in the other building in room 203. So we go to that room, and ask in 203 if it´s Argentine History. It´s not. But it´s a good thing we asked because another exchange student had been sitting in there the whole time not realizing it was the wrong class. So we go back to the secretary and she tells us we had it all wrong. That class is for the second semester. Well the webpage told me 1st semester, 10:30. I guess it was wrong. So that was just kind of a funny adventure and an interesting way to start of the semester. I went to lunch with the other students and then had to check and make sure all my other classes were right.

Next on the list was Estructura Social de la Argentina at 18:00. This was in another part of town but luckily it was easy to find. More or less :) This class was really small, maybe 15 students, and there were 3 of us studying abroad. And the class was almost all girls. It was kind of intimidating and sounds like it might be a lot of work, but I could understand the professor and all the girls were really nice. We all sat in a circle, played a name game, and told a little about ourselves. It reminded me of my education classes. After class we went to this photocopy place to buy copies of the readings (we don´t have to buy a book, just copies of the selected readings! Hooray!) and then I went with the Argentine girls to a cafè. So much fun! We were just hanging out and talking for a couple of hours. They´re all super nice and funny. It`s only a once a week class but if every week can be like tonight I think it will be so fun. Tomorrow I`m going to try another Argentine History class with another study abroad girl I met today. It`s at 8:30 in the morning so I just hope it exists!

Alguien que me quiera

Yesterday I helped one of my friends move out of the residency into a homestay. Her homestay is also just with one woman who lives alone, but she’s sooooooo sweet. She told Ana that she wants to meet all her friends, that we can come over whenever we want and hang out or cook or whatever. And she wants Ana to meet her whole family. She’s so cute. And she lives in this beautiful apartment and it has a living room where they can hang out together and watch tv and chat and everything. And she wanted to take her grocery shopping so she could pick out all sorts of stuff that she likes and they can cook together. Also, there’s another girl coming from Spain to study here and live with her. Not going to lie, I’m a little jealous. I really like Miriam but our apartment is really small and doesn’t have a living room. And Miriam works a lot, and when she’s home she just kind hangs out in her room. And she eats in her room alone too. She’s so nice and sweet, but I kind of feel like I live by myself in someone else’s house. I wish I were living in the residency where I could speak Spanish all the time with other students from Argentina, or in a house that felt like a home. But still, my apartment is very nice, and really, I’m in Argentina, so it doesn’t matter. It’s worth whatever. And I know I’m living here for a reason. I don’t know what reason yet, but I don’t think I would have had that feeling/intuition about Miriam in the beginning if I wasn’t here in this place for a reason.

And this afternoon I’m going to get coffee with a girl from my church here. She’s close to my age and studies speech pathology! I’m so excited to hang out with her and get to know her better! Also, I found an Argentine telenovela that I’m hooked on now. It’s called “Alguien que me quiera” and I really like it. It’s kind of dramatic and soap opera-y but it’s cute. And it’s Argentine, so all the people talk pretty fast and use Argentine words and phrases, so it’s good practice!

Vacaciones

So Tuesday I finished my intensive month of Spanish. I can’t believe I’ve already been here more than a month! It’s insane! My life in the U.S. feels so far away, but I don’t feel like I’ve lived here that long either! It’s strange. But I finished my class and really was a little bit sad. I loved my class and the other students in it and my profesors, and I’m not really going to see them anymore. It’s sad. But that’s life. And I had hoped that my Spanish would have improved more in that month than it did. But it’s ok, I’m still improving, even if it’s not as fast as I had hoped. And I’m so excited for my classes with Argentines. But it’s kind of funny how different signing up for classes here is than in the U.S. All the faculties within my university start on different days. So the classes I’m going to take in the college of history and tourism start the 22nd of March. Then my Spanish class starts the 29th. And the college of Social Sciences (which has most of my classes) starts the 15th. But they still haven’t posted the times, days, professors, buildings, etc… for this faculty yet. I e-mailed the coordinator of the international program here and she told me that they post them as soon as they find out, so they’d probably be up by Friday afternoon. To start Monday. Seriously? I can already look up the times and days for my classes at Arkansas next fall. But I have no idea when/where the classes I’ll start in a few days are. But Argentina is just a really relaxed country, so if they’re not worried by this, neither am I. I’m just chilling in Argentina and loving life.

Starbucks

So I think I have a problem. I am addicted to Starbucks. It’s insane. There are several starbucks here in Buenos Aires, including one close to my house and another right by my school (it’s 3 stories!) but really I hadn’t gone much at all. Seriously. But this week was a little out of control. I went 4 times in 3 days. In Argentina. And I always order the same drink. Seriously? Starbucks, in Argentina? But what happened was that Sunday I didn’t have Internet in my house and I hended a place where I could sit for hours and skype with my parents and friends and do homework. And I needed an outlet to plug in my computer. Enter Starbucks. Then Monday I really had no intention of going but my friend Hedvig wanted to go and study for our exams. So we did, and we got a lot done. Then Tuesday I was going to go again before my test, just because Starbucks calms me down and makes me feel more comfortable. And then after my written exam I had some time before my oral exam and I was feeling really drained and stressed so I decided to go one more time. I’m crazy. But really, I know that I’m in Argentina and I should submerse myself in this culture and not frequent U.S. establishments, but you know, I was tired, and stressed, and sad, and I didn’t care. Starbucks makes me happy and makes me feel like myself. I didn’t care that I was being very typical and american, I just wanted my iced white mocha! My favorite drink from starbucks always makes me feel better and I just don’t even care. And anyways, it’s not like I’m completely out of control. The next day I went with my friend Luiza and I didn’t even get anything.

Goa

So Thursday I went to the boliche (club) Goa with a bunch of friends. My first experience in a boliche! How exciting! We were all meeting at the residency early that night (you know, around midnight) and as always, Luiza, Ana and the girls were running late. So it was kind of awkward sitting and waiting for them. But there were about 30 of us going so I met some new people while I was waiting. When we were all ready to leave, we went outside and decided to take a colectivo. This was really funny. 30 students on a colectivo at 1:00 in the morning. What? And we got to the club really early (it didn’t open till 2) so we had to wait a bit. But it was pretty cool because we had all written our names on this list so we didn’t have to pay to get in. And at first there were a lot of people, but really not too many so it was really fun. And so strange yet awesome because all the songs they placed at the beginning were ‘90s and 2000s songs that I knew. I mean, we danced to Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Shania Twain, Vanilla Ice and Black Eyed Peas. It was crazy! The whole time I was thinking, “Wait, where am I? Buenos Aires? Seriously?” But then later they played Regatón. Actually the whole night was really fun. I really enjoyed it. But then later un montón of people arrived and it was just too much. Oh and around 4:30 there was this strange beauty pageant/dance contest thing. As I haven’t really been to a ton of clubs in the U.S., I can’t really say if this a common thing or not, but apparently it happens at all the boliches here. It was very stange. But funny. So overall, the evening was very fun. Although I did learn that not all of my heels are made for dancing all night.

Kahtin en Parque Norte

So this week has been completely crazy, what with Migraciones stuff every morning, class in the afternoon, and then I had a big oral presentation today that I was trying to prepare for. I’ve been pretty dead the past couple of days because staying up till 2 or so doing homework and then waking up at 5:30 in the morning doesn’t really give you much time to sleep ☺. But I randomly had Internet in my room the past few days, which was soooooo good. Because really, I have no idea how I would have gotten this project done without it, because you can’t really stay in an Internet café until 2 in the morning. Even here. But sadly, my Internet disappeared Thursday.

Anyway, I had my presentation Friday. We each had to research all of this stuff about another province in Argentina and talk about it to the class for 15 to 20 minutes then write a couple articles about different provinces. It was a lot of work, but not too terrible. Except that on Friday I remembered exactly how much I really really hate oral presentations. Really. In English or Spanish. They turn me into a complete mess! I get so so nervous and my voice gets really shaky and I go too fast and completely forget everything that’s not written on a outline or note card! Horrible! It doesn’t matter if the presentation only has to be 5 minutes, or 30 minutes, English or Spanish, I always get this way. I can know all about something and be able to explain it really clearly and calmly but as soon as I’m up in front of the class it all falls to pieces. And I really knew a lot about Formosa. And it was all pretty grammatically correct (I think) in my head before I started. Ridiculous. And I have no idea why, but I always completely forget that I hate oral presentations until I actually do them. People will say things like “Man, I hate speaking in front of people, I get so nervous.” And I’ll think, hmm…doesn’t really bother me. Until the moment I start talking and it all comes back to me.

But thank goodness it’s over! And I don’t know what our final oral exam is like, but I think it’s more like an interview, which I can totally handle.

Oh and random, but I got on the Subte Thursday on my way back from the ISA office and randomly saw my MWF teacher, Viviana. Except it took me a long time to realize it was her which was pretty funny. I was standing right by her and was wondering why this woman was giving me such a funny look but thought maybe it was because I rushed onto the train at the last minute and looked really ridiculous. We just stared at each other awkwardly for a sec until she said, “Kaitlyn?” And then of course I figured it out. But then felt ridiculous for not recognizing her. But first of all, I’ve always been really terrible at recognizing people out of context. And second of all, there are 14 million people in this city and I know maybe 20? What are the odds that I would know someone on the subte in a neighborhood far away from school or my house?

But have I mentioned how much I love the frutería next to my apartment? I really really love it. I go there just about every day and only buy 1 or 2 things (which I think maybe is unusual because they always kind of laugh at me) so they’re really getting to know me. The woman who usually works the register is so sweet and always gives me coins for change when I ask for them (monedas are really hard to come by here). Every day it’s “Qué tal, chica?” and “Chau chica.” I really like her. And today I was talking to this man, Dante, who I think is her husband. He’s very friendly too. He asked me my name and why I’m here and all that and school and stuff. And a little boy (the son of somebody who works there) works there sometimes too and he’s sweet. And when I walk by they always wave or say hi. It’s just so fun to get to know random people that way.

But it is always really funny to me how people react when I tell them/they see my name. It’s so common in the U.S. that it never occurred to me how strange it is here. But I say it and the people always look at me as if I said my name was “kjshfkzidjwke” or something. My friend Hedvig from Norway always gets those looks too. And it’s weird to think about my name being as strange here as Hedvig would be in the U.S. Or I went to Starbucks here once and the guy made me write my own name on the cup. Which is then just really funny because when someone else goes to hand out the drink they just stare at the name and take a guess. Miriam pronounces it “Kah-TIN.” Usually I get something like “kite-een” sometimes Karen, you never know. But in the Spanish language it really is a weird combination and not at all how it looks. At least Hedvig looks exactly how it sounds. And the other day a new girl started coming to clean the apartment so I was talking to her and I introduced myself and went into my room. And then a little while later she was like “Ohhh…..you’re Kah-tin?” It was really funny.

So my friends and I had originally planned on going to Gualeyguaychú this weekend to Carnaval, which is like the Argentine version of Carnival in Rio in Brazil, but of course the plan fell through. I don’t even know why, someone couldn’t go or something, I don’t know. So then we planned on going to Tigre on Saturday, but that fell through too. Actually, what we ended up doing, was going to this place called Parque Norte in Palermo. It’s this big country club-ish type thing and has a huge area of swimming pools. So fun. Saturday was a wonderful and relaxing day, but since we didn’t get there until around 3:30, we decided we better go back Sunday morning too. So I spent the whole weekend at the pool, basically. In February. How wonderful is that? The whole time we were feeling so summery and just kept thinking that when we come back to the U.S., we get to do it all again! Best idea ever! I’m thinking I should probably come to Buenos Aires every winter and just head back to the U.S. when the weather’s nicer. It’s just so pleasant enjoying summer in February. I could really get used to this. And what a relaxing weekend to a stressful week!!!!!

Migraciones

This week I had to do a lot of immigration stuff to get my visa, and what an experience! But I imagine that immigration processes everywhere are a complete mess. And I bet they are especially stringent in the U.S. It’s kind of funny though, because nobody really knows exactly what forms or trámites you need, because Migraciones is quite finicky. They say one thing to one person, and require another of the next person. And each employee will tell you something different. And their rules are constantly changing. All of can make the whole process very confusing. This was especially true for me, because I had ISA telling me one thing and USAL telling me something slightly different. But, por las dudas, I was going to have everything I could possibly ever need to get a transitory visa to this country. Tuesday morning Paula and I went to the police station to get a Certificado de domicilio (proof of residency). Easy breezy. But the funny thing is that Paula had been to Migraciones every day for the past 2 weeks with other students, and not once did they request a proof of residency.

Then Wednesday morning I had to go to Migraciones to request an Argentine background check. I wake up super early and leave the apartment at 7:15 to get to Migraciones by 8. I get off at a stop that I know is very close, but then realize that I have absolutely zero idea what to do next, only that I need to get to Antártida Argentina 1355. But it’s ok because it’s not even 7:40, so I have plenty of time. So I’m walking and walking, a little bit back and forth because I don’t know where I’m supposed to be, and I see this sign that says 1300 to the left and 1200 to the right. So of course I should go the left, right? Wrong. I’m walking to the left for a while, and not seeing it. I ask this person but he doesn’t know either, but says to keep going a bit. So I keep going. Finally I call Luiza and learn that I’m walking in the completely wrong direction! I turn around and head the other way and end up crossing through this intersection without crosswalks and feeling very Argentine (if it weren’t for the fact that I were going to Migraciones). I still don’t see it. All I see are teeny little shamble things, about 1000 semis, and the Navy. So I ask this lady and it turns out she’s going there too! Wonderful! So we keep going (past the signs that say things like 800 this way, 900 the other way) and finally see it. You’d think it would be all big and important looking, being the Departamento Nacional de Migraciones, but no. It’s a shamble of a building set way back off the road with hidden signs. A secret really. By this point it’s 8:15 and the USAL directors with us gave me a stern talking to, but I made it inside and was waiting with a group of people from my class that also arrived a little late. There are about a thousand people there. So we’re just chilling and waiting in this line in the sun by the bathrooms that smell. And waiting. And waiting. And a guy comes by and checks our passports. And waiting. And waiting in exactly the same spot for almost 3 hours. And then this guy who is seriously like 7 feet tall (and let me tell you, for Argentines, that is TALL!) and tells us that their server completely crashed and while they’re doing everything they can to fix it, there’s no way they’re going to be able to get to everyone today. So we should come back tomorrow. I’m actually pretty positive it’s a test. At least the whole secret location part. Kind of a if you can’t make it to Migraciones and wait through the line, you don’t get to stay in the country after all.

So Thursday I wake up at 5:30 to make absolutely sure that I won’t be late! Even though this time the directors weren’t coming with us so we were on our own. But we make it into the line and I was really amazed at what a difference it makes to wait in line as long as your moving occasionally! Everything went completely fine. And also it really surprises me how cheerful all the workers are! They were all making jokes all the time, playing with the little kids, and this one guy remembered us from the day before. In all my experiences with government type buildings in the U.S. (such as the DMV), everybody is so negative and bored and just not wanting to be there. I think it must be the mate. Seriously, every worker I saw was drinking it. So that went perfectly fine.

Then today I once again headed back to Migraciones at 6:30 in the morning to pick up my background check and do phase 2 of the process. This time it was just really funny because I asked a worker what we needed to do to pick up the background check and she told me we had to wait in this same long line with everyone else. So she leaves and I ask the next guy and they let us right through. Crazy. Then we had to do the rest of it. Good thing Andrea (a USAL coordinator person) was there because I would have been completely lost. But I made it to where I needed to be and I give them all the forms they want (turns out the proof of residency thing doesn’t start till March. They just never told USAL that part). But the computer won’t save. So they tell me to have a seat and they’ll call me back in a few minutes. Something wrong with the system again. I get called back a few more times and finally it all works! Hooray! And, we were supposed to have to pay 600 pesos, but only had to pay 300! That’s another thing that Paula told me. By law the transitory residency costs 600 pesos, but sometimes they only charge you 300. No one knows why. And all of this really makes me not want to deal with Immigrations in any other country. And feel really bad for immigrants everywhere. I feel their pain. And I was only getting a transitory visa, not even really immigrating!
But hooray!!!! All visa stuff is done! Well actually, I have to go back in 30 days for the last part, but for now it’s done!

Dia De Campo

So the next day was sooooooooooooooo much better! Everything went just right. Sometimes you just have those days. And I got new keys and they were super cheap. And I met with an advisor and talked about what classes I'm going to take here. The way they do it is actually really cool. They put the schedule up online and for two weeks you can basically just try whichever classes and professors you want. And then you register for the classes you want to keep. And then there's still another two weeks where you can drop classes without it showing up on your transcript. So I'm basically just going to try a ton and see which ones I like best. But they're all like Latin American history/political sciency classes. Which I think will be really interesting but kind of scary because I basically have zero background knowledge for these classes. I know absolutely nothing about any of these things, but I think they're interesting and would like to know more. And almost all of them will be with regular Argentine students. So that's kind of scary. I don't think I've ever been so out of my element before. But that's kind of the point so it's kind of cool too. And all very interesting.

And today we had an excursion to this little rural camp place. So much fun. We got there and ate a typical rural Argentine breakfast that consisted of this delicious fried pastry thing with honey in it, and cafe con leche. Mmmm. Then we went outside and looked at all these farm animals and learned some rural Argentine games. For the first one, you had three pieces of rope tied together with golf ball type things on the ends and you had to throw it and get in into this circle a ways a way. Kind of harder than it looks. When I did it, I nearly hit the poor girl that was teaching us all this. The second game was kind of like horseshoes, but you had to get the horseshoes over these little peg things. Then the third one was really fun and a lot like bocce ball. You had these things that looked like giant wooden poker chips and had to get them closest to this special one. But these are probably much easier to understand when you're actually there.... So then we walked around some and rode bikes. Oh, the bikes. The most ridiculous bikes I've ever seen! Some were missing pedals, some had flat tires, and some didn't have breaks. So that was kind of fun. Then we got to ride horses!!!!!! Yay! So much fun! Although you have to watch out because some of those horses are pretty darn stubborn. Cabezaduras. Then we ate this delicious lunch of picada (bread, summer sausage and cheese, carrot salad, roasted potatoes, carne asada, and dulce de leche chocolate ice cream. Delicious!!!! Then we got to ride horses some more, and it was pretty cool because we were in this big field and they just pretty much let us do whatever we wanted. I always forget how much I miss riding!
Then we had a merienda, with more pastry stuff and MATE!!!!!!!!!!! Mate (pronounced mah-tay) is an absolutely delicious Argentine tea! It looks pretty gross though, kind of like grayish black water. But it tastes delicious (although ours had been sweetened quite a bit I think). And it's got lots of caffeine. Watch out, I think I see a new addiction coming on. I drank three cups while we were there, and now I really want to go out and buy some. The whole day I had seen Coqui, an ISA leader drinking it constantly and we were laughing about how addicted she is to it, Now I see why! Fantastic! The whole day was just really fun. It was with ISA and I got to know some of those girls better so it wasn't really all that awkward either. Although it had been raining a lot the day before so we were pretty covered in mud by the time we left! Overall it was just a super fun day. I'm looking forward to the other trips!