I've still been too busy to sit down and write about my big adventures, but I can fill you in on the happenings of this weekend.
Friday night we went to a P.O.D. concert! It was amazing. If you don't remember, they were a popular christian rock band in the late 90's. Honestly, we kind of went as a joke, but it ended up being a cool concert. It was in a small arena and it wasn't even full. The two opening bands were metal bands that the crowd knew, but us gringos had no idea what was going on. They were actually pretty good, it just seemed like they belonged in the 90's. I felt like I really was at a 90's metal concert judging from all of the black t-shirts (iron maiden, the who, etc.), jorts (jean-shorts), high white socks, and dreadlocks. There were also some pretty intense mosh pits. We were on the upper level, and tried going to the lower level, but it was probably better that we didn't. Also, our cab driver on the way there looked like the super old guy who dances in the six flags commercials. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PDIBTS_xDQ) He had the thickest glass, and drove about 20mph the whole way. Oh, and stopped twice to ask for directions.
After the concert we went to the Alamo to watch the end of some basketball games, and meet some friends.
Saturday I slept in, and made some food at the Casa. Then we went back to the Alamo to watch some more basketball (March Madness!) before we met everyone at a club called Hummer for Vanessa’s birthday. It was a pretty fun club, but a little pricy, and they started playing all latin music after a while.
Today, I’m just studying for my Spanish test tomorrow. We have the day off on Wednesday, so hopefully I’ll have more to tell you about soon!
3/21/2010
3/12/2010
Friday March 12
Brazil was AMAZING!!! I'll post about it next week. But we had a great time on the beach in Praia Do Rosa.
Today i'm leaving for Mar Del Plata for our surfing trip! I know I still have a ton to update you on. I have a test on tuesday, so i'll try to update you after my test.
Today i'm leaving for Mar Del Plata for our surfing trip! I know I still have a ton to update you on. I have a test on tuesday, so i'll try to update you after my test.
2/28/2010
Sunday February 28
Made it to Praia Do Rosa, Brazil! I Still have so much to update everybody on: the educational field trip, my past week, and then our upcoming week in Brazil. I'll get to that soon! Just wanted everyone to know that we made it, and weren't affected by the earthquake. Only Chile was affected, and Buenos Aires didn't feel anything.
2/19/2010
Friday February 19
I just got back from our "Educational Field Trip (EFT)" to Patagonia! It was insane. I will write all of the details this weekend, and post it sometime next week. But I just finished writing about Carnaval two weekends ago....
Two weekends ago we went to Gualeguaychu for Carnaval!!! Gualeguaychu is a city in Argentina that is supposed to have a Carnaval that is second best after Brazil.
We left on Friday night, but the weather was really rainy, so our bus was a little delayed. Once we got on the bus, it was supposed to be about 3 hours to get to Gualeguaychu. I obviously fell asleep on the bus right away, but I woke up an hour later, and we were stopped on the side of the road. We broke down, and the bus wouldn’t start! I heard it sputter a couple times but it never started. I’m not sure how long we sat there, because I fell back asleep. I woke up again when we arrived at a bus station, where we switched to a bus that worked. We finally arrived in Gualeguaychu, about 7 hours later, at about 4 in the morning!
We took taxis to our hostel, which was less than we expected. When we got there they didn’t have enough places for all of us to sleep. There were people sharing beds, and people on the couches. I ended up on a small bed underneath the stairs. Awesome!
We woke up the next morning, and went to a pizza place for some nice breakfast. After that, we explored the city a little bit, and walked to where the event would be. There were stands set up and it all looked pretty cool. Everybody bought tickets while we were there.
After that, Ron, Josh, Zach and I went back to the hostel to see if they’d hold our backpacks for the night. However, we told them we weren’t going to stay there another night, even though we committed to staying for two. Our new plan was to stay out all night and catch our bus in the morning. They weren’t too happy that we refused to stay, so they definitely didn’t want to hold our backpacks. We wandered around a while more until we found a hotel that would hang on to them until the morning. The nicest man ever worked there, and was reluctant to take money we offered him. He was going to hold them for free, just to be nice. I’ve found that people in Argentina are very honest. For example, I was at the gym the other day, and one of the janitors came up and asked me if I was using a treadmill, because there was money left on it. I’m sure in the US someone probably would have just pocketed that money. Instead, he went and gave it to a manager.
Anyway, after dropping our backpacks we went and met our friends and ate some more pizza. Everyone else left while we finished our food. We left for the “river” and met our friends there. When we got there, there were TONS of people! There were cars blasting music and everybody was dancing and having a great time. Usually there is some tension between Americans and Argentines, but here everybody was enjoying the festivities, and cheering for my friends Wojtek and TJ who were dancing in a circle of people. The river was extremely flooded. It had been raining like crazy for the few days prior, and apparently all of the water from Buenos Aires drained to this one river. There were lampposts and street signs that were almost completely underwater. But we were up on a raised path above the river. We stayed there for a while, before we left for the event.
When it got dark, we headed for where the parade was. We more or less found our way there without problems. First, I bought one of those horns that people have at sports games that are SUPER annoying. That was fun to play with. Our seats were up in the general seating, and we chilled up there for a while and watched the beginning of the parade. Different people in our group got split up. We had a group of 20 people, but our group got separated when we exchanged our Internet tickets for ones that would get us into the event. So we went in later than everybody else. There were four of us sitting together, and then two others left. It was just my friend Reese and I, and we decided we wanted to get a little closer to the parade. I climbed through a hole in the fence, and Reese followed me. We were really amped to be in the VIP section. I saw other people getting pictures taken with the dancers, so I hopped the wall and Reese took a picture. It looks pretty sweet! We also met a couple Argentine friends, and enjoyed the festivities with them. We saw some of our other friends in the stands on the other side, so Reese and I left to go meet up with them. We hung out in the general seating on the other side for a while, and then I saw my friend Jack in the VIP, so I hopped that fence to join him. Some of my other friends ended up where the floats enter the parade, and they wandered around and met all of the girls in the parade! Jack and I got some fries, and I found an Argentine friend who also had a horn, and we had some horn battles. It was a very long parade, and I ended up leaving that VIP and joining my friends in the general seating again. We waited there for a while, and when the Parade was over we went to the club across the street.
The club was really cool, and it was HUGE! There were a lot of rooms with different music. We spent most of the night in one room, dancing and having a good time. Mostly laughing at my friend Nate who was dancing like a fool. Later we made it to the stage in an outdoor courtyard, where Nate danced by himself. It was hilarious to watch. We met some more Argentine friends, and by then it was getting really late. We talked to them for a while, before we left around 6 in the morning. We went outside the club and bought hamburgers and hot dogs. As we left, the club was still completely packed, and the sun was coming up. We enjoyed our food as morning broke. We took stock of the damage; Reese had ripped his shirt climbing through the fence, and all of our legs were covered in mud because the venue was muddy from all the rain the few days before. Josh, Nico, and Reese all had lipstick on their cheeks from where the dancers kissed them. Lucky guys…..
We got a taxi and headed back to the bus terminal. When we got there it was 6:30 in the morning. We were the last people to get there, and everybody was sawing some major logs. We all went to sleep, but I couldn’t sleep because of all of the flies. There were tons that kept landing on me, so I just got up and had some coffee and a medialuna (croissant) at the café at the bus station. More and more people started waking up and joined me. It started raining while we were sitting there reminiscing about the night. We actually ended up in the newspaper, and some of my friends were in a photo walking, and the article was about tourists enjoying Carnaval. Our bus showed up around 10:20, and we all hopped on and fell asleep. I was dead asleep until we pulled into the terminal 3 hours later.
And that concludes one of the most fun nights I’ve ever had. We had such a great time, and had countless laughs and memories. I wish I could have better captured this night for you, and you understood just how much fun it was!
Two weekends ago we went to Gualeguaychu for Carnaval!!! Gualeguaychu is a city in Argentina that is supposed to have a Carnaval that is second best after Brazil.
We left on Friday night, but the weather was really rainy, so our bus was a little delayed. Once we got on the bus, it was supposed to be about 3 hours to get to Gualeguaychu. I obviously fell asleep on the bus right away, but I woke up an hour later, and we were stopped on the side of the road. We broke down, and the bus wouldn’t start! I heard it sputter a couple times but it never started. I’m not sure how long we sat there, because I fell back asleep. I woke up again when we arrived at a bus station, where we switched to a bus that worked. We finally arrived in Gualeguaychu, about 7 hours later, at about 4 in the morning!
We took taxis to our hostel, which was less than we expected. When we got there they didn’t have enough places for all of us to sleep. There were people sharing beds, and people on the couches. I ended up on a small bed underneath the stairs. Awesome!
We woke up the next morning, and went to a pizza place for some nice breakfast. After that, we explored the city a little bit, and walked to where the event would be. There were stands set up and it all looked pretty cool. Everybody bought tickets while we were there.
After that, Ron, Josh, Zach and I went back to the hostel to see if they’d hold our backpacks for the night. However, we told them we weren’t going to stay there another night, even though we committed to staying for two. Our new plan was to stay out all night and catch our bus in the morning. They weren’t too happy that we refused to stay, so they definitely didn’t want to hold our backpacks. We wandered around a while more until we found a hotel that would hang on to them until the morning. The nicest man ever worked there, and was reluctant to take money we offered him. He was going to hold them for free, just to be nice. I’ve found that people in Argentina are very honest. For example, I was at the gym the other day, and one of the janitors came up and asked me if I was using a treadmill, because there was money left on it. I’m sure in the US someone probably would have just pocketed that money. Instead, he went and gave it to a manager.
Anyway, after dropping our backpacks we went and met our friends and ate some more pizza. Everyone else left while we finished our food. We left for the “river” and met our friends there. When we got there, there were TONS of people! There were cars blasting music and everybody was dancing and having a great time. Usually there is some tension between Americans and Argentines, but here everybody was enjoying the festivities, and cheering for my friends Wojtek and TJ who were dancing in a circle of people. The river was extremely flooded. It had been raining like crazy for the few days prior, and apparently all of the water from Buenos Aires drained to this one river. There were lampposts and street signs that were almost completely underwater. But we were up on a raised path above the river. We stayed there for a while, before we left for the event.
When it got dark, we headed for where the parade was. We more or less found our way there without problems. First, I bought one of those horns that people have at sports games that are SUPER annoying. That was fun to play with. Our seats were up in the general seating, and we chilled up there for a while and watched the beginning of the parade. Different people in our group got split up. We had a group of 20 people, but our group got separated when we exchanged our Internet tickets for ones that would get us into the event. So we went in later than everybody else. There were four of us sitting together, and then two others left. It was just my friend Reese and I, and we decided we wanted to get a little closer to the parade. I climbed through a hole in the fence, and Reese followed me. We were really amped to be in the VIP section. I saw other people getting pictures taken with the dancers, so I hopped the wall and Reese took a picture. It looks pretty sweet! We also met a couple Argentine friends, and enjoyed the festivities with them. We saw some of our other friends in the stands on the other side, so Reese and I left to go meet up with them. We hung out in the general seating on the other side for a while, and then I saw my friend Jack in the VIP, so I hopped that fence to join him. Some of my other friends ended up where the floats enter the parade, and they wandered around and met all of the girls in the parade! Jack and I got some fries, and I found an Argentine friend who also had a horn, and we had some horn battles. It was a very long parade, and I ended up leaving that VIP and joining my friends in the general seating again. We waited there for a while, and when the Parade was over we went to the club across the street.
The club was really cool, and it was HUGE! There were a lot of rooms with different music. We spent most of the night in one room, dancing and having a good time. Mostly laughing at my friend Nate who was dancing like a fool. Later we made it to the stage in an outdoor courtyard, where Nate danced by himself. It was hilarious to watch. We met some more Argentine friends, and by then it was getting really late. We talked to them for a while, before we left around 6 in the morning. We went outside the club and bought hamburgers and hot dogs. As we left, the club was still completely packed, and the sun was coming up. We enjoyed our food as morning broke. We took stock of the damage; Reese had ripped his shirt climbing through the fence, and all of our legs were covered in mud because the venue was muddy from all the rain the few days before. Josh, Nico, and Reese all had lipstick on their cheeks from where the dancers kissed them. Lucky guys…..
We got a taxi and headed back to the bus terminal. When we got there it was 6:30 in the morning. We were the last people to get there, and everybody was sawing some major logs. We all went to sleep, but I couldn’t sleep because of all of the flies. There were tons that kept landing on me, so I just got up and had some coffee and a medialuna (croissant) at the café at the bus station. More and more people started waking up and joined me. It started raining while we were sitting there reminiscing about the night. We actually ended up in the newspaper, and some of my friends were in a photo walking, and the article was about tourists enjoying Carnaval. Our bus showed up around 10:20, and we all hopped on and fell asleep. I was dead asleep until we pulled into the terminal 3 hours later.
And that concludes one of the most fun nights I’ve ever had. We had such a great time, and had countless laughs and memories. I wish I could have better captured this night for you, and you understood just how much fun it was!
2/05/2010
Friday February 5
A few bits of news here and there…
Wednesday night we all went out to the Alamo again because the Nuggets were playing. We stayed really late because the game was still going. My friend Nate and I ended up talking to these two Argentine girls for a while, and then the bar closed so they kicked us out. One of them had a car and offered to give us a ride so we didn’t have to take a taxi. We decided to try to find a starbucks, and drove around for at least half an hour. We never found one, and they were all probably closed at 4 in the morning, but we ended up at McDonalds. We sat there and talked for a long time, before heading home as the sun came up. But we made some Argentine friends, so maybe we can hang out with them and keep meeting locals!
Last night, we tried a new bar called The Shamrock. It was pretty cool, and I’m sure we’ll go back sometime. We went to Lost after that. It was fun, but I left pretty early because I have class on Friday mornings.
Tonight I’m leaving for Gualeyguaychu!!!! It’s only three hours away, and should be an easy bus ride. We’re going to Carnaval there, and it’s supposed to be the second best after Rio. I’m super pumped. I’ll take a lot of pictures and let you know how it goes! I come back on Sunday afternoon in time to watch the Super Bowl.
Wednesday night we all went out to the Alamo again because the Nuggets were playing. We stayed really late because the game was still going. My friend Nate and I ended up talking to these two Argentine girls for a while, and then the bar closed so they kicked us out. One of them had a car and offered to give us a ride so we didn’t have to take a taxi. We decided to try to find a starbucks, and drove around for at least half an hour. We never found one, and they were all probably closed at 4 in the morning, but we ended up at McDonalds. We sat there and talked for a long time, before heading home as the sun came up. But we made some Argentine friends, so maybe we can hang out with them and keep meeting locals!
Last night, we tried a new bar called The Shamrock. It was pretty cool, and I’m sure we’ll go back sometime. We went to Lost after that. It was fun, but I left pretty early because I have class on Friday mornings.
Tonight I’m leaving for Gualeyguaychu!!!! It’s only three hours away, and should be an easy bus ride. We’re going to Carnaval there, and it’s supposed to be the second best after Rio. I’m super pumped. I’ll take a lot of pictures and let you know how it goes! I come back on Sunday afternoon in time to watch the Super Bowl.
2/02/2010
Tuesday February 2
Last night my host brother and I went to the Alamo, the American sports bar, and we met up with some of my friends. It was a good time, pretty uneventful though.
Tonight we went out to dinner at Kansas for convo, and I had a delicious NY Strip and banana bread for desert! Now i'm heading home to get some sleep.
Tonight we went out to dinner at Kansas for convo, and I had a delicious NY Strip and banana bread for desert! Now i'm heading home to get some sleep.
1/31/2010
Monday February 1
Sorry it has taken me so long to start posting again, but it has been pretty crazy getting back into the swing of things and settling in! I have everything sorted out now, and will stay steady with the blog. Let’s embark….
I arrived in Buenos Aires and I saw some of my Pepperdine friends who also landed at the same time. We shared a cab to Casa Holden, which would usually cost about 100 pesos. But when we got there, the driver wanted to charge us 400 pesos! My friend Tyler went in and got one of the ladies who works in the casa, Maria, and she came out and gave him a piece of her mind. We ended up paying 150, thanks to Maria!
It was great to see everybody again, and there was a bbq that afternoon for us. We all caught up and talked for a while, and then went home to have dinner with our families. Grace is doing well! I brought some Dohr to Door jam (thanks grandma and pops!) and she has been raving about it for a week now. I switch into the bigger room which is much nicer. I have a desk now, and sliding doors that open to a tiny deck overlooking the street. Over the break I had some requests to take pictures of the apartment, and I will take care of that pretty soon. I will have to switch rooms in about a month though, because another girl is coming, and she’s automatically entitled to the big room. Eric is staying here with me now. He’s a really cool kid from Canada, so hopefully he’ll want to come out with some of my friends and I.
The weather here has been crazy. It is SO HOT! It’s been hard to sleep, especially because I love sleeping in a cold room. I have my fan running all the time, but it’s only blowing hot air. The air conditioning is only in the main room of the apartment. Everyone keeps saying how abnormal this heat is, and I hope it goes away soon! The humidity is probably the worst part. They have cut our power a few times because everybody is using so much energy. I’m sure it will get better though.
The first night back we went out for my birthday. We headed to a bar called Jobs after dinner. It’s the bar where you can play games like Jenga, fooseball, and they even have an archery range inside the bar. Don’t ask me how that’s a good idea. We didn’t play any games, we were all too busy talking and enjoying being back together. Then we left for a club called Kika for American Hip Hop night. Of course. Apparently everyone leaves the city during the summer here, so the social scene is very dead right now. The city seems weirdly empty. When we got to Kika it was closed because everyone is gone, so we walked around for about an hour before finding a club called Madagascar. It was pretty fun, and there were a lot of Pepperdine kids. Overall, my birthday was a success.
The next three days we had intensive Spanish for four hours a day, which wasn’t too much fun. But that’s over with now, and we’re back into the swing of our normal schedule. I’m looking forward to having a little more free time this semester. I’m taking Humanities 313, Spanish 252, Poly Sci 104, Weight Lifting, and of course Surfing. I can’t complain about that schedule. Our surfing class only lasts for one weekend, where we take a trip to Mar Del Plata and surf for a couple days. I’m stoked for that.
This weekend was pretty docile. Thursday Grace had “cousin night” like usual, and one of her former students, Brad, came to dinner. He just moved here from the US to be with his Argentine girlfriend and look for work. I talked to them a bunch, and this weds they are going to introduce me to some of their Argentine friends. I’m pumped! This semester I want to meet a lot more Argentine’s so this is a good way to start I guess. Plus, Brad’s girlfriend, Flor, mentioned she’d introduce me to some “amigas”….
Friday I met a couple guys at a bar by Ron’s house, and we had a pretty calm night. Everybody was tired because they had all gone out the night before while I was at cousin night. Saturday night a bunch of us went to a bar called Sugar, and I had some great conversation with my friend Jack. Then everybody went to a club called Asia de Cuba. (I have no idea why the club is called “Asia of Cuba” and why it is in Argentina…) But when we got there they were charging a fairly hefty door fee so I decided I’d rather go get some ice cream and go to bed. My friends Bobby and Kayla went with me, and we had a good time. Sunday I slept in and had a relaxing day. I met up with some friends at the Casa and we watched The Hangover (funniest movie ever!) and played some xbox. Then I went to starbucks around 11 at night and there were some friends that were there to have a bible study, so I joined in on that, which was nice.
I am really excited for this semester, and can’t wait to have some crazy adventures. I’ve been reading the book Wild At Heart and it has really been inspiring me to really explore over these next few months. I can’t wait to tell you guys all of my great stories, and make some incredible memories. I have much higher expectations for this semester, and can’t wait to learn and grow. Stay tuned, and I will be updating this bad boy regularly!
I arrived in Buenos Aires and I saw some of my Pepperdine friends who also landed at the same time. We shared a cab to Casa Holden, which would usually cost about 100 pesos. But when we got there, the driver wanted to charge us 400 pesos! My friend Tyler went in and got one of the ladies who works in the casa, Maria, and she came out and gave him a piece of her mind. We ended up paying 150, thanks to Maria!
It was great to see everybody again, and there was a bbq that afternoon for us. We all caught up and talked for a while, and then went home to have dinner with our families. Grace is doing well! I brought some Dohr to Door jam (thanks grandma and pops!) and she has been raving about it for a week now. I switch into the bigger room which is much nicer. I have a desk now, and sliding doors that open to a tiny deck overlooking the street. Over the break I had some requests to take pictures of the apartment, and I will take care of that pretty soon. I will have to switch rooms in about a month though, because another girl is coming, and she’s automatically entitled to the big room. Eric is staying here with me now. He’s a really cool kid from Canada, so hopefully he’ll want to come out with some of my friends and I.
The weather here has been crazy. It is SO HOT! It’s been hard to sleep, especially because I love sleeping in a cold room. I have my fan running all the time, but it’s only blowing hot air. The air conditioning is only in the main room of the apartment. Everyone keeps saying how abnormal this heat is, and I hope it goes away soon! The humidity is probably the worst part. They have cut our power a few times because everybody is using so much energy. I’m sure it will get better though.
The first night back we went out for my birthday. We headed to a bar called Jobs after dinner. It’s the bar where you can play games like Jenga, fooseball, and they even have an archery range inside the bar. Don’t ask me how that’s a good idea. We didn’t play any games, we were all too busy talking and enjoying being back together. Then we left for a club called Kika for American Hip Hop night. Of course. Apparently everyone leaves the city during the summer here, so the social scene is very dead right now. The city seems weirdly empty. When we got to Kika it was closed because everyone is gone, so we walked around for about an hour before finding a club called Madagascar. It was pretty fun, and there were a lot of Pepperdine kids. Overall, my birthday was a success.
The next three days we had intensive Spanish for four hours a day, which wasn’t too much fun. But that’s over with now, and we’re back into the swing of our normal schedule. I’m looking forward to having a little more free time this semester. I’m taking Humanities 313, Spanish 252, Poly Sci 104, Weight Lifting, and of course Surfing. I can’t complain about that schedule. Our surfing class only lasts for one weekend, where we take a trip to Mar Del Plata and surf for a couple days. I’m stoked for that.
This weekend was pretty docile. Thursday Grace had “cousin night” like usual, and one of her former students, Brad, came to dinner. He just moved here from the US to be with his Argentine girlfriend and look for work. I talked to them a bunch, and this weds they are going to introduce me to some of their Argentine friends. I’m pumped! This semester I want to meet a lot more Argentine’s so this is a good way to start I guess. Plus, Brad’s girlfriend, Flor, mentioned she’d introduce me to some “amigas”….
Friday I met a couple guys at a bar by Ron’s house, and we had a pretty calm night. Everybody was tired because they had all gone out the night before while I was at cousin night. Saturday night a bunch of us went to a bar called Sugar, and I had some great conversation with my friend Jack. Then everybody went to a club called Asia de Cuba. (I have no idea why the club is called “Asia of Cuba” and why it is in Argentina…) But when we got there they were charging a fairly hefty door fee so I decided I’d rather go get some ice cream and go to bed. My friends Bobby and Kayla went with me, and we had a good time. Sunday I slept in and had a relaxing day. I met up with some friends at the Casa and we watched The Hangover (funniest movie ever!) and played some xbox. Then I went to starbucks around 11 at night and there were some friends that were there to have a bible study, so I joined in on that, which was nice.
I am really excited for this semester, and can’t wait to have some crazy adventures. I’ve been reading the book Wild At Heart and it has really been inspiring me to really explore over these next few months. I can’t wait to tell you guys all of my great stories, and make some incredible memories. I have much higher expectations for this semester, and can’t wait to learn and grow. Stay tuned, and I will be updating this bad boy regularly!
11/23/2009
Monday November 23
The polo game was cancelled last night. I was a little sad, but I finished my english essay instead. It was probably good that the game was cancelled! This will not be a very exciting week. I have a lot of tests/presentations/essays to work on, so I won't be going out. Tomorrow night we have and thanksgiving dinner though! It will be here at the Casa and I think the US Ambassador is coming
11/22/2009
Sunday November 22
Not much went on this week... We went to an Armenian restaurant for convo dinner on wednesday. I went to see 500 days of summer last night, and I would highly recommend it! Tonight we're going to a Polo game so that should be fun. Apparently that's where all the attractive people go, so maybe i'll find an Argentine girlfriend! (Just kidding!) I'll let you know how it goes though. I'm excited because i've never seen polo before. Check back soon!
11/17/2009
New Photo Update
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=921512277113%3A980643839
11/15/2009
Monday, November 16
First off, I would like to start by apologizing for not updating this recently. I’m going to get back on top of it though. School has been really busy, and a lot has happened since my last post!
Lets start with the EFT….
Our “Educational Field Trip” was to Salta and Jujuy. We took a plane up north, and stayed the first couple nights in a hotel, which was basically a bunch of cabins. We had a good time there and played in the pool. We visited the “Seven Color Hills” which was pretty nice. While everything we saw was cool, it was sometimes a little tough to appreciate some of the landscape coming from Colorado. But we climbed this hill made of red clay-ish dirt. I tried to find my own way up to the top, because I saw a cave/hole. My route proved unsuccessful, and I tore up my hand a little, so I went down and joined everyone else on the other side. We also saw a woman selling Coca leaves, which apparently give you more energy if you hold them in your mouth. No, I was not taking cocaine! It was pretty funny watching all of these Pepperdine students mob this lady to buy Coca leaves though.
We also went to visit the Salt Flats. That was super fun. I’ve never been to salt flats before, so it was neat to see, and I enjoyed licking the ground. We drove about 3 hours each way, which was a lot, but on the way there we stopped and started hiking this mountain, and almost made it to the top, except the bus started honking because everyone else was ready to go. I was sad, but the salt flats were worth it.
One night we went to a bar in Jujuy. I do not know the population of the town, but lets just say that the only bar in town was definitely not big enough to fit all 45 students that infiltrated it. There was a live band performing for the approximately 10-15 people that were there when we got there, so it was fun to listen to them.
We made our way to Salta, which was a legitimate city. We walked around on a city tour, and it was cool to see different parts. While we were there, we went to a museum to see an ancient Incan mummy. The mummy was a small child that was left at the top of a volcano. It was frozen perfectly and it was very weird seeing this ancient child’s hair and teeth. It still had all of its features, and it really creeped me out.
We also saw a natural amphitheater type thing. There should be a picture in it somewhere in the albums I posted to the right. It was basically a big opening in the cliffs, and if you yelled in the middle it echoed like crazy. We sang a few worship songs in there as a big group, and then a couple of us guys sang “Lean on Me” and some other songs that we belted. It was awesome hearing the power of just a few voices in there. There was also an acapella group singing in there when we arrived. They were pretty good, and it was cool hearing them sing.
For some reason, over this trip we got really into the game “Mafia”. While everyone slept on the bus, the rowdy boys would be in the back yelling at each other over the game. It was so hot on the bus, mostly because we chose to sit in the back. (That’s where all the cool kids sit). I won’t get into the details, but it’s a game where you pretend to be citizens of a town, and there are a couple people who are secretly mafia that kill the townspeople. The townspeople have to accuse people they think are in the mafia, so you could see how it got pretty heated. I would also like to add that I pulled the best move/betrayal in mafia history, and it will live in infamy. I’m not going to go into details, but watch out if you ever play with me!
The best part of Salta was probably the pool at the Sheraton. It was the same depth all the way across, which meant….. perfect for chicken fights! We had a blast fighting each other, and had some epic battles. We all ended up with scratches, bruises, and soreness. It was totally worth it. They also had a casino in the hotel, so I spent all of about 15 US dollars for a night of blackjack. Don’t worry, I didn’t get addicted, I lost way too fast.
Another day we went rafting. The rapids were not huge, but we had a good time fighting the other boats. Almost all of the big guys were in one raft, so we dominated the river. Our Program Director, Rafa, was also on our boat and he is nuts. That made it much more fun, as we yelled and attacked the other boats.
On the last day we visited an estancia (ranch) to have some lunch and hang out. We also rode horses while we were there. That was one of the best parts of the trip. The first couple of groups that rode horses went when the horses had way too much. They were going nuts! The last experience I had with a horse was when it tried to buck me off in Grand Lake. I intelligently waited for the fourth or fifth group before I went. By then they were all tired, and my horse and I just sauntered around. It was the best. We were a perfect pair, just chillin and strolling around. We got a couple gallops in, which was enough for me. They put us on horses and just let up loose in a field, which is why it was so scary. My friend TJ was in the second group, and it was hilarious watching him ride his horse. The one he had was insane, and literally sprinted the entire time. So, TJ having little to no riding experience intelligently chose that horse. The best part was that he looked so natural riding this horse as it sprinted full speed, and he thought he was going to die. He must have been getting in touch with his Native American roots.
That pretty much sums up our EFT! It was a blast, and while the scenery didn’t take my breath away, it was still cool to see different parts of the world and Argentina. Either way, we had a blast all week, and it was an incredible trip.
The following week, we had another EFT. I think the main reason is because we have to leave the country at least once while we’re here due to the terms of our visas. Nevertheless, we headed to Colonia, Uruguay across the Rio Del Plata river. We rode a boat across, which took about an hour. Then we all went on a city tour and enjoyed lunch together. In Uruguay they made a sandwich called a Chevito, or something like that. Basically, it has a burger patty, bacon, egg, and I don’t even know what else. It was honestly one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. I want to go back to Uruguay just for another one. After lunch Josh, Cole, Ron, and I rented mopeds and cruised around. We went and saw the Plaza de Toros (bull ring) that I believe was used only once, and is fenced off now because it is falling apart. I was really sad, and was very tempted to climb the fence and go explore, but climbing fences has already caused some problems in our program. (That’s a story for another day, but don’t worry, it doesn’t involve me.) Anyway, we drove around like a biker gang on our blue mopeds with our helmets that look like polo helmets. Cole wrecked his, which was pretty funny. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. That pretty much sums up the EFT to Colonia! It was very fun, and I always enjoy motorized vehicles.
Our most recent trip was this past weekend, when we went on our spiritual retreat. It was a great weekend. I got to know some friends better, and played a lot of soccer. Most of Saturday we spent in the sun playing soccer and dehydrating ourselves. Sunday we were so sore and tired that nobody even considered playing soccer, so we played wall-a-ball instead. We also had some good talks about faith. This weekend made me think a little bit, and brought me closer to some people in this program.
There’s an update for you! I will also upload some more pictures soon, and I’ll stay on top of the blog. This week should not be too exciting, but then I leave for Bariloche with Jack! So if nothing else, check back in a couple weeks and I’ll tell you all about how our trip goes!
Lets start with the EFT….
Our “Educational Field Trip” was to Salta and Jujuy. We took a plane up north, and stayed the first couple nights in a hotel, which was basically a bunch of cabins. We had a good time there and played in the pool. We visited the “Seven Color Hills” which was pretty nice. While everything we saw was cool, it was sometimes a little tough to appreciate some of the landscape coming from Colorado. But we climbed this hill made of red clay-ish dirt. I tried to find my own way up to the top, because I saw a cave/hole. My route proved unsuccessful, and I tore up my hand a little, so I went down and joined everyone else on the other side. We also saw a woman selling Coca leaves, which apparently give you more energy if you hold them in your mouth. No, I was not taking cocaine! It was pretty funny watching all of these Pepperdine students mob this lady to buy Coca leaves though.
We also went to visit the Salt Flats. That was super fun. I’ve never been to salt flats before, so it was neat to see, and I enjoyed licking the ground. We drove about 3 hours each way, which was a lot, but on the way there we stopped and started hiking this mountain, and almost made it to the top, except the bus started honking because everyone else was ready to go. I was sad, but the salt flats were worth it.
One night we went to a bar in Jujuy. I do not know the population of the town, but lets just say that the only bar in town was definitely not big enough to fit all 45 students that infiltrated it. There was a live band performing for the approximately 10-15 people that were there when we got there, so it was fun to listen to them.
We made our way to Salta, which was a legitimate city. We walked around on a city tour, and it was cool to see different parts. While we were there, we went to a museum to see an ancient Incan mummy. The mummy was a small child that was left at the top of a volcano. It was frozen perfectly and it was very weird seeing this ancient child’s hair and teeth. It still had all of its features, and it really creeped me out.
We also saw a natural amphitheater type thing. There should be a picture in it somewhere in the albums I posted to the right. It was basically a big opening in the cliffs, and if you yelled in the middle it echoed like crazy. We sang a few worship songs in there as a big group, and then a couple of us guys sang “Lean on Me” and some other songs that we belted. It was awesome hearing the power of just a few voices in there. There was also an acapella group singing in there when we arrived. They were pretty good, and it was cool hearing them sing.
For some reason, over this trip we got really into the game “Mafia”. While everyone slept on the bus, the rowdy boys would be in the back yelling at each other over the game. It was so hot on the bus, mostly because we chose to sit in the back. (That’s where all the cool kids sit). I won’t get into the details, but it’s a game where you pretend to be citizens of a town, and there are a couple people who are secretly mafia that kill the townspeople. The townspeople have to accuse people they think are in the mafia, so you could see how it got pretty heated. I would also like to add that I pulled the best move/betrayal in mafia history, and it will live in infamy. I’m not going to go into details, but watch out if you ever play with me!
The best part of Salta was probably the pool at the Sheraton. It was the same depth all the way across, which meant….. perfect for chicken fights! We had a blast fighting each other, and had some epic battles. We all ended up with scratches, bruises, and soreness. It was totally worth it. They also had a casino in the hotel, so I spent all of about 15 US dollars for a night of blackjack. Don’t worry, I didn’t get addicted, I lost way too fast.
Another day we went rafting. The rapids were not huge, but we had a good time fighting the other boats. Almost all of the big guys were in one raft, so we dominated the river. Our Program Director, Rafa, was also on our boat and he is nuts. That made it much more fun, as we yelled and attacked the other boats.
On the last day we visited an estancia (ranch) to have some lunch and hang out. We also rode horses while we were there. That was one of the best parts of the trip. The first couple of groups that rode horses went when the horses had way too much. They were going nuts! The last experience I had with a horse was when it tried to buck me off in Grand Lake. I intelligently waited for the fourth or fifth group before I went. By then they were all tired, and my horse and I just sauntered around. It was the best. We were a perfect pair, just chillin and strolling around. We got a couple gallops in, which was enough for me. They put us on horses and just let up loose in a field, which is why it was so scary. My friend TJ was in the second group, and it was hilarious watching him ride his horse. The one he had was insane, and literally sprinted the entire time. So, TJ having little to no riding experience intelligently chose that horse. The best part was that he looked so natural riding this horse as it sprinted full speed, and he thought he was going to die. He must have been getting in touch with his Native American roots.
That pretty much sums up our EFT! It was a blast, and while the scenery didn’t take my breath away, it was still cool to see different parts of the world and Argentina. Either way, we had a blast all week, and it was an incredible trip.
The following week, we had another EFT. I think the main reason is because we have to leave the country at least once while we’re here due to the terms of our visas. Nevertheless, we headed to Colonia, Uruguay across the Rio Del Plata river. We rode a boat across, which took about an hour. Then we all went on a city tour and enjoyed lunch together. In Uruguay they made a sandwich called a Chevito, or something like that. Basically, it has a burger patty, bacon, egg, and I don’t even know what else. It was honestly one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. I want to go back to Uruguay just for another one. After lunch Josh, Cole, Ron, and I rented mopeds and cruised around. We went and saw the Plaza de Toros (bull ring) that I believe was used only once, and is fenced off now because it is falling apart. I was really sad, and was very tempted to climb the fence and go explore, but climbing fences has already caused some problems in our program. (That’s a story for another day, but don’t worry, it doesn’t involve me.) Anyway, we drove around like a biker gang on our blue mopeds with our helmets that look like polo helmets. Cole wrecked his, which was pretty funny. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. That pretty much sums up the EFT to Colonia! It was very fun, and I always enjoy motorized vehicles.
Our most recent trip was this past weekend, when we went on our spiritual retreat. It was a great weekend. I got to know some friends better, and played a lot of soccer. Most of Saturday we spent in the sun playing soccer and dehydrating ourselves. Sunday we were so sore and tired that nobody even considered playing soccer, so we played wall-a-ball instead. We also had some good talks about faith. This weekend made me think a little bit, and brought me closer to some people in this program.
There’s an update for you! I will also upload some more pictures soon, and I’ll stay on top of the blog. This week should not be too exciting, but then I leave for Bariloche with Jack! So if nothing else, check back in a couple weeks and I’ll tell you all about how our trip goes!
10/30/2009
Thursday October 29
I am home safe from my educational field trip! I haven't had time to update the blog, but I will do so next week. Sorry for the wait, but I have a ton of school work to catch up on.
Until then I will try to post some photos on kodak share for everyone to see. There are three different links I posted in my profile to the right --> where you can see pictures from my three trips so far!
Until then I will try to post some photos on kodak share for everyone to see. There are three different links I posted in my profile to the right --> where you can see pictures from my three trips so far!
10/22/2009
Wednesday October 21
Last night we had convo at a nice italian restaurant. The food was very good! However, the best part of the night was playing "mafia" with the people at our table. We played telephone for a while, and then Ron made up a game which was kind of lame. Then we started playing Mafia, which basically involves everyone accusing each other of being in the mafia. It gets pretty heated, and it got a little rowdy! Afterwards, we went to Tyler's house. The architecture of his house was so weird. His room kind of seemed like a hospital, or somewhere a scary movie would be filmed. We tried to watch a movie, but all of us just ended up falling asleep, so we all went home!
I am leaving tomorrow for my educational field trip. We're heading to Salta, so I will update when I get back next weds/thurs. Until then!
I am leaving tomorrow for my educational field trip. We're heading to Salta, so I will update when I get back next weds/thurs. Until then!
10/21/2009
Tuesday October 20
Sorry I haven’t updated this in a couple of days! There hasn’t been a lot going on. Monday we had school and then I went to the American sports bar to watch the Broncos beat up the Chargers. We have a “Buenos Aires Broncos Club” That meets every week to watch the game. This week I met a few more kids from Colorado who new some of the older CA alumni. That’s always cool. It’s a small world!
Last night we decided to check out a bar called “Jobs.” It’s three stories, and it is insane. It has Playstation 2’s, fooseball, pool, table games like Jenga, and ARCHERY! I know, I was thinking the same thing…. Archery is probably not the smartest attraction to put in a bar. It’s pretty sweet though. I didn’t want to drop the coin to shoot some archery so we played some Jenga. Maybe next time I’ll hit the range. Then we went to a club called “Kika” because we could get in free, and they were playing American hip-hop from 1:30 to 3. It was pretty fun. They had a pretty good song selection and I snuck into the VIP for a little bit. Nice!
Last night we decided to check out a bar called “Jobs.” It’s three stories, and it is insane. It has Playstation 2’s, fooseball, pool, table games like Jenga, and ARCHERY! I know, I was thinking the same thing…. Archery is probably not the smartest attraction to put in a bar. It’s pretty sweet though. I didn’t want to drop the coin to shoot some archery so we played some Jenga. Maybe next time I’ll hit the range. Then we went to a club called “Kika” because we could get in free, and they were playing American hip-hop from 1:30 to 3. It was pretty fun. They had a pretty good song selection and I snuck into the VIP for a little bit. Nice!
10/18/2009
Friday October 16
Friday we wanted to watch final destination in 3-D. We went to a couple of different theaters but we couldn’t find it. By the time we were done walking around it was almost time to meet our friends to go to this club called Pancha. One of my friends is staying with a family that hooked a bunch of us up with free admission and VIP bracelets!
We all met at a little jazz club type thing where a band was playing, and then went to Pancha. The place was packed, and it was huge! They played all techno music which I didn’t like but it was still super fun to be a VIP!
We all met at a little jazz club type thing where a band was playing, and then went to Pancha. The place was packed, and it was huge! They played all techno music which I didn’t like but it was still super fun to be a VIP!
10/16/2009
Thursday October 15
This Thursday instead of going to lost for American hip-hop night I just hung out with TJ and Ron. We decided we’d rather not go out super late so we wouldn’t be dead for all of our class the next day. We went to Jackie O’s for a little while. It’s a local restaurant/bar that’s pretty fun. We watch the end of the Dodgers/Phillies game, which kept us out way later than we expected. What started out as not being a late night turned into me getting to the bus station at 3:15 in the morning and waiting 40 minutes for the bus!
10/15/2009
Wednesday October 14
Today instead of having convo we all went to a restaurant to watch the Argentina vs. Uruguay futbol game. The food was pretty good and we all enjoyed watching the game on a big screen together. My friend Niles’ family is all from Uruguay, so he wasn’t too excited when they lost. But everyone else was happy for Argentina!
After the game, a bunch of us went bowling. It was really fun, and we had a good time heckling each other. TJ bowled a 26. We made him laugh every time he was up, and I don’t think he had one good bowl the whole night.
After the game, a bunch of us went bowling. It was really fun, and we had a good time heckling each other. TJ bowled a 26. We made him laugh every time he was up, and I don’t think he had one good bowl the whole night.
10/14/2009
Pinamar! Tuesday October 13
Pinamar!!!
Friday:
Ron and Cole at bus station
Friday night we (Ron, Cole, and I) met at Casa Holden at 11:30 to catch our bus at 1. So we took a taxi to the bus station, and waited around a little bit. While we were sitting Ron glanced at the tickets to make sure everything was correct, and noticed that the tickets were for Friday morning at 1 am instead of Saturday morning! So, we talked to the ticket lady and she said there was no more room until 9 am. Awesome!
Saturday:
So we went to our respective houses until around 7:30 when we met up to try again. Success! We all passed out on the bus, and woke up when we pulled into Pinamar around 2. Unfortunately it was very raining and dreary, so we pretty much just lounged around and went out for dinner. Our room was sweet though. It was a “Hostel” but it was really more like a hotel. There were 3 beds, and we had our own room.
Pinamar
Our Hostel/Hotel
Sunday:
We headed out to the sand dunes for the day! We took a taxi out there and got to the ATV place to find out that they don’t take cards. None of us had our phones, so we walked to a nearby guard station and asked them to call a cab for us. We went back and got some lunch and then came back with cash! We had a great day on the dunes. We wore goofy baseball-looking helmets, so we looked pretty awesome. We had a good time launching off some dunes, and all of us had trouble at some time. Ron’s died and then we couldn’t get it to neutral to start it. Then Cole went up a hill, didn’t make it, and his ATV rolled all the way down the hill (see picture). Then we found this half-pipe kind of thing. I had a hay day fishtailing at the top and going back and forth doing that. But on one I cranked it, and my handle bars got a little caught on my jacket, and turn the wrong way. I bailed and my ATV rolled a couple of times. It was sweet!
That night we went to dinner and fell asleep pretty early because we were all pretty exhausted after our ATV day.
Me on my ATV rockin the helmet!
Catchin some air
Cole after he rolled his down the hill
Me doing a donut around Cole
Me doing the half-pipe thing
Me after I rolled
Me on the dunes
Monday:
Monday we had a beach day. It was a little chilly so we didn’t get in, but we had a great day enjoying the ocean and some rays. It was a very nice day, and we did some fun people watching on the beach. We went on a couple adventures to find lunch and dinner, and played a little air hockey. We were homeless after 12 or so. We checked out, and the hostel held our stuff. So we pretty much floated around and enjoyed the area. That night we went and saw inglorious bastards, but I had already seen it so I dozed off a bit. Then we hit the bus station to get on our 3 am bus!
Ron on beach
Ron and I
Overall, it was a super fun trip. Intense yet restful.
Tuesday:
We got off the bus around 9:30, and headed home. I didn’t have enough time to sleep before class, so I headed to Casa Holden and prepped for my Spanish in-class essay.
Friday:
Ron and Cole at bus station
Friday night we (Ron, Cole, and I) met at Casa Holden at 11:30 to catch our bus at 1. So we took a taxi to the bus station, and waited around a little bit. While we were sitting Ron glanced at the tickets to make sure everything was correct, and noticed that the tickets were for Friday morning at 1 am instead of Saturday morning! So, we talked to the ticket lady and she said there was no more room until 9 am. Awesome!
Saturday:
So we went to our respective houses until around 7:30 when we met up to try again. Success! We all passed out on the bus, and woke up when we pulled into Pinamar around 2. Unfortunately it was very raining and dreary, so we pretty much just lounged around and went out for dinner. Our room was sweet though. It was a “Hostel” but it was really more like a hotel. There were 3 beds, and we had our own room.
Pinamar
Our Hostel/Hotel
Sunday:
We headed out to the sand dunes for the day! We took a taxi out there and got to the ATV place to find out that they don’t take cards. None of us had our phones, so we walked to a nearby guard station and asked them to call a cab for us. We went back and got some lunch and then came back with cash! We had a great day on the dunes. We wore goofy baseball-looking helmets, so we looked pretty awesome. We had a good time launching off some dunes, and all of us had trouble at some time. Ron’s died and then we couldn’t get it to neutral to start it. Then Cole went up a hill, didn’t make it, and his ATV rolled all the way down the hill (see picture). Then we found this half-pipe kind of thing. I had a hay day fishtailing at the top and going back and forth doing that. But on one I cranked it, and my handle bars got a little caught on my jacket, and turn the wrong way. I bailed and my ATV rolled a couple of times. It was sweet!
That night we went to dinner and fell asleep pretty early because we were all pretty exhausted after our ATV day.
Me on my ATV rockin the helmet!
Catchin some air
Cole after he rolled his down the hill
Me doing a donut around Cole
Me doing the half-pipe thing
Me after I rolled
Me on the dunes
Monday:
Monday we had a beach day. It was a little chilly so we didn’t get in, but we had a great day enjoying the ocean and some rays. It was a very nice day, and we did some fun people watching on the beach. We went on a couple adventures to find lunch and dinner, and played a little air hockey. We were homeless after 12 or so. We checked out, and the hostel held our stuff. So we pretty much floated around and enjoyed the area. That night we went and saw inglorious bastards, but I had already seen it so I dozed off a bit. Then we hit the bus station to get on our 3 am bus!
Ron on beach
Ron and I
Overall, it was a super fun trip. Intense yet restful.
Tuesday:
We got off the bus around 9:30, and headed home. I didn’t have enough time to sleep before class, so I headed to Casa Holden and prepped for my Spanish in-class essay.
Photo Update
Here are some pictures of the Mendoza Trip from a couple weeks ago.
The hot springs
The canyon
Me in the canyon by the hot springs
Cole on the sketchy bridge (it doesn't look that bad but it's so wobbly!)
Me, Cole, Ron, TJ at the Hot Springs
The mountains in Mendoza
Our Hostel
In case any of you were wondering, here is what my room looks like in Buenos Aires. This is where I sleep every night. It's not huge, but it's comfy and I have a TV!
The hot springs
The canyon
Me in the canyon by the hot springs
Cole on the sketchy bridge (it doesn't look that bad but it's so wobbly!)
Me, Cole, Ron, TJ at the Hot Springs
The mountains in Mendoza
Our Hostel
In case any of you were wondering, here is what my room looks like in Buenos Aires. This is where I sleep every night. It's not huge, but it's comfy and I have a TV!
10/09/2009
Clarification
Yes, I am studying (Grandpa Ken!). Believe it or not, I have found time to study. It's rare, but it happens. I got a 99 on my spanish test today. See! I think I've found a pretty good balance between fun and homework. Almost every day I go home after school and get my homework done, and if I go out it is always later at night. However, I did find a pretty fun motocross game on my computer....
Friday October 9
Sorry I have not updated this in the last few days. I haven’t really been up to anything exciting.
Wednesday:
Wednesday night for convo we went to a greek restaurant. It was pretty fun, and the food was good. It went super long though! There were these greek dancers who would come out and dance between our tables, which was cool at first but they came out to dance like 8 times! We got to break our plates on the ground which was pretty cool too. But I was starting to get very antsy, considering we were there for three and a half hours! Then a bunch of us went over to TJ’s apartment and baked cookies and watched a movie.
Thursday:
Went to club Lost again to enjoy American hip-hop night. I live within walking distance, so four other guys came over before and we all crammed into my room to watch a movie on my computer. Then we walked to Lost and Ron got his wallet stolen. Nice!
Friday:
Tonight we are going to leave for Pinamar! Ron, Cole, and I are heading there for the long weekend. It’s a sweet beach town, and we have a hostel right on the beach. It’s a huge holiday weekend for the Argentine’s so hopefully there will be a lot of people! We are getting on the bus at like one in the morning tonight, and will be coming back overnight Monday night/Tuesday morning. I’ll let you know how it went when I get back!
Wednesday:
Wednesday night for convo we went to a greek restaurant. It was pretty fun, and the food was good. It went super long though! There were these greek dancers who would come out and dance between our tables, which was cool at first but they came out to dance like 8 times! We got to break our plates on the ground which was pretty cool too. But I was starting to get very antsy, considering we were there for three and a half hours! Then a bunch of us went over to TJ’s apartment and baked cookies and watched a movie.
Thursday:
Went to club Lost again to enjoy American hip-hop night. I live within walking distance, so four other guys came over before and we all crammed into my room to watch a movie on my computer. Then we walked to Lost and Ron got his wallet stolen. Nice!
Friday:
Tonight we are going to leave for Pinamar! Ron, Cole, and I are heading there for the long weekend. It’s a sweet beach town, and we have a hostel right on the beach. It’s a huge holiday weekend for the Argentine’s so hopefully there will be a lot of people! We are getting on the bus at like one in the morning tonight, and will be coming back overnight Monday night/Tuesday morning. I’ll let you know how it went when I get back!
10/05/2009
Mendoza Trip! Monday October 5
Well I guess I have a whole long weekend to fill you all in on! Here we go….
Tuesday:
We went to the train station and rode the train to the bus station. That all went fine, expect in our walk between the two stations, my friend Sara got her wallet stolen! Some lady bumped into her, and blocked her way while an accomplice took it out of her backpack. She didn’t realize what had happened until it was too late. But she handled it very well, and everything worked out.
I rode the bus with Sara, Macall, Constance, and Kendall. We were on a different bus than the rest of the group because we were the last to sign up. Probably 30 to 40 people from our program mobbed Mendoza!
When we got to the bus station it took a little while for us to find the right window to buy our tickets. At the bus station, the ticket says two different numbers, and there are a bunch of numbered parking spots. We could not figure out the system at all! But apparently the bus will pull up at a spot in the range printed on your ticket. We tried asking a bunch of people, but we never quite figured it out. Our subpar Spanish had us running back and forth. We got pretty worried considering we were out there only about 5 minutes before our train was supposed to leave. I thought there was no way the bus would’ve left early, but when it was 15 minutes after the scheduled time, somebody told us that it had already left. We were unhappy to say the least, until an employee of our same bus company told us that it would be there soon.
SO… we made it on the bus, and the rest of our trip was flawless. The food left something to be desired, but I still ate it all, and then some of the girls’ leftovers. After that I put on my ipod and slept all night! The bus is pretty comfy. It’s a double decker, and you get a seat that’s similar to a lazy boy. You can recline pretty far, and I had no trouble sleeping. We got into Mendoza the next morning.
Wednesday:
We arrived from the bus in the morning, and took a taxi to our hostel. It was a pretty nice hostel, I can’t complain. We all relaxed a little bit, and then we took a bike two of two different Wineries. It was pretty neat to see how everything works.
Some of my friends decided it would be a good idea to try this jump/ledge on the way back, and after Tyler stomped it, Damien went of and didn’t pop at all. His front tire went straight down into the ground and he flipped over the front of his handlebars. It was hilarious!! But we all made it back safely. Later that night we just rested up and hung out at the hostel. I feel bad for everyone else staying there cause we were in the courtyard area and were so loud!
Thursday:
Four of us guys just took it easy. We didn’t really want to spend a lot of money doing the excursions, so we trekked all the way to the supermarket and bought a bunch of food. We made it back and cooked up some eggs, bacon(?), and chorizo. All in one. It was SO GOOD! Then we just hung around the hostel for the day and made some pasta and grilled up some steak for dinner. Our adventures for Friday were cooking breakfast and dinner. That pretty much sums up Friday!
Friday: (pictures to come)
Ron, TJ, Cole and I went to the hot springs. We took a taxi to the bus station where we caught some public transportation to the mountains. We didn’t go deep into the mountains, but into this little valley. But we could see the big Andes on our way and they were pretty big and snowy. Some of the group went skiing, but I wasn’t ready to drop that kind of money for spring skiing. I kind of wish I did, but oh well.
We made it into our little valley and went into the hot springs. But first we walked across this little canyon on a pretty sketchy bridge. Oh, and then we went into the restaurant they had there and I had a burger. After that, we hopped in the tubs and chilled for a little while. There was a slide too which we had fun going down. The was a lazy river but it was super cold. So we were in the hot springs for a while and then we dove into the lazy river and took a whole miserable lap around as fast as we could. Except there was a fairly cool cave thing at the end.
After we got bored of that, we went down into the little valley and had some adventures.
Cole and I crossed the river down there (TJ and Ron wimped out) and sat on this little ledge and had a rock throwing contest. I lost. TJ and Ron were so jealous though. When it was time to come back we realized that the way we got there would not work to come back. So Cole walked up and down trying to find a spot while I just started throwing big rocks in the river to make my own path. Eventually my method worked, and we made it safely. (Except Cole had one wet shoe) When we made it back up to the hot springs we stopped and at a ton of “spaceships.” They were these flat, sugary bread things that we thought looked like UFOs. Then we went back and got in the hot springs for a little while. We took another lap in the lazy river, I have no idea why we kept doing that! Then we went to a little restaurant and ate some more food. I had the best quesadillas of my life, and also a Choripan Gigante. You can look up choripan, its pretty traditional Argentine food. There was also this huge dog that came up and freaked us all out. He looked like the monster dog from the Sandlot. His name was Oso…. Which means bear.
We got in the hot springs one more time before we left (We had all day!) and then dried off before we got on the bus.
The night was pretty tame, we just chilled at the hostel again. But Jack, Niles, Courtney, and Kelsey had been travelling on their own, and came to stay at our hostel that night. We did them a favor and let them stay with us, but Jack fell asleep in my tiny twin bed, on the top bunk. He was facing out so I literally wedged myself against the wall and tried to sleep. It was pretty uncomfortable, but I was trying to be a good friend.
Saturday:
Again we just kind of relaxed. We cleaned the place up, and got ready for the bus. We went on another search for food, and ended up at this place where I ordered a burger the size of my head… and I killed it. Then I showered and packed, and made my own pasta before heading to the bus. We rolled out and had a flawless bus trip. We made it home safe on Sunday, and I just did my homework! But overall it was an amazing trip! It was a ton of fun, relaxing, and we saw some cool sights. Most of all though, I got much closer with some of my friends here, and can’t wait for our adventures to continue!
Tuesday:
We went to the train station and rode the train to the bus station. That all went fine, expect in our walk between the two stations, my friend Sara got her wallet stolen! Some lady bumped into her, and blocked her way while an accomplice took it out of her backpack. She didn’t realize what had happened until it was too late. But she handled it very well, and everything worked out.
I rode the bus with Sara, Macall, Constance, and Kendall. We were on a different bus than the rest of the group because we were the last to sign up. Probably 30 to 40 people from our program mobbed Mendoza!
When we got to the bus station it took a little while for us to find the right window to buy our tickets. At the bus station, the ticket says two different numbers, and there are a bunch of numbered parking spots. We could not figure out the system at all! But apparently the bus will pull up at a spot in the range printed on your ticket. We tried asking a bunch of people, but we never quite figured it out. Our subpar Spanish had us running back and forth. We got pretty worried considering we were out there only about 5 minutes before our train was supposed to leave. I thought there was no way the bus would’ve left early, but when it was 15 minutes after the scheduled time, somebody told us that it had already left. We were unhappy to say the least, until an employee of our same bus company told us that it would be there soon.
SO… we made it on the bus, and the rest of our trip was flawless. The food left something to be desired, but I still ate it all, and then some of the girls’ leftovers. After that I put on my ipod and slept all night! The bus is pretty comfy. It’s a double decker, and you get a seat that’s similar to a lazy boy. You can recline pretty far, and I had no trouble sleeping. We got into Mendoza the next morning.
Wednesday:
We arrived from the bus in the morning, and took a taxi to our hostel. It was a pretty nice hostel, I can’t complain. We all relaxed a little bit, and then we took a bike two of two different Wineries. It was pretty neat to see how everything works.
Some of my friends decided it would be a good idea to try this jump/ledge on the way back, and after Tyler stomped it, Damien went of and didn’t pop at all. His front tire went straight down into the ground and he flipped over the front of his handlebars. It was hilarious!! But we all made it back safely. Later that night we just rested up and hung out at the hostel. I feel bad for everyone else staying there cause we were in the courtyard area and were so loud!
Thursday:
Four of us guys just took it easy. We didn’t really want to spend a lot of money doing the excursions, so we trekked all the way to the supermarket and bought a bunch of food. We made it back and cooked up some eggs, bacon(?), and chorizo. All in one. It was SO GOOD! Then we just hung around the hostel for the day and made some pasta and grilled up some steak for dinner. Our adventures for Friday were cooking breakfast and dinner. That pretty much sums up Friday!
Friday: (pictures to come)
Ron, TJ, Cole and I went to the hot springs. We took a taxi to the bus station where we caught some public transportation to the mountains. We didn’t go deep into the mountains, but into this little valley. But we could see the big Andes on our way and they were pretty big and snowy. Some of the group went skiing, but I wasn’t ready to drop that kind of money for spring skiing. I kind of wish I did, but oh well.
We made it into our little valley and went into the hot springs. But first we walked across this little canyon on a pretty sketchy bridge. Oh, and then we went into the restaurant they had there and I had a burger. After that, we hopped in the tubs and chilled for a little while. There was a slide too which we had fun going down. The was a lazy river but it was super cold. So we were in the hot springs for a while and then we dove into the lazy river and took a whole miserable lap around as fast as we could. Except there was a fairly cool cave thing at the end.
After we got bored of that, we went down into the little valley and had some adventures.
Cole and I crossed the river down there (TJ and Ron wimped out) and sat on this little ledge and had a rock throwing contest. I lost. TJ and Ron were so jealous though. When it was time to come back we realized that the way we got there would not work to come back. So Cole walked up and down trying to find a spot while I just started throwing big rocks in the river to make my own path. Eventually my method worked, and we made it safely. (Except Cole had one wet shoe) When we made it back up to the hot springs we stopped and at a ton of “spaceships.” They were these flat, sugary bread things that we thought looked like UFOs. Then we went back and got in the hot springs for a little while. We took another lap in the lazy river, I have no idea why we kept doing that! Then we went to a little restaurant and ate some more food. I had the best quesadillas of my life, and also a Choripan Gigante. You can look up choripan, its pretty traditional Argentine food. There was also this huge dog that came up and freaked us all out. He looked like the monster dog from the Sandlot. His name was Oso…. Which means bear.
We got in the hot springs one more time before we left (We had all day!) and then dried off before we got on the bus.
The night was pretty tame, we just chilled at the hostel again. But Jack, Niles, Courtney, and Kelsey had been travelling on their own, and came to stay at our hostel that night. We did them a favor and let them stay with us, but Jack fell asleep in my tiny twin bed, on the top bunk. He was facing out so I literally wedged myself against the wall and tried to sleep. It was pretty uncomfortable, but I was trying to be a good friend.
Saturday:
Again we just kind of relaxed. We cleaned the place up, and got ready for the bus. We went on another search for food, and ended up at this place where I ordered a burger the size of my head… and I killed it. Then I showered and packed, and made my own pasta before heading to the bus. We rolled out and had a flawless bus trip. We made it home safe on Sunday, and I just did my homework! But overall it was an amazing trip! It was a ton of fun, relaxing, and we saw some cool sights. Most of all though, I got much closer with some of my friends here, and can’t wait for our adventures to continue!
9/28/2009
Sunday September 27
Not really a lot to comment on. Tried to skype in on the meeting where they were voting for new ATO's. We got some good ones! Watched the Broncos beat the Raiders. We're doing better than I thought we would! Then I did homework and went to bed. Grace went out for the night and got back at 2:30! Ha!
9/27/2009
Saturday September 26
Today I went to the flea market in Recoleta near my house. I met Jack at McDonalds and we walked around for a little bit. There was some cool art and some neat little trinkets. After, we walked down Santa Fe street and looked for some Nike’s. I bought some new sneaks, and then went home to get ready for Rafa’s wedding!
His wedding was very nice. It was a beautiful catholic church, and there weren’t enough seats for everyone. There were so many people! We all assume that Rafa is a mob boss, so it was fun looking around the crowd and guessing who does what in the “Rafia.” I was trying to guess all the top Argentine mafia members, and I’m pretty sure I spotted his Hitman. The one who didn't crack a smile the entire time.
Afterwards I went home for a little bit, and then headed to TJ’s apartment and hung out for a while. We hung out with his host brother and played some fooseball. It was a chill night, but still super fun. Hope everyone had a good weekend!
9/26/2009
Friday September 25
Lets see. Friday I did, well, nothing. I went home after class, and got in bed to take a little nap. Ron and I were going to meet up with some new local friends, but that fell through. So I ended up in bed at 8. And got out of bed at 11 am on Saturday! Nice.
9/25/2009
Thursday September 24
Tonight Ron came over for the end of family night. It was Grace, Julia and I, and three cousins. It was very calm compared to the usual family night. Then Ron came and everyone enjoyed meeting him. We hung out for a little bit before we went to club Lost. Ron and I walked there, and then I walked back afterwards. It was super fun, and it was very good music again. TJ got his phone stolen there last week, so he got a new one on Wednesday. He got it stolen again! What an idiot! It was so hot in there, and my shirt was so sweaty I took it off an just put on my jacket. So I walked home just carrying my shirt!
9/24/2009
Wednesday September 23
Today I came to the Casa to go to lunch with my friend Ron. Instead of going to lunch though, we went to the supermarket and picked up some chicken patties, an oven pizza, and some calamari rings. We came back to the Casa and cooked it all up ourselves! Cooked the rings and patties in vegetable oil and everything.
Tonight for convo, instead of going to dinner together, we all went to a tango show. We had a great dinner there, and then the show started. Tango is so fast paced, and sexual. There were some crazy moves, and there was an awesome band. We all had a great time!
Tonight for convo, instead of going to dinner together, we all went to a tango show. We had a great dinner there, and then the show started. Tango is so fast paced, and sexual. There were some crazy moves, and there was an awesome band. We all had a great time!
Tuesday September 22
Classes, of course. Followed by a trip to the bookstore with Jack. This is supposed to be the #2 bookstore in all the world, and it was pretty sweet! It’s called El Ateneo. It’s got an awesome dome ceiling, and it used to be a theatre. So we wandered around for a little bit, and then sat down to read a book about Argentina (I just looked at the pictures) and then I did a little homework reading. Then I went home to catch dinner and pick up my laundry. My laundry place does it for me and even folds it. I’m so happy!
At dinner, we had a very interesting conversation about marriage law. Grace and Julia were somewhat against each other, and I nodded and said “si.” She was a very avid believer that whether a spouse dies of gets divorced, the money should be split fairly. Apparently Argentina has some very strict family laws that support this. Interesting!
9/22/2009
Monday September 21
Today was just another day of classes. Went to the gym with Ron again.
Tonight we went to the Alamo/Shoeless Joe’s again. We watch a little Monday night football, but then left because it was so crowded. We walked to Recoleta, which is a very cool area, but there was nobody there. It was almost deserted. I took off shortly after we got there, because I was a little tired. People weren’t super happy with me because it was actually my idea to leave for Recoleta. Oops! Oh well, we got to listen to some great freestyle raps by TJ!
9/21/2009
Sunday September 20
Feel good today. Went on a walk with Graciela. She showed me a nearby neighborhood called Recoleta. It’s super nice, and I’ll definitely be going back there with some friends. All of the cool hang out spots surround the cemetery, which I thought was weird. But there are huge, high walls all around the cemetery, and it seemed fairly separate from the business surrounding it. We also walked through a pretty cool flea market which I want to go back to.
After we had some lunch I headed to the Alamo to watch the broncos beat the browns. And I felt very good about the ravens beating the chargers because there were some unruly chargers fans. Also, I met some other people from Colorado. One of them went to Cherry Creek High School, and graduated in 04. He knew some of the guys who played lacrosse at CA so that was a cool connection. His two friends are from England and Australia, and were also Broncos fans. Somehow. But they want to start the BABC. Buenos Aires Broncos Club. Should be a fun group to watch the Raiders game with next week!
After we had some lunch I headed to the Alamo to watch the broncos beat the browns. And I felt very good about the ravens beating the chargers because there were some unruly chargers fans. Also, I met some other people from Colorado. One of them went to Cherry Creek High School, and graduated in 04. He knew some of the guys who played lacrosse at CA so that was a cool connection. His two friends are from England and Australia, and were also Broncos fans. Somehow. But they want to start the BABC. Buenos Aires Broncos Club. Should be a fun group to watch the Raiders game with next week!
Saturday September 19
I felt a little under the weather today so I stayed in and rested. It was well needed but I will be full strength again tomorrow!
Friday September 18
Today I was super tired because we were out late. Classes weren’t super exciting. The weather was dreary and rainy.
Maria, the Casa assistant person hooked us up with a guy to show us around town a little, so it was fun to see some of the local hang out spots. Oh yah, it was also flannel night! So I was rocking the Land's End shirt I found in the basement last year. It was very dusty when I found it!
And I'm sorry, but weekend activity most likely won't be posted until mondays. I don't have internet at my apartment, so I need to wait until I get to the Casa. Sorry!
9/18/2009
Thursday September 17
Let’s see. Today we had a little barbecue at the Casa. Then I didn’t have class until 5 so I just hung out until it started. Then I had humanities class, which was not so riveting.
It was cousin night again at Graciela’s house. Only a few people showed up this time, and I left shortly after the arrived anyway.
A group of us met at Shoeless Joe’s, which is an American hangout spot here in Buenos Aires. The broncos were on tv, and I enjoyed watching John Elway win the AFC championship. I was pretty excited about that! Gotta love ESPN Classic.
After we were at Shoeless Joe’s for a while, we all headed out to club Lost for American hip-hop night! We got there early so we wouldn’t have to wait in line, and there were some pretty impressive breakdancers. The music got more mainstream, and the place got very crowded as the night went on. But it was a fun night and American hip-hop night was all that I hoped!
It was cousin night again at Graciela’s house. Only a few people showed up this time, and I left shortly after the arrived anyway.
A group of us met at Shoeless Joe’s, which is an American hangout spot here in Buenos Aires. The broncos were on tv, and I enjoyed watching John Elway win the AFC championship. I was pretty excited about that! Gotta love ESPN Classic.
After we were at Shoeless Joe’s for a while, we all headed out to club Lost for American hip-hop night! We got there early so we wouldn’t have to wait in line, and there were some pretty impressive breakdancers. The music got more mainstream, and the place got very crowded as the night went on. But it was a fun night and American hip-hop night was all that I hoped!
9/17/2009
Wednesday September 16
My first real day of class was today. But it wasn’t until 4 so I slept in. Ron and I went to the gym before class and then came back for English 380. Latin American literature, but translated into English. Nice! We had so many people in that class that at least 5 people didn’t have anywhere to sit.
After class we had convo. Our RA’s made some announcements and so did Rafa and some other people. A group of friends that give tours of their land in Cordoba. It sounded like a fun trip, you go to the salt flats and ride horses. However, it costs a couple pesos to go, so I’ll see about that investment. Then we all sixty of us went to a restaurant named Kansas. How about that immersion! I definitely enjoyed ordering a coke, steak, salad, and dessert all on Pepperdine’s money!
Later we headed to a place called Soho. One of the old hangout spots closed down, and apparently the owner is now a partner of this Soho place. Rafa gave Cole the contact for this place. So we took a taxi to the cross streets where we were supposed to meet Juan, so he could take us to the place. There was a decent group of us, maybe ten waiting on this corner. Then some shady dude whistles at us from this door at the corner. He invites us into this pretty sketchy looking place. Needless to say, as we walked in I was taking stock of who we were with. I decided that the dudes I was with could take Juan and the couple other people I sized up as we walked in. We walked down into the basement, of this pretty ghetto place. Despite the old, rundown feel of the place, it ended up being pretty cool. Nevertheless, it was the #1 sketchiest place I’ve ever been. But I’m alive!
After class we had convo. Our RA’s made some announcements and so did Rafa and some other people. A group of friends that give tours of their land in Cordoba. It sounded like a fun trip, you go to the salt flats and ride horses. However, it costs a couple pesos to go, so I’ll see about that investment. Then we all sixty of us went to a restaurant named Kansas. How about that immersion! I definitely enjoyed ordering a coke, steak, salad, and dessert all on Pepperdine’s money!
Later we headed to a place called Soho. One of the old hangout spots closed down, and apparently the owner is now a partner of this Soho place. Rafa gave Cole the contact for this place. So we took a taxi to the cross streets where we were supposed to meet Juan, so he could take us to the place. There was a decent group of us, maybe ten waiting on this corner. Then some shady dude whistles at us from this door at the corner. He invites us into this pretty sketchy looking place. Needless to say, as we walked in I was taking stock of who we were with. I decided that the dudes I was with could take Juan and the couple other people I sized up as we walked in. We walked down into the basement, of this pretty ghetto place. Despite the old, rundown feel of the place, it ended up being pretty cool. Nevertheless, it was the #1 sketchiest place I’ve ever been. But I’m alive!
Tuesday September 15
Tuesday we had our last day of intensive Spanish. For the second half of class we went to the Evita museum. She was a very prominent political figure back in the day, so we went and learned about her. Can you tell I was in the back of the tour?
Later that night we went back to Jackie O’s, the place we went the first night. It was alright, there weren’t a lot of people this time so it was an early night.
Later that night we went back to Jackie O’s, the place we went the first night. It was alright, there weren’t a lot of people this time so it was an early night.
9/15/2009
Monday September 14
This morning I had to wake up super early for school. Intensive Spanish for four hours. After class we got some lunch and Ron and I scoped out the gym. I’m pretty sure all of the men are on steroids. All of them were JACKED, but Ron and I were lifting more weight. And we are very far from strong! And the women at the gym were very attractive. But not that I was looking. All of the weight is in kilograms, so Ron and I had no idea what we were lifting. We probably worked our brains more than our muscles trying to figure it out. Then we had some guy come talk to us about Argentine history at the Casa. I was trying not to fall asleep. Then I went home to fall asleep. But first I watched the end of the U.S. Open with Graciela. As you probably know the Argentine Juan Martin won, and Grace was so nervous she smoked at least 6 cigarettes.
9/14/2009
Sunday September 13
I slept until 5:30….PM. Woke up. Made this blog. Ate dinner. Gave Grace the Denver book I brought her (She love it). Went to bed. Great day!
Saturday September 12
Today we had to be at school at 9 again. I was on my own for the bus this morning. I got down to the street a little after 8:30, where I waited for the bus for a good while. It finally came, and I got on, but was kicked off two block later because I didn’t have enough coins. So I walked for a while until I found a store where I bought some water so that I could get the change. Then I waited for another good 10 minutes until the next bus came. I got on with no problem, but passed my stop by a couple blocks. I showed up at the Casa after a 50 minute bus experience, 20 minutes late. Nice.
We went to a place called Adulam. It was so awesome. It is this very poor community of about 30 families that all live together. We split up into groups, and my group went to the green house they were construction. There was a metal frame up, and we wrapped all of the poles in plastic so they would not rust. I met Arial and his friend, whose name I forgot. After we were done wrapping everything in plastic, I started bringing buckets of dirt from where another group was working. We started making a path in the green house out of dirt. We stopped for lunch and they served us some burgers. When we were done we played some soccer. It was pretty funny watching some of the kids in our group try to play. I didn’t know it was possible to be as unathletic as some of my peers are. But we had fun and I broke out my mean goalie skills. After the game we finished our work, and they made me a red and yellow leather bracelet. It says, “Antonio.” My new friend Arial asked if we could trade hats. So I gave him my red smith (also my favorite) hat. He was very pumped, and gave me his adidas Chile hat. There was a little band they had there, and they played some church songs before we left. And the bracelet guy played his guitar for four of the little kids to dance. That was a cool way to end that experience.
That night we all met at the Casa and walk to the same place we were the night before. Our RA, and one of my best friends, had been sick when we left, so he took a later flight. He got here before we left for the night, so I was super excited to spend the night with him. We stopped at a restaurant where we hung out for a little, and then went to the soul café. I don’t know what we did for so long but we ended up heading home at around 4:30 and we didn’t even go to a club. We pretty much just hung out in the soul café and outside on the street.
Friday September 11
Today we had to be at school at 9 for a city tour. Grace took the bus with me, we’ll see how that system works out. I made it to the Casa, where we all piled onto those big buses again for our city tour. We went all around town and saw the landmarks and learned a little history. My favorite part was travelling through “La Boca.” There is a huge soccer stadium there where “Boca” plays. Boca is the team that all of the blue collar citizens root for. Boca is the “team of the people” which I though was something cool for the lower-class workers to unite under. We walked around La Boca, which was very brightly colored, and a bit touristy. It was very fun though, and we took some pictures. When we left, we drove through a part of town that was very, very poor. It was interesting to see the living conditions that some people in this world still live in.
In the afternoon we had “Intensive Spanish” for three and a half hours. I met my Spanish professor, and she seems very nice. The class shouldn’t be hard. There are several kids who are way worse at Spanish than I am, so that’s good news for me!
I came home for dinner and met Julia, the other student living with us. She’s nice, but I don’t think we’ll spend a lot of time together. She did tell me about some fun places to go, where she can get us in free or cheap. Score! Grace left a note on the table that said she was out for the night, but there was food on the table we could warm up. Good to see that she won’t be revolving her life around us! After I ate and showered, I headed to meet everyone at the Casa. We walked for a ways, to a different part of the neighborhood. We found a restaurant/club/bar when the mob of about 30 americans could hang out. They took us to the third floor where nobody was, so we had a floor to ourselves. That’s where the club is, but it doesn’t start going until 2AM and we showed up at about 11. This schedule is going to take some adjusting to! Jack, Niles, and I left around 1:45 to walk around a little bit, and when we came back they told us we have to pay a 30 peso cover charge, so we went home! The next day I learned that a bird pooped on Niles’ head on his way home. And he was walking shirtless. It’s going to be a great year.
Thursday September 10
We made it here safely!
The flight was very long, and I didn’t have as much leg room as I expected, but the food was good and I had my own personal TV. We had a layover in Lima, Peru, and one of the guys lost his passport, so he and our resident professor stayed overnight in the airport. What an idiot! They made it here safe though. We landed right after sunrise, which was very cool to see from the plane. We all got our luggage without problems and piled onto two huge buses. We went straight to the casa where we had a little orientation, but I was focused on not falling asleep. We met Rafa, our program director here in Argentina, and everyone suspects him of being in the mafia (or “Rafia”) based on some of the stories we’ve heard. After orientation we had Asada cooked up for us at the Casa, which will be a Thursday tradition. We explored the Casa a little bit and everyone got phones. I am trying to beat the system and use my blackberry, so we’ll see if that works.
At around 2:30 I met Grace. I walked out to meet her and the first thing she said was, “Tony, my baby!” It’s going to be a great year. She speaks English very well, so there shouldn’t be any communication problems. However, she did tell me that come Monday, no more English, because I need to learn my Spanish. We took a taxi back to her house, and I found my room. We live in an apartment building built by her grandfather. It’s a nice place, but very small. My room is roughly 6ft by 10ft. That’s just a guess, but there’s barely enough room for me to walk between my dresser and my bed. There is another girl staying with us, Julia from Nebraska. I haven’t met her yet, but she’s been here since may so hopefully she’ll be able to show me some fun places to go. All three of us share one small bathroom. What I’m most confused about is the open room with it’s own bathroom that nobody is using……..? Oh well, my bed is comfy and we have everything we need. The internet is tricky. I’m trying to steal other people’s internet because Grace doesn’t have any, and it’s very tough. If I try for about half an hour I might be able to check my email once. All of the windows and glass doors and covered by those metal garage doors you see people pull over their stores at night. So my room is dark for sleeping!
As soon as I got to my apartment I fell asleep. I woke up around 7:30 and unpacked. There were a couple people over and Grace told me it was “Cousin night.” We sat down and had a little pizza, and talked a bit. I was hoping for a smoother transition, Grace and I having dinner as I slowly break in my Spanish. However, more and more people showed up and the crowd grew. We sat in the living room where there is one couch, and all of the rest of us were in chairs or little stools, crammed around one little coffee table. A couple people came and went, but at one point we had ten people stuffed into this room. We had some more pizza, and they talked so fast I had no idea what was going on. I must’ve had that deer in the headlights look, because several times someone said to me “If you’re tired you’re welcome to go to bed.” 1 AM rolled around, I still had no idea what was going on, everything seemed so chaotic, and I was tired. They were still here for a good hour or two after I turn in for the night. But before I went to bed, I took stock of the damage. We had gone through four pizzas, there were four empty wine bottles, and four empty PACKS of cigarettes (which they all just smoking still in their seat, in the middle of this tiny apartment). Needless to say, my first day here was NUTS! And the best news of all…. Cousin night is every Thursday!
Welcome! Bienvenidos!
Welcome to my Argentina Blog! I set this up so that everyone back home can follow my adventures in Argentina and around South America. I have no idea what to expect, so I will not make any guarantees to the length or depth of my entries, but I will try to update it daily. Enjoy!
Key Terms:
Casa Holden (or the Casa): Pepperdine’s facility here in Buenos Aires where we have class and are free to hang out.
Graciela “Grace” Curuchet: My homestay mom who will be hosting me all year.
Rafa: A local Argentine who studied law in America, taught at Pepperdine, and is now our Program director.
Fetzer: Our resident professor who came with us (with his family, including an annoying little kid) and lives at the Casa.
Maria and Pato: Two of the assistants that work at the Casa.
Belgrano: The neighborhood where Casa Holden is located.
Palermo: The neighborhood where I live with Grace.
*To be updated*
Key Terms:
Casa Holden (or the Casa): Pepperdine’s facility here in Buenos Aires where we have class and are free to hang out.
Graciela “Grace” Curuchet: My homestay mom who will be hosting me all year.
Rafa: A local Argentine who studied law in America, taught at Pepperdine, and is now our Program director.
Fetzer: Our resident professor who came with us (with his family, including an annoying little kid) and lives at the Casa.
Maria and Pato: Two of the assistants that work at the Casa.
Belgrano: The neighborhood where Casa Holden is located.
Palermo: The neighborhood where I live with Grace.
*To be updated*
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