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!
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