May

May began with the North Trip, upon my return to Catamarca began the post-exchange student trip depression. Which I guess was worse this time round seeing that we knew it was the end and the last trip we would be spending all together.

Above are just some pictures of some of the highlights from the Trip. Then it was back to the grind and back to school. AS soon as I unpacked I was yet again packing to go to Antofogasta de la Sierra, a place in the province of Catamarca. The county has over 220 volcanoes and the world´s longest salt flat. I went with my geography classmates so that was an interesting experience. We went for a long four day weekend. It´s an extremely isolated place. with a small population. So another purpose of our visit was to help kids at the school there. It was a really cool trip. But it was so cold there, like actually cold and living in the Catamarca sun for the past year I´ve turned into a lazy cat and I can´t handle the cold anymore. The girls who I traveled with took a lot of pictures, which usually doesnñt bug me because it´s like on the North or South Trip everyone takes pictures and whatever, however they took too many pictures. They would take pictures of everyone eating, or just over pose for things, or just always beg for me to be in the picture because i was foreign or beg me to say things in English so that they can record a video, or just record videos of people saying hi to the camera. Which I handled for the first two days but by the end it drove me insane. I had to tell them, don´t take anymore suprise photos of me, or photos of me sleeping on the bus, please don´t. It may have been a little saucy to say it, but I explained I don´t like being IN pictures. Saturday we went to the museum and walked around, which didnt take long considering its size haha. We also did a four by four expedition to the Campo de Piedra Poman which are these rock formations form Volcanic rock, but these rocks are white. There were rocks of all colors in Antofogasta. The next day we went to The Volcanoe called Antofogasta and we climbed it. I was so proud of myself because usually I have huge problems hiking in high altitudes, but I actually felt rather comfortable during this one and we reached a height of about 3,800m above sea level. Then later we went to go check out some indigenous drrawings and artifacts. The next morning we went to visit the school and donate clothes to the children and just talk to the kids. It was really nice to give back, and these kids are so happy with so little. Antofogasta literally has no luxuries, they just have the soccer field. Once we got back to Catamarca Capital we went to work on Folklore. We were preparing a presentation for the Rotary District Conference as a group and we had to dance Folklore. We learned how to dance two dances and have the traditional costumes. It went rather well but of course I wish we had better planning because we had to learn everything in 6 classes and I missed one because of Antofogasta. So after preparing we left for Cordoba on Friday. We were invited to the house of our teacher where her dad prepared us some delicious traditional italian food. And that was also when I got to meet Sarah´s Family (from New Mexico) It turns out that her mom was actually born an Ohio girl, raised in Centerville. Then we went together to the bus to go to Cordoba and then our journey was so typical Argentina. We left the main plaza relatively on time, then all of a sudden we were going off in a weird direction, that wasn´t the way to Cordoba. So we ended up in the city dump (city owned the bus we were using) and we waited an hour for them to change the spare tire. Then we start heading back to the main plaza again, to pick up the insurance papers of the van, we were tired of waiting so we ran to go get ice cream at the corner. Then we finally get on the highway to go to Cordoba, only to turn around and for the driver to announce there was no fuel. So we went back adn filled up before ACTUALLY leaving for Bel Ville in Cordoba. So we had a crazy bus ride since it was so uncomfortable in there and i was sitting next to tall people so there was no extra space. Then we arrived in Bel Ville and met up with the exchange Student living in La Rioja, and settled into the Hotel. The next morning we were prepared with blazers and practicing our dance, and saying hi to all the exchange students. Then we did our Folklore Presentation which actually went fairly well. Then after some more presentations and lots of pictures we were preparing to leave. Then we had to say goodbye and go back to Catmarca. We were all a wreck. I was crying and saying goodbye to everyone. Everyone was saying "I´ll visit you" "I Can´t believe it´s over". Then someone said "I´ll see you off at the airport in Cordoba" and I said " but I´m leaving from Catamarca" and I cried even more! It was the definate end. It hit me like a wall. I couldn´t believe it, the year was ending, I had 7 weeks left in Argentina. After all of the Sadness and coming back to Catamarca, I watched the Boca game with friends (soccer tournament is going on here, and Boca´s my team) We won 2-0 against Racing. Which was good, then Monday and Tuesday I spent more time with Sarah and her Family going to cafes, and just chilling (what we´re best at here in Argentina). Then It´s the last week now of two of my closest exchange friends so we are doing a list of last things. Like last time going out to dance, last time going to this nice restaurant. I´m going to be a wreck when they leave. It´s hard to think about. I also changed families again this weekend since my other family went to Europe. I ended up changing to a completely different family than they had told me origionally, which is so Argentina, but They are really nice people and I hope I can stay at their house for the remainder of my exchange. :)

April! and North Trip

April started out with me going to the University to study Geography. I like it alot becuase unlike the normal student at the University since I have a limited time to study here they let me choose my classes. This means I am mixing the years and the levels so I´m becoming everyone´s classmate and learning all kinds of things. I´m taking Geography of Argentina, of Catamarca, or NOrth and South America, Climatology, Geomorphology, and Philosophy. I like all of my classmates, they´re very kind and helpful when I need something. I also like the University atmosphere because it´s a true representation of the real catamarca. I say this because I feel somethimes that when one goes to a private school here in Argentina you really only get to know one group of people, or one class, whereas in the University they have all types. I also like that generally the students are more serious about their work, because in the high schools here EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE cheats. But at the same time there is something a little strange about starting the school year at University here, there are constant strikes to raise wages but these strikes are not for consecutive days. Its like Classes carry on as usual and then maybe Tuesday there is strike but then you wont have another strike day until the next week. Its very sparatic and weird. Another plus about being a university student is that I go to classes after lunch, which means I can sleep in! This in effect means a happy Laura. The only down side is this means I dont really have time to hang out with friends day to day for very long, but on most days I finish by 7 so sometimes I meet friends in the center for a coffee or just to hang for a few hours until I have to be home for dinner. In other news I spent the early part of this month organizing myself for the North Trip, and helping others do so. So the first 20 days in April was all hype about the north trip, me Packing and preparing, and double checking. Then finally the day came when we actually departed Catamarca for Cordoba to start the trip. We arrived in Cordoba at 6am, and needless to say the 6 hours on the bus I couldn´t sleep properly. In fact at one point I fell asleep with my face in the headrest and my bum in the air. Needless to say I woke up with several pains. We then had a nice breakfast in the terminal and met up with the other students who came from other Areas of Argentina. We then were preparing to leave and then it became apparent that this trip would be a lot more different than the one to the south. We would be taking two buses. 70 exchange students, much more than the 55 on the previous trip. The buses were divided by district so the Patagonia sitrict was on the small bus (about 22 students), while our district was on the large double-decker bus. Once we left Cordoba the craziness began. We all had so much energy and were so excited to be all together again that we didn´t get much sleep on the bus. We spent the night on the bus and woke up in the province of Misiones. Misiones is a subtropical climate and the first thing we got off to see was a mine. The Minas de Wanda, Apparently this family bought a piece of land and then they found an old mine there and they just decided to open it up and let tourists go in and see all of the crystals. going inside the mine was pretty cool, and they even had a formation that you could stick your hand in and stick your camera in a different part and it would take a picture of your hand touching all of the amatheyst crystals. We were all fascinated and jumping around with out bob the builder hard hats. But the real cool part was the gift shop. The amazing part was how many different colored semi precious stones there were. There were all kinds of things that were there, rocks cut in certain ways to show off the different layers in the stone, rocks joined with several other rocks to make a rock tree, windchimes that were so colorful, keychains, necklaces, and then just the rocks. It was cool and I bought some stuff and then the tour guide gave us each a tiny piece of quartz which was a nice little token. I also liked the fact that because of the geography classes I am taking at the University I followed his little talk about the formations quite well. Our next stop was what I had been waiting to see for many years, the city of Puerto Iguazu. Well I hadnt exactly been waiting to see the city for many years, but I knew the next day we would see the world famous Iguazu falls! Iguazu falls is on the border of Argentina and Brazil and in recent years has been declared one of the new Seven Natural Wonders of the World. So needless to say I was quite excited to get near the falls, and then our group coordinator told us there was an optional excursion: take a boat ride under the falls, and tour a little bit of the river. At first I was like no I dont really want to do that because it´ll just be like the boat in Niagra and you get a little wet and then turn around. Then he puts on the video of the kids who did it last year (yes these double decker buses have flat screen tvs) and the boat was more like a glorified high speed raft and the kids were all in their bathing suits, and they got really wet by multiple water falls and then went down the river. After seeing that and quickly contemplating the extra 260 pesos. I said Yes, I did what every exchange student does the "well you only live once" or the "I´m only here once" YOLO for short. It was so worth it, especially since the people from the US, Canada, Mexico, and Australia we couldnt go to the Brazilian side the next day (without paying a ridiculous amoount of money) so I knew this was my one chance to see the falls up close. So the next morning we all got on the bus ready to go to Iguazu National Park, cameras ready, swimsuits ready, and sunglasses ready. We divide into groups with tour guides and we get tags that say which group we are- blue or green. Then it became a joke between me and my Aussie friend to act like the badge was an FBI badge and use the sunglasses and say "Step aside, I´m with the Bureau". Then we were going down the pathway and as we kept going we could start to hear water. What is special about Iguazu is that it is really several different waterfalls, whereas in Niagra there are actually only three waterfalls. In Iguazu the amount of land that is protected (in both Brazil and Argentina) is about the size of Holland to give you a picture of exactly how large this park is. As we approached the main falls we passed several small waterfalls. After passing each one I got more excited. Then finally the momoent came that we actually reached a viewing point to see a huge section of the falls. It was perfect, a clear day, rainbows everywhere, and the georgeous palms by the waterfall. Everyone on facebook has said "wow! what great pictures!" but the truth is that Argentina is such a beautiful place that it´s not hard to take beautiful pictures, the picture saves a moment, a memory but it´s nothing compared to being right there next to such an incredible thing of nature. Iguazu is truly one of the wonders of the world. I could just stay there and watch the falls forever. Later on we got to do the boat ride which was really fun. Later on we went on the park´s train to get to the waterfall which is called "the devil´s throat", that waterfall has an impressive amount of water, its not one of the skinny little falls, its a big one, its the one right on the border with Brazil. The next day, Us people from North America, plus the Aussie couldn´t go accross the border to Brazil so we went to an animal park instead. We saw native birds, monkeys, and other wildlife. Misiones is so different because it is subtropical but also the color of the earth is like a red-orange which is why they call it Tierra Colorada or Colored Earth. I really liked being in such a different place and the hotel we were in even had a pool so needless to say it was nice to get some sun, in contrast to the South trip when no one would even think about going swimming in one of those cold lakes. So when we left Iguazu we spent another night aboard the bus and we woke up in Pumamarca, Jujuy. If you google "Sierra de siete colores" Or the "cliff of seven colors" you´ll see what we went to see there. It was so cool. Jujuy was more like Catamarca climate wise, very dry with cacti and cold in the higher mountains. However the culture was more prominately indigenous. When we talked about Jujuy in Catamarca everyone says that oh it´s full of cuyos (indigenous people) and that it used to belong to Bolivia (Argentinians typically don´t show a positive sentiment to Chileans, Bolivians, Peruvians, or Paraguayans... I´ve been told it´s because Argentina´s population is mostly European so it´s just how they are) Pumamarca was really pretty and then we hit the market in the main square. We all went crazy because it was cheap, and I was still in warm clothes from Iguazu and I had to buy some llama or alpaca fur wintery clothes to warm me on the trip. So I bought the llama poncho/pullover, a scarf, A matching hat, and a CRAZY rainbow colored blanket (which I plan on keeping with me in my dorm in the future haha). So the whole shopping thing was fun especially since in the South I did practically no shopping since it was SO expensive, It was more expensive than the US for many things. And of course since we were with the Patagonia district everyone was like OMG look at the price of this, it´s so CHEAP! And I was like, um yeah that´s like the same price that would be in Catamarca... Then we made our way to Tilcara which was where we would be staying for two days. We settled in and later we went to go check out some Incan ruins and the nice mountains with lots of cacti. Our excursion the next day was to the big salt flats, or las salinas grandes in Jujuy. Which was super cool because of the altitude it was very high but when I heard we were going here I got very excited for a very specific reason. One of my favorite spanish bands is called Calle 13, and to their song Pa´l Norte (which talks about going to the North) they shot it in Jujuy and in the places we visited so I was like very happy in a very nerdy way. our next stop was Salta, the city, and it´s nickname is "la linda" or the "pretty". It was areally nice city, a little smaller than the population of Columbus and what was cool about it was that their buildings and architecture is very well preserved by law, our hotel was right in the center and the main square was so nice and filled with history. Like the Cathedral was actually visited by Pope JP2. The day after we did an excursion to Cafayate which was really cool because on the road there there were so many different rock formations and cool things to see. Once we actually got to Cafayate we went to a winery where we had a tour, tasting, and then we had free time to poruse the markets and the center in which I tried Wine Ice cream which was actually quite refreshing. Then after just chilling we woke up early the next day to make our way to Tucuman. Tucuman is like the closest Large city to Catamarca, and it was really nice. We really only went to the center and then to the Casa Historica or the equivalent of Independence Hall. I really enjoyed that part because I learned alot about their revolution against Spain and I was the last exchange student out of the museum haha everyone else rushed through but I was so fascinated I read almost everything in there. The center of Tucuman is also very nice and they have the BEST ICE CREAM I´ve had in Argentina directly off the main plaza, so naturally we got a lot of it. Then we headed to La Rioja which was a long drive so we stopped for Dinner at a cool place in Santiago del Estero, and then we slept on the bus overnight again but we actually drove through Catamarca while everyone was asleep. We woke up in the Valle de la Luna which is located at the border of the provinced of San Juan and La Rioja. Valle de la Luna means Valley of the Moon, and it´s rightfully named so. I´d never seen a landscape like that on Earth. It was so strange, but cool. There were all kinds of rock formations, a Sphinx, a bunch of perfect spheres. It was almost like a dreamscape. Later on we stopped at one of the park´s buildings and apparently the world´s oldest dinosaur was found there. There were a bunch of fossils that were found there. Then we were chilling and checking into our hotel which was the nicest one that we had on the whole trip so it was a pity we only stayed there one night. It even had a pool and got hot enough during siesta for us to use it, although the water was too cold so we just stuck to sun bathing. The next morning we went to the National Park of Talampaya. It´s like the Grand Canyon but smaller, and it had cave drawings. It was really cool. I mean in the whole North there are all kinds of colorful rocks and rock formations that you´re never see in good ol´ohio. So naturally I took hundreds of pictures. Our final stop on the trip was Mendoza. Mendoza was so different from most Argentina cities. I really really enjoyed it, it was a much bigger city with lots of things to do and it was surrounded by the Andes and vineyards. It had a huge earthquake back in the beginning of the 20th century so a Frenchman redesigned the city. So it has the same romantic lamp lights as a French street corner, and shopping is much more a part of the culture. Then we went to a famous monument the "mountain of glory" which is really just a place for a sculpture to tell the story of the victory of San Martin and how he crossed the Andes and he helped the people be free from Spain and their opression. This monument is depicted on the 5 peso mark. So we did the city tour, and some shopping. Then we were chilling back at the Hotel and then Some exchange Students surprised me at midnight with a birthday cake and little gifts! I was so surprised and then it became a thing to write Happy Birthday in their native language on my arms. I had so much handwriting all over me. Then we also have the tradition of on the last day of the trip for people to write eachtother messages in a little book. And I got some really nice ones. It made me feel really appreciated and that my exchange was a great decision because I really did make friends for life here. Then we woke up in the morning to travel to the high mountains. We went to a pass to go to Chile and it was where the movie "Seven years in Tibet" was filmed because of course they couldn´t actually film it in Tibet. Then we had a little snowball fight. Which was loads of fun since it´s practically been a year of Summer for me, so I´ll never forget that but it was still a little weird to think that I was doing that on my birthday which has always been in Spring for me, never in Fall/Winter. After lunch and being sung Happy Birthday in like 6 languages we went to a winery where we had yeat another tour and wine tasting except this time they actually taught us how to properly taste wine. So we of course were enjoying it and making several "true story" and "like a sir" jokes. Later we went to the Mendoza mall as our last stop before the long drive to Cordoba. When I heard they had a McDonalds I went running. I was so stoked, It was my first bacon cheeseburger with bbq sauce in forever. I didnt even care that it was mcd´s because if you know me in the US I only eat mcd´s when it is the absolute last option. Needless to say it was an incredible birthday and I´ll never forget it :)

March in the Mountains

I spent the first days of March this year going on trip to Fiambala in Tinogasta in the Province of Catamarca. This town is quite famous in Catamarca because it has lots of natural tourist attractions like the hot springs, but it´s also famous because the dakar race always passes through Fiambala. Dakar is really popular here a lot of people have Dakar bumper stickers, shirts, people have been to the Dakar, my first host family told me about it and it sounded pretty cool and we watched them start the race on new years eve. This Year they started in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires and ended in Lima, Peru. The starting and end point always change but they always go through Fiambala because it is the last point before the San Francisco Pass to cross over into Chile. And it is beautiful! We went with Zatik, a Hungarian boy, and his parents who were visiting him. The first day on our road trip to our destination we stopped to see many things such as an old church made out of adobe and literally in the middle of nothing. Whats amazing is that in the interior of the province the geography is so different. In the capital and in the touristy summer home spots are actually quite green and lush in comparison to whats farther north. But whats incredible is that even when you get to the sand dunes or the high mountains where it is literally just rock and no plants it´s amazing. Later on we stopped at a Winery which it seems that my host parents really love that label and our proud that it is from Catamarca because it is internationally known and awarded. (Don Diego for all you wine people) We had a little tour and some tasting and then when we went to the cellar I realized just how good the label was. They had won prizes on 3 continents, and export almost 85-90% of the wine to the US and other places. There in the same spot where we stopped there was a little church which had a patron saint for the town called San Pedro, it is said that he protects the people of the town by walking around at night. In the church San Pedro is a statue that is about three feet tall and has very tiny feet but the locals swear that he leaves every night to go around the town, they have all of these traditions to change his clothing for special occasions and at the end of every year they change his shoes since for some reason his shoes are worn as if he had been walking through the town keeping watch. I got to see the shoes from years past and the clothing, and they were clearly worn out, but its always up to the believer my host dad said there must be someone wearing them out with something else every night. From there we went to on to the town of Fiambala which is situated in a valley, so then we went to go to the thermal pools in the mountains on one side of the valley. The Thermal pools are natural hot springs that are almost like a continuous fountain, as the water trickles down from pool to pool so does the temperature so one can start at the bottom and work there way up to some very hot water. It was amazing because it´s like a natural hot tub and from that side of the mountain there were some great views of fiambala. It was really pretty at night too since in the mountains here the views for stargazing are really great. The next day we woke up all refreshed from the night in the thermal pools and we got in the four wheel drive toyota SUV to go to a place called the Balcony of Picis. This place has a very high altitude, like 4,500 meters high and while it was hard to breathe one we got there it was totally worth it. The view from there was spectacular. I´d never seen a land like it, We were 40km from the border with Chile and we could see some of the highest mountains in south America. We could see the world´s tallest Volcano and a mountain that is only 10m shorter than the tallest mountain in argentina (the real one is in Mendoza). But the mountains from that point were incredible because they were mountains of all colors of rock, red, gray, green, some with snow capped tops and others just with very rocky formations. One could also see that there were three seperate lagoons with three distinct colors, one was a very turquoise, the other light blue. It was amazing and on the way we saw guanacos, cacti, and stone monuments to the Pachamama or the incan mother Earth.
The next weekend we organized a hamburger night with the exchange students, my counselor, and my host dad. It was great to see everyone together again since there were so many of us doing things or going on vacation or things like that that before that weekend we hadn´t really had a good meeting like that one. From there that night we went to a local restaurant to see a band play. The band was really good actually and he is the friend of my Belgian host brother I lived with for a while so Guille(beligan bro) actually got to play a few songs during the concert, it was really fun. Then after that we just ate and talked and drove around, and I woke up the next day and I realized I had lost my phone. I freaked out and I had an epiphany that it was in the back of my friends car and I must have left it there when we were driving around as a group. I got it back but living 5 days without a phone was hell since I dont have internet and I couldnt contact my friends or anything to do things. So I worked on some Denison Forms and started studying Math since none of my schools here had math as a part of my cirriculum so I´m going to have to study more for that placement test when I get back.
The weekend of March 16,17, and 18 we had the Rotary Youth Exchange Orientation in El Rodeo, a town here in Catamarca. It was so great to see the other exchange students from Cordoba and La Rioja again and to show them around like it was my home turf. When they arrived in the capital we went to the mayors office and we had a presentation of Folklore dance which is from the north, and some local cuisine. On the bus ride to El Rodeo everyone was like wow, Catamarca is so pretty! Because we passed Las Pirquitas on the way which has a huge lake and with the mountains surrounding it its very pretty. Then after being reunited with everyone and all the "ahhh OMG HI HOW ARE YOU?" hugs (american hugs, I get teased by all of the Europeans) we got out room info and I was actually one of the luckyy ones who stayed at a different smaller bed and breakfast type deal. It was a little farther away but it was worth it because it was prettier. Its this pink building in the mountains that is situated right by one of the rivers. I liked it because we were our own little community for the weekend and on our way to and from the main hotel where all of the important presentations were at we got to ride in my host dads truck where I stood up in the back and it was fun. That Friday night we had the talent show. Us as a group from the kids in Alta Gracia we decided to do to Haka, the traditional warrior dance from New Zealand. It went pretty well. It was fun to see how everyone else presented their talents, many people who are on exchange in catamarca can sing very well. We also had the presentation of the North Trip which I am so excited for since there is only 21 days until we go! :D The next day we had the typical long explination of the rules, some interviews about how we were doing on our exchange, then we did a little hike in the afternoon to the other hostel. Later on after we got changed and went back we had our costume party I went as a Dutch girl, wearing the flag wrapped around me and my dutch friend did my braids and I wore clog slippers. Which it was fun since she was an american last time so I feel we´re even now. Then we all had a crazy dance party. That Sunday we had a hike up to the Christ statue that looks over all of El Rodeo. It was cool to see the top with all of the other exchange students because on the way up as you can imagine there was a fair share of complaining, but it was worth it since at our last orientation they didnt even let us leave the hotel so this one was like more outdoorsy which was good.
Then after that I called my Brother and my family for his birthday that Monday. And that Monday I started going to the University. So I reunited with some of my classmates from my frist school. It was nice, and I still see them at least twice a week now. That week my parents told me they were going to Buenos Aires to do a final Medical Checkup on my dad since he was operated on for prostate cancer a year ago and is fully recovered. They said they were only going for the doctors visit and not to see the city so they gave me the option to stay in Catamarca. I ended up staying with Pablo Moya´s family! The world is so small, (Pablo went on exchange to Westerville, Ohio in 6690) I met his sister at the orientation weekend and she just got her destination as the USA! I had a great time with them. They are such a loving family and so nice. I wish Pablo was home from college that weekend but he says he´s coming back soon so I´m hoping to see him then. I went to the university but then there was no classes that weekend for a national strike so I just hung around with Sofia (Pablo´s sister) and the family. Then that Friday I had mate (pronounced mat-ay, its like a tea) with some of my friends from the university and another exchange student from New Mexico. I really enjoy this group of friends, we talk about everything, life, literature, cultures, everything. So then we had such a good time talking and laughing we decided to go together to our friends birthday party the next day, the same group. It was so much fun. Then came the time for me to go back to my regular house once the weekend was up, and I miss Pablo´s family since I´m living alone in my house so I really miss the sibling activity and I got along really well with Sophia. This week was pretty normal, had classes, then Tuesday when I didnt I hung out with my university friend who is really interesting and we had a 3 hour conversation about all kinds of things. I really enjoy the conversations with this group because its really popular to gossip here and I feel that when people gossip I cant really participate since I dont know who they are talking about and I feel uncomfortable doing it so I always gravitate towards the conversations about weird things or the world. Then on Wednesday I had my Geography of Catamarca class which is really good because now I´m learning more and more about Catamarca as a whole and plus in May we are going to Antofogasta de la Sierra as a class. Then Thursday was a Surprise birthday party for Zatik at his house where we had empanadas, meat, potatoes, like 4 different deserts. We´re still having leftovers. His mom cooked for like 40 people and we were only 15 people. It was all delicious though. Then we tried (but failed) to enforce the argentine tradition of shaving the head of the birthday boy (this is only done at age 18, which Zatik is now 18). He wouldn´t let us so we just threw him in the pool and shaved Miles´ head instead. Friday I had mate with my friends again close to the University and then we had an obligatory walk in the mountains with all the exchange students and the counselors. The north trip is in 20 days and we are going to Iguazu, Jujuy, Salta, Catmarca, Tucuman, La Rioja, San Juan and Mendoza! It will be 15 incredible days I can´t wait! Plus the last day is my brithday so its almost as if its a birthday present. :)

February: under the palm trees by the pool

This February began with my adventure in Alta Gracia. When I was writing about it on the blog I was vague because honestly I didn´t really know anything about it besides that it was an organized event to go to in Cordoba Province and that two awesome exchange students live there. I am so Glad I went. It was so much fun! The main reason we were there was to go to this festival called las colectividades which is really just a celebration of the world. There was a tent for each country which then had decorations, people in costumes, food and drink, and sometimes dance floors. But We did so much more than just go to the festival each night. It began with a storm, a huge storm that luckily Bas, Lucy, Elena, and I (the exchange students coming from Catamarca and Santiago del Estero) just missed. By the time we arrived in Alta Gracia it was raining heavily but we didnt understand why everyone was so late. It turns out that Cordoba capital was left without electricity and so many trees fell over that the bus terminal wasnt working anymore so then some exchange students couldnt even make it. After reorganizing We split up into host families. I was with Nele from Germany in Karly´s (Lives in Alta Gracia) first host family the Maurellis! Alta Gracia and Cordoba is soooo different from Catamarca. It was colder, greener, humider,cleaner, and there were hills not mountains. I know Alta Gracia so well now. Its a small town in Cordoba of about 50,000 people but its only 50 minutes from the capital but its also very historic and to me it looks like it could be a small Italian town. They have one of the oldest dams in South America that the natives built so the town is centered around a park with the lake, and a huge clock tower. Its really pretty and very safe. We did so many excursions that week and it was great to see some of the exchange students from far away that I met on the south trip again. We had pool days, We got to be a part of the opening parade on tv in our blazers and with our flags! Then when we got inside the festival grounds we got on TV again! Then We took a look around and the only continent that wasn´t really represented was Asia, so that was kind of sad because I really miss Chinese food, but I did have some great ethnic food while I was there so it was all good. Then we had a great time dancing in the Brazil tent with the Brazilian Dancers. We were dancing as a group and for the first time in Argentina no one was dancing but us, but we didn´t care we were having a great time. Then Over the course of the week we went to Che guevara´s house which was HUGE for me since my curiosity with South America began with the Movie "The Motorcycle Diaries" It was so cool! They had all of his trips mapped out since he did the big one, but also ones across Argentina. Then also the Museum that showed the historic system of the Jesuit farms in Cordoba which I believe is a site of Humanity. We also got to attend a rotary Meeting which was nice and cool to see how a different club meets. We also got to meet the Mayor and talk with him about the History of Alta Gracia and what our first impressions of argentina were. That was funny since Everyone agreed on "there´s a lot of dogs in the street" Which was later a part of the radio interview. We also got to Go for a hike and then stop at a rotarians house who made us homemade bread and mate which was delicious. We even got to go to a section of Corodoba province where there are Germans. historically its where some Germans fled to after the WW2, but it was still cool to see all the things in German and everything look like a little alpine town. (Later on in the month I went back there with my family and we had dinner and artisan beer which was delicious!) That Saturday Rotary took us out dancing, that was also alot of fun. Alta Gracia was soo awesome and I have so many memories and I thanked the rotary club so much. Mauro (from Alta Gracia, district comittee and went on the south trip as a chaperone) told me that it was an exchange students idea to have the club show Alta Gracia to exchange students like that. Im glad that my club is now doing something like that too. We´re hosting the next weekend but one key difference is that here at the weekends we´re not allowed to leave the premises. So I´ve invited some exchange students to come a little early so I can show them arround before we go to the weekend meeting.

After Alta Gracia I changed families again. I´m now living with one of the Rotary Counselors (not mine, but essentially he´s the head of exchange for our club). Its a big house ( with a pool, whoop!) and sadly I have no host siblings in Catamarca, they are all studying at the University in Cordoba. They all went on exchange though, and one even went to Howland, Ohio! In the district just north of 6690 I think. I met them when I went to the weekend to Cordoba. They are all very nice and cool. One of them even went to live in Honolulu which is neat. Other things this month are: Well I´ve just been constantly doing things with friends since at home all I really do with my host mom is watch movies, and I feel now I need to be more social. So I´ve been trying to organize more things like Baking days or just hanging out or you know getting an ice cream. And since the Aussie lives close to me now I´ve been doing more activities with him. This is because he lives near me and When I got back from Alta Gracia I asked him how he was doing with getting to know Catamarca and what he had done with his host brother and his answer was sleep, eat, and facebook. That his first two weeks his brother never took him to see the main monuments of Catmarca. So I´ve been changing that. Then We went to a little Brazilian style Carnival in Valle Viejo which was cool. The Other Day I was on my way home and I was speaking English with Lucy who´s from New Zealand who was my sister for a weel and I´ve been helping explain Spanish to her ever since and then these two guys start speaking to us in Perfect English and it turns out theyre studying English at the university and we exchanged numbers and theyre so nice and hilarious so Ive been making some new friends here and there like that. Its normal to do that here where as in the us if someone were to be like Hi, Im your friend. Most people would be like What? I dont know you... But here everyone is everyone´s friend so Its fine. Then I recently registered myself for the gym and natatorium so that I can attempt to return home fit. I went for the first time today and I am so out of shape but Im so happy now. I have room for improvement and soon the univiersity will start with Geography! And then we have the weekend coming up. And then in April the North trip. I cant believe I only have 5 more months. Thats scary to me. I wish I could stay and see more of Argentina and learn even more. But I guess I can always come back in the future.

Who knew January could be this hot?

Okay so I´ve been dealing with a lot since I last posted. I had 24 hours notice to change families and I did my best with packing up and saying goodbye to the family, then a rotary member came to piack me up and bring me to my new family. When I hopped in the car I immediately started asking basic questions like What´s the family name? How many children? What ages? Where do they live? What is their parents occupation? This was not a shocker coming from my club to be honest, organization is not the strongsuit of argentina, and even less so in Catamarca so I was nervous and trying to deal with it. I was told that I would be staying at an aunt´s house while my new host mom was traveling for her job, so I met the family and they seemed really nice. So I stayed with my cousins for a week which was nice I went to the pool a lot with my little sister, hung out with my older sister. We also went to the mountain town called el rodeo and stayed there for the weekend. We spent time with extended family, had a great asado (barbeque).
I also went with my host sister, her boyfriend, and my host brother
to eat at the american restaurant in town, so I had a good meal of an
argentine style hamburger and fries. Later we went driving around and
went to Bas and Miles´house (Miles´ uncles´family, the cousins of the
kid who is in Ohio right now because Bas´s family is in Buenos Aires)
Their house is so nice, its in the center with a pool and a great
areas for asado, and the family is really nice. We just sat with our
feet in the pool and talked. Bas spoke the most Spanish I ever heard
him speak, he´s finally learning. Then the next day I went to go with
Tessa, Nis, Guille, Carolina, Fernanda, my host sister and her
boyfriend for a late dinner. It was fun because I hadnt really seen
tessa in a while and we decided we needed to do things with our summer
because everyone is on vacation and we´re here in catamarca dying of
the heat. So we made a list of fun and cheap things we can do to make
the summer more interesting. The next day we achieved one of those
goals being go to the pool. That morning I also went shopping with my
host sister and that was fun. Then that night we just went to the
center and walked around and had an ice cream and went home. On
Wednesday was the proclaimed "lazy day" at Bas and Miles´house. they
stayed up until 5 am the previous night playing pokemon and making a
trail of froot loops around the house, which they showed me their
videos. I came over because I didnt have anything to do and Miles
always has something fun in store. So we decided to look at the list
Tessa and I made and we were going to do a midwestern style get
together= do crazy kiddy things and eat junk food. So I made brownies,
Miles got some ice cream from his family shop and we made brownies
with ice cream, coke floats, had hamburgers, fries, and we wrote and
drew all over eachother with sharpies. We were going to have
a hilarious fashion show but we were a little short on supplies, so
thats for next time. Miles is fun like that, he understands the
midwest way of fun, and that day reminded me of the things Kendra,
Casey, and I do when we want to have fun. Then the next day I met one
of my host sisters neighbor friends and we had a nice chat, she´s
really friendly. Then I went to have ice cream with a friend of mine
who was always hanging out with my first host brother. So that week I
told him we have to do something because I changed families and
EVERYONE is on vacation cuz its so hot, so we need an ice cream. Then
we just kind of drove around, talked, and listened to music (he´s a
DJ) and we ran into my first host brother and his girlfriend. We
talked to them for a while and It was nice to see them, even if they
were being all lovey dubby haha. Then my friend dropped me off at
Lou´s Birthday party. Lou just got back from her vacation that night
and we decided to celebrate. It was a lot of fun with lou, tessa, bas,
miles, miles´ classmate, and the classmates´brother. We had a
wonderful time just talking and hanging out. Then on Friday I woke up
and had Lunch, then got ready to greet the day with a nap after lunch,
then actually got ready to greet the day when my host sisters neighbor
came over and we decided to make pancakes with maple syrup. They
turned out pretty good but still not the same as yours! Then we packed
to come to El Rodeo for the weekend. I met up with Bas, Tessa, Miles,
and two more classmates of miles´ to go out dancing. We had a lot of
fun. And today we had an asado (bbq) and empanadas ( this combo is
sacred sunday food). I´m going back to the city tomorrow, think I´m
changing, then going to do something good this week because tessa is
leaving for cordoba so hopefully I can try to set up something like
that. I reallly really really want to go to cordoba or Rosario or
Buenos Aires or Mar del Plata because the North Trip doesnt go to any
of those places and everyone says they are really great cities.
Then I was a little sick again from food or water or something so I was bed stricken and eating rice and bottled water yet again, but very happy with my directtv and my generous host family since my host mom is a doctor she´s very busy but she checked up on me and took great care of me. When I was finally well enough to go out of the house I was told that We were going to Cordoba airport to pick up Lucy, my host sister from NEW ZEALAND! So We went to go pick her up on Sunday and it was nice because I got to catch up with another exchange student living in Cordoba that I Hadn´t seen since November. Lucy is learning Spanish rather quickly and we´ve really bonded in the past week. We´ve shown her around the city and she´s met some of the exchange students (still alot on vacation) and some friends. We´ve shown her around and done a few social outings but a January weekday in Catmarca there´s nothing really to do, since almost everyone is on vacation. Which was definately a point of frustration for this month since I wanted to see friends and everyone was gone. But now I have a partner in crime and it looks like I´m going to Cordoba Province for a week with rotary! One of the District Comittee people from the south trip who´s really cool organized this great group of events for us at a low price. I´m pretty excited now. It looks like things´ll pick up with that and then our host sister leaves soon after I get back and then I´ll have to start University soon!

Summer in December?

So there is now officially a month left of summer. This is my second summer for 2011, and Ill never forget this summer. When I last posted I was preparing for the senior dinner at my school. This ended up being a highlight for me. It was so great to bond with my classmates the way we did. We were in full formal wear and had a mass for the students. It was interesting to see a mass in spanish and its a little different from the one in english so I just kind of went along with it. After that we went in a bus to the center of town where the dinner was. Which was a nice hotel. We went into the room by pairs and had our own little red carpet, some fireworks went off too for us, then the dinner was a real dinner! This is huge because in argentina typically they only eat a sandwhich for dinner so I was quite content with my bacon wrapped filet. During the meal there was a nice slidewhow of the graduates and then there were also some games that they played like making the parents dance to los wachiturros, which is cumbia and popular now and then making the graduates dance some old dances. Then later they opened up the dance floor and we had such a great time dancing that at the end we all danced in a circle to a song about being a student. After that we had an after party the next day at noon at my friends house which had a really nice pool and a volleyball court. Its this point in time when I had the best time with my classmates because the next week we also did an asado and swim day.

Belgian Host Brother

So If you dont already know Im still in my first host family because my supposed to be second family decided not to host anyone anymore since the daughter dropped out of the rotary program. So Hypothetically I should be switching soon to my next family but I dont know anything about them yet. So with this said my family was still scheduled to recieve another exchange student named Guillaume who is from Belgium. So weve been living in the same house for about a month now and im glad hes my brother here too.

On with what I did last month

So I showed Guille the ropes of my family and that day we went out to see a movie with the exchange students called in time. It was pretty good. That week the culture classes stopped because tragically the tango teacher died. Then I graduated from my school which was such a diferent ceremony than mine in the US. I liked it though. I got my honorary diploma in my uniform and got a picture with my mom, there were fireworks, a slideshow, and then we even had an afterparty. Then that weekend we went hiking in the mountains with a rotarian, his friends, and almost all of the exchange stdents. This was actually one of those mountain trips where its really hard at the moment (im really bad at adjusting to altitudes) but in retrospect it was actually really fun and I enjoyed singing road trip songs with sarah while we were hiking. The second day we reached the summit of the mountain and you could see the whole city from there. It was also high enough to give me some pretty bad sunburn which is still a weird tan on my legs.
After dousing myself in aloe vera, and going on with my daily life. At this point I got sick. I think I got water poisoning so for a whole week I was on the BART diet and on medication, watching movies and playing with my little brother at home because I felt like I couldnt really leave for long. So when I did I went with exchange students because all of my classmates were in Brazil. So we went to see fireworks, had a mac n cheese day, and hun out. I went with all of my host siblings except for the youngest, who is six to the familys country house one day. we mad a barbeque by the river, and went exploring. It was amazing. Before I didnt really understand what my brother meant by "country house" what he really meant to say was we own mountains and lots of hectacres of land, so much that the river is born on our property. So naturally Joaquin said lets find that waterfall, and we hiked a bit and when we got there it was inredible, large rocks with a medium pool of water underneath. then after taking some pictures the boys decided to try to climb up it, which was impossible because it was completley flat so I got out, and climbed all the way around to get on top and look down at the boys to say are you still trying to climb up it? We ended up finding like 5 waterfalls. we kept going, the last was the coolest and largest. I had such a fantastic time and to me and Guille its incredible to own waterfalls and to literally say to your guest yeah see that mountain in the distance? we own everything until there. So then we went to the rotary christmas dinner which was kind of the oppositte of the point. The club had a special table for exchanges and when we tried to disperse ourselves they directed us to take a seat back at the other special table for us. That week we also did a charity thing at the childrens hospital, we visited some very sick kids and talked to them for a while. I gave mine a Granville baseball cap and he was a sweet boy recovering from a brain tumor who couldnt speak but his coping mechanism was coloring and he is actually quite talented at it. From there I helped my dutch friend prepare her birthday party. We had a great night and I liked spending time with her family, who are very sweet. Then the preparation for christmas began. we had a feast with our extended family outside on christmas eve. all day we were cooking. Then my little brother was constatnly watching the clock for it to strike midnight. Once it did everyone set off fireworks, and we were no exception it was great, and we all wished eachother and merry christmas and proposed a toast. Then came the presents. My little brother scored big with a new fooseball table which we broke in immediately. Ive played him so many times since christmas, Ive improved my fooseball skills so much. I got a cute purse, a shirt, and some shoes. Then as is tradition we went out after and We met up with our friends. It was so much fun. It was also really weird to have such great weather for christmas, having the feast outside, with it being summer and all. Christmas Day was actually just like any other sunday, except that I made banana bread for everyone (to fullfill a weird craving) and then I gave everyone their gifts. The next day I made the christmas cookies that my family makes every year. Granted I had to use some short cuts, but they still tasted delicious. The next day I went shopping and hung out in the center with my classmates. That was great because they had been in Brazil for a while and I hadnt seen them. Then the next day we had an asado at a rotexs house in a town called el rodeo which was so much fun. Then For new years we pretty much did the same thing as christmas but this time with family friends instead of the extended fmily, and then we had lynch with the extended family and hung out at their house until it was evening. Then this week we kept doing things for Edward and Thomas who are both on their way back to their home countries. Edward is from new zealand and finished his year, and thomas has to get knee surgery back in Denmark so this past week weve hung out with them and I just got home from seeing Edward off. It was a big group and we took pictures and people were crying, including me. I also just got a call today from the club chairman of the inbounds that I will be changing houses tomorrow. I know nothing about the family or where they live or anything really. Im hoping to do a lot more now because I had so much uncertainty about which family id be in january I was kind of depressed because now everyone is going on vacation and its so hot here its practically a necesity to go on vacation. so i guess we will see how that goes and ill just try to make the best out of my last month of my second summer.