A case of the Mondays

I feel a lot better today. Except for the fact that I barely slept last night. I just had so much adrenaline that I wasn't tired. I stayed up and watched Season 9 disc 2 of Friends. It normally puts me to sleep to watch Friends but I was on some really funny ones and I just couldn't go to sleep! I watched the one when Ross and Rachel hire the Manny. Priceless.

I am at the Pi Phi house waiting for Spanish at 2. I hate this gap between my classes. It is such a waste of time. More LNC interviews tonight and and Oil and Gas law test tomorrow. I think I'll take a nap right now and get rested up for the big night.

Signing off for now...

Back to Blogging

So I took a good 3 month break from bloggin but I just couldn't help thinking about it constantly so here I am, back at it again! Even though my blogs won't be nearly as cool as when I was abroad, I figure this will at least give me a medium to put my thoughts out there, and really just vent what I am thinking. It helped me get through my abroad experience and I hope that it will make an interesting read when I am here as well.

I think the funny thing that is so different is that there was so little drama when I was in Argentina. Yes, the occasional boyfriend fight or homesick moment, but it was all relatively calm. I loved living in a place where I could concentrate so hard on my studies and really learning a new culture. Opening up and seeing life for what it is, not just the superficial stuff that goes on here around Oxford.

I feel like Argentina helped me to grow up. I feel way beyond many of my classmates because I have this experience and this view of the world that they are missing out on. Traveling can certainly give you that wisdom but I think living in a foreign county is really a unique experience and really changes a person. I definetly matured.

Today I was cleaning and bored so I rearranged the furniture in the living room. My roommates flipped out. I guess I could have asked them, but I didnt figure it would be a big deal. I mean, I think it is fun to have a bit of a change and toss things up every once in a while! They don't apperantly. I am living in a castle full of princesses and they do not want their things to be touched. Oh well, I am just going to ignore it and move on. Why does taking the high road have to be so hard sometimes? Its like I know it shouldnt be a big deal but they didn't have to be hateful and rude about it. Seriously, asking me to move it back would have been fine. Sending me rude text messages, totally uncalled for. I just don't see how people can have so little respect for the feelings of other people. Seriously.

You have probably noticed I have been watching a lot of Grey's Anatomy. I mean for shear count of the "Seriouslys" mentioned above. I am beyond addicted to that show. I love the anticipation of Thursday nights and finally getting to join my friends, Mer, Der, Izzy, George, Alex, Burktina, and of course Bailey, for an hour of witty, unrealistic, medically dramatic fun! It is a nice escape to analyze the drama in other people's lives, take a break from reality, and guess what is going to happen next week. I am also very obsessed with the Writers Blog at http://www.greyswriters.com - they are hilarious and its worth reading for any loyal grey's fan.

Okay well I am off to bed. I have worn myself out so much that I cannot possible be upset about the furniture thing anymore. Sleep sweet.

Vamos Argentina!

So there are tons of these commercials splashed all over Argentine tv. To understand you have to know that whenever any of the Argentine teams win they throw little white confetti all over the city. The streets were covered in it last weekend! Since most of you dont read spanish here is what it says:
In Spring? - Imposible - A very strange sight, the city is covered in white, something totally unprecedented for this time of year - Can we? - Mom, its not snow...Its paper? - Argentina is in Germany!

There are some other good commericals I will try to add to this.

Sleepy Sundays

Today has been all about homework, homework, homework. I have allowed myself little breaks to clean the room, talk to friends, and shower. Sounds exciting huh? I just CAN'T wait to be done with school. I am so ready for a break.

Madre had some people over for tea today. She didn't even tell me she was having people over. I kinda wish I had the kind of madre who would invite me to tea. I've only ever been invited to tea once and I accepted. It would be a good chance to practice spanish but oh well.

Since she had tea and cake at 5 I doubt we'll be eating till like 10 which is good for her but not good for me. I want to eat early and get in bed. I can't wait till I am back on a regular eating schedule!

Okay back to working on stuff...

A big day for my teams!

So today has been a big day for my two teams...the Argentine soccer team and of course, the Rebs. The rebs pulled out a win against Miami making them one win away from the College World Series! Argentina beat the Ivory Coast 3-1 today in their first game of the World Cup. I got confused today and almost started chanting Hotty Toddy at the soccer game and "Dale Argentina" at the baseball game! Nuts.

For those of you sports enthusiasts I have a cute quote from Sex and the City that reminds me of sports. Not my goal fantasy because I've already got a cute soccer player but funny none the less.

"Sports night: every female's fantasy. A room full of captive heterosexual men all looking to be distracted during commercial breaks." - Carrie

Top Ten Tuesday

Just got back from the gym. Did nothing this morning but talk to mom and read celebrity gossip online. How pathetic?

Since I only have one class on Tuesday's I decided it would be catch up day and start to do a "Top Ten Tuesday" blog entry every week. That way I can list the top ten things on my mind or going on in my life...so here it goes.

1. Spanish Paper: Writing a 10 page monografía for my spanish class. My topic is Eating Disorders in Argentina. It is really actually a pretty interesting topic but it is a PITA to write. Argentina has the second highest rate of eating disorders in the world second to Japan. Don't worry mom and dad, I am not going anorexic here, I'm taking full advantage of the good red meat!

2. Eating but not being fed: While I do value the time that my madre is out of the house and I have some personal time, it is getting a little crazy. The woman is NEVER home! They are supposed to feed us meals everynight and weekend. I am usually never around on weekends traveling so you would think week nights wouldnt be that bad. Only one problema, she is never home! Sure she leaves stuff in the refrigerator but I can't handle any more tartas out of the microwave. I talked to the IES people yesterday and hopefully they will say something.

3. Joined a Gym: So I joined a gym down the street. I am determined to get into better shape because when I come home it will be swim suit season.

4. El Mundial: So you cannot go anywhere without hearing a conversation about the Mundial. All of the TV stations are broadcasting live from Germany. On every corner they are selling light blue and white jerseys and Argentine flags. Argentina plays their first cup on Saturday at 4 (our time which is 2 your time) vs. Ivory Coast. Everyone be cheering for Argentina, I would hate our IES national emergency plan to be activated because we lost a football game.

5. Peron Smarone: I hate Peron. Not only because of the fact that he has pretty much distorted all politics in Argentina but also because we are at the same point in all of my classes and we are learning about PERON PERON PERON. If I have to hear how he came to power, or went into exile, or married Evita one more time I will seriously lose it.

6. Brangelina's Baby Pics: As pathetic as my celebrity gossip obsession is, I did read that Bragelinga sold pics of their baby to People magazine for 4.1 million dollars. They are donating it all to charity. I say well done to the new couple. They are capatalizing off of their baby to save thousands of other babies, its really pretty genius.

7. Macaroni Dreams: So we are down to less than a month now till I come home and I have only one thing on my mind: The fourth of July. I daydream in class about hot dogs and hamburgers (that don't actually have ham on them), mac and cheese and watermelon and Mrs. Doering's peach cobbler. I get hungry just thinking about it!

8. Ole Miss Baseball: So as I hear it the Rebs are hosting a Super Regional for the second year in a row! I think that deserves a big Hotty Toddy and number 8 on things on my mind. Also, congrats to Lauren's bf Drew who went 8th in the MLB draft! Too bad Texas is out of the series though :(

9. Weekend Adventure: So this weekend I went to Colonia, Uruguay with IES. It was pretty fun. We took a big boat there and that was one of the coolest parts...sailing across Rio de la Plata. Saturday was rainy and overall gross outside. Sunday was prettier. We celebrated Maggie's birthday Saturday night and on Sunday we rode around the small town on a golf cart.

10. Postcards in the Mail: So I have finally gottten postcards done and most of them are in the mail! If I have your address you are probably getting one. If I don't, email it to me and I'll make sure you get one :)

11. Withdrawls: So I couldn't stop at just ten...I had to mention the fact that I am having serious DH and Grey's Anatomy withdrawls. I can't believe I am going to have to wait until September! This is going to be lousy!

My iLife

Today has been a very productive day! I had Spanish at 11 and I totally rocked my Mini-Test. I am so happy that we are discussing more advanced topics now. It is like I will mess up on the easy stuff because it isn't challenging enough. I am doing so much better now that we have moved to advanced topics! Yay!

Also joined a tanning bed and a gym! I realized when we went up to Iguazu I am totally not prepared for swimsuit weather and I better get into shape before I get back in four weeks! I do have to say however, that I like being weighed in kilos...i am like half of what I am in lbs! (well actually the official conversion is 2.2) Anyways even for being half, its totally no bueno.

I chose a small gym by my house that no one else goes to. I went with Tara on Monday to the big gym everyone goes too and it was just to big and indimidating. TONS of people. My gym is small and there were never more than 3 people there at a time. Very nice.

Another observation...I could have not lived life in Argentina without my Ipod. At home I tend to spend a lot of time in the car, I think we all do. Here in BA I spend a ton of time walking around the city. I have to walk everywhere I go! (Unless I want to venture to the bus or the subte and well lets just say I haven't yet been successful at navigating public transportation) So I wear my Ipod pretty much everywhere I go. Lots of people in this city do. It is funny to be waiting to cross the street and see like 5 people with earphones in tapping their feet. It is kinda fun!

Having music playing while you are walking down the street almost seems like there is a soundtrack to your life. Sometimes I feel like I am in a movie! Anyways you should try it sometime. Okay enough jabbering...I started this post yesterday and am posting it today. Who knows if today will be productive. Maybe we'll find the secret bar...

Bad Day

Why do I care so much what everyone else thinks...aka parents, friends, boyfriend? When you tell someone you have had a bad day shouldn't they try to make it better...not rub it in your face?

Song of the day: Bad Day by Daniel Powter. And the music video...incredible. I wish someone had an umbrella waiting for me at the end of the song. It is so cute. Check it out at www.danielpowter.com

Its like I know what I am doing with my life. I dont need other people to make my decisions. Yes sometimes I really do value the opinions and advice of others. But it is much more welcome when I am happy about life. Not when other are trying to make me feel worse about the situation. Really...I dont do that to them. I try and make them happy when they are feeling sad. What would make me happy is talking about something to take my mind off things. But when you are down no one wants to talk about those things.

Just say a prayer that the day turns around. The happiest I was today was in my Argentine Politics class...the class I despise. Uggh.

What type of candy are you?

Gummy Bears

You may be smooshie and taste unnatural, but you're so darn cute.

What Kind of Candy Are You?

Pictures online

So I ran out of space on my other account so you can go here to see the new waterfall pics: http://community.webshots.com/user/kanne2007

Hope you like them!

Somewhere over the Rainbow

So I just got home from a 19 hour bus ride home from Iguazu. I would start with last night, but lets go from the begining.

Wednesday: Get on the bus at 7:00 pm, 16 hour bus ride to Puerto Iguazu. Complete with dinner, Ice Age 2 (in spanish), and chamagne.

Thursday: Arrive in Puerto Iguazu at 1. Off the bus and walk 3 blocks dragging our luggage down the sidewalk to our hostel. Nice looking place, check in. Our room was as wide as bunk beds. Literally the smallest room I've ever stayed in. Pretty clean though. Next adventure was to venture to find the Triple Frontera. We hiked around the city until we found the point where all three countries met. Each has a big tower painted in the colors of their flag. It was kinda neat. Lots of people brag about being able to be in three states as the same time...never three countries!

After the big hike we were pretty exhausted so we sat down and had a fruit salad and the best strawberry licuado of my life! So refreshing. We went back to the hostel to read and lie in the hammacks out back. This is when we discovered how old school the hot water heater was. (See pics to understand) After that we showered and went out for dinner at 6...way early for Argentine standards. We fould a great little place with a "Menu Touristica" which was too good of a deal to pass up. It was a nice quite little dinner. Afterwards we thought we would be tired and had booked an adventure tour of the waterfalls the next day so we went back to try and go to sleep. We were too awake so we decided to go and play cards. We played every game you can imagine, Gin, Speed, Memory, War, and of course, Go Fish. It was fun because at the other table there was another group of people talking and we talked to them for a bit. They were from everywhere from Canada to Scotland. Eventually we got sick of cards and fell asleep.

Friday: We woke up early and treked back to the bus station to find our bus. Seven pesos and thirty minutes later we were at the park. We found our guides pretty easily and waited around freezing our butts off till the tour started. Everyone else was wearing rain jackets and fleeces and jeans. We were in shorts and tanktops. Something we regreted in the morning but were VERY glad of in the afternoon when it was steaming hot.

The first part of the tour was a 4x4 safari ride through the jungle. They pointed out different birds and plants and said we probably wouldn't see any animals...just as they said it a huge family of monkey's appeared in front of us! We stopped the truck and took pics. It was so cool! They literally do jump from tree to tree....a long way! After that we got to the port and hopped on a speedboat that would take us to the falls. Talk about a ride....we were zooming down the river and it was like going through level 4 rapids in a speed boat! It was ridiculous! Everyone was screaming and having a blast! Finally we started to hear the roar of the falls and turned the corner to see the magificent falls! We snapped tons of pictures like it might some how dissappear. It was just so beautiful! After photo opts we went to the main river and got way too darn close to the "garganta del diablo"....one of the biggest falls in the world. It kicks Niagra's butt. We turned around and went back to the first falls and then the boat driver drove us INTO the falls! Well not all the way in but we were all screaming because it felt like we were gonna get pulled under! That has to be one of the highlights of my life! It was like virtual reality but it was real!

After that we were obviously soaking wet. We put our shoes back on and treked around the park all day taking pictures and following all the paths. We stopped at noon to eat lunch and some sort of ant eater creature stole Mia's sandwich. Not funny but absolutely hilarious! After lunch we treked over to Garganta del diablo where we saw the most amazing thing. We had to walk on a cat walk over the river to get there and once we did it was totally worth it. Now I have to tell you I am scared of heights and I was about to pee my pants! It took some courage to look over the edge. It was so loud and water was spraying everywhere so we got wet again. You have to see the pics. Words can't describe the sight. It was incredible.

We spent about 7 hours at the park and then came home because we were pooped. We showered, went to the store, came back, made sandwiches and then went out for a quick drink. We had our first Caipiriñas which were pretty tasty. After that we went back to the hostel and konked out.

Saturday: The nighte before we had been debating what to do and finally settled on taking a tour of a Guarani indian village. At 9 am we ventured out in another safari vehicle to go check it out. When we got there our tour guide was named Roberto...that was his name in Spanish but he has a different one in Guarani. He was born to be a hunter but does tours on the side. Half of his salary goes to the village. He showed us all sorts of medicinal plants, told us about their religion, shamans, leaders, showed us traps and told us about their education. It was all VERY interesting. It was neat to be actually living part of the history that we had been learning. After the tour of the village we got to watch a children's choir sing us songs in Guarani and then we got to see some of their crafts. Overall, a VERY neat experience. Too much to write about right now.

Afterwards we wanted to go to Brasil but since we are Americans we have to buy a visa. Darn US govt for charging Brazilians to get visas! Oh well. We went back to the bus station and changed our tickets for that evening. We spent the day reading by the pool and catching some rays. At 6 we left and that was just the begining of the 18 hour bus ride home. Anyways...that is a whole story in itself and my fingers are soar from typing so it will be left for another day.

Off to Iguazu!

So its been a good week...short which has been nice! Monday was awesome. In Latam Politics we got talking about the Da Vinci code movie/book and ended up not talking about Latam at all! It was way fun.

Michael is at AT camp...i don't know what that stands for, something in army lingo. I have missed him a lot this week. But I kinda feel like I have gotten to talk to him more because he doesn't have much to do at night. That has been really nice.

Right now I am waiting for Mia to come over so we can head to retiro station and off on our 16 hour bus ride to Iguazu falls! This is on the "triple frontera" the triple border of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. These waterfalls are supposedly some of the biggest and most amazing in the world! I am so pumped.

I have terrible travel anxiety and so even though I am all packed I feel like I should be doing something. So I am gonna go and clean or something...maybe call dad or michael.

A new look!

So it is like 3:30 and I have been working on this new layout for about 5 hours now. Those of you who are reading this already know I am a major geek and if you didn't I guess this will clear up any lingering questions. So I decided on a temporary new look for the page. It's girly I know, but I just wanted to at least try and get something new up. It is inspired by one of my new favorite books...Bergdorf Blondes. Bergdorf Blondes was tres silly but laugh out loud funny. So let me know what you think of the new layout...are any of the links not working? Are the colors to bright to read? Should I just start over?! Okay team...its your job to let me know!

So I have yet to write about my first (and probably only) Argentine haircut experience. So Wednesday I was just feeling blah about everything. I decided I needed a new outlook...and a new haircut to accompany the change in attitude! I was very nervous because a few of the other girls have gotten their hair cuts and been suckered into getting the "Argentine girl mullet" as I like to call it. I will have to find a pic and post it because it is just horid.

So my friend Tara and I ventured out to find a hair salon. On the reccomendation of one of the ladies who works at our school (who has very cute hair) we found this place called...I forget, but thats not important. It looked like a pretty trendy place so we were pretty excited. When I was called the hair washer guy introduced me to my hair cutter guy. We exchanged the normal Argentine kiss on the cheek which still weirds me out...I mean do we really have to get that close to someone who is cutting our hair?! The guy who was cutting my hair looked like Luke from the Gilmore Girls. Jeans, plaid flannel shirt...the whole thing. If he didn't have the Argentine boy mullet I would have mistaken him for Luke...really.

So hair wash etc etc and I am kinda nervous because this guy looks like he knows as much about cutting hair as I do about changing the oil in my car. But through my broken spanish (why have we never leared hair cut vocabulary in class?) and hand motions we pretty much figured out a system. And there he went flying away with the scissors. 20 minutes later...tada! It looks about the same as it did before. Only shorter. At least it feels 10 times healthier and I had nice hair for the evening :)

Well I guess its off to watch more Gilmore Girls and fall asleep. Lovenight!

Word of the Day: Pensive

Woke up...it was still dark. And not because it was the middle of the night or early morning...do you really think I've ever woken up before sunrise? Rainy morning, hence the darkness, but it was so fabulous. I fell back to sleep just because I could..and because I sleep so wonderfully in the rain.

About 11 I decided to get up and be productive. Well not really productive...but to start the day and not just lie around in bed. I am still pondering this whole blog re-design. Hence the Pensive nature of this day. When I get fixed on a new project it is very hard for me to think about anything else. For the life of me I cannot come up with a witty title for my blog. Song title...quote...original creation...oh the choices! Of course, I want it to sound like something I just came up with off the top of my head and was just naturally fabulous, witty, and perfect. However, being the perfectionist I am, I have to make an Excel file of adjectives, suggestions, and ideas before I can decide. While I truly like all the names I have come up with on the Excel document I still for some reason think there is a title out there that is 10 times better than any of those and that will go perfectly. If anyone has any great ideas please email me or post them on comments. I could really use the help.

And remember, a title to the blog is just the start. Then I have to find an appropriate color scheme and corresponding fonts. Oh the agony of being a perfectionist/computer geek.

So sitting in IES and just joined a convo about DaVinci code movie. Comes out today...well in BA it does. You know on the movie previews on TV it says "Opening May 18 in select cities"...well finally for once in my life I am living in one of those "select cities." I guess Georgetown, Texas (well if you want to be totally correct about it you would say Pflugerville) just doesn't make the list.

I have been a very bad Soap watcher this week. I am so behind on the happening of Landview. (Town in which One Life to Live is set) So there I reveal another weakness...ABC soaps. Really, I only really keep up with OLTL but All My Children comes in a close second). I blame Kayln, my freshman year roommate, for this vice. I originally only started watching AMC because it has a character named Kendall...can you think of a better reason to watch a show? But it eventually spread to OLTL and General Hospital. Now OLTL has captured my attention and is the only one I really follow. I think I partly like it because it is geared at the "latino" demographic. There is a whole family from Puerto Rico and sometimes they speak in spanish. I know spanish so that makes it fun.

Another thought on my mind today has been about doors. Doors...I know, really weird but hang in there. Have you ever noticed when you walk into a store you always seem to push when it says pull and pull when it says push? Well I do...constantly. Since I have come to BA I have noticed that I rarely have this problem. I conciensly read the sign and push or pull accordingly. I have deduced that because the word is in another language that I take more notice and subconciensly translate it...making me perform the correct action. Well I guess that is one theory. The other could be that I dont want to look like a complete idiot in this city where I already stand out as an American and so I take special care to do the write thing so I don't look stupid. I guess it could be either...take your pick.

Okay so that is enough thinking and writing for today. Hopefully now that I have my thoughts down "on paper" I hope I can actually get something done. Remember...let me know about a good blog title.

Oh Wednesdays

So today has been good...I like Wednesday (well I dont like the classes) but I get up early so I don't waste the day and I finish two of my classes for the week.

Right now I'm sitting at IES waiting for Tara to finish class. I just overheard one of the computers nears me singing "when i think about you I touch myself." Really?! oh just found out it was a guy watching Daisy Does America. I guess that kinda explains it.

I am going to get my hair cut today. Just trimmed...and I am a little nervous because I don't want to come out with the Argentine girl mullet. Hopefully my spanish is good enough to navegate this one...

So apperantly I "had" to take a test to test my destiny. Some of the questions were interesting...If you were going along with Dorthy would you be the Tin Man, the Scarcrow, or the Cowardly Lion? I would say that I would have been the Good Witch Glenda (shes so cute!) or Dorthy. None the less, here are the results:

Kendall you are a provider...Whether you know it or not, this is the role that is most in tune with who you are at your core. As a Provider, you have a genuine nurturing concern for the welfare of others and you're eager to serve them. You can recognize exactly what people need and your friendly, helpful, social nature makes them feel comforted. With your kind and generous heart, you are personable, talkative, and outward with your emotions, and your openness and sensitivity makes you concerned about the way others view you. Along these lines, be careful not to blame yourself when things go wrong. You cannot prevent bad things from happening, even though your tendency to be orderly with a strong sense of right and wrong may lead you to believe you can. Accept that you do what you can to take care of things and that this will get you far in the world.

I dont know if I agree with this destiny but oh well. I think i'll go out and make my own destiny.

Also I have figured out how to change the look of the blog so a new look might be coming so beware.

Also everyone say a prayer for Lacey...shes in Sao Paulo among the gang riots and all that mess. Good thing I am in tranquilo Argentina...although I have to reroute on the way to class this morining because of blocked streets for a protest...oh Latin America!

Grey's on the Mind

So I can't get a darn thing done just anticipating the next week full of dramatic TV cliffhangers. Last night Mia and I had movie marathon 2k6 and hung out at my house crocheting and watching Desperate Housewives episodes, Ella Enchated, and Wimbledon. It was pretty intense, but all in preparation for tonight's finale.

I am still just absolutely floored that the Grey's finale is 3 hours long! One hour tonight and two tomorrow. Really...I am dying of the pressure. Will Christina and Burke break up (she fell asleep!?), will Denny get a new heart, will Derek go crazy from jealousy of Mer and Dr. McHunky (aka Chris O'Donnell aka the Vet)...its just too much to handle. I actually had a dream last night I was at Seattle Grace...I woke up wishing I was a pre-med major...but oh yeah...I hate blood and hospitals in general.

I am also morally torn between desperately wanting Mer and Derek to get back together and wanting Der and Addison to work it out. Like Meredith said, he wouldnt be him if he wasn't trying to make it work. And I actually really do like Addison...but I mean really she did sleep with her husband's best friend?! And Mer and Vet are so cute...but hes not her Mc Dreamy.

Also...for those of you who watch and love...read the writers blog on abc.com. Its pretty interesting. But I just read the recap of last week and ummm it said "did you notice the HEAT between Addison and Alex" umm that is way intense. I could not handle that. Maybe unless it led to Mer and McDreamy getting back together...hmmm.

Okay so that was a total waste of time analyzing the lives of these fake characters. But everyone has a vice and I guess Grey's Anatomy is mine right now. Hopefully now with all that off my chest I can get some studying done. Sorry to bore you.

Barrioloche!!!

So day two in Barioloche!!! Here is a quick recap of day one:

• 8:45am - Picked up at the Hotel and driven to local Airport. A lot nicer and bigger than I thought.
• 10:45 - On a plane to Barioloche. Slept the first hour. Sandwich the second. Awesome view out of the window
• 1:00 ish - Off the plane, claim the luggage...Walk out and see a guy holding a sign that says SHIFFLER. Met our tour guide Lucia who speaks beautiful english and our driver Juan Carlos. Outside was AMAZING. I dont know what I was expecting but this was MUUUUCH better. A huge beautiful lake, mountains, some snowcapped. Pretty much the most beautiful day ever. Pics to come. Then we drove in the car the long way to the hotel. Checked out a lot of cool overlooks and got out to take pics. Also we went to a chair lift thing that was like 7 minutes to the top of this peak. At the top we had an amazing view of the whole city and lake Nahua Huapi and all. Again, you have to see pictures. And really pictures can't even do it justice. It was breathtaking...literally.
• 4:00 - Arrived at the Llao Llao hotel. (Pronounced Shauw Shauw) Umm so it is entirely the most beautiful, nicest, places ive ever been to EVER! So fancy but also really laid back. Made of wood and almost feels like Switzerland with the architecture. Big fireplaces like an awesome cabin. Again well leave it to pics to describe it. We went and checked out the hotel, the pool, and of course the spa.
• Back up to the room, swimsuits, hot tub, outdoor heated infinity pool. So pretty much amazing. Shower. Happy hour by the fireplace.
• Dinner...Getting dad to appreciate Malbec wine...All of you out there in the US should try it...soooo good! Dad and I tried Fondu. It was so fun! I can cross that off my list of things to do someday. They had cut up hot dogs, bread, apples, and potato things that we could dip in the cheese. It was fun and reallly really delicious. Then off to bed.

As for the rest...I am going to wait till tonight to write about today. Lets just say...horseback riding in the Andes...increible!!!! But I am def going to have a soar bum tomorrow!

So Dad is here in BA! I am so excited to see him! I wish Mom and Bailsey were here with us. Dad brought a whole suitcase of stuff from Mom. Soooo fun! It was like christmas! I got all kinds of good ole American food, books, clothes, and my personal fav...magazines in english!!!!! I needed to get caught up on my celeb gossip haha. There is a pretty funny site Mia showed me. www.thesuperficial.com. Kinda trashy sometimes but funny spins on the stories.

DH and GA last night...rocked my world. What am I going to do after the season finale? A whole summer without Gaby, Izzie, Meredith, Bree, and McDreamy? Its going to be tough.

So off to Barrioloche tomorow. I am SOOO excited. Check out our hotel: www.llaollao.com. Pretty amazing huh? Oh yeah.

K off to bed. Up early tomorrow. Will finish writing about Mendoza later...

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

Long time since the last post. I need to be a better blogger. I have mainly been putting it off because I know that I am going to have to allot a significant amount of time to writing about the whole Semana Santa 2k6 adventure.

Oh where to begin, where to begin. I guess there is only one place to start. The beginning!

Thursday

• School all day, packing, showering. Around 5 Mia came over and we went and bought sandwiches and snacks to take on the bus. Obvi she helped me finish packing bc we all know I am a terrible packer. (As it turns out, we both are and we brought ALL the wrong stuff. Who knew that the weather would decide to change from a warm 80 degrees to a frigid 50 degrees, um not Weatherbug thats for sure)
• So our bus left at 9:10 so we decided to leave for the bus station around 8 to get there on time. Well first of all, the Subway workers were on strike so the ENTIRE city was in traffic to the max. Bus lines two blocks long and not a cab to be found. Well actually there were cabs but all of them refused to go to Retiro (the bus station) becasue of all the traffic. Appereantly the entire population of BA was going out of town for Semana Santa.
• So, we WALKED pulling our cute matching rolling luggage behind us down the streets of BA. About 4 block from my house we joined a group of about 150 that was traveling in the same direction. Once at the bus station we realized that ALL the buses were late. We found some IES kids who were headed to Mendoza too and hung out with them for a while before venturing to our platform. There we found another IES kid who was on our same bus line but on a bus 10 minutes later. We shared empanadas and huddled together with the rest of the city. Our bus was only like 1.5 hrs late. Not too bad.
• The bus, Andesmar, TOTALLY worth the wait. It was like flying first class...big leather seats. First thing we did, just guess. No we didnt get peanuts...we played BINGO! Honestly folks I am not making this up! I wonder if they play bingo in first class on airplanes? Hmm. Food for thought I guess. The person who won got a bottle of wine. I didnt win, obvi, I never win! We were served dinner and were real glad that we brought our own sandwiches. After that we watched Ocean's 12 on flat screen TVs and fell asleep almost thinking we were in a first world country...Almost

Friday

• Woke up on the bus way too early. Breakfast. Maná music videos. Greeeeat. Oh well we were in Mendoza and thats all that mattered. About 10:30 we got off the bus and Mia and I were off to our first Hostel adventure. We successfully retrieved our baggage and got a taxi. Got in the taxi and wait...Wincas hostel...oh wait you dont know it? Whats the address? We dont know. Shoot. Maybe we weren't as prepared as we had thought.

Semana Santa

Homework sucks, even in Argentina I have a hard time finding motivation to do it. I don't have that much and it isn't that hard. Maybe thats where my lack of motivation comes from.

This week is short. Only M,T,W then we have off for Semana Santa aka Easter. Mia and I are leaving Wednesday to go to Mendoza. It is like the Napa Valley of Argentina. Lots of vineyards, mountains, etc. I am pretty pumped up! We leave at like 9 something Wed night and get there at like 10 something Thursday morning. We are taking a bus...it should be interesting. We are staying at a hostel that we foudn online. Our first hostel experience! Hopefully it turns out to be a good one. The cool part of it is that we are doing the whole thing in a package. We have this itenerary of visiting Bodegas, mountain "adventures" and lots of cool stuff. Hopefully it will be as cool as it sounds.

Today Mia and I went to see Casanova. I LOVE that movie! So funny/witty/romantic. I think I just like going to movies here. It takes me back to America. Speaking of, they are filimgin something outside my house. I dont know what, a commercial maybe, but it is an american company. Something with a dry cleaners. Who knows!?

So its 9:45 and we havent eaten dinner yet. I know Argentines eat late and I am actually pretty used to it but 10:00...come on! I'm about to eat my fist. I keep on goign to get water from the kitchen but I don't think shes getting the hint...hmmm.

Okay well maybe I'll post more later...

Time seems to fly by during the week but the weekends pass by so slowly. Probably because I am not used to having three day weekends every weekend. School right now isn't very interesting. There are two classes that I enjoy, but even in those I feel like we are just reviewing. My spanish class is a joke. Hopefully we will move to something more challenging soon. Some people like easy classes but for me they are just too boring!

Yesterday (Saturday) Mia and I went walking up and down Santa Fe. Santa Fe is like a huge street with lots of shopping and restaurants and stuff. Mia got an awesome leather purse that was like stamped leather, which is like so hot right now here. I can totally see it becoming a trend in the US. It is so cute! Also, we walked into EVERY sunglass place on Santa Fe probably about 10. We would go in each one and try on all the designer sunglasses like Chanel, Versache, Prada, etc. It was really fun! They are all "on sale" because it is the end of summer here. On sale is pretty relative because they are so expensive in the first place! I think someday I want a pair of Chanel sunglasses. I am not one for designer clothes or shoes or anything because the styles change so much and clothes don't always fit. But sunglasses are so classic. I decided if I were going to own one designer thing it would be Chanel sunglasses. Maybe someday!

In the afternoon Mia and I met up with Sean for a cup of cafe. Sean was hungry so he wanted to eat so we ended up goign to McDonalds. Inside each McyDees they have something called a "McCafe" which is like the front part and it is really nice and kinda looks like a starbucks. They serve high end deserts and tarts like Tiramisu and then nice coffees. I got a Cappachino Mocha which I would never think would be good from McDonalds, but it was really amazing! Mia and I took pics of the McCafe, check out webshots to see them.

Also, I dont think I have posted about my new technological toy. Its called the Slingbox and it makes it so I can watch TV from home on my computer here! My parents bougth a box and hooked it up to our cable so now I can watch TV here! It really is amazing. I am so lucky to have great parents who want to make me more comfortable here. It is nice too because I like to fall asleep to noise and i have already exhausted all the friends dvds that i brought. Tonight I will get my first weekend of Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. I am sooo excited!

This week my goal is to get out postcards to all my friends and family. I just haven't been able to find any that I love yet. But like I said, its my goal to find some!

I put some pics too that I took this week at Plaza San Martin. The Queen of Holland and the princesses were in town and I went to go see them lay flowers on the monument. It was SO cool! There were probably 100 horses making a fence around the red carpeted area. There were snipers on top of the buildings keeping guard. It was crazy! The queen and the princess wore big hats. They gave her a key to the city and it was overall pretty neat. I decided if I were royal I would wear big hats too.

Hope all is well in the US! I am sad to be missing spring but it is nice here because it is starting to be fall. It is really pretty.

A recap

So I have become really bad at blogging. Mainly because I started to keep a written travel journal. It is convenient because I take it with me wherever I go and can write where I ate, if it was good or not, the address, places that people tell me to go etc. So here I'm going to sum up what I've written the last few days.

I dont remember if I said it before, but now I have internet at my casa! Yaaaay! My madre let them come and install a DSL line so I once again feel connected to the first world. It is so nice becasue I can use AIM and Google Talk to talk to my friends and family and I don't have to worry about talking fast because it is free! I am thinking of checking out this Skype thing so I can call people's cell phones. We'll see.

Okay so I ended on Friday with Puerto Madero. Saturday was a blast. Ruth, Ben, Lacey, Drew, Rainey-Mills and I went to La Boca. I had my first experience on a collectivo (city bus) and it actually wasnt that bad! La boca is sort of the poorer part of town but around the Caminito its very touristy and with lots of bright colors and cute cafes and shops. It was beautiful. See the pics because it is way too hard to describe. I bought an antique ring for 5 pesos. I wear it all the time now, I love it!

Saturday night the whole crew minus Ruth who had to go back to MS went out for dinner and cocktails. We ate at a cool restaurant in the Village in Recoleta that had a really neat atmosphere and it was pretty resasonably priced. Afterwards we went for a drink at an outdoor cafe at Plaza Serrano in Palermo. Ben got into a funny conversation with some Argentines about the differences in Chilean and Porteno spanish. It was priceless. After that we went back to the village and hit up a disco club. They played horrible 90s music like "Its Raining Men" and "Sweet Dreams are made of this" which were even worse becasue they had been transformed into disco tunes. It was hilarious and so fun. We stayed out till 4 and I totally lost my voice but it was the first time I felt truly Argentine!

Sunday I spent most of the day sleeping and watching movies because I didnt have anything to do/I was still sick. At 5 though I went to a Ballet. It was sort of a modern ballet and was an interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. It was so neat. I love the ballet. It is soo romantic. I definetly want to go to more theater while I'm here.

The rest of the week has mainly been classes, lunch, classes dinner, etc. Mucho clase. I have also been working on getting all the readings for all of my classes. It is muy dificil because you have to go to the copy place at Linguas Vivas (where we have our spanish classes) and then search for all the things you need copied and then wait for them to copy them. No organized course packets like at home. Since there are no copyright laws here it is totally legit to copy books. Reading this semester is only going to cost like $50 as opposed to the normal US $300 or so. I could get used to this...

Oh I almost forgot one of the coolest part of the week! So I was talking to my business teacher and he said that I could do a business internship without having to take the Business Internship class! I am going work 8 hours a week at a company called Patagonia Software. Tuesday I went and met with the people I will be working with and I should get an email pretty soon of what days and times I will be working. They are going to place me in a department of my choice and I will probably be put on a project. I kind of want to be in the Marketing department but one intern gets to work directly with the CEO which I think would be awesome. I am going to try and snatch that one up. I figure I could learn a little of everything in that position. I am really excited because this will be another way to keep me busy but also provide me with another outlet to speak spanish. It should be a great experience!

Another big project for this week was school supply shopping. This combine with finding all my readings was a huge undertaking. Those who know me well know I am totally obsessive compulsive about my school supplies. I have to make title pages for all my binders and color code them. School supplies are hard to find here. Well not hard to find but there isn't as much of a selection. I was totally missing Walmart. I met this girl who is in 2 of my classes, Jenny, who is from Ohio and she is totally OCD about school supplies too so we went on a shopping trip together. It was so fun! Afterwards I made all my inserts for my binders and color coded them. Of course. (Allison, I know you are thinking right now, I am glad I didn't have to go school supply shopping with her AGAIN this semester...but don't worry we'll get to do it in the fall :)) Now they are all done and SO cute. I think this is my best semester yet. I went with a pastel theme. Pink, light blue, and purple. Maybe I'll take pics and post them. I'm very proud of my work.

Okay well I am going to stop writing about my life here and get to living it...tomorrow I promise I will sit down and write about all the stuff I have been meaning to write about. Culture, food, etc. Y'all keep in touch now!

Puerto Madero

So last night was pretty eventful. After being in bed all day it was nice to go out. Met up with Ruth & Rainey Mills (from study abroad), Ben (in from Santiago), Lacey (in from Brazil), and Drew, and we all went out for an awesome dinner at Puerto Madero.

I ate the lomo (sirloin), it was like football sized, it was pretty amazing. We had some good red wine a great conversation. It was nice to see some farmiliar faces. Afterwards we went down to where all the irish pubs are and the streets were all closed off. It was a HUGE street party. Kind of fun but way too much for us so we found a little Cervezeria and sat down to have a drink.

We got home around 3 am. I slept this morning till about 10:30. I love sleeping in here! I am about to go out now and meet up with the amigos to go to the market in La Boca. I should get some good pics.

I keep meaning to write about the culture and some other little things about BA. I will hopefully get to that tomorrow maybe...maybe!

La gripe

So my third week here and I'm sick. Yuck. I have a bad cough, runny nose, and just plain don't feel well. Ugh. Basically just a cold, which are totally no fun. I was thinking, whenever we say "oh its just a cold" it really underestimates the severity of the actual symptoms. Having "just a cold" absolutely sucks. Having just a cold means you feel like crap but there is nothing you can do about it but take over the counter medicine because there really is no cure. Here the word they use is having the "gripe," doesnt that sound much worse than "just a cold"? I think I like their word much better, it seems so much more imiment and severe.

So today has been rainy and cold and I have spend all day in bed watching movies/sleeping. I actually feel a little better, but all Ive had to eat is corn flakes so I'm a little hungry. At 6 I did get up and have tea with my madre which really soothed my throat for a while. I'm going to have to try that again soon.

Tonight I am going out to eat with Drew, Ben Quilter, and Ruth. Ruth is our study abroad advisor who is in BA to check out the different programs for study abroad and whatnot. Ben is studying in Chile this semester and is in the BA for the weekend. It should be fun, I am looking forward to getting out of the house.

I am wearing my new green dress, which I still haven't put pics up of yet. I decided to be very un-me and very argentine and wear jeans under the dress. It actually doesn't look horrible. Heres to me going out on a limb haha. Write more later...

Booh on Internet in BA

So it has been a week or so since my last post. I haven't written because I have been busy/lazy. I wrote this yesterday (monday) but the internet here has been haywire so I couldn't post it. So here is a quick recap of last week:

• Monday: Sunburned to the MAX. I was so sunburned in the weirdest places. Like on my wrists and behind my knees...places you don’t normally think to put sunscreen! It was so painful I could barely climb the stairs. For clase we went to the "casa rosada" as you might have seen in the pictures. It is pretty much their version of the Whitehouse except the president doesn't live there.
• Tuesday: Took a written Spanish exam to place us in the right Spanish class. Ended up doing pretty well because I placed into Spanish 4 and there are only 5!
• Wednesday: Same thing, Spanish exam but this one was oral.
• Thursday: Planned our school schedules and walked around town. Went to a cool sports bar with Mia and Sean.
• Friday: We went to an estancia which is sort of like a farm/mansion. It was really neat. The actual estancia was like a castle, I will post pictures. They had a swimming pool, a soccer field, large eating hall, and guess what...a polo field! We actually got to see people playing real Polo, with horses and all! Now the logos on Polo shirts have much greater significance...that must be the hardest game ever! We lay by the pool most of the day and hung out with the other IES kids. Siesta then dinner which was AMAZING. They had some great wine and like a 5 course dinner. Salad, bread, different meats, salchicha (which was to die for), and desert of the most amazing ice cream I have ever put in my mouth. In general, probably the best meal I have had since I have been here. We sat at a table with Mia, Sean, Drew, and then Patrick and Katherine who are our new amigos from UT (Texas). We definitely had the best table and great conversation and lots of laughs! Overall, the estancia kicked butt.
• Saturday: Took a grande siesta and got some rest from the fun night before at the estancia. Por la noche I met up with Mia, Sean, and Kathleen who is in from Oxford for spring break. We went to eat at Maria Felix, a really good (comparatively) Mexican food restaurant. After dinner (which lasted like 3 hours, we are getting the hang of the Argentina thing :)) we went bar hopping around the village. We met an American couple from Scottsdale who were on their 5th wedding anniversary. They were so nice and it was lots of fun!
• Sunday: Slept till noon because we had been out till like 3 the night before. After that I met up with my friend from Texas, Katherine, and we went to Plaza Serrano in Palermo. It was this HUGE outdoor market with jewelry, art, clothes, etc. It was so fun! I bought two new outfits for fewer than 25 dollars! It was incredible. I got a cute kind of flowy skirt (which are SO in here) and a green cap sleeved dress with a necklace to match. I'll post pics...I promise they are so cute!

Today was the first day of school. I will post my schedule once I am sure of it. I had Spanish class from 11-1 then Latin American Theater from 1-2:30. After that I decided to stay for a class that I am not signed up for but ended up being really interesting. (And the professor is pretty easy on the eyes too haha, not as handsome as you though Michael) I might switch one of my classes so I can take that one. But that means I would be in class straight from 11-4 which might not be fun. No lunch break. At 6:30 I am going to go to the class I was planning on taking and see if I want to switch or not. We'll see. I just don't like the idea of going to class from 6:30-8:00. And on top of that it isn't MW its M-Thurs so I would be in class late on Thurs. I officially won't have class Friday so I am pretty pumped up about that.

Right now I want to thank all of you who have been posting comments...I finally figured out how to make them show up. I will try and respond to y'all ASAP! Also, those of you who have been sending me recaps of my fav TV shows aka Grey's, The Bachelor, Desperate Housewives, etc. THANK YOU a lot! It is so nice to get a taste of TV...I am def. going through withdrawals without television.

Today when I go home I don't think I'll have hot water for the next two days. They are doing some maintenance or something. Maybe I can go shower at Kathleen's hotel room. Hmmm we'll see. Wednesday the guy is coming to install the internet at my casa. YAY!!! No more sitting in the window with my computer! Hopefully I will blog more now that I won't have to reach so far for the keys!
K well I am muy hungry because I haven't had lunch but I will definably write more later. I will also get my schedule up here as soon as I can. I hope all is well at home and I love getting all of your emails even if I am not prompt at responding to all of them! Love you all and miss you...Ciao

Hanging Ten in Pinamar

So I havent written in a while. Sorry, i´ve been at la playa...for those of you who dont know, thats the beach. We thought it was going to be terrible weather bc it rained the whole way here on the bus but it ended up being muy bonito. The bus we took was CRAZY it had two floors. We were on the top floor and our seats leaned ALL the way back. It was pretty neat. We even we even watched a movie that was muy de queso (cheesy) that had Sean Connery and Richard Gere called First Knight. It was ridiculoso.

Our hotel is really nice. We have our own little loft like apartment thing. Pictures to come. The bed has a radio built into it. Its the honey moon sweet, its pretty awesome. Yesterday we spent the day laying out and then Drew and I went to take a 1.5 hour surf lesson for $10 aka 30 pesos. It was so fun except for today the Atlantic Ocean was a little lower because I drank so much of the salt water!

The best part of the surfing though was that I totally fell into the Official Jack Johnson fan club of Argentina. All the surfers were so excited that I had the new Curious George cd. It was amazing. I felt at home. We all exchanged email addresses and they are from the BA too so we are going to try and meet up for a cafe or something in the city. The coolest people were a girl named Anna and her boyfriend whose name I don´t remember. They had just finished surf lessons and took some pictures of us in wet suits that they are going to email us. It was pretty llave (key)...notice the spanglish is getting ever so worse. Soon it will be all espanol and yall wont be able to understand this at all. We also had our first experience with mate...a type of tea that is pretty traditional and like we are pretty good pals becasue we shared mate together. Kinda neat.

Today we have been playing el frisbee and laying out. I had to get out of the sol for a minuto so i woulnt be a total congrejo (crab) tomorrow at school. Oh well, esta bien. Last night we went to a sweet restaurant by the beach that had a saxaphone player. He played tons of Luis Miguel (yeah i knew all the words to Azul dad!) Well back to el sol para mi. I´ll escribir some more when i get home tomorrow. Adios amigos.

Carnival

These keyboards are miserable. The keys are in different places and I hate having to capitlize stuff. The key is way far away and hard to press. At least i found the question mark finally!

Today we didnt have class till 11:30 because of Carnival. Last night we went to an irish pub. It was kind of fun but not fabulous becasue we felt out of place. Once we meet some argentines going out will be much more fun. It was pretty fun though to be in a new environment and all.

This liberal concentration camp that Dr. Metcalf send us to is horrible. ALL the students are yankees, and not like even decent ones. They told us we sound like hicks and bad americans when we say yall. Oh well they are gay anyways (i actually think a lot of them really are). They are all very elitist and snobby...kind of like in legally blonde. They all think they are better than everyone else and are constantly competing. So stupid.

I havent put up any pictures yet but i have taken some of my house to put up. I might try to do that tomorrow.

Last night I had a discussin with my madre about politics. She hates the argentine president. Says he is on his way to becoming a dictator. She is so anti peronist it isnt even funny. She said that she wasn´t big on democracy because it didnt seem to make things better. She said she didnt care if they had a democracy, a prime minister, a king, or a military government if they coudl just have officials that were honest and not corrupt. That is a direct quote...translated of coure. It thought it was muy interestante.

K well off to my casa. Im going to try not to nap even though i am muy tired. Maybe i will be able to sleep tonight if i dont nap. It isjust so hard when we dont eat dinner till 9 at night. I still havent recieved word from anyone on the bachelor or on grey´s. Someone who reads this please take a minute and fill me in!!! I miss you all and cant wait to hear from some of you!

Martes

Hola! So i am at my first "locutorio" which is an internet cafe. The keyboard is different so please bear with me. Today was much better than yesterday in part becasue Mia, Sean, Ginger (from Kansas...of course we find the only other southerner to hang out with) and I skipped the afternoon sessions. They were about culture shock and basically what we had to do at ole miss which would have been boring.

Being the "rebels" that we are, we instead went to a little cafe on teh street and ate then we went and bought cell phones. They are like go phones, pay as you go. We then walked around a part of town that is really nice like by teh four seasons... everything was muy expensive there. then we found a little cafe and i had the best cafe moca of my life. muy rica. afterwards ginger and i went back to the school and took tango lessons. we did really well! i cant believe we learned as much as we did. now we jsut have to practice!

tonight we are going to go out for the first time. tonight is carnival aka mardi gras and it is a BIG deal here. we dont have school till 1130 am so that we can stay out late haha. what a great idea! they dont go out here till like midnight which is different but i think i´ll like it.

well i think its time to regresar a mi casa and take a siesta before dinner...which is never till like 915pm and then get ready to go experience my first night out in the big BA! i hope all is well with you and a big shout out to all my bachelor fans...yay Sara from TN!!!! Now someone please fill me in on what happened with o malley and meredith on grey´s anatomy! por favor! ciao amigos

Finally Here!

A flight to Houston and a 10 hour plane ride later, I am finally in Buenos Aires! I honestly can’t really even believe that I am actually here. It is one of those things that you tell everyone you are doing but don’t really believe it yourself until you are actually there.

The plane ride wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. One interesting thing, I was sitting in an exit row and when we took off the plastic thing that contained the “Pull in Case of Emergency” handle popped out about an inch from the door. The guy sitting next to me was like “that couldn’t be good.” The flight attendant came over and started messing with it and I was scared to death the door was just going to pop open with us at 11,000 feet. They called the pilot and he said there was no leak warning so that it would be okay but we would just be very cold. Turns out we were so they brought us some of the nice blankets from first class. After the whole door fiasco they promptly served us dinner (chicken pasta…sort of) and started the movies. I was so pumped up when I saw that they were playing Pride and Prejudice. After about 20 minutes though, I fell asleep. I slept a lot but not very well, ya know how it is on planes.

When we arrived in Buenos Aires Sean and I got sort of lost because our plane for some reason didn’t arrive at the international terminal so we were waiting around before we realized why none of the IES people were there. Eventually we found them and got on a bus to go to our houses.

I was the FIRST one off the bus. I think I am one of the people living closest to the school too. I really like the little apartment that I am living in and the woman who I am living with, Cecilia, reminds me a lot of my grandma. She talks and talks which is nice so I don’t have to speak too much at first. First of all about this apartment, when you go up the elevator it is like old school style. You open a door then slide a thing open to get in it. It could only fit like three people. The building though is very nice and our apartment small but quaint. I have my own room with a big closet type thing which is perfect. She put up some shelves by my bed so I could put books and pictures up of my friends and family. I even have my own little bathroom! We share a shower but I have my own sink and toilet which is so nice.

En Route

Here I am sitting at the Houston Airport waiting out a three hour layover. The flight getting out of Austin was delayed like 45 minutes, which didn’t really matter for me since I have such a long of a layover anyway. Sean should be here in about an hour and help cure my boredom. He is insisting that we get a drink before we take off. Maybe it will help us sleep. I am so anxious I can’t read or do anything else I brought to fill my time. I am just way too excited! Okay since I’ve been here writing we have had three gate changes. I am going to just sit here till they make up their minds.

Fiesta!!!
Last night was so fun. My parents threw me a little going away fiesta. We had tons of families and friends over and just socialized and ate and drank all night long. I got to see Kate and we stayed up talking late about life and love and all that jazz. It was so fun to have so many friends over in celebration of my trip and I really realized how lucky I am to have such supportive friends and family.

Packing Stinks

So I have packed about 3/4 of my big suitcase and have the rest of my things strewn around the room. The first part of packing was fun because it was new and a challenge to fit a lot of things in there! Now though...I just wish someone else would do it for me!

I am about to go out with mom to buy some toiletries and other stuff I'll need to pack. I also want to find time to fit a mani/pedi in before I leave. Nothing says "South America here I come" like perfectly painted toes right?

I also need to find a good book before I head down there. I just read Bergdorf Blondes and it was fabulous. It is sort of a witty social comedy and a must read for all girly girls.

Tonight is Women's Figure Skating long program. Go Sasha!!! I am totally Olympics obsessed. Hopefully our Americans can pull out the gold! Enough for now...

Yay it Works

So I am just now figuring out this whole blogging thing. I figured I'd set one up incase I decide to use it in Argentina. Who knows if I will ever figure it out or even use it but I guess we'll see!