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...