Boats and Kabobs in Buenos Aires

 I left off with our anticipated adventure to the city of el Tigre, which we arrived home successfully without getting lost. We took a bus ride to the train station of Retiro, and rode the train (and by "train" I mean above-ground subway) for about an hour to el Tigre. When we arrived, our host mom cut the cord and we explored on our own. We browsed little shops that had furniture and other cute items, and I made my first purchase of a mate gourd.

Yerba Mate has the “strength of coffee, the health benefits of tea,and the euphoria of chocolate" all in one beverage.  Of the six commonly used stimulants in the world: coffee, tea, kola nut, cocoa and guarana, yerba mate triumphs as the most balanced, delivering both energy and nutrition.

Yerba mate (yer-bah mah-tay) is made from the naturally caffeinated and nourishing leaves of the celebrated South American rainforest holly tree (Ilex paraguariensis). For centuries, South America’s Aché Guayakí tribe have sipped yerba mate from a traditional mate gourd for its rejuvenative effects. These rainforest people find tremendous invigoration, focus, and nourishment in yerba mate.

Source: Guayaki Brand Yerba Mate 2017 http://guayaki.com/mate/130/Yerba-Mate.html

Drinking mate is a huge part of the culture here. It's commonly passed around by family and friends, and it's a sign of respect if someone offers it to you. I just wanted to bring a piece of the culture home with me so I bought one for myself.

We also got to walk along the Tigre Delta, where there was a Catamarán (a large boat) that offered rides down the delta. Although we didn't do that on Saturday, I want to return to see more of the city and the delta. I would love to explore the waters in a littler boat such as these:

Here's a picture of some houses and boats on the Tigre Delta. It was such a beautiful day!

Saturday night, after I came home and took a nap, of course, my roommate and I got ready to go out for a night on the town. Although the night didn't go quite as we had planned, we ended up walking to Parrilla Miranda, the restaurant I had found before arriving in Buenos Aires. Of course the only reason I really wanted to check it out was because it shared my name, but it turned out to be a very nice restaurant. After enjoying some portebello mushrooms and margaritas, I ate a chicken kabob and was so full I needed a tow truck to get home. I was amazed at the amount of people who arrived at the restaurant at midnight to eat their dinner! We talked with the table next to us which consisted of two Argentine boys, a German, and a guy from New Zealand. We arrived home around 2am, and I quickly passed out only to sleep my Sunday away.

Monday, we were on a mission to buy a sube card, and minutes for our dino phones. 

In short, we walked around for many hours, confused, lost, and eventually succeeded in buying, and loading the sube with money, but we failed on the phone minutes. 

Today there was a trip to Buenos Aires Playa (a beach) planned with BAIS (Buenos Aires International Students) but unfortunately it began to rain, so we opted out. Although I want to be lazy and stay inside where it's dry, we have to go on the hunt for phone minutes, I need to mail a letter, and we are going to the office of BAIS to see about upcoming trips. This weekend: there is a trip to Victoria in Entre Rios that looks extremely fun. Plus, I need as much adventure as I can get in the few weeks before classes being. 

Lastly, here are some pictures from my run to the Rivadavia Park this morning:

Thank you to everyone for keeping up with the happenings of BsAs. I miss you all and I'm having a terrific time so far. Hasta Luego<3

La Casa Loca Sin Pantalones

I went for a run this morning ... in Buenos Aires! If it hadn't set in before...it certainly has now. For starters, it's 70/80 degree weather here while it's blizzard-ing in Illinois. When I look out my window there is a street full of cars honking and passing one another in a road-rage fueled frenzy. There is shopping and restaurants and bars and stores every 10 feet! There is literally always something to keep you preoccupied. We even have bowling not too far away from where I live, a place called Acatraz. We have so many things we want to do outside of this city but I don't know how I'll have enough time to see everything in Buenos Aires alone. 

It's been awhile since I've updated everyone, so let me sum up the flight:
I took a two hour plane ride up to Canada where I had about a four hour layover. Canada was actually pretty interesting. The wifi wasn't working at the airport in Chicago (they wanted me to pay for it) and I needed to let my parents know that I was okay...well the Toronto Pearson airport had literally hundreds of stations with iPads where you could get on the internet and/or order food or drink to be delivered right where you were sitting! Then I had about a 13 hour plane ride from Canada to Santiago, Chile where we all had to get off the plane, and then those headed to Buenos Aires got back on for another hour and a half. I arrived safely, with all my things including baggage, took a taxi from the Ezieza airport to my home stay, and it has been happily ever after. I live with my roommate, Rachel and my host mom Viviana and I know we're going to have an amazing time together. I can't wait to make crazy memories in la casa loca sin pantalones;) Here are some pictures of la casa:

I love it, I think it's absolutely adorable and it already feels like home<3

I went to orientation today for classes and found out that I have 4, all in Spanish, but they don't start for two more weeks. And they're mostly at night. I'm super nervous seeings as all day today Rachel and I were riding the struggle bus trying to communicate with everyone to figure out what we were supposed to do and where we were supposed to go. Luckily, we made some friends who were way better at it than we were, and we had a delicious lunch together at Pizzeria Fuensanta. I randomly picked a plate of the day, and was VERY lucky.

 Beef and chicken on top of potatoes with onions!

Fruit salad for dessert!

 (Notice the wine was gone, yum;)

All in all today was a lot of walking, but it was beautiful outside so it was definitely worth it. I still have to go pick up some things from the store, as well as get a transportation card, el sube, but the exploring doesn't stop here! Tomorrow we are going to go with Viviana by train to el barrio del Tigre, then find our way back, so I'll let you know how that goes!

T Minus 27 Days

My heart is beginning to do that thing where it bounces around in my chest and makes beeping noises because I am a mere few weeks away from being in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires. I began the application process so long ago and I just can't believe that my experience of a lifetime is almost here. A lot of people have been asking me if I'm nervous and I sat there and tried to make sense of the mess of emotions that were jumbled inside me...
Nervous? Yes but not about living in a different country...I'm nervous that as soon as I step foot off that plane 5 months will have gone by and in a blink of an eye I'll be getting right back on that plane without remembering every single second of my journey. I'm nervous that I'll stick out like a sore thumb (which I will). I'm nervous that I'll love it so much that I won't come home.

Excited? Absolutely! I'm ready to spend every second that I'm awake speaking Spanish and making mistakes and meeting people and loving life.

Scared? Hell no. I am prepared for things to go wrong, and I'm ready to deal with bumps in the road with full force but I'm definitely not scared. I'm not worried about being homesick (which will happen) because it's a waste of energy to worry about things you can't necessarily control. I will prepare myself to the best of my ability, and outside of that...what will be will be.

I've discovered a ton of great traveling tips as well as general advice. This blog that I found describes how to avoid the last week freak-out which was super useful:
 http://moreawesomerblog.com/2013/08/08/avoid-the-last-week-freak-out-how-to-prepare-for-studying-abroad/ 

She said that in order to get yourself excited you should list places that you want to see and do. Here are mine:
-Visit the Iguazu Falls
-Attend Lollapalooza Argentina
-Have a wine tasting at Anuva Wines https://www.anuvawines.com/wine-tasting-best-wines-best-people/

Once more I can't believe this is actually happening, and I give a million thank-yous to those people who have helped make this possible. I probably won't post again until the departure date so for those who want to keep up with what's happening with my international adventure, be sure to follow this blog!

There's More to Life Than Illinois

It still isn't real. It wasn't real when I got my acceptance e-mail from Monmouth. It wasn't real when ISEP accepted me and placed me at my top choice. It wasn't real when I drained my bank account purchasing my plane ticket, and it wasn't real even after I spoke to my host mother for the first time. And here we are, 41 days and counting until I leave and it still just isn't real. I'm spending my days on Pinterst looking up packing tips and researching Argentina, pouring through one travel blog after another yet I'm still waiting for someone to tell me that there has been a mistake and I am not going to get to go. 

Welcome to my Study Abroad Blog...

It's about time I get out of Illinois.