Anxiety.

Today was incredibly busy.  I had my initial information sessions for both the Bolivia and Ecuador trips.  It wasn't really very much new information, but being bombarded with it all at once was fairly overwhelming.  I think I'm really going to be put out of my comfort zone, especially in Bolivia.  Our research projects involved conducting interviews. With native speakers. That means I have to ask a native Spanish speaker questions about a specific topic AND understand their answers well enough to continue the interview. Terrifying. The trip sounds amazing though. Every morning, we travel down the mountain to the university and have class for three hours.  Then we have a three hour break for lunch, a nap, studying, etc.  Then an excursion somewhere in the city, like the National Archives.  There are also some really cool weekends trips planned.  The first weekend we're going to Potosí.  It isn't quite as impressive these days, but in colonial times it was (briefly) the biggest city in the world.  Its basically just a mountain of silver, so when the Spanish came over, they started using indigenous and slave labor to mine as much of it as possible.  That developed into a booming economy, but it was extremely dangerous and still is.  We just watched a movie in my INST 314 class called The Devil's Miner about a 13 year old boy who works in the mines to provide for his family.  We're also going to Lake Titicaca, which is SO COOL.  You should check out the link to the Wikipedia page if you don't know about it already.  Also, there's La Fiesta de Gran Poder, the most important festival of Bolivian culture and the Aymara New Year celebration.  After four weeks of class, we get about two weeks to work individually on our research projects.  Then its off the Ecuador!


This is the part that scares me a little, because I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to get to Ecuador yet, and it looks like I won't know until I get to Bolivia.  Originally, we were told that our professors in Bolivia would escort us to Cuzco, Peru where we would meet our Spanish professor in charge of the Ecuador trip.  However, our Spanish professor is not planning on staying in South America.  He told me today that we would be making the trip ourselves.  That's okay with me, as long as the other two girls are with me.  What I'm afraid of is that they'll want to fly.  If that's the case, I'll have to go with them, because taking a bus from Bolivia to Ecuador by myself is muy estupido. But I think it would be a great adventure to take a little scenic trip through Peru up to Ecuador, as planned.  And cheaper.  (Parents, sorry if you read about this before I get a chance to talk to you about it. Don't freak out.)

The real reason I wanted to post tonight was to attach this video.  My sorority is having one of our annual philanthropy events this week.  Usually its called Anchor Splash and it involves a swim competition between fraternities.  We had scheduling conflicts this year, so its Anchor Games instead.  One of the competitions is a dance.  I'm a coach for Delta Psi, and we held dance practice tonight.  Their theme is "Princesses," hence the costumes you are about to see.  These guys are wonderful, they have been such good sports and had us rolling in laughter all night.  And they're actually pretty good! The one on the far right is my best friend, Colby.  Watch him. Pure talent. I have to wait to put in on Facebook, because the competition isn't until tomorrow, but I couldn't wait to share it in some way.  It is too funny.
Enjoy!
PS: this is where I'm staying in Bolivia Casa Hermanos Manchego

Wit.

I cannot be witty  on command.  When I decided I wanted to start a blog, I was determined that it would have a clever name and that every post would be dripping with witty anecdotes.  Not so much.  When it came down to it, I spent about a minute and a half staring at the computer screen before I caved and went with an old standby.  I read a novel called The Locket when I was about 13.  I don't even remember the plot very well, but a line from the book has always stuck with me.  It goes"...the initial impression we accept of others is usually as flawed as the one we seek to project."  To me, its a very profound and true statement.  I used it as my senior quote haha.  So that's what this blog is about, my initial impressions of everything I witness and experience during my summer in South America. 

At the moment, I'm working on finalizing my flights and figuring out what to pack for ten weeks in two separate countries.  Hopefully I'll get a little better idea for Bolivia during the information session next week.  Dr. Centellas did tell us in class yesterday that the most important fiesta of Bolivian culture will occur while we are there.  Excitttiiinnnggg.  In the meantime, I'm stalking as many travel blogs as I can find and making sticky notes on my computer whenever I find something important.  Right now, my La Paz sticky note reads: 
diamox (alitude sickness!!!)
warm clothes
sun. screen. 
Maybe I should try a different brand of sunscreen, seeing as my SPF 50 totally failed this past weekend and left me branded with a Sigma Chi on my left arm.  Sigma Chi til I die, yawl.  


I think that's about all for now. Adiossss.