Wind.

THE WIND HERE IS RIDICULOUS. Now, that I've expressed that sentiment, we can move on, but really. Its crazy.

Things have picked up a little bit in the past week or so.  Classes are still slow, but it seems like we're getting close to finishing the introductory bit/overview of the conquest of Latin America (aka every Croft class I've ever taken) and are about to start actually learning about Uruguay.  I like my literature class better every day. The material isn't my favorite, but our professor is adorable and every once and a while she'll make a cute joke.  My friend and I decided we're going to start taking a Portuguese class as well.  It only meets once a week, and we won't technically be enrolled in it, because its a year long class and we're only going to be here a semester.  We really just want a way to meet more Uruguayan students and integrate ourselves more into the culture here.

Last weekend was fairly busy, even though it was the first weekend I haven't traveled.  On Friday night, a group of us went to see The Hunger Games. And it was awesome. You should go see it. And read the books. On Saturday, Sarah, Brianna, and I went to La Ciudad Vieja, the oldest part of town that was originally colonized by the Spanish.  Its not the safest area of town these days, but its still very impressive. We visited all the important landmarks, la Plaza de Independencia with the huge statute of Artigas, the cathedral, the door to the city, the Fountain of Love, and several other plazas...with statutes of Artigas. They like him here. I also ate my first chivito, a type of Uruguayan sandwich. Typically, it has beef, ham, lettuce, tomato, egg, and mayonnaise, but i went for the chicken option, without mayonnaise.  As much as I want to immerse myself in the culture, I just can't jump on board with the intense love of mayonnaise. Or the love of Crocs. On Sunday, I went with Giannina (the woman with whom I live) to have lunch with her family at her father's house, which is a little bit outside the city and very pretty.  It's a rustic-style home with a big garden and patio in the back.  Her whole family was there, which I thought would be overwhelming, but they were extremely welcoming. Also in attendance were her two cousins who moved away from Uruguay when they were toddlers and now live in Miami.  We had a few North American moments.  I was also very excited, because I got to eat seafood for the first time since I've been here.  Giannina's dad made paella, a Spanish dish of seafood and rice (a little strange, seeing that their family is Italian, but I wasn't complaining).

Next week is Semana Santa or Semana de Turismo or Semana de Cerveza or Semana Criolla...you get the picture.  Its Holy Week, which means we get the whole week off of school.  Lots of people travel during Semana Santa, and there are also several festivals celebrated during the week.  I'm leaving Friday morning for Bariloche, Argentina, a small town in the Patagonia region, very close to the Chilean border.  Its referred to as the "Switzerland of Argentina."  We're hoping to do a lot of hiking and maybe some kayaking or white water rafting or horseback riding.  Our hostel offers a lot of activities.  We're going to finish the trip in Buenos Aires to celebrate the 21st birthday of one of our friends! To get to Bariloche, we have a 24 hours bus ride.  But first we have to get to Buenos Aires. For some reason, we thought it would be a good idea to choose the bus/ferry that left at 1:15 AM on Friday morning. We actually had some pretty solid reasoning behind that decision, but as it gets closer, I'm regretting it more and more. Anyway, between the 24 hour bus rides and the shared, 8-person room in the hostel, there's going to be some inevitable bonding.

The only other noteworthy thing I can think of is that the weather is changing. Today was the first chilly day we've had. The temperature was only in the 50s, I believe, but that aforementioned, god-forsaken wind makes it feel like its a lot colder.  Its gonna be a looonnnnggg winter in Montevideo, folks.

Beaches.

The past two weeks (weekends, really) have been all about the beaches. We're trying to soak up the last bits of summer before the weather gets cooler.  Two weekends ago, I went to Punta del Este.  There were six of us girls, and we all stayed with Sarah and Brianna's host family's house, which was beautiful.  Punta del Este reminded me a lot of Seaside, Florida, for those of you who are familiar with that area. The houses even have names! It's very pretty, but its very resort-y and the place where all the rich people go.  It is, however, home of Los Dedos.  Dedos means fingers in Spanish.  As you can see below, Los Dedos are giant statutes of fingers that were built to look like they are coming up out of the sand.  Very interesting.  The weekend in Punta del Este was very relaxing.  We slept in, cooked all the meals at the house, and laid around on the beach.  I got terribly sunburned, of course, but that was to be expected.

Los Dedos en Punta del Este

The trip to Punta del Diablo this past weekend was completely different.  We went as a huge group of exchange students.  Twelve of us went together on the same bus, but there was another group who went separately but stayed at the same hostel.  Our hostel was literally on the beach, which was incredibly gorgeous.  The views were unbelievable.  We arrived Friday afternoon, checked into the hostel, and hit the beach.  There weren't that many people, and the water was amazing.  That night we all hung out in the hostel, talking to the other guests and whatnot.  Sleeping in a room with 8 other people was interesting, to say the least.  We did the beach again on Saturday, then walked 4 kilometers to the bus terminal.  We got there two hours before the bus we wanted to take was scheduled to leave, because we had open tickets, and we needed to get assigned seats.  Unfortunately, the counter for our bus company was closed until 4:00, thirty minutes before the bus was leaving. We settled in for a wait.  When they opened the counter, we were told they only had 7 seats for the 10 of us who were returning that day.  In Uruguay, buses sell standing room tickets.  So we went again and all got on the bus at 4:30, agreeing to swap out seats.  Luckily, at a stop about halfway through the trip, there was another bus heading to Montevideo with open seats, and the people who were standing got to get on that bus.  

Punta del Diablo

Las chicas in Punta del Diablo

Other than traveling, I've just been hanging out, trying to get to know Montevideo better and getting a feel for my classes.  I now know how to use the bus, even though I don't know which buses goes to which places.  My classes are fairly easy, if not slightly boring.  I'm thinking they'll get better though.  The material is interesting, but right now the professors are having to be very slow and basic in their manner of speaking to make sure everyone understands them.  My goal next goal is to somehow integrate myself into Uruguayan life and make some Uruguayan friends.  I think that's my best bet at improving my Spanish.  There's only so much you can learn in a classroom.  For that reason, we've decided to stay in Montevideo this weekend and go out and try to meet people.  I'll let y'all know how that goes!

Beginnings.

Well. It has been a crazy first week in Uruguay. And it hasn´t even been a full week. I guess I should start with my plane ride from Miami. We took off about 45 minutes late, due to a guy who was thoroughly displeased with his seat and a crazy lady who was very concerned about the emergency exits. It just so happens that she was seated directly in front of me. The problem started when the flight attendant went around to everyone seated in the exit rows and asked if they spoke both English and Spanish. One man responded that he only spoke a little English, and the flight attendant said he would have to be moved. The lady in front of me took it upon herself to explain to the guy why he was being moved and ended up yelling at him in an impressive mixture of English and Spanish about how he had the responsibility to protect everyone on the plane and if he couldn´t do it then he had to move his (insert profanity here). Turns out the guy spoke English the whole time and didn´t have to move. The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful. When I got to the airport, I went through customs and then went to the station where you can pay for the taxi. I paid with my card and got a receipt and a little ticket and went and got in my taxi. When we got to the house, the taxi driver, who was actually very nice, told me I had to pay him again. I didn´t have the courage or the vocabulary to refuse, so I just did it. I was too tired and anxious to really care.  That quickly became the least of my worries though.

Upon first glance, the house didn´t seem too bad...although there was no electricity. There was maintenance being done and the whole street didn´t have electricity.  Only one of the roommates was there, and he showed me the two rooms that were left.  I chose one and started unpacking, only the find that the dresser, the only piece of furniture in the room besides the bed, was broken. At that point, I was mainly concerned with letting everyone know I got there safely, so I went with Paco to find internet. On the walk back to the house, Paco told me that there was no internet in the house as promised.  He had already talked to the landlord about it, and nothing had been done. When we got back, the lights were back on, and I saw how unpleasant the place truly was. I had no pillow or towels, it was dirty, although Paco had already hired a professional to come clean, and there were bugs. I commenced to freak out. I managed to get myself to the house where my two friends, Sarah and Brianna, are living. They were still in class, but they got home soon after, and their host mom helped me. One of her friends had recently asked her if she could help her get started hosting foreign students. Laura called her, she came over to meet me and talk with me, and almost immediately Sarah and I went to pack my stuff up so I could go back with her. Her name is Giannina, and she´s 31. I now live in a neighborhood called Tres Cruces, which is really close to the university.  This is her first time hosting a student, so she and I are kinda learning the ropes together, but she has been incredible so far. Her father owns a hotel that´s right across the street, and her family all lives close by.  They have all been extremely welcoming and helpful to me.

I´m definitely missing everyone back home, and that has been tough. Its getting better though. I´m looking forward to starting class on Monday.  Also, Giannina and I had a long talk last night during which she told me she would teach me the bus system and anything else I need or want to know next week. This week has been kinda crazy because I had to settle in, and she had to get the room ready and everything. I think this is going to be my easiest semester in terms of class schedule. I don´t have class until one thirty every day and no classes on Fridays. I´m taking the recommended course load for international students, which is four class (Spanish, Uruguayan Literature, Political Processes of Uruguay, and Uruguayan Culture) and one other community service class that´s an extracurricular type thing.  All the other international students I´ve met so far have been great. There´s a good number of us from the States, but also from Mexico, Germany, France, Spain, and a few other random places. I´m looking forward to getting to know them all.

I´m going on my first excursion tonight. We´re leaving at seven thirty for Punta del Este, a beach about two hours away. Its really ritzy and resorty from what I hear. Its referred to as Uruguay´s equivalent to the Hamptons. We plan on taking advantage of the last days of summer, although we´ve been told that the weather is abnormally warm for this time of year. It may be summer for awhile.

All in all, its been a hectic, sometimes stressful week. I´m looking forward to some relaxation time on the beach! I´ll be posting again with lots of awesome pictures, I hope.

Boredom.

So I've decided to revive my blog in preparation for semester abroad in Montevideo, Uruguay.  I'm not really sure why studying abroad necessitates starting a blog, but I'm going to conform on this one.  Personally, I don't feel like many people are interested enough in my daily thoughts to read all about them, and I doubt that my thoughts will get more interesting while I'm abroad.  But hopefully I'll do some interesting things that will compensate and keep you all entertained.

This is what I know about my study abroad experience so far:
-I'm going to Montevideo, Uruguay, a city of about 1.5 million people
-I'll be studying at la Universidad Católica del Uruguay
-I've secured a room in a house in a zone of the city called Pocitos which is supposed to be a more modern, safer part of the city where a lot of young people live.  I'll have four roommates, two French and two British, guy and girl of each.  They all attend another university in the city.  The other two girls who are going from Ole Miss will be living with a host family about two blocks away.

...aaaand that's pretty much it. I leave on the March 4th and get there the next day, a full 24 hours later.  I'll make my way from the airport to my new home and then go from there.  Classes start the 12th, but we have an orientation the 7th, 8th, and 9th.  What will happen the next five months remains a mystery.

I've been at home for three months, so, as you might imagine, I have moments of extreme boredom.  Besides traveling around the state to say my goodbyes and fighting a wicked sinus infection, I've pretty much spent the majority of my time reading and playing Words with Friends on my Kindle Fire and watching unhealthy amounts of NCIS, White Collar, and (my new favorite) Downton Abbey.  This week I decided I couldn't take it anymore, so I jumped on the bandwagon with melted crayon art.  For those of you who may not know, melted crayon art is the internet's most popular craft.  People are selling their creations on sites like Etsy for $50 and $60.  So I went to Wally World and spent twenty-five bucks on my supplies.  I wanted to create a canvas that had my intial, like this

but I had difficulty getting the stencil to stay secure enough so that the wax didn't drip down behind anyway.  This has resulted in me making two ordinary pieces that I don't particularly want. If you do, let me know!  Here's a pic (not a very good one).

Besides spending an obscene amount of time perusing food blogs, that's pretty much my life right now.  It's about to change big time, though, so stick around!