Sick in South America

That's right...I am very sick. Not just a 24 hour bug, allergies or the flu. At first I thought it was strep because I usually get that a couple times a year. Now I am pretty sure it is mono.

I went to the doctor on Tuesday. Kendall was a dear and went around with me. The healthcare system is much different here. I sat down with a receptionist to tell her what was wrong with me and then she called the doctor in. I told him I just needed antibiotics. Apparently he studied medicine in Galveston, Texas. Too bad he could speak next to no English. He perscribed me two random drugs which I walked to pick up at a certain pharmacy. The antibiotic has caffeine in it and the other one who knows. Neither of them are helping me at all.

I randomly got a cell phone after that. It was only 475 pesos (about $20) for a phone without a contract with 200 texts and I don't even know how many minutes.

Yesterday I stayed in bed literally all day. I dozed in and out and felt completeley useless. I now have not been to my internship for two days. Until I know what I have for sure I don't want to be getting other people sick if I can help it.

Last night my mom called me at about 2 a.m. on my cell phone and we talked for about an hour. After that I would wake up every hour or so crying because I was in so much pain. It is awful being so sick in a foreign country! This morning I had Jasmine look at my throat and she thinks I don't have strep. Then I talked to Kendall and thought about it, and I think I have mono. The first sings of being sick I had was having swollen lymph nodes a couple weeks ago. She said my throat looked much worse than strep. Don't worry, I won't go into details...

Most of my friends here are going on a night stayover trip to Colonia Saturday night with La Morocha, the place where we take dance lessons. I will probably just go. I don't want to miss out, even if I am dying. I am not sure if I will go to the place tonight because I need to save up my strength. I am not even sure if I will go to my internship today. All I do know is that the honeymoon stage of my culture shock is over and my health is suffering for it. Pray for my health!

Jasmine's 21st

This past weekend was fun. Jasmine became legal in America in Latin American style.

The Premios de Graffiti were interesting. Let's just say that Spanish and rock do not mix. It was still interesting to hear some of their bands though. Half of them sang in English. Miguel, my boss, picked me up, and I think Maria freaked out when she saw him and didn't know he was my boss. Ha ha. The next day she warned me about old men. At the awards i met Florencia's (my coworker) boyfriend and sat with them. I got home at about 1 or so.

Friday was our last day of Spanish classes. It was kind of sad. I am going to miss playing Situacion Limite with Laticia. I won't miss studying subjunctive with Juan, but I will miss him too. Paula (secretary) put together a kind-of party for us during our last class. They had chips and drinks for us and we took tons of pictures. The Germans are leaving soon, which is sad. They were totally crazy and were always drinking beer or something and going out. Karin is leaving tomorrow to for Colonia and then Argentina. I can't believe the past 3 weeks are already over.

Friday night was crazy. They had a going-away dinner for us. Norma cooked Chavizo, which is basically a burger with cut up ham and cheese, mayonaese (of course, they're obsessed with it,) and random grilled vegetables. Jasmine had a lot to drink. I left for about 30 minutes to talk to my family and by the time I got back everyone was a bit gone. It was funny.

We left the school at about midnight to go out in Ciudad Vieja. I had to go get some money out and by the time I got to the Peoni where everyone else was Jasmine wasn't feeling well. We ended up going back home really soon. Ryan carried Jasmine to the cab and he, Kendall, Ian and I took her home. They were so nice and helped me make sure she was okay. Everyone was worried, but she was fine.

Yesterday Jasmine wanted to just lie around since it was cold outside. We went out to eat in Ciudad Vieja at the restaurant where Bush ate when he visited a couple months ago. It was really good. I can say right now that I am going to miss dulce de leche. After dinner Kendall and Ryan went home and I went with Jasmine to Baar Fun Fun to meet up with Jo, Karin and Stephen. There were several singers who sang tango music. After being there for a few hours Jo, Karin, Jasmine and I headed to the Cite bar. The line was way to long so we went to the place across the way and stayed for a couple hours.

Karin talked to the cab driver on the way home and it costed twice as much as usual. We have learned the hard way not to talk to the drivers so they don't know you're a foreigner. It's really frustrating. We got home around 5 a.m.

Today Jasmine and I walked around the Sunday feria at Parque Rodo, which is just a few minutes away from us. I got about 5 turtlenecks and a jacket for under $50. They were turtlenecks here a lot and I am glad to finally have some to layer with and for work. I am set now. Now I have to do some research on going to Buenos Aires. Next weekend we may go with the tango place that we usually go to on Thursday to Colonia. We will see. We only have 4 weekends left so we have to plan it out soon!

Rock

As I have mentioned before, my Spanish is most certainly not the best in the world. I am still very much an intermediate from not having studied Spanish for at least two years before coming to Montevideo.

When I met my boss the other day, he said something about Thursday, but he only said a couple sentences and he speaks so quickly that I couldn't tell what he was saying. Today I received a call from him here at the school while I was in class. After some time on the phone I figured out that I am going to "Graffiti" tonight. I had no idea what that was when I hung up the phone. All I knew was that I was not going to be able to go with the huge group that is going tonight to dance and the place we went to last week. I was totally bummed.

Then I looked up the information on "Graffiti" online. It is the national Uruguayan rock awards!! So I am definetely not as bummed as I was at all. I get to go to an invitation-only event with my work. Not only that, but I get to hear some Uruguayan rock bands. (That has GOT to be interesting.) I am really excited! They pick me up outside of my house at 9 p.m. Wish me luck.

Other than that, only the Adelante stuff is going on. They have not tried to appease us except to change a couple wordings in their information (unsatisfactorily I might add) and add one more activity to the one activity that we were given (to make it plural like the contract says I suppose.) Some say we could press suit for all the lies and breach of contract that have taken place, but I wish they would just be more professional about the situation.

Tomorrow is our last day at the school...it is hard to believe that it has been three weeks already. Well, maybe it's not THAT hard to believe. The teachers here at the school are amazing and I hope they continue to receive more students. We have a farewell dinner tomorrow night. We will probably go out tomorrow night for Jasmine's 21st birthday too. She has us planning it all, so hopefully I can do okay with that. I know she likes TGI Friday's and I think there is one in the Montevideo Shopping Mall...

Frustrated

Yes, frustrated is all I feel right now. It's not for any truly personal reason (that was last week,) but because it is on account of Adelante, the program that I came abroad with.

Adelante lied to us about most parts of the program. For example, they listed that the local program director was fluent in English. He is maybe an intermediate speaker. There is a beginner Spanish participant here and she can't ask a simple question about a heater. In addition, they insured us that we had several activities included in our tuition, but we only have 2 activities and any other we would like to do require an additional fee. These are only two things of many that we signed a contract for that is simply not true.

It gets worse. The headquarters in California e-mailed us to see how we were doing. I finally e-mailed a reply a week late saying very concisely of my distresses. The e-mail I received in reply was an eight-paragraph essay (as opposed to my one-paragraph e-mail) that was extremely defensive, but most importantly very condescending and rude. It was VERY unprofessional. I was flabbergasted. Kendall and Jasmine have sent similar e-mails. They have received similar responses. I wrote back yesterday copying and pasting examples of their blatant lies. It is too the point that Ryan's mom is looking at the law aspects of the situation. I just got done making revisions to their pre-orientation packet to send back to them. It has been a terrible situation. For future reference,

Do not use Adelante under any circumstances. I would recommend the
school here any day, but not Adelante.

Other than that, we have two new students from the states, Paul and Ian, who are nice guys. They are both around my age. It's kind of strange to see guys studying abroad. When I was in Italy it was mostly girls as well. This is the last week of our classes! I met my internship director yesterday. They are mostly a magazing publisher it seems and work is only 2 blocks away from where I live. I will be working 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. I enjoy the school, but I think I will learn a great deal of Spanish working and using it. Wish me luck!

Tango

The tango was born in Argentina, right across the Rio de Plata from Montevideo. There are so many places to learn tango it is ridiculous. Liz is a girl that stayed with Maria (our house mom) two years ago when she did our program for two months. She went back home to Montana for four months and then came back to Montevideo, where she has been for 1 1/2 years. She is dating a guy that teaches tango. Thursday night we went to a place where you pay 60 pesos for several hours of class. They teach salsa, then "rock and roll" (swing,) and then tango. The salsa and rock and roll were easy because of my ballet background, but tango was quite another story.

I had several guys ask me to dance even though I told them all it was my first time. I caught on as quickly as I could, but it is a very strict and sensual dance wherin you HAVE to know what you are doing. We ended up staying there much longer than we had anticipated. We tried grappa miel, one of Uruguay's national drinks, which is made from miel, or honey. We also met Liz's boyfriend, who gave Jasmine and I tango lessons today.

Friday Jasmine slept through the first half of classes and a new teacher taught us. After class Laticia took us on a tour of Ciudad Vieja and told us about some of the arcitecture and history of Montevideo. It was originally a Spanish establishment/port.

That night we went out like the Uruguayans do for the first time. Karin, Kendyll, Ryan, Jasmine and I went out together. We went to a place in Parque Rodo called the W Lounge. It was crazy. It did not open until 1 a.m. so we got there at about 1:30. The place was really cool. There were 4 different rooms with different music in each and televisions, lights, and smoke everywhere. There were people absolutely everywhere. No matter where you stood there was someone trying to push past you. It was a lot of fun, but very intense, very latin. I left at about 5, but most people do not leave until about 6 or 7 in the morning.

Today Jasmine and I slept in until about 3 p.m. It was great. Then we went to tango lessons wiht Liz's boyfriend. By the end of the hour, he told us that we had learned the equivalent of four lessons in one. I am really excited about learning it!

Tomorrow a bunch of us are going to an expat meeting with other English speakers. There is a new student here from Australia who I think is coming too. Austrailians are the best traveled people of any other country. When I was traveling around Europe I ran into more Austrailians than any other people. Apparently the real estate here is really cheap so Stephen (the guy from Australia) is going to be here for about 3 months investing in renovating some apartments or a hotel. It is amazing, the people you meet when you are abroad!

Soccer and Sing

The past few days have been interesting. Monday literally all of the Spanish school at Herradura went to a meal where they prepared every kind of meat you can imagine. I do not even know all that I ate. Cow pancreas, sausage seasoned with sweet blood and another with salty blood, I tried it all. It was interesting.

Tuesday Jasmine and I went to the Punto Carretas shopping mall and i bought another pair of jeans since I only brought 3. I wish I had known that Montevideo fashion was so lax. People just don't care here about how they look and they wear jeans all the time. Women don't wear skirts, which is what I brought a lot of for my internship. I'm not in Italy anymore.

Yesday was random and crazy. After class literally all the spanish class students went on a three-hour bus tour of Montevideo. I am very glad that I went. We went all over the city and got to take pictures of the congress bulding, modern telecommunications building, went on the hill in carrascas to take picture of the port, and more.

On the tour we randomly met a guy named Lawrence who is from Seattle and was only going to be there for a night. He grew up in L.A. Beverly Hills and went to school with stars' kids. He travels all over the world for "business" and will stay in one place only for a couple nights before moving on. He then returns to the places that he likes. He claims that he doesn't have much money, but it was obvious that he does when he pulled out a black American Express card...which you are only personally invited to have and must have A LOT of money to keep. So he is pretty much loaded even though he insisted he was broke and from the "poor part" of Beverly Hills because his parents were from Costa Rica, which he visits about 7 times a year.

Liar.

Lawrence told us during the city tour that he was going to a soccer game between Brazil and Uruguay that night. We randomly decided to go. Jasmine, Ryan, Kendell and I randomly went to the game with him...he bought the tickets. It was freezing, but it was a good experience. Like Europeans, South Americans are crazy about soccer and there were all sorts of fights. They patted us down going inside for knives. The police were everywhere, it was kind of funny. They had fireworks like it was the Fourth of July. We sat on the Brazil side and they never once stopped singing.

After the game we met Jo and Karin at Bar Fun Fun. It is where most famous people go when they visit Montevideo. It was a really cool place. There was a singer, Rosanna, who was singing songs like Norah Jones, but in Spanish. It was really good. Of course Lawrence paid for all of our food and drinks, which there were nine of us. Oh goodness. Tonight I am going to learn tango! Wish me luck.

The Culture of Uruguay

I thought I would take a moment to explain a few things about the culture of Uruguay to make it easier to understand the activities I am doing, just to know, etc...

Night Life

The night life is a lot like it is in Europe. I studied abroad in Florence last semester and it is very similar to that. It is the main form of social interaction for the younger community. Many popular night places do not even open until 2 a.m. and most people do not leave the clubs (called boliches) until about 6 or 7 a.m. This is NOTHING like the nightlife in the states. It is abnormal not to go out like they do late at night and they are not shady in any way. This is a hard concept to grasp if you have never experienced this part of the culture in Europe or Latin America.

Mate

Mate is the official drink of Uruguay and Argentina. It is basically a very, very strong tea. Almost evey local we see has a thermos of hot water and a gourd with the mate mix in it. The mate mix is basically an herb that has been cut up and it has a LOT of caffiene. They usually have it in the mornings and at night as a pick-me-up. They pour the hot water in the gourd and it is ready to go. There is one person who pours the mate and passes it to each person. After that person finishes it, they pass it back to the "mater master" (for lack of a better word) and they pour more water into the gourd for the next person. It is a communal thing. They drink the mate through a bombilla, or a special straw. The straw is made with metal and sometimes ornately decorated with gold. At the end of the straw are little holes, it is not open like normal straws. I think the mate tastes a lot like Earl Grey personally, but that's just me. Apparently if a guy puts sugar in your mate when he is "mate master" it means he likes you, and if he puts salt in it, he doesn't.

Food

The most important food here is asado, or barbecue. The main meat is beef, they put it in absolutelyl everything! For asado they will cook the meat all day...it is amazing! They have bread for breakfast like they do in Europe. The baked goods are very good. The food here is very, very bland, but the sweets are very, very sweet. Fine with me.

Parts of the city

Ciudad Vieja is where all the night life and important parts of the city are (Teatro Solis, plaza independencia, port, etc.) Pocitos is the more upper-end part of the city. Parque Rodo is where I live and it is mainly residential.

Places to see

Teatro Solis (they have free tours every Wednesday,) plaza independencia and the urns under the city, the main port, the streets of boliches in ciudad vieja at night, punto carretas shopping mall (it looks like a mall in the states,) parque rodo, and I am sure I will add more.

Cold

No matter what temperature it is outside, everyone seems to wear heavy coats in the fall and winter here. It has been very cold some days and they do not use heating here except for gas stoves because it is so expensive. Of course I get cold very easily so I freeze a lot. It may not acutally be very cold outside, but the cold they have is bone-chilling.

Religion

The majority of the people here associate with the Roman Catholic church. However, they view it more as their heritage then their religion. The older generations seem to be religious (Maria has several crosses in her room,) but most do not attend church or practice it. In fact, one of my teachers does not even believe in God. As for me, I have been searching for an English church, but it is an ongoing search. The only one I have found is on the other side of the city.

Family

Family is important to uruguayans like it is to the Italians. They are very close to each other. Maria talks to her two daughters for hours on end every day. Kids do not move out of the house until they are about 28. They are not very independent. It is hard to find jobs here, especially in Montevideo. There are 3 million people livinng in Uruguay, and about a third live in Montevideo. Many people move to Spain (where one of Maria's daughters live,) Argentina or Mexico.

Random things

-There are horse carriages everywhere in Montevideo. Cute, huh? NO. They are only used to cart trash around. How romantic.
-The f*** you gesture in American sign language means "I don't know" here. It takes some getting used to

I hope this has given you some insight into the culture here. We learn a little more about it every day and it is very interesting. Just don't think that I am so crazy American when I say that I went out to bars, because the connotations here are completely different than any connotations surrounding them in America. It is a different culture, after all!

Punto del Este

Today we went to Punto del Este, the most fashionable beach in South America.

Last night we went out with Jo, Karen, and the couple from Chicago, Ryan and Kendell, came too. We didn't stay too long. There seemed to only be younger people out. Apparently out kind of crowd only goes out during the weekdays. We went to eat at around 11 and didn't finish until about 2. We didn't stay too long since we had to be up for the trip today at 8 a.m. Plus I had to hide from Ashley. The most eventful things were Jasmine getting stopped for not having an id/looking under 21 and some random guy asking if I wanted a drink. Which I refused. Yeah, fun night, right.

So we had to be at the company at 8 a.m. Jasmine, me and the couple from Chicago were the only ones that went. Of course they were running late. We didn't leave until 30 minutes later. We were so tired. The bus was nice. The guide talked in Spanish and would translate a few sentences into English. Thank goodness I could understand the Spanish, even his English was terrible.

You cannot come to Uruguay without knowing any Spanish. No one knows
English.

We went through several coastal towns that were gorgeous. We went to the town of San Antonio's patronage. Punto del Este was beautiful. I could see why all the rich and famous go there, even if it was freezing.

All the houses have a nameplate with the name its owners gave it instead of street numbers. There were some very interesting names. I saw Tejas Azul and Tejas Verde. People here love Texas.

In the beach there is what looks like a hand coming out of the sand that is very famous. It signifies South America rising from its economic crisis. There is an anchor in another place that marks the line between the Rio de Plata and the Ocean. We left after eating at Johnny Walker and then left to go home. Maria made us empanadas that are waiting for us back at home.

Speaking of Maria (our house mom.) She is a total punk. She is only hosting us for the money. She told Jasmine not to tell the school she was leaving early because she wouldn't be paid on the very first day she met her. That is ridiculous. The other day we had used her phone to make a 30 second phone call to Karen at the school. We asked to use it again yesterday and she went off on Jasmine. She told her that it wasn't included and was really rude about it.

In addition, the other day she made us asado (their form of barbecue.) It was absolutely amazing by the way. But it was totally ruined when she came and chewed Jasmine out for eating ribs with her hands. I mean, it would have been maybe okay if she had just said something gently and dropped it, but she was extremely rude and condescending about it. I still like her.

I think she is just old and set in her ways and can't help looking down on those who are different from her. I will be praying for her.

Today Jasmine and I got to know Kendell and Ryan better and hopefully we will be seeing more of them. Neither of them know too much Spanish and Uruguay is not English-friendly so it's nice to help them out.

First time going out/British navy

Last night Jasmine, Jo (the other girl who is in our advanced Spanish class) and Karen (who is taking classes here) and I all went out in Ciudad Vieja. Ciudad Vieja (old city) is where all the life is in Montevideo. It was boliches (clubs) and bars and tango places there. Most of the places don't open until 2 a.m. and they dance until about 6 or 7. It's a little different than the states...

Jasmine and I met Jo and Karen at the school (where they are living) at about 10:30 to leave. There weren't many people there at all. It is a 40 minute walk from here so we took a cab. When we got there we walked around a little but it was dead. We went and got drinks at a place they (Jo and Karen) had been the night before. Eventually we went into a bar across they way that had a bunch of gringos in it just because a lot of people were there.

After we had been inside for awhile a random Scottish-sounding guy came up to me. All the people there spoke English. They were all with the British royal navy and are here for five nights while their ship is painted for an anniversary or something. They are ending the end of their three month trip.

Jo and Karen are older (in their 30s) and were off somewhere talking. Jasmine kept checking on me every now and then. An officer named Ashley came up to me and started talking to me and ended up following me around until I finally left the area at 4 a.m. He introduced me to all his friends. However, his friends also hit on me and at one point I was completely surrounded by them. It was so funny. I felt like the girl in top gun. At least they were very nice. I had no idea that Brits liked corona so much.

Any time I tell people that I am from Texas they get really excited. Everyone asks about the cowboy hats, etc. It happened last summer at Georgetown and in Italy. Hollywood has ruined us. They all talk about George Bush being from Texas too.

Some of the sailors were ridiculous. A Scottish guy that was a friend of Ashley's mooned me. Oh, and Ashley had the most hilarious pick up lines. One was "the girl over there (who was Spanish) asked me why I have been talking to you for an hour and still haven't kissed you." As he got more drunk they got worse. But it sure was funny, for me. There was absolutely no way that was going to happen. I started hiding.

After being at that place for awhile we went to a place across the way and danced until 4. We met some local Uruguayans and they were extremely nice. One of the guys is studying public relations like me and speaks Italian as I sort of do. It was just strange to meet a local who is studying the same thing I am.

It was interesting, but it was really fun. Tonight we are going to go eat dinner (they eat at around 10 p.m. here) and then go out and actually stay out like they do. Tomorrow morning we have to be somewhere at 8 a.m. to go to Punta del Este. That will be interesting. Well, class is starting again. I am so tired!

Changing Over

I am crazy for leaving Texas when it is freezing cold here in Montevideo. Maria finally brought in gas heaters for us only the other day. Jasmine and I just sit in her room in the warmth while watching tv or reading. The temperature is only in the 60s, but the wind makes it unbearable to be outside.

Yesterday was an exception to the awful cold. It was bright and sunny outside. Jasmine and I walked all over the place. We went to the large autobus station in Tres Cruces to check out the bus rates (that is how South Americans get around) and the shopping mall. So far we have found two McCafes that look amazing with a great deal of baked goods. Wouldn't have guessed, right? The exchange rate right now is 24 dollars to the Uruguayan peso.

After walking to Tres Cruces (3 crosses,) we walked around Parque Rodo, which is right next to our house. We then went to Playa Ramirez, the beach next to the park. The water is both brown and freezing, but it was still amazing to think that there is a beach so close to us. It is beautiful.

Maria, our mom, we have discovered is very nice, but also into loaning us the house for the money. It is almost hilarious. The first day we were here apparently she told Jasmine not to tell Adelante that she was living a few days early so she would get all her money for the food. Who says that when you first meet someone? The people here are very friendly, but maybe a little too open?

Tonight I think we are going to Ciudad Vieja with a couple of the older students to go out. Ciudad Vieja is where everything happens. We are planning trips to Buenos Aires soon!

Preocupado

Hola,

I have been very busy, and at the same time not busy at all. The culture here is much different than any other place and I feel like I have learned more about it than I knew of Italy after three months.

There are several students taking classes here at the language school right now. There is an older german couple, a college couple from Chicago, my roommate from New York (Jasmine) and Jo who just came from Peru. We had to take a test when we first got here and somehow I am in the intermediate-advanced Spanish class with Jasmine and Jo. They are very advanced. Jo just got back from Peru, so of course she is fluent, and Jasmine grew up in Puerto Rico. It is tough, but at least I am learning. We have classes for 4 hours a day with five minute breaks. It is very intense.

Maria is the name of our mom. She puts out bread for us every morning to eat and then makes supper for us. She always makes very interesting local dishes. The food here is very bland. They have beef in everything.

Yesterday I had mate, their national drink. They drink it from a gourd and use a bombilla, a special straw, to drink it. It tastes like Earl Gray tea. They are obsessed with it. It has more caffiene than coffee. I need some of it for school!

We start class at 9 a.m. and get out at 1. So we have the rest of the day to do whatever. They have our American movies playing constantly on tv. Jasmine and I have watched several movies with Spanish subtitles. The other day we went to a shopping mall. It is painful to walk around too much because it is incredibly cold outside. It was even cold in the house for the longest time until Maria brought in gas heaters.

The men here can be like the Italians, but for the most part they are considerate. As long as they dont see my blue eyes we can usually avoid unwanted attention. The culture in general is very interesting.

This weekend we are going to Punta del Este, a famous beach resort for the rich people of Sudamerica. It should be interesting. Buenos Aires is a 30 minute ferry ride away, so we will go there one weekend as well.

Entonces, necesito practicar mi castellano. The Spanish here is muuch different that in Mexico. Te amo.

Traveling and arriving in Uruguay

I am sooo glad that the past couple days are over!! My traveling was completely smooth, but it is still never fun.

I drove up to Fort Worth to meet my dad and one of my sisters (Rachel) at my grandma´s house. Then my dad and I somehow managed to eat at Red Lobster and then get to the airport on time. There was next to no one at the international side of DFW.

My first flight was to Santiago, Chile. It was an overnight flight and I woke up at least once every hour. American Airlines flights going overseas are not fun. When I got to Santiago I had to wait five hours for my flight to Montevideo. I watched pretty much all the video I have on my Zen(ipod.) Too bad all that I had was Bambi II (don´t ask) and episodes of Daria and the Wonder Years. I hated not being able to get online, but airports charge for that.

The next flight to Montevideo was gorgeous. You could see mountains everywhere you looked. I had to buy a jacket in the Santiago airport because, of course, I got cold. The flight was fast and the LAN South American airline was actually very nice. I think it is up there with AirFrance, which is amazing. On this airline you can pick what movie you want to watch and fast forward, etc, if you would like. The food was amazing too. It was a nice change from American.

When we were boarding the plane I noticed a girl with an American passport. I told her that her bag was cute as we were getting on the plane surrounded by South Americans, but she just said thanks. As we got off the plane I struck up a conversation with her. She goes to University of Penn and her family lives in Uruguay. We talked for the rest of the time through customs, etc, and she has my home number. She said none of her friends are in Uruguay now so we are going to hang out. I was sooo excited to already have a contact who knows her way around Montevideo!!

A very friendly man was at the airport to pick me up and take me to my new home. It was a long drive, but he was very nice. I just realized how limited my Spanish is. The Spanish in Montevideo is different from Mexican Spanish in the first place. It is very confusing and I haven´t studied Spanish for a couple years, but I guess that is why I am here.

The man dropped me off and gave me a friendly kiss and I went in to meet my new ¨family.¨ The owner of the house is a sweet widow who only speaks Spanish. There is also another girl who is living there who is in the program. She goes to University of Penn and seems really nice.

I thought my apartment in Florence was small. It was nothing next to this. I will take pictures soon because it is amazing that we are all fitting into this small apartment. The kitchen is maybe 3 steps deep as is the bathroom...no joke. Fun!

I am really excited to be here. I haven´t had time to really see anything, but I am sure there is plenty of time to do that. I have to take a placement test tonight and be at the school at 9 a.m. tomorrow for an orientation. From driving around and all the people I have met I really like South America and Uruguay. It is very different than any other place I have been, but it´s a good different. I am sure I will really get to see it tomorrow.

I miss you all and I hope you are having a wonderful time back in the states.

But yes, I am here and I am alive!

Countdown: three days

That is right, I have three days until I leave Waco behind for two months to live in Montevideo, Uruguay, for two months. Within those three days I will have an interview for a fall internship, have four finals and say good-bye to friends. I packed like a madwoman for hours yesterday and my room is in shambles (aka boxes.) I only lived in our house for one semester because I studied abroad for last fall semester in Florence, Italy, and saw Europe. It was amazing.

I am going to Uruguay by myself. I do not know anyone else who will be going. I hope to use my time in Uruguay as a learning and growing experience. Although it is hard to leave my family and friends behind, it is only temporary and I know the effects will be endless. I will be living with a widow in a house while I am there. Apparently one other person will be staying in the house with me, but I do not even know their gender at this point. The whole ordeal is just a big scary, exciting adventure.

The first three weeks I am there I will be studying Spanish in classes. The rest of my time there I will be interning at a public relations firm in the city. Talk about intense. It will be fall in Uruguay, which is a little depressing since I will be living eight blocks from the beach, but I most certainly cannot really complain!

It is sort of starting to hit me that I am going to a country very far away in South America now that my room is a disaster zone, but I am still in school mode. I don't think it will fully hit me until I am on the plane leaving Dallas. My dad and sister (Rachel) will be meeting me at the DFW airport to say good-bye. I have my last final on the same day that I fly out. One next oldest sister (Courtney) who goes to TCU came and told me bye today. I cannot believe this is really happening, but I am glad that it is.