Yankee Landia Stole Me Back

Well, my journey is far from over... My journey in life that is. It is weird to think that just over five months ago, I had no idea what life was like in Argentina. I had 0 friends, and knew nothing. In such a short time I have made a lot of friends, learned a new lifestyle, and feel like I know Argentina better than most other things.

I left the United States on July 3rd. Gas prices were about 3.50 a gallon, the economy was great, and life was normal. The life there stopped for me on the 4th when I arrived in Argentina, but it did not stop for anybody else.

I realize that life doesnt stop anywhere. Life continued in the States and life will continue in Argentina with or without me. It is amazing how the everyday life that seems so normal can be so foreign to another. I see both sides now, and cannot imagine life without one of them. Lets just say that I am confused.

I miss my friends from home and my family of course, but I cannot imagine life without my friends from Argentina. Or for that matter, my way of life. I walk everywhere, drink mate, only text on my cellphone because its too expensive to call. Little things, but a big part of my life.

Anyway, on to the point of this blog... Monday night I ate empanadas with my family outside during a clear and beautiful night. We brought the tv outside and watched that. I drank Baileys with Luis. I presented my family with a Minnesota Twins T shirt (one for each person). They loved it. I also told them how much I appreciated everything they had done for me. They in return had bought me a mate and painted on the side "de tu familia argentina" (from your argentina family). It was a late night of jokes and conversating in spanish. I hardly slept all night. My time in Argentina was coming to an end

Tuesday I woke up early to shower and start packing my bags. I ran to the store bought some items I wished to return with me. I left for a couple hours to say goodbye to my again "friend" Magui. I returned home for lunch. My LAST meal in Argentina.

I went to the airport with Irene, Luis, and my tutor Pancho. We said our goodbyes and I departed for home.

Four flights and 20 some hours later, I like to inform you all that I have arrived to my home in Minnesota safely. Yankee Landia has stolen me back, but I still have a piece of my heart in Argentina. Cordoba, I will return some day. The reentry shock has already hit me hard, with every little thing I do.

This is not my last blog, I plan (haha plan) on writing atleast one more this week about my reentry shock. Please, if you have enjoyed this blog, read the final one or two (who knows how many I will write).

But for all those wondering when I will be home, I am ALREADY home and I had a good safe travel. See you or talk to you soon.

One Tough Fun Week!!

Well what can I say... It has been one fun and tough week. With little time to go before returning home to the states for Christmas and the New Year, I had to say a lot of goodbyes. I thought this week would be very lonely as all the other United Statesians were gone. I was completely wrong.

I was out everyday visiting downtown, other host parents that I will miss so much, and of course eating my favorite foods, all well trying to spend as much time with my host family as I could. I even made a stop to my first host family's house to say goodbye. Marta was not there but I had a beer with Edzui. It was really fun, but sad to start saying more and more goodbyes.

My "friend" Magui left for Rioja, where she leaves. We had a lunch date on Thursday, and then met again early Saturday morning to say "goodbye". Funny how that works though because she returned to Cordoba again yesterday morning. We met during the afternoon, drank a juice, and again gave eachother little "going away presents".

I went to my school the other day to say goodbye to most of the professors and some friends before the school closes for the holidays and summer. It was sad, but had to be done.

I benefitted in the fact that I downloaded a lot of the pictures that had been taken by others. I bought a pen drive last week when I realized that the folder I saved all my photos to was on a computer in Argentina. My brother informed me that the folder would be pretty hard to access in Minnesota. I responded with the fact that I have a lot of them on facebook too. Again he informed me of the hours it would take to save each picture off of facebook. He clearly knows how to make me look like a knucklehead. Anyway, he influenced me to buy a pen drive and it paid off this past week as I gained a lot of new interesting photos of my experience.

I also have scrambled this week to buy as many gifts for people as I could. Will see how many of you actually get something. Unfortuanately I suck at that part of life. Dont expect anything exciting hahaha.

It is a sad week, but atleast 37 degrees C (98 F)is better than 0 degrees F (-12 or something C)

A Week With My Bro

For those of you who didnt realize it yet, I am still in Argentina. The program is over, and all I have been doing is having the time of my life. Last week, my Brother Matt came to visit me. He decided spur of the moment... imagine that coming from my family. Everybody knows we love to plan ahead hahaha.

He arrived Wednesday, and My host brother, sister, and mom all came with me to find him at the airport. We picked him up and got settled in. We had one busy week and hopefully fun. I know I bored the heck out of him a few times as part of the Argentina life is waiting or walking (ALOT).

Wednesday night we went to one of my favorite mexican restaurants here called Mariache. After that we went to my favorite bar Contender where I made him try Fernet and Coke. The description.... tastes like medicine hahaha. We hung out there with one of my tutors Matias.

The rest of the week is a blur for me. We slept in usually, and then went out to eat or walk or something. We spent a lot of time with the one gringo still here. Ashley the really pretty blonde I always hang out with. We spent many hours downtown and touring the city. We even went three times to see this water fountain light show, which never happened. We also took a trip to a nearby city to swim in the river and enjoy the sun. We ate at almost all my favorite restaurants, but could not eat at all of them due to times they were open and location.

Almost everyday we enjoyed ice cream. Thats right ice cream in the heat during December. I made Matt try all my favorite foods here too. Empanadas, dulce de leche, lomitos, panchos, and of course choripanes.

On Sunday, we didnt intend to but ended up walking four hours from my house all the way to downtown. (YES, IT CAN BE DONE). We never want to do that again though. Monday we went out looking for futbol tickets. It was a long and interesting journey, but we eventually found the tiny boleteria in the middle of a field where we bought the tickets. Then we even managed to find the field too. The game was amazing. We ate Choripan because thats like peanuts and crackerjacks at the baseball game. The Talleres were the home team and they won 3 to nothing. There was nothing more fun than jumping up and down yelling GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLL!!

Anyway, I took him to a friends apartment, to a club for my friends birthday party, we enjoyed mates at my school, and even made it to an asado. I hope he enjoyed every minute of it.

It was fun to see him instantly become friends with my friends. He left on Wednesday on the same flight as my friend yankee Ashley and two of my friends from here Flor and Nati. From the pictures, it looks like he had a good time on the flight with them.

Well, I have to run, but I will write more about my experience soon.



We could

Now I Feel Comfortable Because There is no Typical Day

My life in Cordoba has changed dramatically the last few weeks. I have finished classes, and said goodbyes to some of my best friends in the world. The program is over, but I must have missed the memo because I am still here. Unfortuanately being here is a little bit like finishing highschool. If you elect to stay at home, your friends leave, but if you leave, you are leaving all your friends. Atleast 20 of my friends have moved away in the past week back to their home country, but here I am still in Argentina.

I have noticed that my typical day has changed. I dont mind at all though because I hate routines and knowing what is coming next. Now, I wake everyday without a plan and it is great. Throughout the program my day used to go something like this...

I would set my alarm for noon everyday. I know tough life huh. I would get up and eat some facturas or criollas with dulce de leche for breakfast. Then I would take a shower and finish whatever homework I had left over or needed to get a head start on. Sometimes I would just read spanish things for fun, or go online at my house. After that, I would eat lunch around 1 or 1:30 before class. I would grab my headphones and walk a half hour to the university.

Everyday I had class at 2 or 2:30 which sucked. It was right during the siesta hour. After class I would usually bum around the university, studying, talking with friends, or using the internet. It was always an adventure at the university talking with the girls. Recall my earlier blog where I told one girl I did not have a penis. Another incident occurred after I wrote that blog. I asked a girl if she wanted to go play soccer at the field. "Queres jugar futbol en la cancha". However, my wonderful pronunciation turned "cancha" into "concha". Instead, I asked, would you like to go play soccer in the pussy. Anyway, back to my day.

Tuesdays always sucked as I had class until 8:30 at night. Mondays I had to hang around school becasue I had Tango class at night. Thursdays were a little different because I had to get up at 9 am for horseback riding. Otherwise my days were pretty much the same.

At night I would return home for dinner with my family where they would eat and watch on tv "Por Amor A Vos". After dinner it would usually be "Bailando Por un Sueno" or something like that. Some nights I would go out to the boliches or bars. When that happened, I would rarely return early. I would be out until 5 or so in the morning and then sleep all day.

Now, I dont have the stress of school. I do what I want and go where I please. This week is going to be very fun though, as tomorrow my Brother Matt is coming to visit. I don´t have a plan at all, but we are going to find some things to do in the hot summer sun.

As for when I am returning... That is still a surprise.

Summer Vacation

I decided that I needed to celebrate being on summer vacation. Since, I did not have a final my "last" week here, I decided to travel with my friends. Brenda and Chelsea had planned a trip to Salta in the north. The three of us are pretty similar and do not like to plan ahead. We baught bus tickets and went to Salta with no plans at all.

We arrived there on Sunday Morning, and met representive of a hostel in the bus station. We checked into our hostel, and began wandering around the city. We stopped at a few tourist booths and learned of some excursiones. We went to like 4 and found the cheapest ones.

The first day, we gave ourselves a self tour of Salta. We walked around all day in 40 degree weather. For you Farenheit people that is 104 degrees. We shopped at the Ferias, and stopped to eat empanadas for lunch. We even stole water for free at the restaurant (this you will only understand, if you live here). During sunset, we took a ski lift swing up to the top of a mountain that overlooked the city. It was very beautiful and a bit cooler because there was a breeze. The breeze grew stronger and it became very windy. Due to the wind, it was cold and we were stuck on top of the mountain because it was too dangerous to go down in the ski lifts. Finally the wind died down a little, and we made it down the mountain safely.

The hostel we were at was having an asado and show the first night. We went back to the hostel and enjoyed some juicy steaks (except chelsea, who opted for the free spaghetti dinner instead). The free dinner was horrible, but the asado was great. The show was good too. Four men played folklore music, well a man and a women danced. I unfortuanately made the comment to the beautiful folkloric dancer that I had learned some of the dances in school. During the middle of the show she grabbed my hand and we started dancing in front of the entire hostel. The guy grabbed Brenda and she had to dance too. Then they put us together and we were the show. It was awesome, even though Brenda was a little embarrassed. Finally the show ended and we went to sleep.

The second day we had excoursiones. They began at 7 in the morning. A tour van picked us up at our hostel. We took an all day tour through the mountains and citys to the North of Salta. We did on big circle and even passed through Jujuy. We saw the seven colored mountain, as well as other small pueblos. We also went to the Salinas where they make tons of Salt.

The part of the tour that I found most interesting had nothing to do with what we saw. It was the mixture of cultures and languages in our van. there was a small group from Alaska, a couple people from Spain, another couple from Switzerland, and a man from Germany. One of the guys from Alaska was originally from Switzerland, so he talked with the two from there. He obviously spoke english too (but not spanish). His friends from Alaska spoke english and spanish, like Chelsea, Brenda, and I. The people from Spain spoke spanish and a little bit of english. The German, spoke german, spanish, and english. The two from Switzerland spoke a little english and spanish as well. There were like 6 different languages going around during this tour. Mostly everybody could understand atleast two of them. The tour guide gave the tour in english and spanish. It was really neat to see all these people comunicating in so many different ways.

The tour ended around 9pm. We walked around the city a little bit, and returned to the hostel around 10:30 for our free dinner. We had uncooked rice with chicken. It was horrible. The girls told me it was the worst meal they had ever had. To me, I thought it was better than the Saint Marys Cafeteria, but we all know that the Cafe food is the biggest scam in the world. The hostel food was better and cheaper. After dinner we went to bed.

For our final day, we decided to play it by ear. We wanted to do another tour to the southern parts of the province, but Chelsea´s bus left too early (she was going to Buenos Aires). Instead we gave ourselves more of a self tour. We even went to a place that had real Salta empanadas. They served them with salsa. The waiter said he did not think we would like it, but we each devoured a whole bowl of salsa by ourselves. We shopped, looked, walked, fed the ducks in the lake, and made many stops to the bathroom. One of us had developed a sickness from the food or something. It seemed that every couple minutes somebody had the "Trots". I will not mention who for means of saving them the embarrassment. During our self tour we passed a peluqeria. I joked and said... should I cut my hairs. Next thing I knew the girls were telling the barber how to style my hair. I paid a whole 8 pesos for my first haircut in another country. At the end of the day, we walked Chelsea to the bus station and sent her off to Buenos Aires. Brenda and I walked around the city a little longer before we returned to Cordoba. We walked from our hostel to the bus terminal and made it just before the downpour of rain came.

Pictures will be up soon of my trip. I cannot upload them right now because my friend Charley stole my cord to connect my camera to the computer. I got my camera back now!!

Schools Out For Summer!!

So I finished school a little bit earlier than I expected. I am supposed to have a final this tuesday in art, but I did not qualify to take it. I finished the last of my other finals Friday, with a written and oral part. I scored a 7 which capped off my amazing grades here (except for art). So as of this past Friday, School is officially out for summer.

Friday night, there was a huge party in the Residence Halls Quincho. There was an open bar, a pool, and lots of music. There were quite a few people that I had never met before also. I had plans to get up early on Saturday morning so I did not want to stay out too late. However, my plans changed when this girl named Nadia entered my life. Everytime I reminded her, that I had to leave because I was getting up early, she changed the subject with something like "querés bailar" (Do you want to dance). Of course I responded with a yes. I did manage to sleep a little Friday night. I slept a whole 2 hours.

Saturday I woke up at 9 am and continued my summer party. I went to a nearby town called Icho Cruz. It is a small town with river. My friends Ashley, Brenda, and Ferron went and hung out in the river all day. We climbed on rocks, swam, and laid out in the sun. I put sun lotion on every chance I got hahahaha. Unfortuanately, only one of the girls would put some on the parts of my back I couldnt reach, but ONLY ONCE. I got a little red on my back, but nothing serious like my last encounter with the sun. Brendas host mom has a house in this town. We went to this super nice house for lunch. We had homemade lomitos to eat. AMAZING!! Then we went back to the river.

We left Icho Cruz a little early in order to return to Ashley´s house for an Asado. I didnt get a chance to shower or rest at all. A large group of us met at Ashley´s house and ate chorizo, cerdo, ensalada, helado. Oh yeah and of course there was wine.

After that, a lot of us went out to Chateu (an area with a lot of boliches). We were on a list for a party at Trip. We were a little late, but they still let us in. There was a special event going on too. A cat walk of a bunch of models. We watched the fashion show, and then danced the night away.

I finally made it home for a much needed sleep. I slept until my alarm went off at 4 in the afternoon. Next on my list for the summer. A vacation to Salta!!

Fiestas de Despedidas (Already??)

Well, the program here is winding down, and my time with my friends is running short. We have already started saying goodbyes. Thursday the 13th, we had our first Goodbye Party. The CRI or Central Relaciones Internacionales Office put together a going away party for all of the exchange students. This included my program and the other exchange students.

We had a private party with lots and lots of sandwiches and empanadas. There was also plenty of pop, juice, and water to drink. We watched a slide show, which included some of our tango show, pictures and interviews with some students. Afterwords, we each got a copy of the show. They played the national anthem of each of the countries represented. This included Brasil, Canada, Argentina etc.

After the food, we began Karaoke. People were a little nervous at first, so I got the party started with a terrible display of the Backstreet Boys. They picked a song for me that I really did not know. It was almost as bad as being in my Brothers Basement on the XBox or whatever system it is. I managed to break the ice and get the party going. We mixed songs from different languages. Espanol, English, and Portuguese. It got pretty ugly when I tried to sing the Lion King in Spanish. I redeemed myself in English though.

This past Monday my neighbor Amber went back to the States. I woke up and thought I would go say goodbye to her. I walked down the street and "rang her bell" (haha) only to find out she was preparing a going away lunch. I had been invited but forgot, imagine that. I stayed for the small gathering of girls, and said my goodbyes to the girl next door in Argentina but from New York.

AND Yesterday my program had a going away dinner. Alfredo, the director of my program arranged a dinner in the center of the city for all of us. We met at a restaurant called Revolucion. Everything was already paid for (From our 15000 dollars it costs to do this program). It was all you could drink wine, pop and water. We had an appetizer of some really rich cheese with bread. Then we had some really tasty meat, followed by a dessert. Our group presented Alfredo with a small gift. We all chipped in and baught him a really expensive bottle of wine. He also had a gift for each one of us. It was a small argentinian candy. We said our goodbyes (even though there is a week left of the program). For a few people, it was the last time I would see them during this experience. For others, I will continue to see all week.

It is weird how the time has gone by so fast. I feel like I have known these friends my whole life and now I have to say goodbye. It also feels like I just arrived here yesterday. Its almost been 5 months. NO WAY!!

Brian´s glass is... Half Full?? No not Brian

You read it right, my glass is half full. Why?? Well here briefly is the half empty glass. I have been studying like crazy the last couple weeks. I even went to a friends house and studied until 4 in the morning. I have been doing extra projects and retaking exams like crazy. Remember how I mentioned in my last blog that I had 6 exams to take. Well I have taken some of them. I passed 3 of them. However, I failed my exam for Art. This means, I failed Art. I camp believe I failed an art class. Anyway, my glass is half full.

For my Cultura Popular class, we were supposed to go to a fútbol game a few weeks ago. With my luck it got canceled due to rain (which they never cancel stuff due to rain). They suspended the game until Wednesday, and then changed it again to this Tuesday. Tuesday, I am supposed to re take my first test that I failed for Art. Lucky for me, I failed the second test too, which means I fail the class for sure. Now I am free and get to go to the fútbol game. I also had two projects to do for art by Tuesday, not to mention studying for the test. Now, I don´t have to do those either. And what is supposed to be my last week here, I now have completely free because I will not be allowed to sit for the Art final.

So I made a poor decision to take a contemporary art class instead of a public relations class here. The Art class drove me crazy all semester, but I gave everything I had. The teacher failed me, SO WHAT!! I have learned more spanish than anybody else on this trip, so I am satisfied. And now I can take something fun at SMU like a ceramics class or something. My art teacher did have a little bit of a heart. She told me that I could take my exam in english. I know she was trying to be nice and give me the best chance to past, but I took it as an insult. She insulted my level of spanish by not having any hope in me. It was the 700 pages of advanced spanish I was supposed to read each night that was the problem, and the fact that she has a gift. She not only speaks a mile a minute, she speaks 10 miles a minute, so when I asked her to slow down it was still 5 miles a minute.

I am going to a fútbol game, don´t have to take 2 exams, don´t have to sit through 3 more hours of torture in class, I have a whole week free at the end of November, and I can take a class at SMU like ceramics or something. Would of should of could of taken Public Relations which was a lot easier of a class, but it is too late now. I challenged myself unlike those who took the easy way out. Now lets just hope I pass my final for Cultura Popular Friday. After that, SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER!! Haha because it is summer here.

There is More to Argentina than Having Fun

One might think that my time here in Argentina is simply fun experiences and exciting vacations, but that is not entirely true. As much as I do love it here and am having the time of my life, the school aspect is still very difficult.

The next three weeks are going to be very exhausting and difficult for me. I have already completed and passed a 4 credit class earlier this semester. I am currently enrolled in 12 credits. One of those is Tango, another is Horseback Riding. Last week, I finished another one credit class about culture shock, which leaves me with 9 real credits. This sounds pretty easy on paper, but it has turned out not to be so easy.

I am doing fine in my 3 credit spanish grammar class and have no worries about passing. My hard work in there seems to have paid off. My other two classes, which are both worth three credits also, are causing me a little more stress.

The way they work, is that there are two tests throughout the semester and a final. In order take the final, one has to pass the two tests during the semester. If one were to fail one of the two tests, there is a recoupatory period where one test can be made up. I unfortuanately failed both of the first tests for my classes of Contemporary Art and Pop Culture.

This is how I sit now. I have to pass both my tests this week (One in Art and one in Culture). When I pass those, I also have to retake the first one for both classes the following week. When I pass those I will get to take the finals. Whatever I score on the final for both classes will be my final grade. This being said, I have a lot of studying to do. I have 6 exams in the next three weeks, and I have to pass all of them. If for some reason I do not pass one of them, I will actually fail a class.

It kind is kind of a downer, because among all the fun I have been having here, I have also been spending just as much time studying. I just do not like to talk about that aspect of my life here. The fact that I am taking classes in a different language makes me feel a little better about my situation. I also keep reminding myself that I cannot fail because this experience has already taught me so much more than I could ever learn in the States.

It is going to be a tough few weeks to close out my program, but I am ready to study like I have never studied before. Wish me luck!!

La Quebrada del Condorito

A few weeks back, my friend Colton began organizing a trip to La Quebrada del Condorito, which roughly translates as "the canyon of the Condor". The day of the trip was to be November 1st, the day after halloween. People were hesitant to go because of halloween, and of course because of the party the night before. From day one, I said I was in. The more people we got, the less it would cost us. 100 pesos was the most it would be. Even when I learned about the party, my plan was to go to both if it didnt cost too much.

Three days before the trip, Colten handed me a form. He told me I had to fill it out by the end of the day and pay 100 pesos to go. I told him, I dont plan ahead and I dont sign my life away when I cant understand what I am signing. About an hour after I received the form to fill out, my Tutor Pancho came along.

I asked Pancho if he was still going to go to the Quebrada. He told me that he had another plan. He told me that he had the car for the weekend. He invited me camping with two other people. We were going to camp friday night and meet up with the group going with Colten Saturday morning. This sounded like a great plan for me. The trip would be free, I would get to spend time with my tutor and go camping.

All of this was only a thought, and never for sure. Pancho was supposed to get back to me. Well, time passed and Pancho never got back to me. It turns out, he could not gather enough people because too many had to work or wanted to go to the halloween party. I found this out a couple hours before the halloween party. (Again, why I never plan ahead). All of a sudden, I was free for Friday night, so I went to the halloween party.

The problem is that I still wanted to go to the Quebrada. Friends and family had told me how beautiful it was and that it was an all day hike, so I needed to get a lot of rest the night before. I never turned in any of the forms or paid the 100 pesos, but found out the group with Colten were meeting at our school at 7am Saturday morning to catch the tour bus. I decided that I was not going to go and try to go another weekend.

Then, once again, along came Pancho. At the halloween party he told me that he was still planning on going in the morning in his car, and that I could come with him. We planned to meet the group at 7 in the morning. (Remember what time I got home Friday night/Saturday Morning.)

I took a 30 minute walk to school Saturday morning. I met Pancho and another Tutor Niko, who had yet to make it home from the halloween party. He decided to come with us. There was space on the bus, but we were both two cheap and did not want to pay for the trip.

We went in Pancho´s car. We stopped and bought some sandwhich stuff and snacks for the day. We met up with the bus at the trekking site. Niko decided that he was too tired and was going to wait in the car. We told him it was an all day hike, but he waited anyway. He wanted to sleep. We left him the bottle of water we had because we figured he would need it. Come to find out, he didnt even use it.

Pancho and I went on the tour with the group. We hiked for about 3 or 4 hours in the sun without water. The others had water, but there was not enough to share. We stopped for lunch in the mountains and to look at the Condors off the cliff. We saw a few. They were beautiful. Part of the tour was that they included lunch. Pancho and I cracked open our sandwhich ingrediants, so that we did not have to pay. After lunch we hiked a little more. The group was going to go down by a small river and do some activities. Pancho and I decided we would start heading back on our own. There were also rain clouds moving in. We said thanks to the group and parted our own way.

I could have stayed with the group, but I did not want to give them any reason to charge me. Pancho and I started hiking in the direction of the car. We were not exactly sure where we were going, but we managed. It started raining not ten minutes after we split from the group. Luckily I had a light jacket with me. It did not do any good. The rain got harder and soon it was pouring. Finally, the rain started to hurt. It wasnt rain any more, it was little pieces of hail. Then came the lightning and thunder. Pancho and I continued through the mountains for a couple hours. We got soaked. We made it back to the car, where Niko was sleeping peacefully. Just as we reached the car, the rain stopped and the sun began shining again. We changed into the somewhat dry clothes we had in our bags and headed back to Cordoba.

Pancho was late for work, which was not a big deal, and I was exhausted. I caught a bus near Pancho´s house. I returned to my house around 7:00pm. I had been up 34 hours all in which I went to a party and hiked through the mountains all day. I took a hot shower, ate dinner and stayed up a few more hours. I went to bed around 11:00 pm despite having invitations to go out. I was simply out of gas. I slept 14 hours straight. It was a great LONG day, or days.

Halloween

Friday was Halloween, and I almost forgot about it. The people here in Argentina know what halloween is, but they do not really celebrate it. Apparently us yankees love our halloween so we had to have a huge party. My friends KC and Bekah put together a costume party at one of their houses. I was not sure if I was going to go because I had other plans, which I will get to in my next post.

I eventually decided to go at the very last minute. There was a rule to the party, no costume no entrance. So at the last minute, I start digging through my crap and stuff at my house. I put together some sort of costume. I passed up the scream mask because it would have made it to hard to talk with the girls. I ended up with black dress shoes, blue jeans, a white shirt, a black cape and a really tall purpleish pink and white hat. I also had a wan or stick of some sort.

It was about 12:30am when my host mom asked me what time the party was going to start. I told her 11:00pm, so at that moment she kicked me out of the house, while telling me I was too late. I began my 15 minute walk or so to the house of the party.

My 15 minute walk turned into 45 minutes as I ran into some random girls on the street. I was walking down one of the main streets where there is a bus stop. There were about 6 girls waiting for the bus, dressed in costumes. Clearly I must not look Argentino because all six of them ran across the street yelling "hello" and then asking me questions in spanish. They began to love my accent and invited me downtown to the club to celebrate one of their birthdays. I politely declined because I had been told if I miss the halloween party I would never see another day in my life. Anyway, I flirted with these girls for a good 20 minutes before their bus came. Sometime during those 20 minutes one of them grabbed my wan (My wan from my halloween costume for all of you in the gutter right now!!) I never saw it after that. I received a few numbers and went on my way.

I finally made it to the party. Everybody was happy to see me, but they wondered what I was supposed to be. I made them all guess, so that I could say, "yes you are right. That is who I am". For halloween, I was a magician without a wan, some guy from Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter without a lightning scar, the Matrix, and a guy from the 90s.

The party was cool. There was music, pop, juice, and alcohol. I only drank a little bit of the alcohol, and that was only because somebody was going to dump out their drink. I could not allow that to happen.

My friends decided that they wanted somebody to go in the pool. While I was smoothly talking to "Wonderwoman", my friends yelled at me to come over to them as if it were really important. On my way their, I realized the plan. I avoided getting thrown in the pool.

Later, my friend Tyler was standing on the ledge of the pool. He was a little intoxicated, and looked as if he was going to fall in. Not 15 seconds later, my friend Marisa pretended to push him, and being drunk as he was, he fell all by himself into the pool. His lovely Peter Pan costume was soaked along with his wallet, camera and cigarettes. The funny thing is, he was most upset about the wet cigarettes. I was thankful, for he took my place as the one who had to go in the pool.

The party ended around 5:00am. I helped my "ladybugs" home because Marisa and Amber live close to me. We took a remis and somebody paid. It wasnt me because I refused to take a remis if I had to pay. I made it back to my house at 5:45am. I had been awake for 21 straight hours.

When is Brian coming home??

I am beginning to receive many questions about when I will be returning to the states. It makes me happy to know that so many people apparently are pretending to miss me. I also find it funny how a lot of people just pretend like they know when I am coming home. I have heard several different dates. The River Rat website seems to think I will be returning around December 15ish, while others seem to think just before Thanksgiving in the States.

So, when am I returning?? The truth is that I don´t even know. My program officially ends the 29th of November, but my classes end before than. Depending upon how well, I do, they might end even sooner. However, most of the people in my program are staying through part of December because we don´t have to return for anyting until Christmas. My first thoughts are, what day should I return?? The 29th?? Maybe. Sooner?? highly unlikely because I like it here.

I have been thinking, what if I stay a second semester?? I have already cut off all of my jobs from home, I am already here which would save money on a flight if I ever wanted to return, and I would learn a lot more spanish. There are a few people who have been here since February, and a few people who are going to stay until June. I would like to do the same.

The problems... Well, I would probably have to stay in school an extra semester to finish my degree. Then again, isn´t college supposed to be the best 6 years of my life?? Looks like I am still ahead of schedule. Another problem... MONEY. I would have to get a job here, which apparently I can do, I just need to talk to the right people. Other potential problems are, how Saint Mary´s is going to respond. Will all my credits transfer?? Will I still be considered a student their?? Do I have enough student loans??

There are a lot of question marks, that I still need to work out. I do miss my friends and family, and of course things like baseball and taco bell, but I can return to that in June. The biggest question right now for me, is... Is it possible for me to stay?? I have narrowed it down to, if I can get a job, and change my flight for fairly cheap, then I can stay.

So...When am I coming home?? I do not know!! I will be home sometime, whether it is the end of November, sometime in December, or June is all a mystery.

Random: The love of my life = Food not Flor

There are a lot of beautiful and sweet girls in this country. Some of them may be falling for me or maybe not. I don´t really know or care, but there is one that is definately falling for me. I made the mistake of practicing my pickup lines with a girl who I would rather not see too many more times. Her name is Florencia which in short we call her Flor. The spanish word flor means flower in english, so I told this girl..."Sos la ´Flor´ en el desierto de mi vida". In english that means "You are the flower in the desert of my life". But I was being clever because her name is Flor hahaha. Somehow she got my number and keeps calling me.

I have grown acustomed to the food here. There is nothing like a lomito completo. A lomito completo is a sandwhich with egg, tomato, meat or chicken, among other wonderfully delicious things.

The pizza is different but pretty good. They have green olives on them and usually consist of ham and cheese with really good crust. The crust comes as no suprise as the bread here is always fresh.

I don´t really drink pop, but the coke here is so much better than in the states. What is even better though, is that almost every kiosko sells a variety of fruit juices. Jugo de Durazno (Peach Juice) is amazing. They also have pear juice, grapefruit juice, orange juice, etc. There is also mate, which is kind of like a green tea. Somebody described it as looking like marijuana once (I thought that was funny). It is perfect for sharing during class or whenever. It is just something to do. Vamos a tomar un mate. We are going to drink a mate.

For breakfast I usually eat criollos (pretty much bread, but really good). I always put dulce de leche on them. Dulce de leche looks kind of like caramel, but is not at all caramel. It is way better and amazingly good.

A really good food for any occasion is an empanada. Empanadas are little tortilla like things rolled up with meat inside. I don´t know how to explain except for that they are really really good.

And the best food of all is the asado. The United States does not have real steak. The steak here is so good, that I go crazy if I go a few days without one. I don´t know what they do to it here but it tastes so much better than anything I have ever had back home.

I am really just bored right now so babbling about the greatness of Argentina. I don´t always realize the culture differences in front of me. However, I do realize the difference in FOOD, but I still love food.

El Día de Los Estudiantes Internacionales

My sunburn from my previous vacation could not have come at a worse time. On Saturday the University put together a lunch for all the international students. Tickets cost 25 pesos for lunch, a tango show, and a horseback riding show. I received one free ticket for a member of my family. I invited my host mom Irene, and Luis snuck in after lunch without paying.

All semester my tango class had been preparing for this day as we were going to perform for everyone. My horseback riding class had also been preparing for a demonstration. As Saturday approached, I had not wore shoes in over a week because my feet were very swollen. Somehow, Saturday morning, I managed to squeeze my feet in some shoes and made it look like I could walk without a limp.

The members of my tango class and I met early to rehearse our routine. After rehearsal, we all put on our nice clothes. The girls wore dresses with heals, and the guys wore black pants with a white button up shirt.

Our families and friends arrived and were served drinks and empanadas as appetizers. Once they got settled in and seated, we began our first dance. We walked out in our sexy walks and performed a dance. Then immediately after the tango, some of us performed another dance called the Ranchero. The Ranchero was more of a group dance. Both dances were extremely fun. I was happy that I was able to perform even though I could barely walk.

After the dances, we all sat down and had lunch. We socialized and got to know everybody´s families and friends. After lunch, it was time for the horseback riding show. Again, I squeezed my feet into some shoes and began mentally preparing for a painful ride on a horse.

We all moved outside where the instructors had set up a short course for our routine. We started by walking a lap on our horses. Then we trotted and did two little jumps. Finally we galloped and did two more jumps; this time a little bit higher. After all of us beginners finished, a girl from Argentina showed off her talents. She was a lot more experienced than us; however, she was the only one to fall off her horse. Her horse fell, thus making her fall too. It was kind of funny to see a horse running wild on campus. She got right back on her horse though and jumped about a meter in a half in height. It was quite impressive.

After the horseback riding show, we moved back inside for a writing contest. Some students had prepared stories from their experiences in Cordoba. They read them and were judged on things like the funniest or best written. Only 4 people participated, so everybody won a prize. I did not participate in the contest because well lets be honest... I am too lazy to sit down and write a story. If I could have just got up there and improved it, I would have.

After the contest, I returned home with my family where I rested my feet for the rest of the night. My friends went out salsa dancing, but I rested for the first time in four months.

If you would like to see the video of our dances there is a video of both on facebook. I do not know how to upload it onto my blog, but I may try to figure it out when I have more time. Unfortuanately my camara died after two pictures on Saturday, so I do not have all that many pictures either.

More Iguazu...Brian Goes to the Hospital

I slept wonderfully on my back until about noon or one in the afternoon. The worst part was when I had to wake up to pee. I could barely move, but had to climb down and back up to the top bunk.

When I woke up, my feet were huge. There was no way I could wear shoes, and the worst part is that I did not have sandals. I went to the bar area and played a bunch of games. I was quickly talking with every guest of the hostel. I had become the most popular person there, thanks to the fact that I was bright red with the biggest kankles anyone had ever seen. I do not recommend anyone try this, but burning really bad is a great way to initiate the conversation with all the girls.

The girls that I traveled with began worrying about me. They found some ice cubes, and began rubbing them on my feet to try and reduce the swelling. It did not work because the ice cubes melted instantly. My friends told me that I did not have a choice; they were taking me to the hospital. We all piled into a taxi and went to the hospital.

The hospital was the most run down place I have seen in Argentina. We walked in and there was not even a place to sit or a window to ask questions. I wandered my way to a back room where all the nurses were. They all stopped and stared at my feet. Then they looked at each other in amazement. They brought me around a corner and began applying white cream called Platsul A all over my body. During the half hour I was at the hospital, every nurse came around the corner to see the fool who burned in the sun. The nurses prescribed me 400g of Platsul A and sent me on my way looking like a ghost full of white cream. I officially looked even more ridiculous and made more friends at the hostel.

I was not going to let my little set back keep me from having fun. I rested a little bit and then headed downtown for dinner. We went to an outside restaurant where I sat without a shirt. It was okay because it was dark. We hung out awhile downtown and then returned to the outdoor bar at our hostel.

The next morning we packed up all our stuff and boarded a 22 hour busride back to Cordoba. During the bus ride, we watched movies, the girls lathered me up in lotions, and I did not hurt that much. Outside our windows we realized huge forest fires. I am not sure how safe we were as we were pretty close to the fires. Later it stormed hopefully helping the fires. We eventually arrived in Cordoba where I returned home for a few hours before going to class for the day.

Again for the courtesy of those reading, I am not uploading photos.

Day 2, The Destruction of Brian (and an Asado)

The second day that we were in Iguazu was a beautiful day. Our hostel was very big and very tropical. There were two pools outside with a patio and bar. Inside there was a bar with pool tables, metagol, pingpong tables, a kitchen and a movie lounge.

We could have returned to the falls again for the day, but the girls wanted to lay by the pool and swim a little bit. This seemed like a fine idea, and it was for a while. We hung out by the pool and occasionally jumped in. After a half hour, I thought of the wonderful idea of putting the sunscreen that I had brought with on my body. I put some on my arms, stomach, chest, legs, and face. I even got a girl to rub down my back. Note, that I never put anything on my feet. After another half hour the girls went inside to cook some lunch. I told them, that I would be right behind them. Unfortuanately I sat down with my headphones on. Two hours later, I realized that I had been sleeping with Mr. Sun.

The Cataratas is to the north in Argentina, which means closer to the equator and a stronger sun. Even with the sunscreen I had applied, two hours of sleeping was not going to help much. I woke up, and realized that I was burned, but I had no idea how badly. By night it was evident that it ws going to be bad.

The hostel put together a huge asado for all its guest, mostly all whom spoke english. It was 30 pesos all you could eat, and free drinks until the huge bowls ran out. Oh yeah, there was a show too. It started out with a Brazil guy jumping around with a drum yelling jibberish. Then some girl with a short skirt came out and danced. After a while we were all dancing with the girl and doing things like the limbo.

After dancing, I realized that my feet were hurting a lot. There were still free drinks, my friends and I took care of them. It was then, that I thought, maybe I should hydrate myself with water. I switched to water (the only smart thing I did all weekend). Some of my friends went out to a boliche later, but I did not due to my sunburn. I stayed and hung out with my other friends at the bar outside by the pool.

It was a great day, with one mighty stupid mistake. I was still content and having fun. Little did I know that sunburn continues to burn even after the sun is down. As I became aware of this, my friends did too. They began taking photos of me and laughing histerically with me. For this, there are photos of my new red skin. For the courtesy of those reading this blog, I chose not to post them. The photos posted are before I got fried. If you would like to see them, check facebook or email me at bmsmit05@smumn.edu. I would be glad to show you. The rare thing about all of this, is my arms and face did not burn at all. My chest, stomach, legs and feet were cooked well done.

Viaje a Las Cataratas de Iguazu

The wonderful thing about living in Argentina is that everything is cheaper (Except for McDonalds). It is really cheap to travel and have a good time. My friends and I took another trip this past weekend. There was a holiday Sunday, but the president made monday the day of celebration to give everybody a day off from work. For this, we had a long weekend and took a vacation.

I skipped my one credit joke of a class thursday and my one class friday. Apparently only 3 people showed up to my class on Friday as we were all traveling around Argentina. My friends Ferron, Ashley, Chelsea, Brenda, and Erika boarded a 22 hour bus for the Iguazu Falls. Another group boarded a different bus later in the day.

My group arrived early Friday morning. We showered and went straight for the Cataratas (Falls). Since we are technically living in Argentina right now, we got huge discounts to enter the park. We paid 14 pesos oppose to 50 pesos.

We also bought a ticket for a jeep ride and a boat ride for 150 pesos total. The jeep ride was "rubbish". I learned this new english word from the British tourists. It was really stupid and a waste of money. After the jeep ride we all boarded a boat.

On the boat, we came around a corner and we saw the falls. It was the most amazing thing I think I have ever seen in my life. I cannot describe it, but it looked like paradise. We stopped the boat to take pictures in front of the falls. Then we took the boat directly underneath the falls. I almost forgot to put my camara back in a special bag to keep it dry. We got soaked, but it was unbelievable.

After the boat ride, we hiked to the top of the falls. Along the way we took many pictures. I cannot describe what it was like. We saw different parts of the falls including a part called "La Garganta del Diablo" or The Throat of the Devil. Finally we left for the night just before the thunderstorms rolled in.

We took a bus downtown and went to a restaruant. During dinner the storm knocked out the power so we had to finish eating in the dark. We returned to our hostel, checked in and hung out for a while before going to bed. Day one was Perfect.

Stay tuned for Day 2 and the destruction of Brian.

Brian Created his Birthday Party in Seven Days

He created the birthday party in seven days. On the seventh day he rested. I slept from 10 am to 4 pm. Then I moved to the couch where I watched movies all day. I went to sleep at 10 pm and woke up the next day at 11 am.

Little did I know that on day 8 the party would continue. My profesoras birthday was Saturday the 4th, so my friend Bekah brought a cake and pop to class to share. We had a mini birthday party in our spanish class. We celebrated Lili, and my birthdays.

My birthday was one for the books. I could not have dreamed it any better. I might have to have another party when I return. You are all invited.

Day 6 Continued...Oktoberfest

After returning from Trekking all day, I quickly showered and took a bus from my house to downtown to meet up with some girls. I was extremely late and the girls were getting angry. We met up downtown and boarded another bus that took us to Villa General Belgrano. It was a two hour bus ride. I had been to this town once before. My first week in Argentina I went here for a festival to celebrate Independence Day. This time we were going for Oktoberfest.

We arrived at Oktoberfest around 11 pm. We went to the festival part, but it was winding down. We saw a short pagent where some couples danced tango. It was pretty cool.

It was very cold outside, so we went to a restaraunt. We were very tired as well. We wanted to meet up with 11 of our friends who had been there all weekend, but they were all tired from they day and went to their hostel to sleep. The Oktoberfest part closed at 2 am.

We eventually met up with two members of the other group, (Luckily for me they were both guys) and we went to a couple boliches. One was outside and one was inside. It seemed as if, Oktoberfest would be the ideal way to celebrate the last day of my birthday week, but it was terrible.

The festival had closed, it was cold outside, we had nowhere to sleep, and my friends would not keep their english voices down. As usual it was me and a group of girls (until the two guys showed up later). Their loud voices in the streets drew all the drunk Argentinans to us. I felt very uncomfortable, so I decided not to drink anything. There was one moment where a couple of us heard the people next to us speaking in spanish plotting a way to steal the girls` purses. Thank goodness we speak spanish too.

To keep it short, it was a terrible night, but I still had fun dancing. I did not sleep and returned to my house at 10 in the morning. I know I am always a target here, but I try to down play my risk by speaking spanish. My friends decided that they did not care, and that was very frustrating for me.

Day 6 of my Birthday (Trekking)

Day 6 was Saturday, and it started nice and early. I had gone to sleep at 5 in the morning the night before and was up by 8:30 in the morning. The international program at my school had set up a day of trekking in the Sierras for the day. We met at the university at 9:30 in the morning.

We boarded a bus, and took it to an area called Rio Ceballos. We got off the bus and began trekking through the mountains. Our first encounter was a barbwired fence. It was not a very big one so it was very easy to climb. We all climbed it including one of the tutor`s Matias who had a broken arm. We really did not hike too long, but we crossed small streams of water, climbed over rocks and (Mom don`t read this line)almost fell off a couple of cliffs (not really that close though). Eventually we found a place next to a little water fall to camp out for the day.

We built a fire to prepare for lunch. While the fire was being built we formed 4 teams of 4 people. We played different games and the team that won the most games would win 4 bottles of wine (one for each member of the team). We played a game pretty much identical to bocce ball, except with wooden discs kind of like frisbees. My team kicked but in round one. Unfortuanately the other game we played was a scrabble like game, where we got random letters and had to make as many words as we could in one minute. Each letter was worth a different amount of points. We did a round in english and a round in spanish. My group sucked at spelling so we got killed.

We played another round of each against a different team. Again we killed in the bocce ball game. We lost by one point in the scrabble game, but I pointed out afterwords that the other team cheated somehow. They had a "Q" during the english round without a "U" but by the end of the minute, they no longer had a Q. Oh well. The rules got really screwed up and somehow the team that we beat won the bottles of wine.

After the games, we ate Choripan for lunch with pop to drink. I had way too much to eat. After lunch some people went hiking some more, while others played in the little river. A couple of the leaders started playing the guitar and singing songs. We drank a mate and listened to the music. A little while later, we got a huge soccer game going in the smallest playing field ever. I had the play of the day. This girl Tina kicked the ball as hard as she could towards the goal from about two feet in front of me. It smashed off my face leaving my face full of mud from the ball. I saved the goal though. Of course my team lost, when my friend Brad kicked the ball off of Tina`s knee right into our own goal.

Later, we packed up our stuff and hiked back to where we began. We caught a bus and returned home. We had to wait a short while as three people had wondered off and were missing. We found them though.

Day 5 of my Birthday Blast

Day 5 of the week of my birthday was not so much about me. I took a parcial during the day. I hope I past. For the night, my host cousin was celebrating her 15th birthday. When a girl turns 15 it is called a Quinceañera. It was the biggest birthday party I have ever seen. It was the sweet 16 times 16.

I decided that this was a great way to experience the culture a little bit more. I told my family that I wanted to go even though it was the Friday night of my 21st birthday. Quinceañeras are a really big deal, so we had to dress up for it. That is right, me in Khaki`s and a saco or dress coat. I did not need a tie though.

The party was held in Carlos Paz, which is a very pretty city about a half hour drive from Cordoba. It is in the mountains and near a river. The party had a DJ with a dance floor. A separate Quinche (cabin like building) with more free wine than you can imagine. They had an unlimited suply of liters of pop. They had servers walking around with free sandwiches and empanadas. They played slide shows on a big projecter between all the dancing. Almost every family member and friends of the family were at the party. Almost all of the friends of my cousin who was turning 15 were there too.

I was standing at this party listening to the music as the dancing got started, thinking to myself. If I were 15 years old, I would be in heaven right now. There had to be ATLEAST 50 girls around the age of 15 dressed up in very beautiful dresses. Unfortuanately for me I was 21 and 1 day. I felt apart of the old crowd as I was drinking wine with the moms. And what do you know as the night went on, I was dancing with the moms too. It was a little more legal than dancing with the 14 and 15 year olds. I did meet a cousin of mine who is 23. She studies english and is going to go to Texas in December to study. She left fairly early though, leaving me sharing champaigne with the older folks again.

It was a great experience, and I am happy for the opportunity to experience this kind of party. My family let everyone know that it was my birthday the day before, so everybody wished me a happy birthday as well. My family and I returned to our house at about 5 in the morning. Day 5 was a success with a lot of partying.

The Last From This Party...So Enjoy

I am Sure You Want Some More Pictures

My host mom wanted to dance. Eventually I gave in. She is in the pink.

More Pictures from my Birthday Asado