An Amazing End to an Amazing Semester

All my bags are officially packed. I'm sitting in my room and have a few miscellaneous items laying on my desk, waiting to be put into my backpack. This feels so surreal. I have lived in Uruguay for almost four months of my life. I have traveled across South America, all across Uruguay, into Brazil, Paraguay, and both ends of Argentina. I hope with everything in me that I will be able to return here someday.

All bittersweet aspects aside, I need to update you about the past few days.

Sunday and Monday we took a group trip to Rocha. We were supposed to go there last weekend, but that fell through due to the weather. I'm so glad it did, because the weather the past few days was perfect. There were barely any clouds in the sky and the temperature was at least in the 80's.. I don't know exactly. Anyways, we spent some time at the beach that was right by our hotel and just enjoyed hanging out at the beach before lunch. Later that afternoon, we went to the Ombu Forest, which has these HUGE plants that look like trees but are actually more closely related to grass than trees, strangely enough. Many of them were hollowed out or had holes in them - I thought they were pretty cool!

check out that mad frisbee form ;D

Lindsey and I inside an Ombu bush/tree/thing

Sunday was pretty fun, but Monday was when our mini-vacation got really good. We traveled to Cabo Polonia for the afternoon. [You should google some pics of that, it's so beautiful.] Anyways, this place is incredibly secluded and does not have any actual roads that lead there. If you want to get there you must take a huge 4x4 truck or ride a horse. With the large number of people we have in or group, we took one huge 4x4. The weather was perfect. Early that morning several people wanted to go out and watch the sunrise over the ocean, but the sky was completely overcast. However, by about 10am on there was hardly a cloud in the sky. We saw a lighthouse and a bunch of sea lions, and then the next few hours were our own to spend however we chose. The beach was amazing there. The water was light blue and the waves were awesome. All fifteen of us put on sunscreen and ran into the cold ocean water. It was SO fun. We were able to spend a couple hours playing in the waves and swimming in the ocean, and once I became tired, I went back with a few others and laid out under the sun to dry off.
My only wish was that our time at that beach could have been longer, but those few hours made the entire trip well worth it.


We came home Monday night and I began packing. Tuesday morning I woke up and continued my packing before lunch, and once lunchtime rolled around I was able to celebrate my birthday! Raquel had cooked my birthday lunch and cake since my birthday will be coming next week and I won't get to celebrate it here in Uruguay. It was fun to be able to say that I celebrated my birthday in the Summer. :)


I have two other side notes that I have neglected to write about on here...
1. Please disregard all the grammar and spelling mistakes that I have made in this blog. Learning Spanish has completely murdered my English-speaking abilities. I'm hoping once I get back to the States my English will restore itself to the condition it was in before I came to this Spanish speaking country. Be patient with me as I work on that when I get back.. haha :)
2. I have learned that the United States is very selective in its history lessons. We all had to take an International Studies course while we were here and read Born In Blood and Fire, a history book about Latin America. Between reading that book and learning about Uruguay's history, I discovered that they aren't afraid to let people know about their history's mistakes. Latin Americans teach others about their struggles as well as their triumphs. Upon learning about this new history, I learned about instances where the United States made its mark on Latin America. Most of these stories I had never been taught before, and most of them revealed things about my home country that I would not be very proud of. It was insightful to be able to look at the United States from another country's perspective, even though it was more of a negative perspective.

Alright, well I just thought I'd write about those two things, because I had wanted to in an earlier post and had just forgotten.

We leave in one hour for the airport. WOW.
See you guys soon!

Tourist Season Has Arrived

Before I talk about our trip to Rocha, which was an amazing way to end our semester, I have a few etcetera things to say about this past weekend.

On Saturday, several of us got up and went shopping for all our last minute souvenirs for ourselves as well as our friends/family. We took a bus to Ciudad Vieja and just started walking back to Casa, shopping throughout downtown all the way back through the busy street of 18 de Julio. When we first got off our bus and started walking through the Old City, we noticed that there were a lot more people walking around than usual. Also, the more we walked around, the more we noticed that the majority of these people were speaking English. It was so weird! Since it was the first weekend of December, [which is Summer here, in case you forgot] it was also the first weekend marking Tourist Season. It felt so strange to be able to understand everything people were saying around me.


So, I have an addition for my "Things I Will Miss" list -
The Language Barrier - I know, that sounds strange, but it has been nice to be able to completely tune other people out if they are not talking to you. If I want to understand what people are saying, I need to concentrate on every word. Then, once I figure out what that person is saying and successfully communicate back to them, I feel so accomplished. It is such a great feeling right after you have a successful conversation with someone entirely in Spanish.

Some other things I have realized from this particular experience, as well as just from thinking aloud with others:
When we first arrived in Montevideo, I thought everyone was so quiet. We would be around huge groups of people and it would feel like we were one of the only groups of people there. Now, I do not feel that way at all. The streets don't seem loud to me, but they no longer seem quiet either. Which makes me wonder... when we get back to the States, am I going to be completely overwhelmed the noise level? We have all been talking about this here a bit, and I think we all agree that we will probably experience sensory overload. Not only will people probably be a lot louder than we are used to, but we will also be able to understand what everyone around us is saying. Which brings me to my next thought...

I am so glad I came here this semester. True, next semester's group will get to experience Carnival, which is a HUGE celebration here and will be so awesome, but all those tourists were annoying. Which made me realize another thing. While we were walking downtown on Saturday, I almost started to comment on how all the English-speaking tourists were getting on my nerves and had to stop myself with the reminder that they can understand me. We have gotten used to being able to talk about people who are right beside us, knowing they cannot understand what we are saying in English. Once we're back at the States, looking over to tell a friend, "that guy is totally being a creeper" or, "check out that girl's shoes" while standing right beside them probably won't go over too well. We're going to have to start analyzing people in Spanish once we get back... although living in Texas, people will probably still be able to understand us!

Lastly, I have come to realize that talking to strangers once we get back to the States is going to be so much easier than before I left to study abroad. Before coming here, I hated calling people I did not know or talking to random strangers if I needed something from them, but now? piece of cake. I have had to try and do these things for four months without even knowing the language. Countless times I have formed phrases in my head, approached someone, and asked my question, hoping that somehow I would be able to understand their answer. Now it doesn't seem like a big deal at all to talk to people I don't know. Especially once I'm back in a country that speaks English.


All in all, this has been such an amazing semester. I'm going to update this again here pretty soon and talk about the past few days, because they are definitely worth mentioning. But first, I have quite a bit more packing to do.

Oh and PS - you know my comment about the exchange rate in my last post? yeah, it's now up to 24.25 URU pesos to every USD. heck.yes.

Lists and Things I've Noticed

As the semester is coming to a close, I have done quite a bit of thinking about what I have grown to love here in South America, what I am going to miss, and what I am looking forward to coming home to when I get back to the United States.

Things I will Miss:
1. The food. I have fallen in love with Uruguayan food. Chivitos, Milanesa, Alfajores... not to mention the La Cigale ice cream parlor down the street! Some people in our group are not huge fans of the food down here because there is not a lot of seasoning used in the preparation, but anyone who knows me knows that plain food is not an issue when it comes to my taste in food! - Just a quick explanation of what those kinds of food are.. Chivitos are basically hamburgers and can be made with either steak or chicken. However, they also contain fried eggs, lettuce, tomato, bacon, ham, cheese, mayonnaise, olives, and whatever else you can think of. Milanesa is like a slab of chicken fried steak, often topped with ham and melted cheese. And alfajores... they're a kind of cookie here. Think two fluffy sugar cookies with dulce de leche in the middle, doused in chocolate. mmmm. Though my taste buds will be sad to leave all this, I'm sure my waistline will thank me, haha! :)
2. Raquel and Mariela - they're our cooks. I'm adding them as a second bullet, but throwing them in with number one's explanation.
3. The laid back lifestyle of Uruguayans. I have discovered that my sense of time has been completely skewed over the past three and a half months. Time just is not as big of a deal here as in the US. I am curious to find out how it is going to feel once I'm plunged back into the fast-paced life in the states.. Will I fall right back into that kind of lifestyle? Or has my view on life altered enough to where I'll be able to hold onto some of that Latin American laid-back attitude?
4. No tax. That one speaks for itself. I love not having to factor in an extra eight percent or so into everything I buy here.
5. Living without a purse or cell phone. This kind of goes along with number three, to an extent. It was weird to not be permanently attached to my cell phone at the beginning of the semester. I kept thinking it was vibrating, only to reach into my back pocket and discover its absence. Don't get me wrong - once I am back in the states I'm sure it will be right back on me at all times, but it has been a wonderful four month break.
6. The smell of our laundry. We take our laundry to the lavanderia every week or so, and the next day we pick it up, smelling quite like heaven.
7. Piropos - I actually just learned this word yesterday. So I know, most people would probably have this on their list of things they did not like about South America, but I've found them to be flattering for the most part. Piropos are the men who go around in the streets, yelling out and whistling at the pretty women who walk by. Sometimes they get annoying, or just plain creepy if it's an older man, but for the most part, I choose to take them as complements. It was weird to get used to, but what girl doesn't like to be told she looks pretty as she's walking by?
8. Living in Casa ACU. This is one of the biggest things I am going to miss. I have absolutely LOVED living with fourteen other college students, all under the same roof. I feel incredibly lucky to have been given the opportunity to get to know each and every one of those fourteen people - we have had such an incredible group. Last night I was reading in the computer lab at about 12:30, and I just sat back and took everything in. People were sitting around me, doing homework or just facebooking on the computers, I heard a fiddle and harmonica playing from a couple rooms over, and I couldn't help but think how much I was going to miss being surrounded by all these people. Living with friends is officially one of my favorite things in the entire world. To my best friends back home who read this - one summer, we're all living together. It's official.


NOW, for a list of things I'm excited for:
1. YOU. Okay, that one is obvious. I'm crazy excited to see my family and best friends. I can hardly contain my excitement when I start thinking about that... Yesterday I was in class and caught myself staring off into space with a gigantic smile on my face, thinking about seeing you guys for the first time in four months. :D
2. Driving. Even though I have really enjoyed being able to walk everywhere, I do miss being able to get in my car and drive anywhere at the spur of a moment. I miss driving with the windows down; I miss blaring my music and singing along at the top of my lungs. Speaking of music...
3. Music. I miss being surrounded by music all the time. Given, I have been exposed to some awesome new bands and songs while I've been here, but most of the people here are not as nearly obsessed with music as my friends back home are. I'm excited to go home to that, especially after four months of hearing 90's songs playing all over the place. Not that I don't love 90's music - it's one of my favorite genres... but still. :D
4. Monster. I must admit, I have just found a replacement drink for Monsters - it's called "X4 Keep Moving." However, I still miss our green monsters back home, as ridiculous as that sounds.
5. Chick-fil-a, Taco Bueno, Chicken Express, Dominos... just a few of the restaurants I'm excited to come home to. I've decided on the way home from the airport, Chick-fil-a breakfast will be the first thing I consume. I'm so excited.
6. Free water and refills. When ordering drinks here at restaurants, we always are given a glass with a bottle (or can sometimes) of whatever drink we asked for. Usually our waiter will pour the drinks for us. Minus the fact that water is just as expensive as soft drinks and once you're done with that bottle you have to order another if you're still thirsty, it has been pretty fun to be served like that. But I am so ready for free water and refills.
7. Human interaction. That is a horrible title, but I don't know what else to call this one. People here have plenty of human interaction, kissing every person they know on the cheek as soon as they see them and as they're saying goodbye. However, I miss hugs. Not only that, but I also miss being able to walk down the street and make eye contact with strangers, smile, and say "hi" to them without worrying about them getting the wrong idea. I had to really work to make myself stop looking strangers in the eye and smiling at them as they passed by when I first arrived here in Montevideo.


These lists are anything but comprehensive, but they cover quite a bit.
Long story short, I'm ridiculously excited to come home, but I know I'm going to miss South America a ton.

In other news...
Classes are over!!! All my finals are on Friday. [I only have three actual finals, so it shouldn't be too bad.]
Sunday and Monday we are taking a trip to Rocha. I'm sure I'll write more about that one later.. We were supposed to go there last weekend, but the weather was bad so we decided to shoot for this weekend instead. so we're all praying for good weather this time around!
Now, I realize that the economy has been going through some awful times back in the States, although I must admit that I have not felt the effects of this depression. In fact, despite all it has been doing to everyone in the States, as well as the rest of the world, it has really benefited all of us here. Both the US dollar and the Uruguayan peso have become weaker. At the beginning of the semester, our exchange rate was about 18.80 pesos to the dollar. Now, we've got a 23.60 pesos to the dollar exchange rate. That definitely has helped me break even with my bank's ATM charges, haha.
Speaking of US influence on the rest of the world... I never realized how much our actions affect all the countries everywhere else in the world. There is an adage that goes, "If the US sneezes, the rest of the world catches pneumonia." Living here has really been an eye opening experience, especially being here during the elections. I would be willing to make a bet that most Uruguayans knew more about our elections than many people living in the US.

Anyways, that's enough about politics. I swear, I'm turning into more and more of an adult by the month. We discovered that during free travel, when several times we found ourselves talking about subjects that our parents would be talking about over the dinner table. Yikes. [No offense, Mom and Dad.] :)
Well, that's about it for now. This time next week we will be on a plane headed your way! I wonder when I'm going to be able to wrap my mind around that... Probably not until I'm back in Fort Worth.