adventures and school..

I started school on Tuesday. It's kind of strange because I have one teacher for Mon and Tues classes and another one for Wed, Thurs, Fri classes. Luckily they are both very nice, however, sitting still for 5 hours a day doing nothing but spanish takes its toll. We do get a half hour break for lunch, but I really haven't figured out where to go during that break yet.

I have very mixed feelings about living here now. Sometimes I'm very happy to be here and sometimes I ask myself what was I thinking? It is extremely frustrating when I am trying to speak a language that I've devoted so much of my life to, and people still can't understand me. It happens especially with people that don't have much experience with foreigners, like in stores, or when I get lost and want to ask where to go. People here immediately know I'm foreign and want to speak English with me..or think that it would be better to speak even broken english than have me try to speak spanish. I'm constantly tired, and even though I've made friends and I like them a lot, I miss home where things are easy. Everything I try to do here is a challenge, and people make me feel stupid a lot, even if they don't mean to.

On the plus side, I am walking like crazy and I bought tennis shoes today..so I should be able to start running soon and maybe I'll lose some weight. My host mom cooks really healthy food and helps me a lot, but there is only so much she can do.

Last night I went to meet my friends from my program and we drank Mate..which is a lot like tea, but SO much more work. It is a very complicated process involving Yerba leaves, sugar, a special mate cup, a special mate straw (bombilla), and hot water. You have to use 3/4 of the cup  to fill with the leaves, and then you get probably about 3 tablespoons worth of Mate. You drink it extremely fast, and it is supposed to help with digestion. I am not sure I understand why someone would go through so much work for just a tiny bit of liquid..but it's definitely a cultural tradition here.

We may go out tonight, if I can figure out how to do it. Wish me luck!

xoxo
Allie

Testing, Walking, Shopping

Apparently I must know some Spanish because today I took a placement exam that put me in the second highest level, which is perfect to transfer back home. I'm very excited about it! I start school tomorrow promptly at 9:30 am and I'll be in class until 2:30 pm. I have class M-F and I'm pretty sure my class will be less than 20 people. Hopefully we don't play any dumb "get to know each other" games, but I am excited to meet the people in my class. My roommate Colleen leaves for Bolivia tomorrow until next Tuesday, so I'll be here with Beatriz by myself quite a bit.

I took the "collectivo" (bus) today with Samantha and it was very difficult to stay standing, but a lot better than walking for long distances. I'm going to have to adapt eventually, but for now I'm going to keep walking to school since I save 1,25 pesos and a lot of stress every time I do :)

Beatriz made us soup, personal cheese pizzas, empanadas, and flan for dinner tonight. She's just like a grandma, making sure we eat a lot more than we need to (or probably should) eat. I'm still very sleepy, or maybe sleepy again, but I'll probably go to bed early tonight so that I can get up early. I was almost late to take my exam today because I took too much time eating breakfast.

Tomorrow's Andrew and my 2 year anniversary and although I'm really sad that I'm missing it, I know that seeing him again after this absence will be one of the best moments of our 2 years so far. I can't help but think back on times we've shared together: all the weddings we've attended, birthdays and special holidays we've celebrated, the infinite times we've watched movies, the numerous Netflix tv episodes we've watched and the many seasons we've finished of each show. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have this wonderful and unbelievably kind man in my life. I would not have even made it to Argentina without him! When I missed my flight, he answered my call while he was at work and took time to look up a number to call and figured out how to get someone to pick me up from my next flight.
I know I can always turn to Andrew and he is always so strong when I need anything at all. Thinking about him makes my eyes well up with happiness and puts a big smile on my face. There is no doubt in my mind that we will be together for many more years to come and we can make it through anything that comes along. I have to keep remembering that I will see him very soon and to be thankful that we have Skype and the internet to keep us connected :)

Tomorrow will be a very exciting day, my first day of school and our anniversary! I think it will be a great time :)

xoxo
Allie

We are the Men in Black!

Hola!
Today I was supposed to go to the San Telmo market with my friend Samantha, however we both got lost while trying to meet each other and missed each other by a block and about 5 minutes. I guess we were not meant to go today. My apartment mate came home today though! Her name is Colleen and she's really great and extremely helpful. She took Samantha and I to the Chinese neighborhood near our house and I found a great place to eat empanadas, which may just be my favorite thing to eat here so far although it is a little difficult to find vegetarian ones.

Tonight Sam, Colleen, Beatriz (my host mom), and I are going to the movies to see Men in Black 3 and I could not be more excited to see a movie in a foreign country. Here the movies are in the original language and have spanish subtitles. I know it will be a lot of fun :)

Tomorrow I'll take the spanish placement exam. Hopefully I'll be placed in the 300 level because that's what I need to transfer my credits back home. The good thing is that I don't have to wait to see where I'm at so after my test is graded, tomorrow I'll know :)

Off to the show! Ciao!

xoxo
Allie

El Primer Día!

After over 40 hours of travel, I finally made it to my homestay around 2am Arg time. Long story short, I missed my flight from Sao Paulo, took a later one, and then waited for my bag with this crazy driver man for several hours. He was extremely nice and I felt much better once I saw a friendly face. He did sing me Celine Dion at the top of his voice the entire way to my new apartment though.

I had a really wonderful first day. I got very little sleep, but learned a lot. I started out in my orientation, where I met about 10 other girls that will at least be here until the end of June. I am one of few that will be staying until the end of July. They were all very kind and it was nice to speak some english after making conversation on the bus ride with my host mother Beatriz. I am not sure if she can speak english but she speaks all Spanish to me, which is great since it will force me to get better. 

After orientation we had the most wonderful lunch. It turns out it is actually easier to find vegetarian food here than it is in the US. I got to know the girls better during lunch, and then we went on a city tour. There are something like 40 million people in Argentina, and 3 million live in Buenos Aires. It is made up of 54(?) neighborhoods but there are 5 main ones. From north to south they go: Belgrano, Palermo, Recoleta, (centro), Salerno, and then La Boca. The wealth spreads from north to south in this order, with the wealthiest living in the very north and the poorest living in the very south. I took a few pictures today, but I will probably post them later. Right now I think I need a nap :)

I'm really glad I didn't go back home after missing my flight..I kind of wanted to. Now I know I made the right choice :)

xoxo!

Allie

Canadians & My 10 Hour Layover

I think if I am posted up in an airport in Toronto for 9-10 hours with free internet access and I do not blog about this, I will be extremely upset with myself later. So here I am, melting into the scenery while everyone else scurries about around me. My only saving grace is iMessage, this free Canadian Wifi, and the fact that my chargers work in these outlets.

Here's how my trip is supposed to go, and let me just say for anyone buying an international ticket, it would be worth the extra few hundred not to have these layovers.

STL to Toronto, Canada
Toronto to Sao Paulo, Brazil
Brazil to Buenos Aires

All in all, this will be around a 30 hour trip. DO NOT DO THIS TO YOURSELF! (Just some friendly advice)

Overall the time is going fairly quickly though, and it is a nice break from being in the air. It was so much harder than I thought to say goodbye to my family, friends, and Andrew. I cried off and on through security and for 45 minutes until I boarded my plane. I'm so glad I packed makeup in my carry-on bag so I only look like a somewhat crazy person that now lives in the Toronto International Airport.

Now only 2 more hours until I leave on my 10 hour flight. Hopefully I'll get plenty of sleep and maybe Brazil's airport will be as generous as Canada's has been. It looks like my program, CEA, has plenty planned for me this weekend and next week, but I will absolutely do everything I can to keep everyone updated on how I'm doing there. Luckily I have some wonderful people in my life that sent with me objects and cards to keep me going. Alright I'm going before I tear up again.

Please continue to keep me and my flights in your prayers, most of you know how I'm afraid of the ocean and I'm just a bit preoccupied that my plane will end up at the bottom of it and I'll be eaten by a shark :/ (but of course that won't happen mom!)

xoxo :)
Allie

Stressful

From the beginning, I wanted this blog to be an honest description of my thoughts and feelings..so I promise now to be honest and type to anyone that reads this truthfully how the process of studying abroad feels.

So here we go..

I am beginning to think working, packing for this trip, and moving are finally catching up to me. I'm not sleeping well and today I was scared by 3 people by accident. Can you say nervous? Anxious? Scared? Definitely. I said goodbye to my coworkers today and it made me realize now more than ever how soon this trip is approaching. Countdown is now to 2 days. One day for moving and the next my plane takes off at 11:30am.

I know there are so many people praying for me, I just try to remember that when I feel like I'm embarking on this adventure alone. I called my grandma today because of this sudden nostalgic/anxious feeling that has taken over me. We didn't say goodbye, we just said I'll talk to you soon..which will definitely happen. People are bad at goodbyes, myself included.

I know I'm being dramatic. It's only 2 months right? But for never being in a foreign land with foreign money, people, and language for more than 10 days..it seems like a lot longer.

Here's to new adventures :/

<3 allie