Amelie

Yesterday I got back from Rosario in a funk. I was seriously homesick for the first time, missing my bed, hardwood floors, the morales girls, aunts, everyone, and just the comfort of consistency and love. There was no way I was going to do homework, so I decided to google "happy movies" and found a great list that had Amelie on it.

This movie did the trick. I have always allowed movies to affect me very much, many times too much, but this one affected me for the better. I didn't want to watch a sappy love story, and although there is a quest for love in this film, the best parts about it are the quest and the beautiful nuances of the characters and the film-making.

I suggest everyone should watch this movie now! Even if you've already seen it lots of times, I think that the magic and happy details will bring some sunshine into your life, like it brought to my cloudy night yesterday!

"Without you, today's emotions would be the scurf of yesterday's." Thankfully I have all of you to thank and to know that my emotions are never scurf.

My new favorite hangout...

One of my friends from UBA recently shared a vital piece of information regarding being a student in BA. There is a library called the Biblioteca Nacional that's 7 blocks away from my house, silent and beautiful.

There is a view of the river on the 5th and 6th pisos and you can see the famous metal rose in the park (I'm not sure of the significance of the rose, just that its on lots of post cards and people seem to know it as a point of reference).

Due to the 3 final papers and 2 oral exams (these consist of giving a speech about a prepared topic to the professor and then answering questions that can potentially be about ANY of the material we have gone over all semester) that I have in the last weeks of my stay here, I will be living in this library for the majority of that time.

My friends are all leaving July 10th, and I'm here until the 21st finishing my assignments. Yay for picking the hard classes at that most exigente universidad in the city.

Patagonia Adventures

Glacier Perito Moreno, El Calafate in the provincia Santa Cruz, Argentina

Patagonia is the general term for the south of Argentina that actually occupies the majority of the country. Patagonia is known because of the sport clothes store in the U.S. The logo is based on a mountain in El Chaltén that we would have seen on Day 2 if there wasn't so much fog!!!

My facebook album is finally complete and you can see it here, even if you don't have one! Its really hard for me to pick the best pictures and put them here, so check it out!

The whole weekend was a well needed break from the city life. It was so nice just to chill for a couple days and explore new things and not have to worry about how many pages of theory I have to read! Now I'm back to the grind and missing that peaceful place! I loved remembering what its really like to be a traveler, finding a hostel to live in with your stuff on your back and constantly meeting other travelers with the same passion for discovering the world as you.

I wish it weren't true, but I'm hooked on seeing the world. My next points of travel: India, Ireland, Greece, Finland, Finland, Finland. More practically, I'm going to the city Rosario next weekend with the program.

I hope you like the pictures! I simply can't explain the wonder we experienced there!

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

So apparently there was some widespread worry about my safety this weekend while I was traveling in the south of Argentina.

I'm home and incredibly happy. In short this weekend was one of the most magical weekends of my life up to now.

I can't wait to share with you more details and epic pictures tomorrow. Special shout out to everyone that helped make this trip possible, especially Tutu, Auntie Cristina, Nana&Papa, Gramsey and my incredibly supportive muther and popper doodle. I feel so honored and loved to have been able to experience this weekend and that people worried about me while I was even farther away than I already am.

My friends always make fun of me when I say this but, what did I do to deserve this love? I just think I got lucky enough to be given such a beautiful family filled with love and support. So, thank you, and get ready for some majestic glacier pictures.

Bundled up!

I packed my toiletries, I'm going to pick up my clothes at the laundromat and I'm trying on my new fleece I bought so, I think I'm ready for Patagonia!

All be back Monday night in time for the last 3 hours of my Beckett seminar, unless the glacier wipes me out and I can't handle it.

Get ready for the pics!

Post parcial purchases

My parcial came and went. I wrote lots of things that were right and that related to one another, but I think I wrote them in a rushed, extranjera (foreigner) way which isn't 9 or 10 (A) material para la UBA. Mis amigas argentinas told me that they'll probably ignore the spelling and grammar mistakes. Vamos a ver!

I've been craving some clothing with llamas (pronounced here jamas) for a really long time. Since I'm going to El Calafate in patagonia on Friday, I realized it was time.
Back to reading for my other classes that I sort of forgot about for a while...

Touristy Night with Argentines!

Niall's friend recommended this program called "Spanglish" that takes the format of speed dating for the purpose of practicing Ingles y Castellano/Español. Each pair (or in our case trio) speaks for 5 minutes in English and then 5 in Spanish. Some of the people we talked to have been 3 and 4 times! Its great practice and good to get some tips from the locals. For them its awesome because there really aren't places to practice speaking English other than touristy bars with crazy drunk Americans. They seemed really appreciative of the opportunity! Even though we are forced to speak Spanish with everyone in public, this was different because it was forced mingling with Argentines. We loved it and we're going back the next time.

After Spanglish, we met up with our Argentine friend Romina that we met in Mendoza. Sometimes she is hard to make plans with and our cultural differences keep us away from her for a while. But tonight she was super fun and we had a great time. We ate dinner at La Cabrera a pretty famous, although touristy, parilla (argentine grill). I had been waiting for a moment to go, because our group of friends are half vegetarian, so they would have never wanted to go...

It was really yummy, and we got a crepe with dulce de leche and ice cream after. It was expensive but it crossed something MAJOR off my list of things to do before I come home. We got done with dinner at 2AM and then I went home to sleep so I can keep studying today.

Its. almost. over.

After Tuesday my life will be consumed with getting ready to go to Patagonia--which tights and sweaters to bring! My after midterm present will be Sex and the City, which I have to admit I'm pretty excited for.

I'm so happy I had a fun night in between this studying---it makes the studying worth it!