So, sorry I've been so bad at updating this...I'll try to give a brief description of what I've been up to this almost 2 months since I wrote last.
Jujuy- We went on our second program trip to a northern province of Argentina to enjoy fresh air and llamas. We explored some ancient ruins and a few markets filled with llama merchandise, did a little hiking, and struggled to breath in the very high altitudes. We also spent an hour or so at the salt mines which as far as I can tell only serve the purposes of mining salt (obviously) and taking "cool" pictures. It was a nice time to get out of the city and spend some time with the other Flacso students.
Maria's Visit- In the middle of october maria came to visit me!! It was so great to see her and show her around the city. We did a lot of walking around, shopping, and catching up. Probably the highlight of our week was going to the city zoo where you are allowed to feed the animals so they all do tricks to get food.
Mom's Visit- Last weekend my mom came down to visit!! Early in the semester my dad sent an email saying keep that weekend free because he was going to surprise her with a trip down. Only she found out the email the next day haha. Basically she was a great sport and put up with all the ways i made her trip "authentic" like hopping on a 17 hour bus ride the day she got in and sleeping in a cheap hostel. We spent the 1st 2 days in Iguazu (the giant waterfalls on the border of Chile and Brazil). They were absolutely amazing and my pictures do not do them justice! The last 2 days we spent in the city where I showed her a little bit of my life here. She brought a bunch of food and gifts for my family and it was so great to see their responses. My brother grabbed the pancake mix and syrup, my dad took and hid the chocolate, and my mom absolutely loved the purse making patterns. She is a seamstress who mostly makes purses but patterns are not available here. She immediately called up her friend who works with her because she was so excited!
Classes- I've been keeping busy (definitely too busy) with classes but they are winding down now. I have a few more papers and presentations to finish but am feeling much less stressed than I have been for the last month or so. Considering all my classes are in spanish, I've actually been doing pretty well in them.
Church- I've been going to a youth service once a week and a small group every other week and I love it! I've met some great people there which is a good opportunity to practice spanish and hang out with Argentines.
Today I spent a long day trying to change my temporary visa into a permanent one (even though it's only for one more month...) We went this morning and they said they couldn't do it. There wasn't really any more explanation than that, just "we can't do it now. come back later". Luckily when we came back they were able to do it. Yesterday my class was supposed to go on a tour of one of the buildings they used to use a torture center but we couldn't because the guide just decided to leave...Those are just 2 good examples of how things are run here. I love this country but sometimes it can be frustrating...
So yeah...that's pretty much it. If you want to see some pictures, look at my facebook. I'll be posting a bunch of pictures in the next few days.
See you soon!!
