Right after I wrote my last post I headed to Mendoza with a group of international students with an organization called BAIS (Buenos Aires International Students) for Semana Santa (here they have off Thursday and Friday before Easter). First we took a 12 hour bus ride. Which may sound horrible (and not that it was the best time of my life) it wasn't that bad. I slept the majority of it, the ride was pretty comfortable and it was overnight. We arrived in the city of Mendoza to our youth hostel and then directly cleaned up and made our way to the first bodega to have some wine!!! We learned how they made the wine and had a tour and then tried some for ourselves. Then we could buy bottles, and I literally bought one for about $6. A nice bottle of wine. Ridiculous.
Mendoza is famous worldwide for its Malbec, if you don't know about wine. It's delishhh and goes perfectly with an asado (Argentine bbq). We went to another bodega and then to a place to where they make olive oil where we tried more samples. At this point, everyone was dead and hungry and exhausted. We then went back to the hostel for an asado. OMG. The best meat i've ever had in my life. I don't think I will ever be able to like red meat again the U.S. They just cook and season it perfectly and all the types we tried were amazing. We had some Malbec with it also which was awesome! Our bellies full and hearts happy, we slept very well. Even in a hostel.
The next day we woke up and did a hike in Parque Aconcagua, to see the highest mountain in the Andes. The day was perfect and it was so incredible beautiful! The next day we went white water rafting, which I have done before, but with the Andes around you it's so different! It was so freaking fun even though the water was freezing. And no one fell out of our boat, so I think of that as an accomplishment in itself. Pics to come from this, they had a GoPro on the boat but I haven't gotten the stuff yet. The next day, we had optional excursions, and I chose horseback riding.
About 20 of us got in a van and then drove outside the city, where we then proceeded to turn onto a gravel road that looked like it was going nowhere. As far as we could see all around us there was no sign of civilization. We were on this bumpy road for about 45 minutes until we finally saw a tiny little building with a fence with horses! This family literally just has all these horses and guides tours and then makes you an asado. What a day. They let us go on very dangerous inclines and declines which was scary at times, but so fun. And the views were amazing. Then I got to have my second asado of my life and of the weekend and wine which started off with homemade empanadas, avocado, grilled veggies, and then came the meat. So amazing. What a day! Then that night we headed back to BsAs and I had to go to class when I got back. So that was exciting.
I made a Facebook album of pics just from the trip, so be sure to check that out. It was really fun to travel with 60 20-year-olds but also very crazy and we had to wait around a lot for everyone to meet up which was sometimes a pain. But i'm so glad I got to see another part of the country because I don't really have enough money to travel anymore...so....
(if anyone knows of affordable i mean extremely affordable trips let me know please)
Other than that, i've been eating a lot (still, which needs to stop), shopping at street fairs (which i'm obsessed with), and going to class and reading a LOT in Spanish for class. I had my first exam on Monday which I think I at least passed so that's good. My classes will be hard but in a few of them native speakers have reached out to me and told me to tell them if I want to get together and study or to ask them if I had any question which is so nice!!
I also joined the volleyball team! They started practicing a month ago, but I went to practice for the first time last night. I was really nervous because I had to find my way to a new place late (it's from 9:30-11:30 pm twice a week), meet new people, and also I had missed an entire month! But when I got there one of the girls was there and explained to me how everything works and how chill it is, and the coach didn't even mind that I had missed anything (sports are SO different back home). Basically anyone that wants to can play, there are no tryouts or anything, you go to what practices you want to, there are games once every other week.... it's my style hahaha. The girls are right at my level also which is so nice, we had some great points when playing but also none of us are superstars (it's been quite a while since I played seriously!). We got to hit for a good hour before scrimmaging the rest of the time. Very chill. I loved it! They were all so nice and I got so much Spanish experience and i'm so excited to have a new group of friends in BsAs! :))
I am getting really excited to see my family who is coming in just a few weeks and I am ready to see some familiar faces! I have been sick with a stomach flu for the last week or so but the bulk of it was over the weekend so I didn't have to miss any class which was nice. But i'm fine now! All of the exchange students are getting sick from the temperature change and being in a different environment in general, traveling, etc.
Some days are better than others, and I feel more positive or more negative based on what's happening around me and depending on the day. I do feel though like i'm finally meeting more people which is awesome. There is this website called Conversation Exchange where you can connect with people and i've met up with two girls from that, and one I've met up with twice this week! We are already making plans to hang out again and so i'm really happy about that, she's super nice and I get to practice so much Spanish! And she's my age so it's great! This definitely helps with my feeling of lack of friends here.
I know this is probably a lot of random information and also not as deep or reflective as my other posts, but I know there are family members that are dying just to know that i'm alive and functioning so this is mainly for them haha.
Besos, chau!
-Anna
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