goooooooolllll (mas futbol)

Well my first weekend of vacation was pretty jam-packed, even though I easily could have slept the entire three days. Friday I went shopping with two Argentines and an American from my soccer team. The Argentines were picking out clothes for me, but my shoulders were too big for the majority of the tops, and some of the stuff was just plain ugly, but it was really funny. We also looked at about 10,000 pairs of boots, and I was being my usual indecisive self. I finally bought a pair in the style that I wanted for 100 pesos. Granted they are fake leather, which is kind of a crime being in the leather capital of the world, but they were cheap, I liked them, and In WI I have to wear snow-proof boots anyway, so I guess it's okay. Friday night Ed had a little concert with the choir he's in at one of the universities here. The really weird thing was that all the songs were in English, and he was the only foreigner in the choir. They were actually very good, and all of the Argentines had almost perfect English in their solos. They sang The Killers, James Taylor, and a bunch of other famous American artists. There was also a Eurythmics/Michael Jackson medley that was hilarious and timely. After that we went out to eat at this super fancy place, Bar 6, in Palermo. It was a bit expensive, but my chicken mushroom brie thing was delicious. Yesterday morning was a our last soccer game with all the Americans still here. We won 3-0, and I got to play midfield again and scored the first goal. After the game we were taking pictures and stuff, and at one point we set up with all the Americans in front and all the Argentines in back. Right when our coach was taking the picture they started screaming and threw yerba mate and flour all over our heads, then chased us around with water bottles. We were so confused, but I guess it is a custom here when people graduate to throw flour and eggs and olive oil on them. The girls thought since we're leaving it would be fun. Anyway, it was hilarious, and I was absolutely covered. My hair was this weird yellow green color from all the yerba. After that we had planned to go out to eat as a team. We Americans thought we'd go to a nicer cafe or something, but the Argentines excitedly insisted on McDonald's!! Here it is actually rather expensive, and everyone loves it and goes for special occasions. We protested a bit, but I ended up giving in and eating there (although two Americans went to the grocery store across the street to buy salad instead). The Argentines thought it was so weird and funny that we don't like McDonald's. Also, our goalkeeper found 300 pesos (like 100 dollars) in the middle of the road on our walk there, and she paid for all the food. After that we were supposed to meet up with Fran and his friends for an America vs. Argentina soccer game, but the Argentines wouldn't commit to a plan even like 3 hours before, and it ended up not working out. Everything is so last minute here I can't handle it anymore!! All of us girls had other plans and stuff going on later, and we wanted to go straight from our real game, but they just don't understand the concept of schedules here.

Saturday night Ed, Hanna, and I went out to eat for our last meal as a threesome, because when Hanna and I get back from Chile, Ed will have already left for Brazil. We went to this awesome little jazz club/restaurant in Palermo that was in my guide book. It was literally the tiniest place I have ever seen...basically like the kitchen and living room of some couple's apartment. We celebrated Ed's 21st b-day early and got champagne, and the food was also delicious. A jazz quartet played for about an hour and a half right in front of us, and it was super relaxed and intimate.

The grandkids slept over last night, so I hung out with them a bit this morning. I decided to go with Fran to vote...I figured it's a pretty cool opportunity to see how election day works in another country! Anyway, at the polling place (a school), there were all these lists posted outside of citizens' names. You look at the list to see which "mesa" (table) you need to vote at. On our way upstairs we saw two military members with huge guns, which was kind of weird. I was actually kind of nervous because I didn't really know the rules about going in and everything if you're not a citizen. Anyway, upstairs was jammed with people, and basically we walked down some hallways with little tables set up along the walls to find Fran's number. At his table he waited in line, and I just stood off to the side. I got a lot of weird looks because it was a hallway of all men's tables (as I wrote before, they have gender separated voting). When it was his turn, he said his name and gave them his national document. They crossed his name off of a big list, and gave him an envelope signed by five witnesses at the table. He then waited to enter the "cuarto oscuro" (dark room), which was a classroom with all of the ballots for each party on different desks in a circle. You go in, shut the door, and simply seal the little slip of whichever party you want in your envelope. So there's actually no marking you do yourself (or hanging chads...or machines), and they're not really ballots. It just is like a piece of propaganda from the party you want, with the names of leaders of the coalition. There were more than 20 choices. Also, obviously, no write ins or independents. When he came out he put the envelope in a cardboard box and got his stamped document back. Very interesting.

This afternoon Fran, Claudia, the two grandkids and their parents, and I went to CUBA Nunez (Club Universitario de Buenos Aires, the club that Fran belongs to for playing soccer, sailing, etc.). We were supposed to go to Bella Vista to have an asado, but as usual, they changed their mind at the last minute and I didn't know what was going on for like 3 hours. I know I should feel lucky that they're even willing to take me with them on these kind of things, but it's just very annoying to never have a plan. I had other people inviting me to go to a Sunday market, a birthday brunch, etc., and I had to say no. But at 1:30 I was still waiting around for them to tell me what we were going to do. I'd always rather do the activity with the family, but it's just so unorganized!! I told Fran that I could never live in this culture for a long period of time, then he told the rest of his family, and they were all laughing about how I always want to know the night before what we're doing the next day...but really, is that too much to ask? Anyway, it is hard to explain what this club is because I don't really understand myself. It's outside of the city, on the river. It's basically like a country club, with tennis courts, soccer/rugby fields, sailboats, a playground, and a restaurant. You pay every month like places at home. But then there are actual semi-professional sports teams (only for men) associated with it, and it has various buildings throughout the city, many of which only men can use. Very weird. Fran gave me a tour when we got there, and even though it was a cold, overcast day it was very nice on the river and all. We ate lunch up in the restaurant with the rest of the family, and then Fran, Mateo, and I went out to play some soccer. We only had Mateo's little ball, and we were just messing around with him for awhile. Later Fran found a real ball and we got to play by ourselves a bit on the real field, which was fun.

Now I've just been packing because Hanna and I leave for Chile tomorrow super early (the taxi's coming at 4:30 AM...ugh). The U.S. lost 3-2 to Brazil in the Confederation's Cup final, which was very unfortunate. It would have been nice to rub in Fran's face, because everyone here thinks U.S. soccer is a joke...which I suppose is usually true, but not lately. Two more things I'm missing: a hairdryer and a dishwasher. And the custom of staying to the right when you're walking towards people...so many awkward crashes. Well, I'm super excited for this vacation within a vacation...I'll be back late Friday night, so expect to hear from me again next weekend! Chau! p.s. I have yet to buy a single souvenir for anyone...just a warning.

DONE!

Well, today is officially my first day of summer (kind of...) vacation!! Yesterday I turned in my last final paper and gave my 15 minute presentation on how the scene changes in two Argentine documentaries show their different objectives...kind of technical for Spanish, but I survived. The presentation actually went really well, and I was so proud of myself after. I couldn't pronounce the name of one of the documentaries (which was obviously going to be a problem in an oral presentation), and the night before my host mom helped me practice the word, writing it out phonetically and with different accents to make it easier haha. I didn't really realize how stressed I had been until it was all over. I honestly can't believe all the writing, reading, and presenting I did in another language over the past couple of months. At the beginning of the semester I would have said it was absolutely impossible. I remember last semester actually crying in my Spanish professor's office when I found out I had to redo my first paper / she thought I shouldn't be in the class and told me my Spanish was horrible, the same day I found out I was accepted to my study abroad program. I used to spend hours and hours slaving away on 3 page papers. And yet I was successful writing 10 page papers here AND even more importantly gained so much confidence. I just now in the shower caught myself thinking in Spanish. So anyway, although I am still certainly not perfectly fluent, I've realized that my Spanish really has improved so much and I've picked up so many mannerisms and vocab words specific to Argentina. Now I feel like I can do anything academic-wise...next semester I'm taking my hardest major classes but they'll be in ENGLISH, so I'm not worried at all haha.

After my class yesterday my friend Kara and I went out to pizza and ice cream to celebrate. I was absolutely mentally exhausted, so I went home to try to take a siesta, but Skype and Michael Jackson's death were too distracting...speaking of MJ, my friend Ed from Madison has a choir concert with one of the universities here tonight and we're going to watch. They're singing a Michael Jackson song, which they had planned way beforehand, so that'll be interesting. Very sad. I'm listening to the Jackson 5 Greatest Hits right now :) Also in the news, the whole Governor Sanford and his Argentinian mistress thing was quite interesting. It's in the news here too, and I've been on the street in Palermo where the woman lives and everything. So bizarre that he was in the same city as me. I was telling my host mom about it and she made some comment about how Argentinian women are notorious for stealing husbands or something odd like that.

Last night was our last soccer practice. After, 3 other Americans and I went to this Northern Argentine (more indigenous, traditional) restaurant and I had the most delicious stone-bowl, wood fired casserole thing of sweet potato, cheese, corn, and honey. I slept in late this morning (on and off, awakening every time the phone rang, a door opened, someone's alarm went off, etc...it is hard to believe how loud this place is), then went to the gym for the last time because my membership is going to run out. Now I'm going shopping with an Argentine from my soccer team, and hopefully I'll finally buy some boots! We have a soccer game tomorrow, then the whole team is getting lunch after because some of the Americans are starting to leave already.

Other random things...I had my last day at my volunteering place Wednesday, which was kind of sad. I found an Oshkosh B'gosh kids shirt with stuff on it in English, but it must have been made here or somewhere foreign because it said something like "Happy campers are from THE Wisconsin." Anyway, I got excited about WI. I always find random Chicago Bulls t-shirts and such in the donated clothes, and whenever I pass someone on the street with a U.S. college shirt on it's also really exciting ha.

The legislative elections here are on Sunday. It's obligatory voting, and I guess all the bars and boliches shut down at 2 AM tomorrow night because of it. Apparently they've had the biggest campaigns for awhile, and you're always hearing about the elections and there are posters and propaganda everywhere. Fran was explaining some stuff about it this morning...very interesting. They still have gender-separated lines. They vote in schools, but you go into this classroom with all the windows blacked out, alone, pick up the ballot for whichever party you want, seal it in your envelope, and go back out. His older brother Pablo is "presidente de la mesa" for their district, which I guess is a volunteer position in which you kind of run the voting at the specific location or something. Everyone here has a DNI (like Social Security number...national ID), and they stamp it when you vote, so if you ever try to leave the country they check to make sure you've been voting. I was explaining that in the U.S. there are a lot of non-partisan, get out the vote, democracy type groups that publish unbiased info on candidates' platforms, etc. He said there's nothing like that here, he still doesn't know who he's going to vote for, and none of the young people believe in the system because there's so much fraud and "vote-stealing." For example, parties will persuade poor people to vote for them by busing them to their location or providing them lunch for their vote. Anyway, it is all very interesting and it will be cool to be here to see how it all plays out Sunday. The director of one of the documentaries I presented on is actually running for the House (diputado), as a very leftist candidate. His documentary is from the '70s but it is very famous and liberal, all about the oligarchy, oppression, Che Guevara, violence of the dictators, etc. He's very old now, and I had no idea he was running until yesterday morning crossing the huge 9 de julio on my way to my presentation I saw this big tent set up with loudspeakers, balloons, and people giving out pamphlets about his ideology.

Ok, well I'm going to be late to meet up for shopping....but now I'm late for everything so it's not that important...haha. Hasta luego.

Familia

Well this week I was both missing my real family a ton while also realizing how much I'm going to miss my new family here when I go. Wednesday was my host mom's 60th birthday, and my two older host sisters planned this huge surprise party at the grandma's house. They were thoughtful enough to invite me, and I had a great time. Wednesday evening I went to Mass with Claudia because they were having a special intention about her birthday. Then around 8:30 I told her I was going out to coffee but would be home for dinner, and walked the 3 blocks down the street to China's (her mom's) apartment. When I first got there I thought it was going to be super awkward because I was underdressed and had never met the large majority of the almost 50 people there. The apartment was so huge and fancy, and everyone was milling around with their glasses of beer and appetizers. Fran had class and was going to come later, so I just tried to talk to the grandkids in the corner for awhile. But luckily a couple of his cousins my age started talking to me, and by the end I felt completely comfortable. The surprise was absolutely perfect...we were all hidden behind this wall/in the room around the corner with all the glasses cleared away and the lights dimmed and the grandma just sitting in her chair. When we jumped out Claudia just screamed and screamed and it was really funny. It was basically her ENTIRE family, like second cousins and everything. So crazy. Then we ate empanadas and they had a nice memory book and little thing to sign and everything. Claudia was so surprised to see me there too and kept telling her friends how well I had lied to her and all this stuff. It was just funny because I think they all kind of thought I was going to ruin the surprise. Anyway, I hadn't planned to stay very late because I had an exam the next morning but I ended up staying there just hanging around with the close family till the very end, and I talked to a girlfriend of a cousin about my age for probably about an hour about how she did an intercambio with Germans and all this other stuff. They really do treat me like actual family, and I'm so lucky.

On the other hand, no matter how much fun I have at their big family dinners or gatherings, it always makes me miss my own family more, because no matter how inclusive they are, I'm not their flesh and blood, I don't understand their jokes, and I don't share their history, etc. I had already last week missed Alex's graduation (and his lovely speech), and then this weekend I missed Max's Eagle Scout ceremony and my mom's big surprise of flying in his best childhood friend from FL. I feel like we have "big family events" like this much less often than they do here, because everyone lives so close to each other here and they're just at a different stage of life with weddings, babies, etc. So, it was really too bad to miss two relatively big occasions at home home. However, Friday night I got to Skype with two sets of aunts and uncles and my GRANDPA, which was really exciting. I called to see how the surprise went, and didn't realize that all of my relatives were going to be there. So it was really really nice to hear everyone's voices / blurrily see them (especially Bup, who I think was pretty amazed with the technology!). I was just in such a good mood after talking to them. Claudia waited to eat with me way longer than the 5 minutes I had said I needed, and then we had a great talk about family and I told her all about the surprise and the ceremony (she even watched it on YouTube with me after!). We've been having some really good conversations when Fran's not home for dinner, and I feel like we are getting much closer than we were before, which is nice. I also can express myself much better, which is good. Finally there are times when my Spanish is just flowing and I'm not thinking and I'm just saying exactly what I'm trying to say.

Saturday morning we had another soccer game. We won 6-0, and I got to play right midfield. I ended up scoring 3 goals, so that was pretty exciting. The first and probably only hat trick of my life. We only had 8 girls so we all played the whole game, and we just have the funniest conversations with the coach and the Argentine girls on the long train rides to and from the field. We've been making all these plans to go shopping with them and they really want to take us out dancing and have another asado and all this stuff before we leave. This is the kind of thing that makes me wish I was staying the whole year, because we finally have real friendships with them, right before we have to leave. Saturday afternoon the grandkids were over again so I played with them a little. Saturday night 5 of us went out to dinner at Juana M (my third time there--the place with the amazing salad bar) and then to Jobs, the board game/pool bar I had gone to for my birthday. One of the only games left to check out was "Sextionary" (in Spanish, of course), so we gave that a try, but the vocabulary proved to be kind of an issue. Ed kept asking Argentines what words meant, which was kind of awkward. They had SCRABBLE(!), but it was checked out the whole time. It would have been so fun to play in Spanish.

Well, basically I just have my program class paper/presentation Thursday left to worry about with regards to school. Unfortunately, the paper is a huge pain, because my class topic was Argentine documentaries, and we have to write this fairly technical cinematographic comparison using movies only available to watch at the office (when they're not being used by other students). But I have my other 2 big papers done and printed already to turn in this week, and I just found out I got an 8 on my all-Argentines theology class parcial, so I'm relieved and really virtually done, in the whole scheme of things. I leave for Chile a week from tomorrow. Also, tomorrow is the big Madison football ticket online sign-up, which should be crazy. Luckily the two hour time difference means I only have to get up at 10:30 instead of 8:30 to do it. Today was also obviously Father's Day, and I missed giving my Dad our gift of a new digital TV for the living room to replace our 1989 model. Although I was quite fond of/proud of that little TV...hopefully I'll get to take it for my dorm room in the fall. And my brother Max flies to Amsterdam tomorrow for a 2 week Europe tour with school. Phew, life is exhausting! Well, that's all for now. Chau!

Lists

My life basically revolves around lists, and the other night I just sat down and wrote what I miss from home and what I'm going to miss from here when I leave...some thoughts (about 1/3 of which are food-related, ha):

Things I miss now... -people in sweats -being able to flush toilet paper in the toilet -carpeted floors -Pandora -voicemail -antibacterial soap -big yards -fresh food -basketball -my feather pillow -Title IX -doing my own laundry (surprise!) -people picking up dog poop -unlimited water in restaurants -being able to go running easily -driving -having a printer -eavesdropping (and understanding what's being said) -textbooks -heated buildings -baked goods -fat people -getting the newspaper -turkey -promptness -Newsweek -not being paranoid about getting robbed -early dinners -PDA rules -seatbelts -non-fruit desserts -customer service -tall boys -folders -reliable mail service -having plenty of coins -big breakfasts -a bug-less house -objective grading scale -smoking bans -June meaning summer -not being able to run out of cellphone minutes -peace and quiet -SPRECHER -clean bodies of water -garage door openers

Things I will miss... -cafe con leche -classy old women -mate -cheap beauty services -Converses everywhere -Spanish speaking children -the amount of feriados -McCafe -delivery options -markets -being legal -city life -sensationalist news -the delight of getting a moneda -"che" -the relaxed lifestyle -avenida 9 de julio (and getting across in one trip two times!!) -going to school 2 days a week -people making the sign of the cross in front of churches -protests -Gran Cunado -constant soccer on TV! -medialunas -the exchange rate -cafes -being semi "exotic" for once -Argentine mannerisms -asking for help -peoplewatching -boots -balconies -nightlife -besos -doormen -the Skype start-up noise -family culture -having a maid..sort of -ice cream flavors -kiosks -flower stands -taxis -endless kiwi and avocado -pitying tourists -my soccer team -bus rides with my iPod -satisfaction of grammar successes -chivalry (minus machismo) -my family here (even Cleo the cat...)

Also...most commonly used Argentine words/phrases: -che: like hey, you -boludo: stupid, but used endearingly -viste?: you see -la puta madre: swear about your mother -dejame de joder!: stop kidding around -como me rompe las bolas!: how he/she breaks my balls! -que se yo: I don't know -mierda: shit -la puta que te pario: another swear about your mother -entendes?: do you understand -bueno: ok, good -este: ummm -beso: kiss (like when you say bye on the phone.."un beso! chau chau!" -epa/esa!: hard to translate...like yeahhhh, that's it -obvio: obviously -chau: bye (and, weirdly, good night) -ni idea: no idea -gordo/a: fatty -como andas?: literally, how do you walk...how goes it? -come te va?: how goes it, how are you -vos: Argentine you (instead of tu) -tipo: man -digamos: filler word.."we say"

Well, I am sure I will think of many more things, but I am avoiding starting a paper and wanted to do this. This week I had my two in class/written finals, both of which went pretty well. So this weekend I just have to focus on my papers and presentations and then I'll be DONE next Thursday. Crazy.

Asado

Welllll, another week has gone by. Monday I went to a State Department presentation for students at the U.S. Embassy on careers/internships in the foreign service. The security measures at the embassy were way more intense than I was expecting...a ton of armed guards, metal detectors, visitor tags, escorts. I guess the State Dept. has a very military-like hierarchy, and they can send entry level people to basically any U.S. embassy in the world. One guy had been stationed in Micronesia, Lithuania, and Ecuador, moving his kids every 2 years. Another job that sounds cool in theory but is probably not for me.

Nothing exciting during the school week...lots of studying. Went to the library all day Friday. Got back my big essay exam and got a 9 (they use a 10 pt. scale here, not letter grades), so I guess that was actually exciting. Friday night Hanna and I got ice cream and went to Fantasmas de Mi Ex (Ghosts of Girlfriends Past w/ Matthew McConaughey). Luckily it was subtitled, not dubbed, but it was pretty much as terrible as we expected. The theater was packed however, and it was interesting to see which parts the Argentines thought were funny, like when guys in the movie were being awkward about being touchy with each other. Saturday morning we had outdoor soccer practice, but it was kind of pointless, as usual. Saturday night I finally saw my host sister's 14 day old baby Tomas, and played with the other grand kids for awhile. I also made the Ghiradelli brownie box my mom sent me awhile ago, which was quite the ordeal. I had converted the temperature and measurements, so I thought I was all good. However, their oven, which you light with a match like the stove, doesn't have degrees, only a knob that adjusts how big the fire in the bottom is. Also, the only two measuring cup kind of things they had hold the milk bag and the dirty silverware, respectively. I washed one out but then realized it didn't have any measurements smaller than like 1 cup. So I had to just estimate the water and vegetable oil. Also, no Pam, only butter to grease the pan. Also, no normal pan. Or oven mitts. Or mixing bowl. Or spatula. I mixed the brownies in this bucket thing with a spoon. It was just ridiculous. Anyway, in the end they turned out a little dry (after I only cooked them for 20 min) and stuck to the pan, but everyone at the party I brought them to seemed to love them, so that was good.

Saturday night was this big asado (BBQ) with all the girls on the soccer team. It was at an Argentine girl's house pretty far away. It was in a bad neighborhood but the house was actually super nice, with this outdoor pool/hall/patio in the middle and a big room in the back (a converted factory) where she has parties. We had chorizo and steak, salad, bread, and my brownies for dessert. The meat was soooo good, and of course I ate a ton. Then we made daquiris, played cards, learned how to dance to cumbia/reggaeton, etc. It was so fun, and I love all the other Americans and the Argentines. Several of the Argentine girls are like 5th year law students, and we had some interesting conversations about politics. They are all so incredibly friendly and funny and I don't feel nervous speaking Spanish around any of them. We didn't even go out dancing after, which was the plan, and I still didn't get home till 4:30. We waited about 45 min. for our bus in the cold too, so that was unpleasant.

I put up a random picture of our maid, Olga, making empanadas, because they look so much like little pasties. The other day she told me "Be really careful!! I think today might be the coldest day of the whole winter!" It was 46 degrees. Pretty funny, but I do wish it was summer here too. Well, I've slept/studied all day, but Tuesday starts my two weeks from hell so I've gotta keep working. I'm feeling a lot better about my papers now though, and tomorrow is a feriado (national holiday), so I'll have nothing to do but study. Hasta luego!

Iguazu Falls

So this weekend was our whirlwind trip to Iguazu Falls...we actually spent more time on the bus than in Igauzu, but it was definitely worth it. Thursday night we got on the bus at 9, not to get off again till 2 PM the next day. Overall, it was better than our first bus trip to Mendoza. We were on the upper level, right in front, so we had a ton of space and a huge windshield to look out of. The seats went back almost horizontal, and we got blankets and champagne. Still, 17 hours is 17 hours. Iguazu is way north in the subtropical province of Misiones, and it was cool driving into the city...very red clay, smaller towns, and tons of trees. We stayed at this hostel some people had recommended and got our own room with three beds and a private bathroom for only $15 per person. The hostel was almost like a resort, and we had their all you can eat buffet for $6 each, read by the pool, and hung out at the bar outside all night with 2 brothers from England and another 2 guys from New Zealand. And the bartender was Australian. Anyway, we had a lot of funny conversations about everything from accents to music to who has the better version of The Office. Everyone just had such a cool story of why and where they were traveling. It was really inspiring and it made me want to be one of those people who spend 5 months backpacking through Latin America showering once a week and staying in hostels. Kind of. It seemed that the majority of the people at the hostel were actually British, and apparently they are horrible dancers. Perhaps I should move to England...

Saturday morning we got up early and took the hostel transportation to the national park where Iguazu Falls is located, right on the border with Brazil (the river which forms the falls is actually the border, and we ended up being about 50 yd. away from Brazil, but unfortunately with the expensive and complicated visa process, didn't actually set foot in the country). We spent the whole day doing the various looping trails of boardwalk. They have an upper one that takes you up high right above where the falls all break, a lower one down near the bottom of each falls, and one on an island about a 2 min. boat ride from shore. Then you take this little touristy train thing out to "La Garganta del Diablo" (Devil's Throat), which is the biggest and most famous. In the morning there was a ton of mist, and by noon it was sunny and beautiful. We saw about 5 rainbows. I really can't describe how breathtaking all of the falls were. The noise and the panorama of cascading water is just breathtaking. They just go on and on for what seems like miles. Each little vista showed you a different view, and some of the smaller waterfalls were actually the most beautiful. There were also a variety of bizarre looking animals, from coatis (see pic of raccoon looking things) to huge lizards to butterflies to yellow-breasted, blue eyed birds. Not quite the Amazon, but the most jungle-y environment I've ever been in. It was pretty touristy and crowded, but we managed to separate ourselves from the crowds for a bit and relaxed in the sun lying in the sand on the island...until we got freaked out by the lizards appearing everywhere and literally jumping into the air to catch flies. At the end of the day we did this really short, touristy raft trip where they basically soak you by gunning the boat against the current and up under one of the smaller waterfalls. It was super fun and kind of scary because you couldn't really breathe with the wall of water in your face. I guess it was actually more like the mist/splash back part we were in, but even that is a crazy amount of water give the size of the falls. We had jeans on, and it was like we had jumped in a pool, but luckily we brought extra clothes to change into. When we got back to the hostel around 4:30 we had about 2 hours to find some food and shower in the community bathrooms. We got to see about the first 20 min. of the World Cup qualifier between Argentina and Colombia. The game was played at the River Plate stadium in BA, and just about everyone I know here was at the game. I was extremely sad to have missed an opportunity to see such a huge soccer game, but we planned this awhile ago, and I suppose it was worth it! We almost missed our bus home because of a mix up about the company, but luckily we got on. The ride home wasn't so fun...we made about a thousand weird stops in the middle of nowhere to pick up people, have smoking breaks, and let on scary looking military guys with guns to search for illegal immigrants or something. I had pretty bad nausea, they played the movie Doubt for the second time really load, and it was freezing. But, I slept pretty well and we only got in about an hour late, miraculously. This trip was super short, but so amazing. I guess in my rankings the glaciers still win, but this was pretty close. So so beautiful. The pictures don't really do it justice...hopefully the video shows the size a little better.

Now starts my last 3 weeks of classes--it's crazy. It seems like nothing, but in the last 2 I have 3 papers, 2 finals, and 2 presentations. So we'll see how it goes. Also, I bought a plane ticket to Chile for the week after classes. It'll be just my best friend Hanna and me, and we're going to do Santiago, some smaller cities on the coast, and a day of skiing in the Andes. So there's that to look forward to! And then home in a month and 4 days.