hello again!
All these posts about move in day and Dickinson visits are making me so
sad and nostalgic. You all know I’m the first in line to say Dickinson is not
an easy place, but damn do I miss it. Somehow it really does grow on you and
that's mostly because of the beautiful people you meet there, such as all of
you guys! So yea I’m super nostalgic right now.
Okay, Jessica I just want to say... you go girl! Which sounds like
something my mother would say but dying your hair and three new piercings
that's just fierce and awesome. So Argentina... I arrived three weeks ago and
Professor Ruhl was here to greet us, which was unbelievably comforting to see a
familiar face. Mendoza is so much bigger than Cuenca, Ecuador so it has been a
bit more overwhelming trying to navigate the city. Example, yesterday I got
lost going to cross fit so I was wondering around for about an hour.
Also my host mom, quite the sassafrass. Her name is Margarita and it’s
just me and her. We live in this little apartment (like you take 10 steps from
the kitchen and you’ve reached the end of the apartment) but the view and
location are spectacular! I’m right in the middle of the city and I can see
part of the Andes from my room so it’s breathtaking!!! She’s a lot of fun to
live with because she is kind of spunky; she isn’t married and doesn’t have
kids but she loves to hang out with her girlfriends, do yoga, she drinks this
retro Japanese water, is spiritual, and burns incents around the apartment
while she listens to music. On the down side she has a really strong
personality so she can be very critical. VERY CRITICAL! She’ll call my group
stupid and Americans dumb (which we can be) and she only picked me because I’m
Latina (I’m still deciding how to feel about that). Most of the time she is in
a really good mood so it’s a lot of fun living here.
We got here three weeks before school started so I haven’t been doing
much besides watching tv, eating, going to cafes just to get out of the house,
and exercising on occasion… which is fine for three maybe four days, but now
two and a half weeks of that is a little much. That being said I am really
excited to stat school on Monday, maybe I’ll make friends! (Oh I sure hope so I’m
actually really nervous for school).
But not to worry I have done exciting things like I went on a desert
trip, skiing in the Andes and fell A LOT, and …..
Today, I
took a two hour drive to go repelling down an old mine. I got up at 7 am,
bundled up and headed out to the Andes to go visit an old mine. A little
history for y’all, the mine was first created when the Jesuits came to Argentina;
then it was taken over by a Spanish company and they mined for silver and led
(which you can still see on the walls); after the Spanish a British company
took over the location up until 1980’s- ish when they were kicked out of the
area due to the Guerra de las Malvinas (aka Falklands war). Anyway now that you’re
all briefed on where I went I can tell you all about my adventure into the
mine.
So there
are 4 levels, when we first got there we had to put on these gloves, get down
on all fours and crawl into this itty bitty tunnel on the side of the mountain
and once we crawled for about 10 meters there was enough room to stand and walk
around. In the mine we had to be harnessed while walking because randomly there
are these big holes that you can fall into. And then we repelled down to each
level going further and further underground and once we got to the third level
we couldn’t go any farther because the fourth level is a scuba diving
excursion. To sum it all up IT WAS SO MUCH FREAKING FUN! After the mine they
made us food and we ate like three plates of meat! Argentina is very well known
for their red meat (but I have the one host mom who apparently doesn’t like
meat so I don’t get much of it) so when they started grilling I went all for
it. I think I had about 4 sausages, 2 small pieces of steak and three ribs. Is
it possible to be drunk off meat? Because I’m pretty sure that’s what I felt
after that meal! Well that pretty much sums up my three weeks in Argentina so
far and I’ll keep you guys updated!
I MISS ALL
OF YOU SO MUCH and send all my best wishes and love!!!!
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