so far so good!

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!!!!

Hectic Orientation...

So as no surprise this year's orientation is hectic, at first glance it was rather strange and difficult to see these students as anything more than kids. Though as the time with my orientation group passes I start to see them as promising peers and hopefully this will set the tone for the years to come. I've gotten a general reaction from other OAs that this class is much quieter though I'd like to hope that it's a class that is much more prepared to listen than those before them. They seem much more concerned with what is actually being presented during orientation though as compared to some of the guys from my last orientation group that is a considerably low standard.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program, I've invited the other people that you suggested Jessica so now it is on them to accept our request. I've also added a subscribe function on the side bar to send a notification email to your preferred account when ever we post on this page, that's the main issue i found with the page. (hope it works)

Also I just wanted to say that I saw Paula's baby before all y'll... I win?
And I'm certainly in that picture in on the left side.. you see the one who's head is covered by the sign.. yeah that one.

I Survived and Miss You All!

Hey everyone!

   I've wanted to post for a while now but this is the first free moment I have found all summer. I liked all of your posts though, I wish I was off with you instead of working all summer. I have one week left to relax and then I am in packing mode for the next week until my plane takes me to London. I am happy to be done with these crazy camp adventures and all of the bees (I am currently on steroids and antihistamines for a wasp sting I got on the last day of camp, it was somehow in my pants in a building). The children are awesome for the most part though and I feel bad because they think I'll be back but I really can't do it again next year, it's time for me to try new things. Instead I am going to work at one of two camps that are actually interested in having me or maybe get a real person job or internship. Because here's the thing, I love the kids. The good, the bad, the troublemakers and leaders alike. I go to camp for the kids every year. Even ones that I don't like at first all grow on me eventually, I have come back every summer of the past 3 years because the children needed and wanted me to. So now, unless camp does a one eighty, I plan on closing this chapter of my life and moving on to other jobs. I already have 2 positive responses from camps located in Carlisle and I plan on expanding my search for internship opportunities as well, despite the fact that I'll be searching from England. I am sooooo excited to be leaving for England in a week and a half! Im hoping to see and do as much as possible while I'm there, I'm trying to start fresh though, new year and open minded me, so I have spent the remainder of my teenage years (20 in 10 days!) with a lot of sudden unplanned choices that I can justify away with my age. Thus I am leaving with a new hair cut and color, 3 new piercings, and a fresh brain. I'm still working out fitting my life into 2 suitcases and a backpack. Also I will be visiting Dickinson if any of you are in the area at the time. I also hope I can see and hear all about your experiences this upcoming year as well :) I miss you guys! Write more posts <3

(Also how do we add more contributors? I want to add Breigh, Chris, and Alejandro, plus anyone you guys feel we left out!) 

Greetings lovely friends!

oh how i miss all of you and it's only been a little over a month!Well i figured i would post now that my abroad adventures have officially started. so i left the states a week ago, but I just got to Cuenca, Ecuador today. My host family consists of two parents, Maria and Giovanni, and three sisters, Belen (28 years old), Paz (25), and Cati (17). They are very sweet people and the girls are really funny. I think the youngest one is quite rebellious and probably the main cause for her dad's gray hair.

So for the past week my Dickinson abroad group and i have been traveling across Ecuador from Quito to Cuenca which are both on the spine of the Andes but on opposite sides of the country. My week has consisted of going to the middle of the world (aka the equator line) where you can see all the stars because you can see the stars on both hemispheres it's beautiful! eating pollo y arroz, visiting small indigenous villages and learning about music, weaving, agriculture, and of course eating some more!

i think the best part of the week so far has been the amazon jungle trip. We stayed there for about three days and we didn't rough it at all lol. yes, we didn't have electricity but we had these amazing three course meals. oh, Dickinson. it was absolutely amazing though; we did a lot of hiking. we we're basically climbing up the side of a mountain, well in my case crawling, and then it started to pour on our hike. It was quite a beautiful moment! we also found some ayahuasca and our guide (Macro) was telling us all about how they use it in his tribe and the one and only time he has ever tried it. Personally, it sounds terrifying but he also described it in a way that made the experience strangely beautiful, especially compared to tourists who try it and don't understand it's use and such. We visited Marco's community, called Tiyu Yaku, and learned all about making this caffeinated drink, how to make chocolate from the cocoas, and how to shot these blowgun darts that paralyze animals (it's safe to say that i suck at it and no one should trust me with paralyzing darts). the kids in the village learn how to aim them at like age 6, which is crazy because the blowgun that you put the dart in was really heavy for my little noodle arms. Tiyu yaku was a beautiful community with amazing people who had such passion for their culture and keeping their lives very connected to the land. i swear sometimes i wonder why we live in a world that abuses and destroys so much of what we are given on this earth.

Well i should go to bed since i have class tomorrow at 8 am and a 45 minute walk to class! it's also super cold down here (alpaca socks are becoming my best friend). I hope you guys are all doing well and Mika i was laughing so hard at your description "wannabe beyonce", i'm sure your hair looks good! Miss all of you and you are all so near and dear to my heart! take care and post!!!!

Dyed My Hurr

Sup yo? So I dyed my hair yesterday. I wanted a brownish color, so my mom was like "buy light blonde, since your hair is really dark and all, it'll come out brown." Makes sense, right? So I did that, and maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but it came out too light. I look like a wannabe Beyonce or something. I'm gonna leave it for a few days, maybe I'll get used to it. But anyway, you guys haven't been posting! :( I miss you all a ton. Please let me know how your summer's are going! I'm looking forward to reading your posts. LOVE, Mika xoxoxo.

Hey guys! Thanks for inviting me, Martin. I really like this idea. Things have been pretty interesting since I've gotten home. Home is always just so weird. My siblings are in high school and middle school and they're in their "bad ass" phases, and I'm just so over it. My friends are the same, though some of them don't talk to each other anymore, which puts me in a weird position, and I'm just like "errrr." But on the bright side, I start working at Penguin on June 3rd, so that's exciting. I'll probably post up pictures in the future! I miss you all. I hope you guys post frequently.

Blogity!!

As the next 2 semesters approach and we each venture off and explore the world or remain on campus... As Jessica L. once purposed, I made this blog and invite each of you to post whenever you feel is appropriate to simply continue our bonds and connections. (Just to place where each of us is geographically  or just in life) I guess I'll start us off with the first summer post, YAY Cali beaches (sorry to rub it in Jessica, but the West coast is the Best coast).
So see you all together senior year (I hope) until then do post (don't be a stranger),
Martin Alvarez.

“Our Lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past, and present and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.” - Cloud Atlas