Omnibuses and Schedules

For Christmas vacation, my friends and I traveled pretty much all over Argentina. I’ve been to Patagonia region, the mountains of Chile and back to the Pampa of Argentina. One thing I have found is that no matter the plans that you make, they’re probably not gonna go according to planned.

This Christmas vacation, we had planned all the buses out that we were going to take. I think only 2 actually worked out. The others we had to improvise, which worked, but threw our schedule off just a couple hours each day.

I learned to be flexible with the people I travel with. I’m a natural born leader. It kinda comes with being a first-born. But this trip, I just had to take the reigns. It was frustrating at times because I didn’t want to lead. I just wanted to chill and have someone else make the decision as to what we were doing. I think I upset some people. Sometimes I wasn’t the nicest, but that kinda comes with the job.

Overall, it was a good vacation. I’m finding that I really enjoy Argentina. Even though the food is really different and I’m still getting used to it, it was so much better than Chile. I even still really like the Villa. Even though it’s in the middle of nowhere and there’s not a whole lot to do, I find that I enjoy the simplicity of it all. I feel my mind is most creative because I have to entertain myself.

I’m here in Buenos Aires at the airport waiting for Krista’s family to arrive. Mine comes in two days. I have to say that I’m super excited to see them. I’m super blessed to be able to spend some time with them in “my” country. I want them to see what I’ve accomplished so far and what the culture is that I’m living in for these next 4-5 months. It’ll be hard to say goodbye, but I’m excited for what’s to come.

So as the end of this month wraps up and a new year begins, I just want to thank everyone for their support and friendship. It literally has meant the world to me even though we’re on different continents. Being down here has taught me to be grateful for everything that I have. Yesterday, we were sitting in a McDonalds in Rosario waiting for our bus for a couple hours and there were little boys handing out cards. These little boys were so dirty and looked so helpless, but I knew that I couldn’t do anything. It’s sad to say that there are so many people in this world who have little to nothing and yet they are some of the happiest people in the world. I have encountered some of those people, I live with some of those people. Argentina is a different world. Yes, I miss the United States, but I know that I’m down here to learn so much more about myself and the potential that I have. It’s rough at times and I just wish that I could be home, but I’m so thankful to be here and to be around the people I am.

You hear it many times about not taking things for granted, but seriously: Don’t take anything you have for granted because one day when you don’t have it, you’ll realize all that you’re missing.

Christmas Vacation-Santiago, Chile

We got on a bus from Bariloche to Osorno. Osorno is in Chile and was a stopping point before Santiago. We were stuck there for about 5 hours so we found a restaurant and chilled there for a couple hours. We found a grocery store and raided that for snacks and other delicious food. It was more like Walmart, with American brands. We were excited. We went back to the bus station and chilled upstairs on the floor for an hour. We talked and laughed. It was a really fun time. We finally got on our bus and headed to Santiago. It was a night bus and not that comfortable, but we did the best to sleep.

We finally arrived and our group split up. Rachel and Imani were staying in another hostel so we got into two taxis. We had to much stuff they had to strap our luggage to the top of the taxi. We finally made it to our hostel (it was pink) and chilled because we couldn’t check in yet. We got to our room. Eight girls in one room. Let’s just say it was so messy that the maid didn’t even TRY to clean it.

We arrived on a Friday, so we chilled there at night since it was Sabbath. Sabbath came and Krista and I chilled in the hostel, while the other girls went to see the new Chronicles of Narnia and the mall.

Sunday we finally decided to do something and get out of the hostel, so we rented a 12 passenger van and drove to Viña del Mar. Sabrina was the only one who knew how to drive stick shift. I was designated as the navigator so I couldn’t fall asleep.

We got to the beach and laid out. The water was FREEZING cold. We stayed there at the beach for a couple hours. It was beautiful. Then we took a tour of Valpraiso. Those cities were absolutely beautiful. Definitely would go back to that part of Chile, if I had the chance. We got back late and ended up making S’mores over the stove in the hostel.

The next day we decided we were going to go to the zoo. So we took the van back and then walk to the zoo. We got there and found that it wasn’t open that day. We ran into Sarah and Christina who were there. So we decided to go to their hostel ‘cause it was an old mansion with a pool. So we went back to our hostel and then stopped at a grocery store to get food.

We made lunch at their hostel and it was seriously THE BEST meal I’ve had since being here in South America. We then just chilled by the pool and laughed about things we read in an old Cosmo magazine.

That night Krista and I started the X-men trilogy.

So the next day we went back to the zoo. It was quite the hike. SERIOUSLY, it was on a mountain. We spent most of the day there sweating to the max, but got to see some beautiful animals. We showered and watched a movie.

We got on a bus in the morning and headed to Mendoza to head back the villa. We finally made it through customs. That took forever! We made it to the bus station and found out the earliest bus leaving was 8 pm, it was 4 pm. So we found a restaurant and chilled there for many hours until our bus came. The bus we got was SUPER nice. The chairs reclined almost all the way back. It was a beautiful sleep I got. Before the sleep, Krista and I finished the X-men trilogy.

We had to go to Rosario instead of the planned Paraná. So once we got to Rosario we had to find a bus back to LSM. It took forever, but we got a bus at 1 pm. We finally made it back to the UAP around 4 pm. The bus didn’t have any A/C. It was miserable. Seriously, it was SUPER, SUPER hot. Speaking of hot, it’s unbearably hot here in Argentina. I really miss Christmas weather, even though I complain about being cold, sometimes I wish that I could be cold instead of wanting to be in a pool all day.

Christmas Vacation: San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

Bariloche is a beautiful sky resort town in Southern Argentina. It's cold there, but you're refreshed with a wonderful aroma of chocolate. Bariloche is know all over the world for it's chocolate.

It started off at 6 am. We rented a minibus to take us to Paraná since we had to catch the 8 am bus to Bariloche. We waited for our bus and when it arrived, we settled down in the comfortable, bed-like seats and drifted off to sleep. It was a 26 hour bus ride. I'm pretty sure I was only awake for about 5 of those hours. A couple to watch movies and then to eat. The scenery wasn't much. Just flat land, just like Illinois. So nothing was really keeping me from sleeping.

We finally arrived in the late morning and was awakened by the brisk gusts of wind howling outside. We didn't realize it was going to be SO cold. We got 3 taxis (because there were 10 of us traveling together) and made our way to our hostel. We couldn't check in until 2pm so we left our luggage at the hostel and ventured out to explore the town. The town reminded me a lot of Vail, Colorado, except we were on this huge lake called Nahuel Huapi. It was so beautiful. Our hostel was way above it so every morning, I was reminded of how awesome God's beauty is.

We stayed there for 4 days. We chilled, walked, shopped, ate, slept. You name it. One of the days 7 of the girls went white water rafting. I opted out of it since I'm trying to save money and I've done it before. They had a lot of fun from all the stories I heard.

Being in the town was definitely an experience I'll never forget. A couple of the nights, I put my cooking to good use and showed the girls how to make popcorn on the stove. So I got a couple oil burns on my arms, but it was well worth it. We got up early Thursday morning to head to Santiago, Chile. More adventures to come!

PERU (December 5-10)

Saturday night, I had to pack. So I stayed up watching a movie and packing. Sunday morning came way too early. I don’t remember if I actually slept or not. Our bus was leaving for Peru at 4 am. So I struggled out the door and on my way to another country. I got comfy on the bus and we were about to go when Sandra told me I had to move to the other bus. It was like a short bus. I felt cheated. There were about 10 of us that got the shaft. It was a super bumpy ride with red emergency lights on the whole time. Needless to say, none of us really got any sleep like we had hoped. We arrived at the airport in Rosario about 30 minutes before the bus. So we chilled until they got there. We waited in line forever to get our boarding passes and then waited some more to go through security.

I remember traveling with PJ to the Philippines and know that it didn’t have to take that long, but it did. In their defense, we did have a big group. I got my passport stamped and waited to get on the plane. Once I got on the plane, I passed out. It’s a gift I have really. Lol. We arrived in Lima and the two buses dropped us off at our hotel. I stayed with Rosemary. We were given 20 minutes then we walked to a nearby shopping center. It had a lot of American food so naturally we stopped at Chili’s. It had been so long since I had any kind of food like that. It tasted SO good. After Chili’s we stopped at Starbucks, where I passed out because I was so tired. I have to admit that I usually don’t stop at Starbucks ‘cause I don’t drink coffee, but it was really the only place that reminded me of Christmas. It even smelled like Christmas!

After that Rose, Krista and I went back to our hotel where we stayed in and watched Sunday Night Football. I’m a sucker for football and hadn’t been able to watch any games this season. After the game, I went to the other girls’ room and watched the rest of Taken. What an appropriate movie since we were all in another country. The next morning we got up and took a tour of the city. They took us to the historical part of the city. It was beautiful. They took us to this huge cathedral and catacombs. Even though the catacombs were a little morbid, it was fascinating to see all the bones lined up. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but a couple people from our group snuck in a couple.

We had the rest of the day off after that so we just chilled and went to the market, went back to Chili’s and then I got to watch my Patriots KILL the New York Jets. Our cable went out during the last half of the 4th quarter, so Krista and I went up to James’ room and watched Oceans 13 with him and Paul.

We got up the next morning and left for Cusco. The city is at a really high altitude so they had a drink a lot of mate de coca. It didn’t taste very good, but I didn’t get sick so that’s good. They took us on a tour of this monastery and another cathedral. One thing about being at such a high altitude is that it makes you super sleepy. So by the middle of the tour of the cathedral, we were all falling asleep in the pews. We went back to the hotel and chilled for a little bit, before we decided to go find something to eat. It was someone’s bright idea to walk all the way back to where we were before. It was about a 20 minute walk, uphill, barely able to breathe. We found this Chinese restaurant up the road. It was nice. I honestly thought I was going to pass out. Everyone was walking so fast, I could barely keep up. Paul offered to walk with me later after he saw I was having some difficulties. We sat down at the restaurant and played UNO until our food came. It was good. Just like Peruanos, but not as much. We made it back to the hotel after some adventures with Jamel.

I chilled in the lobby and talked with some people I hadn’t really taken some time to get to know them. It was nice. I decided to go back to my room and I passed out.

The next morning was Machu Picchu! They woke us up at 5:30 am. We had to catch the bus at 6:40 am to take us to the train station. It took us awhile to all get on the buses, but we did and made it in time. The train ride was only supposed to take 3ish hours, but it turned into a 4.5 hour ride. The scenery was beautiful, but nothing like what we were about to see. After the train, we got on more buses and drove up the mountain. We stopped at a buffet restaurant for lunch and waiting until about 1:30pm to start hiking. We started off to Machu Picchu and I honestly was speechless when we arrived at the top. It was breath-taking. It was beautiful. The pictures I took don’t do justice. Standing there looking down on the ruins, I realized how blessed I truly am to be able to visit all these places.

We split up into 3 groups and ended up taking a 4 hour tour of the place. It was cool to learn about all the history of the place, but I really wanted time to just explore on my own. We were some of the last people to leave the park. We got to stamp our passports so now I have a stamp proving that I went to Machu Picchu. We took the train back down, but only halfway. We had to get on MORE buses and drive down back to Cusco. It was a horribly bumpy ride. We hadn’t eaten since lunch so we were all starving. They took us to this pizzeria. It was delicious after not eating for so long. I think that was the first time that I experience a real late Argentinean meal. We didn’t eat until 11:15pm. Our table scarffed our food down and went back to the hotel to sleep.

We got to sleep in the next morning and visit the market before we had to check out to go back to Lima. We went to the market a lot while we were in Peru. Made me not want to buy anything else without bartering for the price. We landed in Lima and they took us to this mall. None of us wanted to buy anything because we all came from buying cheap stuff at the markets. We exchanged our Secret Santa gifts in this park, which was fun. And we headed off to Chili’s for dinner and Starbucks before we headed back to the buses. Our flight from Lima to Rosario didn’t leave until 1:25 am so we chilled in the airport and watched a couple TV shows before it was time to board. I was hoping to sleep while on the plane, but I couldn’t. So I stayed up until about 4 am. Then right when I was about to sleep, the sun came up. Boy was that bright! We landed around 7 am and waited for the bus. We got stuck on the short bus again. I was upset because I didn’t think that I was going to sleep, but praise the Lord I did. I ended up falling asleep on Paul’s shoulder the whole 3 hour trip. That was some good sleep!

We arrived at the UAP around 10:30 am. We had to wait another 30 minutes for the bus to arrive. We got our luggage and some stuff figured out for our Christmas vacation, ran to start our laundry and shower. Friday was mostly spent unpacking and packing again for Bariloche, where I am now.

Peru was an adventure. It was an awesome experience. I’ll keep you guys updated on my Christmas vacation!

Thanksgiving: A different perspective

It's on the eve of a day like this where I am reminded I'm nowhere near home, nor will be for a long time, that I miss the people I love and that I don't really fit in here.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and while the majority of you guys are going to be sitting around a table with your friends and loved ones, I'm here in Argentina, where they don't give you a 5 day weekend for this holiday. Sure, they acknowledge that tomorrow is Thanksgiving, but that's it. I still have class, in fact I have two finals tomorrow. We are putting on a flag football game (Indians vs Pilgrims) to commemorate a Thanksgiving Day football game.

I'm missing my family a lot. Most of them are together in Chicago, which is rare, but this month was my father's 50th birthday so my mom surprised him with flying family out to celebrate. No matter what I feel left out. As much as I would hate being home and would mostly be texting my friends complaining about how we dislike being home, I miss it now. I know that I need to be here in Argentina and am learning Spanish and a lot about myself, but there is nothing I yearn for, but to spend a holiday back home. Yeah, my parents are coming for Christmas break, but that doesn't count 'cause I won't be in MY house, sleeping in MY bed and spending time in MY home. Who knew I would miss it so much? I never really thought about the things that I'm really thankful for until I came here. I know for a fact that I've taken just spending time with my family for granted. Thank God for Skype and Facebook, but sometimes those just don't cut it.

It's almost been a month since I've updated this. I apologize for not updating you guys on my life. I have to say that not a whole lot has happened. We had this night, like BCU, LAC or Asian Night, called Festival of Nations. We made a booth like a 50s diner and had a bunch of American stuff to represent our country. It was interesting hearing the local students asking us what the things we had were significant to our culture. Honestly, it was hard explaining that it was just an era that we decided on. Mexico had a huge presentation, Argentina's booth was like one of the government buildings. To them, these things are WHO they are, but for us Americans, a 50s diner doesn't really fully express who we are. We all dressed up from different decades and took a ton of pictures.

Some of the girls and I entered in a soccer tournament. We thought it would be fun to play the local sport and see how far we could get. We knew we wouldn't get far since none of us had played together and we're from the US, where football and basketball are the forte of sports--not soccer. There were 8 teams and somehow the team I was on, made it to the final games and won 4th place. It was fun to play indoor soccer, not as much running, and to see the local students surprised that we had gotten that far. After some mishaps, we lost our last game and received the 4th place trophy. It was a bit disappointing because we could've beat the final team we played, but I was just proud we had gotten as far as we did.

I made another trip to Rosario for the weekend, this time with a less trouble. It, of course, didn't go all according to planned, but it was a fun weekend to get away and see a different part of the town.

Life here in the Villa has been quite...bland. Everything's the same. The students are taking their finals and getting ready to go on summer break. It's al ittle bittersweet because I feel like we just got here and now we're having to say goodbye to them and wait 3 months to see them.

Gordon Bietz, the president of Southern Adventist University (my school!), came down here and visited us. It was cool having him here checking up on us and getting feedback about the ACA program. We gave him some ideas he's gonna take back to the board. He's one of the people that are on the ACA board of all the schools in the world. Pretty sweet guy I MUST say...AND I got a picture with him. So that will be my profile picture until I see my family.

The first tri-mester is almost over. Friday concludes it. I have my schedule for the next one. Cramming 19 hours of class in. It's gonna be a long summer, but I'm determined to get these classes out of the way and do well in them. Peru is the next trip that we're taking. We'll be there from Dec. 5-10. It should be fun. We're going to Machu Pichu and some other cool places.

We have a student association here at the UAP for the ACA kids and I got the job of Public Relations Director. So I've been a little busy the past couple days, helping get things ready for tomorrow and the future.

Christmas break is just around the corner. I'm excited about where I'm traveling and seeing my family. Should be an interesting trip. Long bus rides (first one is 25 hours) and sleeping in many hostels.

Well I should get back to my studying. I have two finals tomorrow. Thank you for the continuous prayers! I appreciate them all!

Love,
Lauren

Buenos Aires.

Ah where to begin. For the past couple days, I’ve spent my time in the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, for a school trip.

We left early Sunday morning (5:45 am) to be exact. The bus trip is about 6 hours, so Rose and I passed out in the back and woke up at this gaucho ranch. One of the classes that I’m taking is called Folklore. This trimester we’re learning all about the gaucho (Argentinean cowboy). Little did I know that the whole entire day would be dedicated to the gaucho.

The ranch was cool. You could ride horses, there was a cart ride you could go on and even a museum. We were all super tired so after we did that we sat around waiting for lunch. Everyone, not just our group, gathered in this big dining hall and sat down for lunch. They served us bread, salad, spaghetti, meat of all kind and dessert. During the meal, there was live entertainment from this man and woman who danced for us. There was also a guy playing the accordion and a guy playing the guitar.

It was about 5 pm when all was said and done so we got back on the bus and headed into the city to our hotel. I feel asleep once again on the bus. We stayed at a pretty nice hotel (nothing like the 5 star hotel we stayed at in Rosario though.) I roomed with Ashley, Chelsea and Sabrina. We chilled for a bit since we had free time and set out to find a Starbucks with about 6 other girls. We found out and enjoyed the coffee that we haven’t had in awhile. I got a Té Chai Latte (Chai Tea Latte), but it wasn’t very good. Oh well. After that we walked around the mall there. After awhile we came back because we had to go to an opera. So we all piled on the bus and set off for our next adventure. We got to the place and realized that it was an outdoor amphitheater. So we sat on the uncomfortable benches and waited for the show to start. About the second song, I realized that the singers were actually lip-synching. Now I realize that it was cold, they were dancing around outside in an area…etc. but I was still a little disappointed.

After that we went back to the hotel. The girls wanted to go out, but my leg was killing me so I decided to stay behind and rest. I turned the television on and found Sunday Night Football, so naturally I was going to watch that instead of going out. Around 12:30 am, the girls plus Adam, EJ and Luis came into the room and we stayed up talking. They were trying to figure out if they were gonna hang out somewhere and I just sat there with my leg up on a pillow waiting to fall asleep. That didn’t happen until 3 am.

The next morning we woke up and rushed off to do some more sightseeing. We saw Casa Rosada, which is the president’s house. It looks like the while house, but pink. Fitting since the president is a woman. We also saw the Plaza de Mayo, which I figured out I learned about in Spanish 4 in high school. Señora Orrego would be proud that I paid attention. We saw a bunch of other historical stuff…that I don’t exactly remember at the moment.

For lunch we went to the Adventist restaurant, Granix, that they took us to when we were first in Buenos Aires. It was alright. Reminded me of the cafeteria food, but a little better. Rose and I wanted to go back to the hotel. I really needed to take a nap since I barely got any sleep that night. So me, Rose, two other girls, James, Paul and Adam headed back. First we stopped by the Plaza de Mayo again so one of the girls could take pictures since she didn’t when we were first there.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned the vast amount of pigeons here in Argentina. But at this Plaza they were EVERYWHERE. We pressured James and Adam into feeding the birds. Paul got it on video, but the guys were surrounded by pigeons. It was kinda nasty. I’m not a fan of them since they poop EVERYWHERE here on campus, but it was pretty funny to see the guys scream.

We went back to the hotel and chilled there until about 6. We told the rest of our friends who wanted to shop that afternoon, to meet us up at the nearby mall so we could hang out the rest of the night. Well of course, that didn’t happen. Rose and I waited for about an hour for everyone to show up. By then we were tired and didn’t want to stay out late. We found this burrito place to eat (that doesn’t taste like Qdoba, Paul) and hung out there for awhile. It was the first time I had a burrito since leaving the US. Strange I know. After dinner, our group split up. Rose, James, Paul and I found a Coto, like a Walmart, and went crazy buying toiletries. While we were buying our stuff, Paul and James sprayed AXE for about half an hour trying to figure out which one smelled the best. At the end of the day, neither of them got any. We went back to the hotel and watched a couple episodes of Chuck before we went to bed. We were all so exhausted. On the elevator ride up to our rooms, Paul made the comment, “I’m so glad we didn’t go to the movie. It would’ve been an expensive nap.”

I showered and passed out. Woke up the next morning for more sightseeing. This was Tuesday. On our schedule, it was planned for us to see a whole lot more than we did the day before. I still was super tired, but stuck it out. We saw the Palacio Paz, that was super cool. We went to lunch at this buffet and then headed off to this Rose Garden. It was HUGE. Really beautiful. I took a ton of pictures, which will be on my Facebook later today. Then they took us to a cemetery, which was like the one in the movie Double Jeopardy with Ashley Judd. Kinda creepy, but cool at the same time.

We finally made it back to the hotel after getting everyone back together and checked out. They took us to this HUGE mall for dinner and hang out time until we were supposed to leave to come back to the UAP. Now, when I say this mall was huge. It was huge. Like Mall of America huge. James, Paul and I conquered that in about 2 hours. Of course, we didn’t really buy anything ‘cause we’re all broke and the stores were really expensive, but it was fun going around with them. Especially to the knife store.

After we conquered the mall, we got back on the bus. The four of us, James, Paul, Rose and I, sat together and watched a couple episodes of Chuck before we all fell asleep.

We got back to the UAP at 4 am. Went to sleep until about 11 am…Needless to say it’s 2:15pm and I’m gonna take a nap.

Fútbol injuries

Fútbol, or soccer as we know it in the States, is very popular. They live and breathe it here. So some of the ACA girls decided to make a soccer team to compete in this tournament. We had our first practice today and let's just say that it was very interesting.

A girl accidently kicked me in the shin and now I can barely walk. Here are some pictures to show how bad it is. Obviously, I take sports a little too seriously.

You would think that was my knee on the left leg..but it's not.

My Eventful Weekend in Rosario

Before I begin, I apologize for the length of this post, but I couldn't leave anything out. Please read to the end. But I have given you warning.

The original plan. To go to Rosario on Friday and stay until Sunday or Monday to celebrate Chelsea Powell’s 21^st birthday a week early. We would leave Friday afternoon at 3 pm and then come back on Sunday night. We would stay in a hostel for 2 nights and go to a club Saturday night.

What ACTUALLY happened.

Friday came. We had stayed out late the night before because the ACA guys were playing in a basketball tournament and won. I think we got back to the dorm at 12:30 am and none of us had done our homework for the class next morning. We had to talk to the deans and then decided to do our homework together. We also realized that we had to get leaves from the deans to allow us to go out this weekend. We were afraid that they wouldn’t sign since we were so late.

So after about 3 hours of sleep that night (Thursday), we went to class and started getting ready to leave that afternoon. We checked the bus schedule after lunch and found out that the bus didn’t leave until 5 pm. Some of us wanted to get the tickets then, but we all weren’t together and we had to have our passports so we decided we were gonna get there a little bit early to buy our ticket.

A little before 5, we went to the bus station to buy our tickets and be on our way to Rosario. Paul was in line first and we found out that there were only 5 seats left on the bus at that time, so we all decided we would get up at 5:30 am the next morning and leave. James was having a hissy fit because things weren’t going according to planned and we didn’t have a lot specifically planned out. So Friday night was spent in the dorm watching a movie. Sabrina and I were waiting up for Chelsea and Ashley because they had gone out to dinner. We went and talked to the deans to explain why we were there and if we had to fill out a new leave. We also had to get permission to leave the dorm early (before 6 am). So things were going to go well, we thought.

10 pm came. Still no Ashley and Chelsea. 11 pm. The same thing. Our curfew had passed and they were no where to be found. Rose had gone with them, but came back early so we really wondered if something had happened to them. Around 12 am, Chelsea found me on Skype and explained the situation. They hadn’t got done at the restaurant until late so they didn’t think that their leaves would stay legit because they were late for curfew. So they decided to stay at Shain’s house, which is off campus, because they thought that the leaves we had all filled out would be the same. Little did they know that we had notified the deans about how they were going to travel with us. On top of that, Sabrina had put all of her stuff in Ashley’s room because her roommates were cleaning their room and live right across from each other. So since Ashley didn’t come back, neither did her key to get into her room.

After talking some time with Chelsea on Skype and telling her of how irresponsible and how I disapproved of how things went down, we decided that I would get up early at 5 am to meet them at the gate, to get the key (‘cause they couldn’t swipe in,), to open their room to get Sabrina’s stuff so she could get ready for the day, and to bring Ashley and Chelsea’s stuff to them. I finally went to sleep around 2:30-3 am. Unhappy knowing that I wouldn’t get any sleep. So the time came for me to get up and I completely got ready for the day. I went to open the dorm door and it was locked. No one was around, so I had to knock on this girl’s door so she could open it for me. As soon as I got out of the dorm, a dog started to follow me. Something you need to know about this campus, is that there are dogs everywhere. I hadn’t seen this one, so I was a bit weary of it. I haven’t had many good experiences with big dogs so I was little fearful. It started biting my leg and jumping up on me. I was in no mood to deal with the dog because I was tired and cold. It followed me all the way to the gate. I got the key and walked back to the dorm. The whole time this dog is jumping up and down on me, biting my leg and my purse. I finally prayed that God would stop the dog. It didn’t occur to me that I needed to be yelling to this dog in Spanish—it was way too early for my brain to be thinking that. So the dog finally stopped and I got to the dorm.

I opened the room, Sabrina got ready and we gathered all of our stuff together. We met Rose and started to the bus station. I made a comment about everyone having their card and Rose couldn’t find hers. So we waited for her to go back up to her room (on the 3^rd floor) and get it. We were cutting it close to the time the bus was going to leave. We had already bought our tickets the night before so I wasn’t worried about that. We finally got to the gate, Jamel met us and helped us carry all the extra luggage to where we were meeting Chelsea, Ashley, Shain and Javier.

We got to the bus station and found out that two more people, Isaiah and Elijah, were going to come with us. As they were about to buy their tickets, the lady told them that there weren’t any more open seats on the bus so they would have to wait til the next bus left.

So on our trip we had me, Sabrina, Ashley, Chelsea, Rose, James, Paul, Jamel. Javier and Shain. It was a good group and we knew we were all going to have fun. We all basically fell asleep on the bus ride to Rosario because we were all tired and got basically no sleep that night. We got to Rosario and bought our tickets back to Libertador, San Martín JUST to make sure we would have spots. We divided ourselves up into 3 taxis and were going to meet at Plaza 25 de Mayo because that’s where some of the hostels were going to be. Two of our taxis arrived, but the one with Sabrina, Shain and Rose was no where to be found. We ended up standing at the Plaza for about 45 minutes waiting for them to show up. James and Paul decided to go check the hostels out and try to get us rooms. They came back empty handed. Apparently, this was a huge holiday so everyone had come to the city. We had been told to make reservations at whatever hostel we wanted to stay at, but we thought they all couldn’t be full. Well they were. We finally found the missing group. For some reason their taxi driver had no idea where this location was so they were driving all over the city. They finally got a new driver and made it. So we still needed to find a hostel. So we dragged all our luggage around the town, literally trying to find EVERY hostel possible to stay at. Since our group was a group of 10, no place had a place for us to stay. Since we didn’t have cell phones, we decided we would stay together and not split the group up. I didn’t realize how helpful having a cell phone would be down here. I really miss mine.

Anyways, we come to this tourist center and the lady there helps us find a couple more that we were going to call instead of hauling everything around. We were planning to stay at this hotel, but then found out that it was way out of the city and around nothing. So if we wanted to go anywhere we would have to get a taxi. We called around a bit and found a hotel that was closer. It was a 5 star hotel and kinda expensive ($130 USD a night), but we decided to get it. They would only allow 2 people per room so we ended up dropping a ton of money on it, but we had no other choice.

Jamel decided that this trip was costing too much, so he headed back to the school by himself. We were all kinda bummed, but tried not to let it affect our weekend. Things weren’t going planned and I wasn’t all that upset about it. Little did I know that nothing we planned this weekend would go according to planned. Jamel tried to get a hold of Isaiah and Elijah to let them know not to come, but we found out later they ended up coming anyways.

We headed off to the hotel. We were gonna try and cheat the system to get at least 3 people per room, maybe even 4. The hotel wouldn’t have any of it. So we ended up getting 5 rooms and splitting it. The room that Sabrina and I got was big enough that all of us could’ve slept in it and it would’ve been super cheap. They only had one room for us that was ready so we all piled into a small room that Rose had and watched tv, took showers for those who hadn’t since the day before and took naps. We all started getting hungry so we freshened up and went out to find something to eat. We found this nice place on the river, which was quite dirty looking, but ended up having a good time. We were gonna go swimming, watch a movie, then go to the club later.

We walked back and none of us really felt like swimming except for Paul and James, so they did that…they stopped by Sabrina and I’s room and asked if we wanted to work out. We were bored so we agreed. So we went down to the gym and worked out. Sabrina and I did Ab Ripper since we really didn’t want to lift and James tried to keep up. We then decided that we were gonna go get ready for the club and just chill. Here in Argentina, the clubs don’t even really get crowed until 2 am so we had a couple hours to burn.

We went to the guys room to figure out what club we were going to, when, how we were gonna get there etc. We took forever and made a decision. Paul said that he wasn’t going to go and we left a little sad. Sabrina and I found Chelsea to go through everything and make sure it’s what she wanted since we were here for her. It seemed that everyone was gonna go to the club except for Paul, so we went back to the room to convince him. When we got there we found out that James wasn’t feeling like going either. So now our plans had changed again. It was starting to get a bit frustrating, but I was determined to have a fun time.

After much discussion and changing where we were going, everyone was on board and we were gonna leave around 1:30 am. We all met in the lobby and found taxis to take us. 3 taxis again. To a location that was pretty close. It was free admission only until 2:30am. We thought we would have plenty of time. So were all caravanning there, when the taxi that Chelsea, Ashley and Shain were in takes a different turn than the rest of the taxis. We don’t really think anything of it until we get to the club and they’re not there. We waited for about 45 minutes out in the cold for our people to show up. It’s close to 2:30 am so we decide to go in the club and then we’ll come back out to find them. We got in line with the guys and almost got in, but they said that us girls had to get in the other line. The guys were already in there and I was a bit worried. Our group was getting split up and I don’t like that especially in an unfamiliar place. Right as we got to the door, Chelsea, Ashley and Shain show up. Apparently their cab driver took them to the wrong club. It was just a confusing mess. We went in to the music loudly bumping and dancing. We danced until 3:45 am when Rose said she wanted to go back. Paul was going to back with her. I felt bad so I said I would go back with them. I was super tired since I had only slept in nap intervals the past two days and knew I needed the sleep. James decided to go back too so the four of us set out to find a taxi. They must not like us because it took more than 30 minutes to find one.

We finally got back to the hotel and I was ready for bed. I had the only room key so I had to stay awake to let Sabrina in, but at least I was super comfortable. I started falling asleep and just then realized that I hadn’t left the door open and there was a knock on the door. Sabrina and Chelsea were there. After making sure everyone was back, I passed out. We got breakfast in our rooms the next morning. Sabrina woke up and told me, but I just rolled over and went back to the sleep. Food could wait. I randomly woke up and we decided to eat. We didn’t know what time check out was so we decided to go back to bed until around noon then go do some sightseeing or something until our bus left at 4:15 pm.

I heard a loud knock on the door and opened to find Chelesa, Shain and Javier standing at my door. Apparently our check out time was noon. It was 11:30ish. We had no time to get ready and pack. So we all threw our stuff together and met down in the lobby to figure out where we would go. We all had our luggage with us, so we didn’t want to go major sightseeing. We thought maybe we could go to a movie since we could just sit down and have our luggage with us.

The people at the hotel were nice enough to let us keep our luggage there and we could go out without all of it. We walked down to the monuments and took a lot of pictures. We found a little flea market and walked around there until we got hungry for lunch. We stopped at McDonalds because we didn’t have enough time to go to a sit down restaurant because they take forever down here.

After lunch, we went back to the hotel, got our stuff and took 3 taxis back to the bus station. I went with Shain this time because he was the common denominator for the taxis getting lost. We made it to the bus station with plenty of time to get on our bus. Were we ran into Elijah and Isaiah. So I’m sitting on the bus on my way back to LSM. Ready for some more chill time and a LONG time to sleep.

We don’t have school tomorrow for some holiday (the reason why everything went so wrong this weekend), which I am very grateful for.

Address and Holidays

So for everyone that has been waiting here's my address:

25 de Mayo 99, 3103 Libertator San Martín, Entre Ríos, Argentina

Mail is slow here, but I know that I'll eventually get it. Send things only in business envelopes are it'll just get really complicated. I'll make you guys a deal: If you send me a letter or postcard, I'll send you at least ONE back. Okay now on to my favorite topic so far: HOLIDAYS.

People here come up with the most random ways to get out of school. I've been here for 2 1/2 weeks and I've already experienced 2 holidays where we don't have school. Another one is coming up soon.

Wednesday we didn't have school, so we got up super early and caught the 7am bus to Sante Fe. It's 3 hours away from LSM (Libertador San Martín) and like Paraná, but bigger. We walked around the city and found the historical sites until about 1pm. Then we stopped at this burger place that had really good pizza. There was a group of school girls that were there that kept staring at us and they all giggled when we attempted to speak Spanish. They took pictures with us to before they left for siesta time. That's another thing we're not used to yet. Don't get me wrong, we're all up for siestas and take them all the time, but when it's siesta time NO ONE IS OPEN except restaurants. So everything closes from about 1:30-4:30 EVEN THE POLICE. Luckily there's little to no crime here so it doesn't really matter. So we were planning on going shopping for this masquerade ball that's happening in two weeks, but once we got done with eating, all the shops were closed. =( We continued to walk around and find interesting things.

I've had fun with the group that I had out with exploring that towns that we've visited so far. Classes are going well. This week wasn't that bad. I really enjoy my Spanish classes, but am not such a fan of Folklore, Geography, History and Religion. I know I need these classes to get my major and what not, but some of the content is super boring. Me and my friends have started passing notes in Spanish to each other so we're still somewhat involved, just not the way the teachers would like. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I'm still paying attention and understanding what's going on.

Well I need to shower and go to bed. I haven't gotten all the sleep that I've needed to fight the end of this cold. The weather has been super cold since there's a cold front over Entre Ríos it seems. I'm having to wear my jacket all day because it's THAT cold. I get to show off my awesome boots, which is a plus, but makes wanting to workout outside a little...complicated.

Off to the shower! I'll update as soon as I can about whatever next event happens. Thanks again for the prayers! Miss everyone!

Love,

Lauren

El Día del Estudiante

Tuesday was el día del estudiante. Here in Argentina, on the first day of spring no one is in school and they celebrate the whole day.

Here at the UAP (pronounced WAP), they had a fair like set up on the student field. Human foosball, slides, a mechanical bull and a soccer tournament were the most popular events taking place the whole day. Around 12:30, they stopped for lunch. THAT was interesting, but it filled me until about 3pm.

After lunch, a big group of students got in a circle and starting playing some clapping games. Of course, they were all in Spanish, but it was interesting to sit on the side and observe these people. They were playing simple games that I taught some of my campers this summer and they were having blast. Sabrina and I took pictures, while Chelsea and Ashley got in the circle.

We met some more of the students and have hung out with them since then.

Since the town is so small, there's not a whole lot to do. It's like being stuck at Southern or Andrews campus without a car, and none of your friends have cars either. So for fun at night, you go to the gym and play volleyball. The students here in Argentina are very healthy and very fit. I have yet to see anyone out of shape or overweight. So every night we gather in the gym and play volleyball, basketball or fútbol. On Tuesday, it was about 3:30 when an amazing volleyball player named Diego asked me if I wanted to play volleyball at the beach. It's a sand court right next to the gym. So I agreed and got my posse together. We ended up playing til dinner. I must've hit the ball wrong once 'cause I had a TON of pain in my shoulder. I haven't really played since then because it hurts to serve or spike, which are the things that I'm good at. So I'm on temporary leave.

Two nights ago, I went to the gym with a ton of people with every intention of playing volleyball. After warming up with Pinky, a student here named Ezequiel but he looks like Pinky from Pinky and the Brain so everyone calls him that, I sat down on the blechers to let other people warm up. I started talking to James, he looked really bummed about something so I thought I would see what's up. We ended up talking the whole entire time the gym was open. I felt bad 'cause I invited a ton of people to play and they were all waiting on me to play. I kinda wished they had just gone and gotten into a game instead of waiting for me. But what can you do.

So last night, all the girls were going to go to another gym and do this power jump class, it didn't really sound interesting so I went to the gym by myself. I had a thought that I should bring some homework while I wait to play, so I brought some of my Grammar and Conversation homework. There ended up being a girls volleyball tournament, so none of us could play. I sat down and started on my homework. Just being around volleyball makes me happy. LOL.

They had a game of beach volleyball so I went outside to join a team. It was FREEZING COLD. I was about to head back to my dorm to get a sweatshirt, when James and Paul yelled at me for leaving. Apparently, they were coming to play. So James gave me his sweatshirt and we stood around for awhile. We ended up going back into the gym 'cause it was too cold to just hang out while the game was going on. Paul and I ended up talking for a good portion of the time while James shot hoops.

I needed to do laundry so I decided to get up before the sun and do my laundry, so as I sit down here in something that reminds me of a factory, the smells of freshly cleaned clothes and breakfast linger in the air. I am so blessed to be here in Argentina learning this language I've been studying for about 1/4 of my life and meeting these awesome people I can call friends.

Today marks the day of completing my first official week of school. The content of the classes aren't hard, it's just that everything is in Spanish and my brain is overloaded. I know that it will get easier the longer that I'm here. I find myself forgetting words in English when I talk to my friends. Keep me in your prayers that I can continue to stay focused on school! Miss you all!

La Punete Negro Muerte

Yesterday was Sabbath. So I woke up late because of my alarm clock...but made it to breakfast. Ran back to get ready for church...then went to English Sabbath school. It was awesome to finally understand what the speaker was saying. The night before at Vespers, it was completely in Spanish and we all had a hard time understanding what was going on.

For lunch we went to the caf, and found out that you have to be dismissed by tables. We sat and talked. The food was like ravioli. It was delicious. After stuffing ourselves with food, we found a group that was going on a hike to Puente Negro (black bridge) so we invited ourselves along. Little did we know what we would get ourselves into.

We started out on our hike. We hiked to the puente blanco (white bridge), then started walking through the farmland to this bridge. We tredged our way through forest, and land...we even walked through a field of bamboo. Then we came to the puente negro. To get to the other side, you had to cross this bridge. If you look on some of my pictures in the next post you'll see the bridge. It was quite old and a little sketch. This bridge was way off the ground. Now, I'm afraid of heights as was half our group. So I went and decided to take it really slowly. Most of it was made out of steel, but there were wooden planks that weren't equally put across the bridge. It was terrifying. After about 30 minutes all of us made it across. For some it took a long time to coax them to come across.

Then we hiked our way back to school. In total it was about 6 miles. We hung out until dinner, then we decided to go to the gymnastics show at the nice gym outside of the school. It was interesting there. The younger children did lots of different things including roller skating, it was like ice skating, but on roller skates. We stayed there pretty much all night. It wasn't anything impressive, but I had to keep reminding myself that they weren't pros.

We all have been wanting to go to Parana for the past couple days, but it hasn't quite worked out. So we went today. Sabrina, Ashley, Rosemary, me and the guys decided we were gonna leave early 'cause we thought the bus left at 8:20. so we got up super early...only to figure out that the earliest bus left at 10:30. So we just hung out and waited until then. We bought our tickets. They were about $7 there and back. The town Parana is a little over and hour and a half away from Libertador San Martin where we are. So Sabrina and I sat together, we ended up falling asleep on the bus 'cause we were so tired. We got there and found out that we had purchased our return ticket, but we needed to reserve our seats. So with the help from our friend, Paul who knows more Spanish then the rest of us we figured it out. We had about 16 people in our group. Some wanted to go find the movie theater and the rest of us wanted to go scope the town out.

Our groups divided and we went our separate ways. The group that I was in, navigated our way around the town. We stopped at this buffet for lunch. it was really good. All they had was meat, so it was hard to find some food there, but what I found was good. We walked to this place to find an alarm clock, and it ended up being on the outskirts of town. There I found my pillow, because the one that ACA gave to me wasn't really a pillow and I've been having really bad back and neck pain when I wake up. It was only $5. (ps. I'm converting all the money, which is in pesos to dollars so you get it )

We walked back to the square or the center, which was in the middle of the town and took a bunch of pictures. I've been hanging out a lot with the people in the group picture and they're becoming good friends of mine. We walked back to the bus with a couple stops in between and made it back to the school.

I'm starting to get a cold just because the weather is so different here. I'm gonna try to stay away from sweets and just drink a ton of water to flush it out of my system. The next post I'll put all the pictures I have so far.

School starts tomorrow. I don't know what to expect. I'm taking a lot of classes so I hope they don't stress me out. Tuesday is Student Day. It's a holiday in Argentina, where all the schools close and the students have parties and stuff. Since we're Adventists we're going to have a dry party all day, but the activities they have planned sound like a lot of fun. I'll update as soon as that day's over because I'm sure I'll have a ton of stories to tell. :)

Classes

Well I got my results for my placement test and I tested into Advanced I. It's the biggest class so a lot of people are on the same level as I am, which is nice.

I decided to take a full load because I want to take as much as I can while I'm here. The town is super small and there's not a whole lot to do except for school and playing sports. So I want to do both.

I'm taking Grammer, Composition and Conversation I; History; Religion; Geography; Folklore; Current Events; and Spelling. These all add up to 18 credits. So hopefully when I'm done here, I'll have a ton of credits. I came here to learn Spanish, so I'm going to be immersing myself in all that I can do.

I changed all the settings on my computer to be Spanish. So that's all I read. It's funny because when I'm chatting with people on Facebook, I'll start responding to a question in Spanish because everything on my computer is Spanish. It's a common mistake, but I know that I'm getting closer and closer to fully understanding the language. I want to challenge myself to be able to have a decent conversation with the locals by December. I can already talk to my roommates and they understand the jist of what I'm trying to say, but I don't want to hurt their ears! LOL.

Thanks for the prayers, and I hope you all are doing well.

Another update

Well I thought I would update you guys just a little bit about what's going on.

So the bathroom situation. There are community showers. Granted they're separate, but everyone on the floor shares 6 showers and 6 bathrooms. Because the school is old, we have to throw the toilet paper away instead of flushing it down the toilet. The RA's give us a roll of TP a month and if we run out we have to get our own from the store.

I've been meeting a lot of people, which is awesome. I changed all of my settings on my computer so I have to read everything except what I'm typing in English. I'm starting to think more in Spanish too...or maybe it's just that I'm thinking more ABOUT Spanish. LOL. I've only been here for 3 days and I already feel like I'm picking up on it all. The natives here are very kind and listen to our horrible Spanish and help us out. Some of them like to speak English with us because they want to work on their English.

I went with a couple friends to hang out at the gym just to watch, and ended up playing volleyball for two hours. So I think that we're going to go back tomorrow night and play. I did some homework tonight: looking up words for our next volleyball game. So we can try and talk to the natives instead of screaming English out at them.

The food is different. So far for every meal I've had rice, beans, salad and something else...and apparently that's not so healthy for you. Once Krista gets here, I'm going to be running so I won't gain the abroad 15...or whatever it may be. I really miss breakfast food. Since it's always my favorite meal, it's hard to put together that rice, beans and an apple are going to be my breakfast for awhile. Mom said she would make me biscuits and gravy when she comes to visit at Christmas.

I took my placement test and I didn't think it was that hard, but we get the results tomorrow so we'll see what level I'll be in. Pray I get into Advanced I.

I think I'm starting to get a cold. My body isn't used to this weather. It's cold in the morning, hot in the afternoon and cold at night. I should drink a lot more water.

Well I'm gonna try and update this every week and upload pictures. My camera battery randomly died so I haven't been able to take any pictures since leaving Buenos Aires, but I'm charging it tonight so I'll start taking pictures of everything. Back to the updating...as much as I want to be on my computer keeping in touch with everyone, I really need to not be on it as much. Since we're just going through orientation we have a lot of free time and our roommates are taking their finals so we can't really hang out with them, but classes start on Monday so I'm assuming that everything will change.

Thanks for the prayers! Te amo! (I love you)

Travels and Firsts

I’m on a bus. I just woke up from a nap and looked out the window. I seriously thought I was still in Illinois. The land looks a lot like Illinois. Fields cover both sides of the road. We’ve been on the bus for 4 hours. We still have 2 more to go. So I decided to get a head start on my entry.

My butt hurts. I’ve been sitting in a seat for way too long. Back to Chicago. I got to the airport earlier than planned, which made checking in easier…well kind of. The travel agent asked me where I was going and I replied, “Argentina.” I don’t think that it had hit yet that I’m not going to be in the states for the next 9 months. She started the paperwork and then questioned me,” I thought you were going to Argentina.”

“I am,” I replied.

“Then why does it say that you’re going to Chile?” she asked.

“I’m stopping there, but my final destination is Argentina,” I replied.

Freaked out that something hadn’t gone through right, I looked at my dad. “Crap.” I thought. “I’m screwed.”

“Oh wait!” She said. “ I didn’t page through the whole thing. Here it is.”

After that I checked my bags and walked to find my mom who had parked the car. We stood there for a couple minutes talking, then the security lines started filling up. “Well I guess I should get in line,” I told my parents. We said our goodbyes. I didn’t cry. I have no idea why. I haven’t saying goodbye to anyone except Stefan, but he doesn’t know that.

Got through security by a breeze and went to go find my gate. I was distracted by the Patriots and Bengals game on TV so I stayed at some random gate watching that until the 2^nd half. Then I went to find lunch. I was deciding between a pizza place and a burrito place. I thought what not a better last meal than pizza. Since I’ll be having burritos while I’m down there. I got a tomato and spinach pizza and a sweet tea from McDonalds and went back to watch the game.

Soon it was about time for my plane to be boarding so I found my gate and the game was on there. Woot. Of course the Patriots were winning. J

We boarded and I found out I was in the middle seat on my side. I hate the middle seat. It puts in an awkward spot. Soon I fell asleep and enjoyed another little nap. We ran into some turbulence close to landing, which woke me up. I think that plus the fact that the pizza wasn’t that good just added to a disaster. I started getting really nauseous. I wanted to throw up, but we were almost about to touchdown. I had to calm myself down and just breathe. Finally, I got off the plane and immediately ran to the bathroom. Figuring out my connecting flight could wait a couple minutes. I couldn’t throw up. I tried. It didn’t work. So then I had to make my connecting flight. I was in Concourse D and my flight was in Concourse J. So I found myself walking outside in humid and quite miserable Miami wondering what I had gotten myself into.

After finding my gate, I decided I still wasn’t feeling well. So I made a trip to the bathroom and preceeded to throw up all of my lunch…well what I thought was my lunch. I had been talking to my mom, not really sure of what I should do. So I went and found a couple apples because apparently those help with motion sickness and a sprite, some water, a granola bar for dinner and some Dramamine. I wrestled the Dramamine pocket open and took one. They were kids chewables and tasted like crap. Then I ate my apple back at my gate. Sarah had called me telling me that her plane had landed and she was on her way to the gate. Pretty much as soon as the call ended, I started feeling really sick again. So I ran to the bathroom and threw up whatever else was in my stomach…which was a lot. I was feeling a little better now that it was all out of my body, but still not 100%.

We were called up to get new boarding passes with LAN instead of the ones we had with American Airlines. And then we got to get on the plane. The plane reminded me a lot of the Korean Air plane. In each seat, they had a pillow and blanket combo for us to use. I did my best to follow along with the Spanish instructions and then confirmed what they had said through the English ones. My Spanish is nowhere good, but I know that will change in a couple weeks.

The plane took off and I started to feel sick again. As soon as the pilot turned off the seatbelt sign, I asked the lady who was in the aisle seat, if I could go to the bathroom. I barely made it in time and threw whatever else was left in my stomach. My body wanted to keep throwing up, but there was nothing left. I just sat there on the floor of the small bathroom, just tired. And wanting to be home in my bed. I washed myself up and went back to my seat. They gave us sleeping masks so I put that on, covered myself with my blanket and went to sleep. I pretty much slept the whole flight (8 hours), but it wasn’t the best sleep. I can’t wait to get to my dorm room so I can sleep horizontally.

So we’re in the Chilean airport and it’s cold! We literally get off the plane, clean ourselves up so we don’t look a mess, go through security (which was nothing like ours in the US. We didn’t have to take our shoes off, or take our toiletries out), get to our gate, wait about 10 minutes and they started boarding. I grabbed a newspaper on the way, determined to read it on the plane. I got my Spanish/English dictionary and went to work.

We touched down in Buenos Aires about 11 am. Going through customs wasn’t hard. We went to baggage claim and our bags never showed. I wasn’t surprised, but was secretly hoping that my bags would be there. We go talk to the lady and she told us that our bags arrived before our plane and they were in another location. So we walk over and there are our bags. Just sitting there. I have no idea how long they had been sitting there, but they were there. We exchanged our money, went through the final part of customs and found the ACA guy. We were the last to arrive. We got on a big bus and started to get to know people. They took us to this Adventist restaurant, where I sat with a girl I went to class with, her husband, a girl from Andrews and a brother and sister from Walla Walla. As you can see, there are people from all over, which I think is super cool. Two other girls asked me if I was Stefan’s sister, which I replied yes and they told me they did the MITHS thing with him a couple summers ago. Obviously no matter where you are, as long as you’re an Adventist you’ll be connected with those people because of someone you know!

Well I’m started to feel a little queasy. The roads aren’t exactly kind, but I’ll finish this once I get to my dorm and meet my roommate(s).

So we’re here at the school. I’m in my room and I’ve met both of my roommates. They’re from Brasil and don’t speak English. So I’ll be learning Spanish even faster. It was definitely put to use today! One of my roommates was helping me unpack and she picked up my bag of tampons. She’s like I’m curious what are these for. In my broken Spanish I explained to her that they were for the time of the month. Then she got it a couple minutes later. It was cute and awkward, but we’re already bonding. Well my computer’s about to die so I need to figure out how to use these converters and adapters. Our first meeting is tomorrow at 10:30 am so I can sleep in. I stole a sleep mask from the LAN airplane and plan on using that while I’m here.

I miss and love all you. Continue with the prayers!

Lauren Claire

Where I'm going

Here is my flight plan of where I'm going to go.You can read in my first blogpost, the specific details of my trip.

I'm flying out at 3:15pm and wo

n't arrive in Argentina until 10:30am Monday.

I won't arrive to the school until about 6pm on

Monday, since the school is 6 hours from Buenos Aires.

This is where the school is located in perspective to the whole country.

And this is a more zoomed in of where I'm going to be for this school year.

Some things I'm gonna miss part 2

These are the three food items that I'm going to miss the most.

Also if I could even put all the pictures of the television shows I watch, you would wonder what I do with my life. So here's to all the criminal television shows that I watch. I'll catch up on you in the summer. Maybe even Christmas break.

People I'm going to miss in the U.S.

Jana, my soul mate and my best friend. I didn't find my bestest best friend for life until I was 20, but I guess it's been completely worth the wait. We've been through a lot and basically are the same person.

Darlene, my childhood best friend. We went and worked at camp together for the past 8 years. We've laughed, cried, and almost died together. She's a pretty special one in my book.

My family. I love them to death. Sometimes they drive me crazy, but I don't know what I would do without them.

Barry & Sam. To describe these two wouldn't be an accurate portrayal of their relationship, but they've been two of my best guy friends--almost like other brothers--since freshman year.

Katie Hayhoe. My personal nurse. But she's more than just that. She's an awesome friend. We bonded quite nicely after I missed my flight back to Southern over Thanksgiving break and spent 14 hours driving down there.

Hitlist. We'lll reunite when I get back. We have some unfinished business to attend to.

Caity, Emily and Caroline. High school senior year was the best year I had in high school thanks to these girls.

First things first

Today, I bought my plane ticket. I'm flying out of Chicago on September 12. Headed to Miami to meet up with Sarah, another girl that's going to Argentina, then flying to Chile, then finally to Buenos Aires. A total of a 17 hour flight.

It's beginning to hit me that I'm going to be going. It's becoming more and more real. Thankfully, Sarah will be there so I have someone to hang out with that I kind of know. =) I decided that instead of writing notes of Facebook or whatever that you guys can keep up with me on this. Hopefully, I get pictures up too.

I'll try and update this once a week so you can keep up with the fun happenings of my year in another country. I would also appreciate all the prayers and support from you.

Lauren