Un descanso....lo que andabamos buscando
Trip Start
Jul 2007
1
7
11
Trip End
Jan 2008
San Rafael, Argentina
Monday, September 3, 2007
This week was pretty busy, I had to change a literature class around, do some reading, and try to figure out the university system here, which, as I've already told you guys, is really tough to get used to because of the different structuring. I think Im finally getting a hold of things though Im a little behind in my reading. Its likely Im going to have to play the foreign exchange student card a few times while Im down here.
This girl I've been dating for about a couple weeks told me the other night that wants to marry me. Obviously this is a really frightening statement for someone to hear after a couple weeks so her poor little heart is quite broken right now. Casually dating is just unheard of here, its either total enrapture or complete disregard. Kind of tough for a study abroad student that just wants to hang out and experience the culture.
Que mas....ah Tuesday was my birthday. We decided, since it was in the middle of the week, to have a "tranquilo" celebration Tuesday and then go paint the town red Friday night (Im writing this before leaving for the painting session). Well the tranquilo celebration lasted until a little past four in the morning, and I'll probably make it home tomorrow at a similar hour. It was a lot of fun however, we went to this bar which is like a giant log cabin with huge aquariums inside and hung out eating cake and drinking wine.
So this weekend I went to San Rafael with an amigo for his birthday, it's a little town about 4 hours away. There wasn't a whole lot of interesting things to say about the town, it kind of reminded me what one might find in western Kansas because it was in the middle of the plains, away from the mountains, very flat, lacking tall buildings, the majority of the population rode bikes, not a whole lot of culture, etc. The neat thing about this place was the Mendoza River and Valle Grande. Once you get out of town the landscape changes into something you would see in New Mexico/Arizona; just a beautiful desert-cliff setting. We went to this lake, which was really blue green surrounded on all sides by gigantic painted rock cliffs. Really magnificent and reminiscent of a small version of lake Powell. That night we ate about 10,000 calories worth of his mom's awesome cooking and then went to a local boliche to meet some of alito's friends. It was a good time and we made it home a little past 6 a.m..
Cultural lessons of the week: Say goodbye to any and all personal space you thought your north American upbringing owed to you, and don't worry if your running late, you better stop and say hello to that acquaintance walking on the other side of the street.
I think that's about it, this week consisted of me going out way too much and not studying nearly enough, which means this next week I'll have to hit the books pretty hard and sacrifice some social time. Hope all is well in the states, I'm hoping to get a report on the game with Montana State here sometime soon...
