Flag Monument on Flag Day!

Messi's Dad's Restaurant, VIP!

Tres Fronteras

Iguazú!

Brasil side destroyed from the water

smaller falls

after walking across that bridge and getting soaked!

Uruguay!

Do I have to come home?

Well after face timing with my parents yesterday for what I think was only the second time since I've been gone, I realized that I have barely been communicating with anyone at home. Including my blog! Sorry everyone! I've been so engulfed in the culture and living life as an Argentine. The culture here is so rich and amazing and nothing like I've ever experienced in the USA. Last weekend we visited Uruguay, it was a very quick less than 24 hour trip but was well worth the time. I'm all about traveling and the lovely new stamp in my passport is an added bonus ;) We ran into some trouble coming home because 3 people from our group had forgotten their Argentina entry fees! You don't need a visa to just visit, if you pay the entry fee you can stay for 3 months. When I came here in 2012, the entry fee was paid at the airport and they put a sticker in your passport saying you were allowed in the country for the next 10 years without having to pay again. Simple, easy, and here I am with no problems. Something changed the past two years and now you have to pay the entry fee before you come to Argentina and carry the receipt with you, it's not a sticker in your passport anymore. We almost lost 3 West Chester students to Uruguay, haha. Thankfully we met up with one of our professor's friends so she was able to help us get them back into Argentina. We left Uruguay around 2pm and got back to Rosario around 7. We came home and took a nap and then headed out to the boliche! We ended up leaving around 5:30 am and heading home. Sunday was Argentina's first game of the World Cup and let me tell you, things are CRAZY here. Argentina colored everything, everywhere you go. Jerseys, flags, scarves, hats, anything you can imagine is being sold on every street corner in the city. I absolutely love it. We went to a restaurant/bar for the game and it was probably one of the most exciting days I've experienced. They didn't play well at alll but they still won. After they win any game, everyone proceeds to flood the streets and go to the flag monument to celebrate! It was quite an experience. Monday was the USA game. We ended up going to our new favorite place, Bar del Mundo. It is really a bar of the world, they have beers and drinks from every different country, and food! It's the only place here I've found cheese fries and chicken fingers so we were loving it. While we were the only ones there for the game it was like a private viewing! After USA won the bartender gave us free shots. Friday was flag day! The first flag of Argentina was hoisted here in Rosario so the National monument of the country is here! Not only was everything decorated for the World Cup, there were double the amount of flags hanging everywhere on Friday. We didn't get to see the parade because our bus to Iguazú left at 2pm. Merrick and I live close to each other so we headed to the monument around 11. We walked around, took pictures, and after we didn't find the rest of the group from WCU we decided to grab some lunch at VIP. VIP is the restaurant right next to the flag monument that is owned by Messi's father! It was really good. After that we headed to the bus station. We were able to watch some of the parade and speech by the President on the TV in the bus terminal. At 2 we left for Iguazú. It was a wonderful 19 hour ride....not. The bus seats are pretty nice so it wasn't hard to sleep. The next day we arrived in Iguazú. We weren't able to check into our rooms in the hostel yet but we were able to drop our bags off and then we went to check out an Indigenous village, of the Guarani. It was really cool to see how they live, and interesting. The government has been trying to eliminate their village to put in hotels and resort space for the waterfalls. After that, we went back into town and got lunch and watched the Argentina game! Thankfully they won, even though they still aren't playing very well. We checked into the hostel, MangoChill, and then headed to the Tres Fronteras, or the three borders. You can stand in Argentina and see Brasil and Paraguay across the rivers, it's really cool. Then we went back to the hostel and showered and got settled. The hostel was having a pool party that night. They don't have a kitchen like normal hostels for you to bring your own food and cook but they have a chef! He was making beef, chicken, and shrimp kabobs, THEY WERE DELICIOUS! They also had a bartender which was pretty cool. We made friends with people from California, New Zealand, Scotland, China, and I can't even remember where else from! At 4am, the party was still going strong but we all headed to bed since we had to be up to get to the falls. Sunday morning we woke up and had the best breakfast I've had while I've been here. They don't eat the traditional breakfast foods that we eat, its usually a medialuna (croissant) or a small piece of toast with jam. At the hostel, there was bread, eggs, lentils, and then the Argentine breakfast food. It was heavenly. We arrived at Iguazú National Park around 11 and ventured off into the jungle. There has been a lot of rain in Brasil this "winter" and so the falls actually flooded. It's never happened before and the park was closed for a while. We didn't know if we would be able to go on this trip! Thankfully the park opened back up, but the Garganta del Diablo (Throat of the Devil, the biggest attraction) will be closed until mid to the end of July because part of the bridge was washed away. Also, part of the superior trail was washed away. The water was apparently 33x higher than it normally is. When we looked across at the Brazil side, you could see how half of their side was missing, washed away into the river. We spent more time taking pictures to spend the most amount of time we could in the park. We did the superior/upper trail first since part of it was closed. After that we went to lunch and then hit the inferior/lower trail and got soaked walking past some of the falls! We did some shopping and waited for some people to be done the boat ride. At 6 we left the park when it closed and headed back to the hostel to grab our bags. We got changed and went to a restaurant to get some dinner before our bus left at 9pm. We got to watch part of the USA game and then boarded the bus. It was the worst bus ride of my life. It was probably 40 degrees, FREEZING, and there was a screaming child behind me the whole time. I've never been so excited to take a shower in my life when I got back to my house. Last night Maria Jose made dinner early and I passed out. Today I'm just catching up on my readings/movies that I have to do for my paper and obviously writing this for all of you. The group just got done class so I'm gonna go have lunch with them but will post pictures later! Chauuu

Off to Uruguay!

This has been a busy week! Everyday I have been working on my readings and trying to figure out where to start with my paper. The one book I'm reading is a real version of what happened during the dictatiorship. There are 7 guys who were supposed to be killed and ended up surviving their firing squad, how terrifying?! Tuesday we went to the Museo de la Memoria, the Memorial museum where all the information about the people who disappeared, and some of what happened, is located. Tuesday night we went to a bar owned by 2 guys from California! It's actually the only brewery in Rosario so that was really cool! Wednesday it was 70 degrees and cloudy! After the winter we had I am SO happy to be in this winter right now. We ended up going to Shawarma after dinner to hangout and we sat outside because of how nice it was. Thursday it was miserable. It was already 70 degrees at 9am when I went to school and was MONSOONING. It was a gloomy day all around. We went to a Mexican restaurant (that isn't really Mexican food but they like to claim that they are) to watch the Brazil game! It is so exciting being in Argentina during the World Cup! Everyone is soooo excited. People are selling anything you can imagine in Argentina colors on the street corners. Last night I played handball with my host sisters again! I'm really enjoying playing it, I never played in the states. Today everyone else had class but I didn't. We went and bought our bus tickets to Uruguay, got lunch, had ice cream, then went to watch the Spain game with Merrick and Shelby! That was probably the most embarrassing game for Spain being the defending champs....oh well! Mama Maria just made milanesa for dinner and now I'm just hanging out until I go meet everyone at the bar. We are going to grab a drink before we have to head to the bus station. Our bus leaves for Uruguay at 1am tonight, we'll get there in the morning and then be back in Argentina tomorrow night. It's just a day trip but I'm excited to get another stamp in my passport and see a new country! We're all very excited for Argentina to play on Sunday so I'll be sure to update everyone after that!  :)

Weekend in Córdoba!

Holaaaa! Thursday I worked on my paper and readings during the day and then we went to a tango class! I had forgotten how much fun it was. After class I came home and Ines was here!! Ines, one of my two host sisters, was in Madrid and Germany for the whole month of May! She is an engineer for GM so she was traveling for work. It was great to finally see her. While I was talking to her she got a text that someone on her handball team couldn't make their game. Guess who their newest member of the team is for the next three weeks? YUP, ME! It was sooo much fun! I had never played handball, thankfully I did play basketball once upon a time and it wasn't too hard. Then we went back to Ines' apartment and had empanadas for dinner. For dessert we had bananas and she brought back nutella from Germany for us to dip the bananas in. I was dying, it was so delicious. They don't have peanut butter here so nutella was a close second! Friday after class we went to Betos, our favorite spot from 2012 for sandwiches, for a quick lunch before we left for Córdoba. We got to the bus station nice and early for our 4:45 bus and ended up sitting there forever because the bus was late! We didn't leave until 5:45. The bus was 7 hours long!! I got paired with Merrick from our group, who happens to be from the same city as my cousins in New York!! We spent probably 5 hours talking and everyone else around us definitely hated us. We got to Córdoba and checked into our hostel. If you're ever in Córdoba, check out Turning Point hostel. It was fantastic! Shelby, Adriana, Mallie, Kelly, Merrick, and I were in a 8 person room with a guy from London and a guy from Italy! David, from London, left his house a year and a half ago for Mexico and has been making his way down Latin and South America! The guy from Italy left 2 years ago and is just going wherever the world takes him. I think it would be so cool to do that one day. We were all starving so we decided to go out and get some dinner. We found a bar/restaurant in Nueva Cordoba, where the university is, and decided to eat there. We were out until almost 4am! Instead of going to a boliche, we were all so tired, we decided to go back to the hostel. Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast (provided by the hostel) and went to check out the historical district of Córdoba. We started in their Cathedral and then moved onto the National University of Córdoba. This university was the first in Argentina and is larger than Penn State! It was founded by San Ignacio and the Jesuits. They went on to create Loyola, according to our tour guide. We went on a tour and saw all the original documents and maps! After the tour we went out to lunch. I had gnocchi's, more Italian influence on the food here. We went back to the hostel and took a siesta and woke up for happy hour! The hostel has happy hour from 6-8 every day. A liter of beer is only 13 pesos, ~$1.30 in the US. We were hanging out with all the people in the hostel, watching the soccer games, and having a great time. Then we went to get dinner and came back to the hostel to get ready to go out. Everyone was in the common areas of the hostel drinking and hanging out so we decided to join them. There was a couple from Ireland, another guy from England, two more guys from Italy, a guy from Poland, a guy from Israel, and a girl from Sweden! Everyone ended up going to a boliche but I was really tired so I went to bed. It's a good thing I didn't go out because I woke up with a cold Sunday morning! I think the change in the weather is what messed with me. It's been 65-70 here in Rosario and in Córdoba we were closer to the mountains and it was in the 40's! We walked to the bus station and grabbed some empanadas and hit the road. I got seated with Merrick again but we were all so tired and actually had seats that turned into beds so we passed right out. When I got home I had told Mama Maria that I wasn't feeling well and she made chicken noodle soup for dinner! I was so happy. This morning I slept in and then went to school to do some reading. We went out to lunch with the ambassadors and then I went to watch a movie at school about the history of Argentina. I got back to my house and here I am writing for all of you! I'm going to take a nap now, I think. I still have more reading to do for tomorrow but my head is killing me.....

My dead laptop is now charged!!!

HOLA! This is gonna be a long one catching y'all up so get ready!!!
The past few days have been pretty hectic. I have a macbook and it has a large obnoxious charger and then there is a little adapter for it to be the smaller charger. All through the school year I've kept that little adapter in my backpack but when I was cleaning out my backpack for Argentina guess what I forgot? Yup. My laptop has been dead since Sunday night but thankfully one of the girls on the trip had chargers for her iPhone, iPad, and macbook so she could share one.
To recap a little....Saturday we had a free day. We went and toured the Casa Rosada, the President's pink house. She doesn't actually live there anymore, but she does work there so you are able to tour it on the weekends. Then we went back to check out the Cathedral and there was a mass starting!!! One of the girls and I decided to go. I went to mass at the Pope's church...I still can't really believe it. It was surreal sitting there listening to mass in Spanish, let alone being where the Pope is from. Then we continued shopping and walking around. We of course took a siesta and went out to dinner at a really good Italian restaurant. Then Martin and Juan Francisco came and meet up with us! We went to a bar and just hung out. Sunday we woke up early to hit the San Telmo street market. I bought myself a cute bracelet but our shopping was cut short when one of the girls I was with was robbed. We ended up going back to the hotel to find out that another girl had her iPod stolen, too. It's a terrible thing but it was a good wake up call for everyone. We're not in safe little West Chester anymore and everyone needs to keep their eyes open. Thankfully, yesterday the girl who's wallet was stolen got a facebook message from someone who found her wallet in the street outside of the hotel he works at. I'm assuming that when whoever stole her wallet realized she was American and that they wouldn't be able to use her credit cards without her passport they just took the 400 pesos ($40 US). Around 2pm we headed to Rosario to meet the families! Everyone was so nervous and I was just sitting there thinking about all the things I couldn't wait to do and how I couldn't wait to see Pau and Belu. As soon as we got off the bus I saw Melina, one of the women in charge of the International Relations programs. I was so excited to see her because she was great to talk to last time. Eliana doesn't work here anymore because she had a baby! I'm living with Mama Maria again and I didn't realize I'd have a roommate, let alone two! There is a girl living here from Mendoza who is family friends with Maria Jose so she is living here while she works! Also, there is a girl from this year's Simpson College group. For those of you who followed my blog in 2012, I was very good friends with the people from Simpson. They have been here since March and will leave a week before us. Sunday night we had a cake with dulce de leche and Merrick from the West Chester group came over because his host mom is good friends with mine. For dinner we had a rice dish, I think there was tuna in it which I'm not a big fan of haha. Monday morning I had breakfast with Belu and Pau because Belu is leaving for the states today to visit Nelson, her boyfriend. After, we had orientation at UCEL. We met some of the ambassadors but there aren't as many as when I was here in 2012. The economy is really bad here so not many students have been studying abroad from UCEL, therefore there aren't ambassadors to be friends with us. We had lunch at PasoSport, the typical restaurant where we had lunch when we arrived and after graduation. I had sorrentinos, pastas filled with ham and cheese, in a mixed sauce. Then, Melina took us on our city tour. She really is one of my favorite people here, I wish she could be around us more often and not just working. She was saying things and then asking me if everyone understood her, it was so funny. We took some pictures by the River and at the Flag Monument (for those of you who don't know, the first flag ever in Argentina was hoisted here in my city, the National Flag Monument is here). Monday night my host mom made a chicken dish with pumpkin, it was good!
Yesterday was the first day of classes. I met with Marcos to figure out my readings and got started on some things I'll be researching. I'm really excited for the work I'm going to be doing! Last night we had chicken again in a white sauce with sweet and mashed potatoes mixed together, it was really good. For dessert we had a banana with dulce de leche on it! Then we went to O'Connell's for a drink! I was so happy to be back at my favorite bar here. It definitely wasn't the same as before, but it was still fun. Today I didn't have class but went to UCEL to meet everyone and we went to Club de Milanesa for lunch! Milanesa is a fine filet, of chicken usually, and this place has all these different ways of preparing it! Milanesa napolitana is with marinara sauce, cheese, and ham. Americana has bacon, cheese, and egg. There's different cheese ones like mozzarella or caprese, they're all so delicious. Then I had to go make photocopies of my book and then Shelby, Addi and I met up with Pau for merienda, snack! I don't like coffee, ever, but here it tastes different and I actually don't mind it!! For dinner tonight Mama Maria made pizza, it was SO delicious! We had homemade applesauce for dessert, too. I have some reading to do so I'm not sure if I'm going out tonight but I'm sure now that my laptop is charged I'll be updating you all more frequently! For now, I'll leave you with some pictures....

Breakfast with Pau & Belu

Newell's Old Boys stadium!

Everyone at the River

Flag Monument!

The group:)

One of my favorite places!