Peruvian livin'

Hello all,



I am currently in Cusco, Peru...tomorrow morning we are setting off for a 3 day excursion to Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley of the Incas. it is probably the most touristy part of the trip so far...I have seen so many gringos here in Cusco...And people are usually impressed/surprised to hear that I can actually speak Spanish. This trips has brought me through the South of Argentina, Central Chile, Northern Argentina, Bolivia, and now Southern Peru...all in one month! We are having an amazing time, and so far (knock on wood) no problems or lame places.



Right now we are planning our Christmas and New Year's Eve activites...although it is hard to get into the spirit of the holidays without the usual commercialism and cold weather. I am a bit sad to not spend the holidays with my family, but I guess ther will be times that we cannot be together, but next year will be wonderful and I will appreciate more than ever!



So, I have had some observations/realizations on this trip...I will share some...



-There are a lot of people travleing from the England, Ireland, and Australia. It seems that Americans do not travel as much as I thought (At least to South America)...but the Americans that I do meet tend to be pretty cool.

-Not all foreigners say they dislike the United States, but tend to have a few negative generalizations (Americans are not that friendly, tend to stick to their group, don't want to make new friends, act like things should be easy for them, hold the same expectaions for things as in the United States, etc.)

-I have realized that, I am not just an American...I am an amazing human being, and I happen to be a United States citizen, and that is a wonderful thing...In other words, I have nothing to be ashamed of...people may not like my country, my culture, my president...but that doesn't mean that they don't like me...I am an individual (obviously), although I am a product of my environment (US culture), I am not a stereotype, nor am I to be blamed for things out of my control, and if people cannot understand that, then perhaps they should examine themselves as well...

-I have realized that I love my country more than I thought...we have beautiful things to see, friendly people and a great philosophy for living. Given, we have made mistakes (knowingly and unknowingly) and done terrible things, but you would be hard pressed to find a country without skeletons in their closet...Wow, I really sound very Pro-America...Oh well, It is about time that I start standing up for my country instead of hiding behind all of my opportunites and taking my life for granted!! I am Proud to be American in more ways than not and that feels astonishingly liberating!

I am thankful for this opportunity to be away from home to see how much I truely do value it!

Future plans...

So I shall impart my precious plans for the next few years...This is obvously not definitive...as I have not applied to the positions nor bought plane tickets, but this is my plan as of now,a nd I can see no reason why it wont come to fruition...
Okay, so I am currently traveling in South America for 4 months...Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, and Uruguay....then back to Buenos Aires for 4 months to take more classes...Im thinking French, Portuguese, International Business, International Relations, and possibly an art class.
Post South America...
I will return to the United States of America in July 2008 and spend approximately 4 months in Iowa City, with the exception of a few trips to visit friends and/or family in Chicago, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Boston, and Southern California (This is the only way I can stomach an entire 4 months in Iowa)...So I plan to work at the Office for Study Abroad and some other currently unknown place until late December 2008 in order to pay off this trip and save for the trip to come...Okay so after Christmas 2008, I plan to fly to London and work there for 6 months...I want to work in an international business firm or an embassy to get a feel for things before choosing an emphasis for grad school...I also want to take little trips to Northern Europe (Scandanavia, Germany, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, etc.)
Post London...
InJuly 2009, I will come back to Iowa City to see my family and friends and work for 2 months before my next trip back to Europe...I want to teach Englsh in Spain for an academic year (9 months)...So from September 2009 to June 2010 I will be in Spain...After that, I dont know yet...Perhaps I wil go live in Central America or go to grad school and/or law school...So apparantly I have only planned 2.5 years in advance...lol!

Brilliant Plans...

I have 4 months to travel between my two semesters here in Argentina...so I have begun planning the next phase...I plan to travel from November 6th to March 10th (approximate dates). I want to go to go south from BA to see the whales and penguins in Puerto Madryn (Peninsula Valdez) and then across to the West of Argentina to San Carlos de Bariloche, where they have the Andes Mountains and skiing and national parks. Then I'll go across the border to the Lake District of Chile, then I will go up through Chile to the capital Santiago de Chile and take day trips to the beaches of Valpariso and Vina del Mar. Next we will go back into Argentina to the Northern cities of Salta and Jujuy where they have lots of indigenous people. Then I will go up North into Bolivia and explore the salt flats in the South and up North to La Paz and Cochabamba then we will go to Lake Titicaca and cross into Peru and go to the ruins of Machu Pichu and the Inca Trail then my two roommates will leave from the airport in Lima on Dec 21, so after they leave, my fiend Eva and I will go North to Trujillo, Peru to spend Christmas on the beach. Next I plan to be in Guayaquil, Ecuador for New Years Eve. So from this point I think we will go to Quito, Ecuador and make our way over to the Northern beaches of Brazil. I'm not sure right now how we will get to that point...I want to spend time on the beaches of Brazil, then later go to Salvador de Bahia and end up in Rio de Janeiro for Carnival February 2nd. After that we will go to Porto Seguro, Floranapolis and Sao Paulo...and eventually end up in Uruguay at Punta Del Este. From Colonia we can take a ferry back into Buenos Aires... if we have enough time and money I want to go to the South of Argentina to Patagonia and see the glaciers and the southern most city in the world, Ushuaia. Then we'll go back to BA for school to start in mid March
that is four full months of traveling....

So...I will start saving money now! (Any Christmas presents may be deposited directly into my bank account!)

Argentina...hmmm...

So...I have waited a long time to open a blog account...I was planning to copy and paste messages from when I first arrived here to give the perspective of time unfolding and or developing, but my Gmail account is acting crazy, so I will wait to do that for a while...

I have done a lot of interesting things here in Buenos Aires since I arrived June 22, 2007.

I was in an Intensive Spanish Program for a month, where I lived in Recoleta with the Brages family...It was lovely...But I was anxious to start my life here...It felt like a vacation...

After the Intensive Spanish month, I went to Mendoza, Argentina in the West, a region known for its wine and the Andes Mountains...I loved it!

Here is a link of my photo album from my first month in Argentina...

http://iowa.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177492&l=2ba0f&id=14812408

School started 1st of August at the Universidad del Salvador (USAL)...I spent 3 weeks trying to decide what classes I wanted to take...very lengthy and confusing process...Just like everything involving the USAL...I finally chose to take International Negotiation, Argentine Folklore, Theory of International Relations, High Intermediate Spanish for foreigners, and A Seminar on the History of Argentina's Ideas and Political Processes...Yeah...Im not a big fan of school at the moment...I really love the Spanish for foreigners class, but the other ones are generally boring...It is disappointing because normally I love going to class and listening to the professors talk about what they are interested in, but in Spanish, it is so hard to get every bit of information...So I tend to start zoning out...It isn't interesting to me if I don't understand the point of what they are talking about...

I went to visit Mar Del Plata...it was fun, but cold...The ocean was lovely! It was a funny vacation because we didn't do a whole lot...it was cold...I got sick...but, it was still fun!

I celebrated my 22nd birthday in Buenos Aires. It was a lot of fun! I planned two birthday parties...My plan was to have a relaxed, classy night on Friday...so we had dinner at a nice restaurant (The food was amazing) and later had cocktails at a luxury lounge bar... The next night we went to a dance club to celebrate my actual birthday. Coincidentally, it was another guys birthday as well, so he reserved a table in the VIP section and we celebrated until the wee hours of the morning with 20 of our closest friends. I was worried about spending my birthday so far from my friends, but I had sooo much fun! My roommate, Gisselle, brought a chocolate cake to the restaurant. I received chocolate, wine, and a necklace from my friends.

Here is a link from an online album of pictures from my two birthday parties...

http://iowa.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2188681&l=0baf8&id=14812408

I went to visit the Waterfalls of Iguazu at the borders of Argentina and Brazil (Paraguay is very close as well) It was an amazing experience and helped me put things into perspective...I have been a bit homesick in the last month...the the point where I was trying to figure out how I could come home...I was sick of trying so hard to do even the simplest thing and didn't want to feel so out of place...Time away was the best thing for me...now I feel less melodramatic and I'm excited to go travelling during my vacation (Nov-Feb)...What I realized was that I need to figure out how to be happy right now, not change locations to distract myself from what is really going on...I have been having some really eye-opening experiences and conversations with ppl and it is helping to shed light on my purpose here in Argentina...I am always trying to find my purpose...So, now I am seeing things in a more positive light...not focusing on small setbacks and I have many things to look forward to!

Here is an excerpt from an email to share how I felt upon returning from Iguazu...

I have noticed...the older I have gotten my goals have become more grandiose and I have made great strides...but that is not who I really am...I am defined by my spirit for adventure, my smile, my laugh, my hugs...my moments of kindness and also my bitchy moments...my pushiness, my control-needs, my need to feel special...all of those things are me...among other things...BUT the point is...I am not what I study at the university, or the languages I speak, or who my friends are, or how well I can put together an outfit...I am finally discovering and accepting who I am at the most simple level! I am who I was in High School or part of my childhood when my personality was more clear and I was more carefree...but the only thing missing then was my confidence to actually be who I am! I was myself...but insecure to be myself at the same time! Now I am less afraid and I don't try as much to impress people, and I am trying to remember who I am at my simplest form....

Yeah it would be cool to be a travel journalist...there are jobs like that...the ppl at the study abroad office are always talking about them...they sound really cool, and it is always a possibility!


So here are my ideas on travelling...I REALLY loved my time in Iguazu and when I went to Mendoza...they were so amazing, and reminded why I am here! I am here to explore new places! Not, suffer in class or watch TV or get drunk at a bar! So...I really want to travel the whole vacation...I have 4 travel companions for the first month and a half and other ppl we can meet up with...so I will be safe...I am really excited and I think it would be the most memorable thing to do...That is something I definitely wont regret! Right now, I feel like the travelling is the once in a lifetime experience! I have so many places that I wan to go to in the world, and I gotta take advantage of where I am now so that I can go explore Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, etc...

I feel really positive and rejuvenated after my trip to the waterfalls!!! It was amazing!!!

That is how I am still feeling...I'm still riding the wave...Okay...so thanks for listening/reading...Have a great day and stay tuned!