Take on the Andes like a boss? Why, yes, I do believe I did.

Just call me Mr. Mountain Man! Today, was one of the best days I've had in Mendoza. After crawling my way out of bed (I literally had to tell myself "C'mon Brendan, do it. It'll be a good experience. Take advantage of the opportunity.") I made myself a quick breakfast, then packed my bags and headed outside to meet up with Cat, Shelby, and Moriah so that we could walk to the bus terminal together. Along the way, we picked up two more of our party, and we trekked to what felt like the other side of the city to the bus terminal where we met up with four more of the Mendoza Crew who had woken up bright and early for this new adventure. We bought our tickets, but since we were half an hour early, passed the time with a few people buying sandwiches from the shop while others waited by the bus. I decided I should try to go to the bathroom before sitting on the bus for an hour, but when I got to the bathroom, it looked like you had to pay in order to use some of the facilities. I asked the man at the desk (there was a desk in the bathroom) if I needed to pay. He mumbled something in Spanish to which I responded, "Ok, bye." I am going to the mountains... I can use a bush for free.

While the group rallied and walked to where the bus was departing, it looked like the bus that we needed to be on was beginning to pull away. We asked the guy standing at the station and he flagged the bus down and we got on. Someone obviously forgot to tell the driver that this was South America and that everybody is late by half an hour, not early. Big difference. Anyway, once we were finally on the bus and situated, it was just a relaxed bus ride up to the Andes mountains. A few of us slept on the way up, and a few of us just gazed out the window at changing scenery that passed us. After what did not feel like an hour, we arrived at our destination. The driver dropped us off in a parking lot and we took in our surroundings. We were surrounded by mountains (durr), covered in snow to our right, and completely clear on our left. We began to walk together for a little bit, but ultimately decided to split up into two groups. The group I was with headed down towards the lake that was there because we wanted to walk around it and see the mountains on that side. As we were walking a big shaggy dog came out of now where and just followed us wherever we went. The group named him 'Marley' (Balto was already taken) and he set off on our adventure with us. We walked through a bunch of trees and brush and eventually came upon some horses that were just hanging out. We got excited (because we don't have those in America) and took pictures with them.



One began following us!


 Marley must have gotten jealous because he began barking and rushed at one of them. The horse made an angry sound, and Marley ran away. Yes, Marley, good job. Piss off the horse and then run away so that we have to deal with it. Bad dog. So anyway, we kept walking for a bit and eventually, some members of our group saw a side of a mountain that they just had to climb. At first, the rest of the group just watched, but eventually everyone followed suit. I've never really climbed a mountain before (granted it wasn't Everest), but it was both hard and fun! I began to hum the Lord of the Rings theme in my head and got really into the activity. We stopped every now and then once we would reach an even patch of land, but we kept on hiking to the tallest place we could find. One the way up, one of the bands that acted as a lace to one of my shoes broke. Usually, I would have been very upset with nature for breaking my shoe, but I was so involved in what I was doing that I didn't care and I just kept trekking forward. Once we got to the top, it was so exhilarating! The view was beautiful and I felt so accomplished!


Finally making it to the top!




Look at the view!

 We all decided that we had tackled a pretty significant task so we took a little breather. Just taking in the view and everything around us.


Our traveling companion, Marley.

The way down was almost as fun as the way up. We just kept looking for different ways to climb down the mountain, and still head in a direction that would take us around the lake. It took almost longer going down, a lot of the rocks and stones we're not exactly stable, and I actually fell twice (once on a cactus) but never fear, Mountain Brendan was in full form that day and he just sucked it up and kept going. After we made it down the mountain, we blazed a trail for a bit before ultimately deciding to eat lunch on a really big rock that we encountered. It was very relaxing to just sit on that rock, eat our food, and take in the nature some more. After resting for about 30 minutes we saddled up and kept walking. We encountered a kind of resort thing in the middle of all of this and decided to look around it (many of us needed to take a bathroom break). It was situated right next to a perfect looking part of the lake and they had a bunch of recreational activities like zip-lining, kayaking, rock-climbing and much more. We also met up with the other section of the group that had split off from us and we chatted and shared stories of what we had done/encountered. A few people decided to stay at the resort-like place and zip-line, while the rest of us kept moving forward. We went under this tunnel-like thing and on the other side, it was like a movie set. The water was so blue and the mountains were gorgeous. We just passed the time walking around in this paradise looking place for about an hour before deciding to head back.

The walk back felt quite long. I hadn't realized how far we had actually gone in the day. We eventually found ourselves back at the parking lot we arrived in. They had a little shop there and so a bunch of us went in and bought snacks (we were really hungry from all the calories that we had burned) and then we all sat around outside and waited for the bus for an hour. While we were waiting, we saw a bunch of kids on stilts walking the streets asking for money. One of them had a clown wig on. Whatever brings in the money kid. When it finally deigned to show we rushed it and tried to get seats on an already heavily occupied bus. The ride back felt longer than the ride up, and I even slept some of the way back. When we finally got back into the city, I walked back home with some friends and could immediately begin to feel my body start to crash. It had been a long and early-starting day. I just wanted to go to bed, but it was only 7:30pm. I lounged around the house for a few hours and then a friend came over so that we could Skype a friend back in the states. Afterwards, I just stayed in. My head was hurting and I was just exhausted overall. Tomorrow I have my first day of classes and it starts bright and early at 9:30am... We'll see how that goes...

Have you ever had a ringtone that was almost too epic?

Last night was the perfect idea of a night out... for me. A few of us met up and waited for the remainder of our group. While we were waiting, some people who worked for the campaign of some presidential candidate (it's election season down here) came up to us and tried to hand us fliers, asking if we were registered Argentine voters... Do we sound like we're registered Argentine voters? I explained to her (in two different languages) that we were not, in fact, from here, and she paused, looked at us, said "Oh?" and kept walking away. Her friends with her all stared at us too before moving right along. What were they looking at? No seriously, what were they looking at? After that fun little encounter, went to look for bar or some place to hang out. At one bar, the guy at the front door talked to us in English as if we were 4 years old. We really wanted to tell him (in Spanish) to shut the hell up and that we could understand him perfectly seeing as we spoke better English than he did, but instead we just left and went to a restaurant for drinks. I got a dulce de leche milkshake (have I mentioned that they've found ways of putting dule de leche in everything? Because they have). We hung around and chatted and eventually separated; Kathy and I left for our squeaky clean night of movie watching, and Brian and Elizabeth went out drinking. Afterwards, I walked home and went to bed. I repeat, my version of a perfect night out.

I woke up at 11:30 the next morning, and proceeded to to absolutely nothing with my day. I watched videos and chatted on the computer. This is what I call, "Living It Up". Anyway, after lunch, I took a siesta (hello old friend! how I have missed you) and then made plans to get dinner with Bryan, Kathy and Elizabeth and the boy that Elizabeth had met the previous night. At first I felt like picking up a Mendocinian guy your second week in was probably not the best idea... but then the guy showed up and that became a non-issue. Girl did well. He was good looking, sweet, and patient with our broken Spanish. All I have to say is "Get at that."

As fun as dinner was with our new friend, I had to leave early (I'm telling you, that is the literal story of my life) because a group of us are planning on going hiking tomorrow. The bus leaves at 8:25am which means I have to wake up at 6:15am (shriek of horror) to give myself enough time to get ready and meet up with everyone. To be honest, I don't know if I have the willpower to crawl out of bed, but we'll see what happens!

Argentina: It's easier for the cars to hit you than to break. Pts. 1 and 2

And we're back! Thank GOD! I was beginning to panic about my living situation but now everything is 21st(ish) century here so all is right with the world. Now I have two days to catch you up on, so if you have to stop reading half way through and take a break I would more than understand. Hell, I slept between the two parts ;)

Yesterday, I didn't have anything to do until 1:00pm so I woke up, made my lunch, and headed off to school. Outside, I saw a group of gringos sitting in a protective circle so I knew my friends where here. Spanish was really entertaining because we talked using phrases/slang that were used everyday. It was helpful and funny to see what some of us came up with. After class, I headed with some friends to go to the IFSA-Butler office to work on credits and classes. Basically, I need to make an entirely new schedule which is of course stressing me out. After looking at the schedule of possible classes, I thought it would just be best to wait until I got home, and do it there but, of course, when I got home, the Internet was down and the IFSA office was just about to close. Given this new change in plans, I elected to go out into town with my friend Elizabeth. We walked through the city and bought cards to load minutes onto my phone (I had been running seriously low). The problem was that the automated computer voice spoke a bit too fast for me so I decided to wait until my host mom got home to see if she would help me. Elizabeth and I stopped at a cafe called "Dulceria de la Abuela" which was really good. I'm not a coffee drinker, but that place might convert me, and they had the best croissants (called 'medialunes' here) that I have ever tasted. After, we saw some more of the Mendoza Crew walking the streets, looking for someplace to sit and chill. Elizabeth and I recommended the Dulceria and after talking to them for a bit, I headed home.

I thought the internet would be up by then, but the day was not working that way for me and it wasn't. To add my situation, my phone ran out of minutes the second I crossed the threshold into my house, and to make things worse, no one was home. I was alone with out Internet and a phone in my house for 3 hours. It was terrible! I WAS SO BORED! To pass the time, I watched the television, which actually was a bit entertaining because they had Nickelodeon and Disney Channel in Spanish and it was cool to see some shows that I knew English in Spanish. Finally, my host-mom got home, we ate dinner, and we talked about our house which was situated firmly between 1980 and 1985. I asked her if she could help me load my minutes onto my phone and she told me that, while she had never done it before, she would try. Let's just say that, together, we spent 30 minutes trying to load 30 minutes, to no avail. she told me that she would ask Dan (my host-brother) when he got home from his night classes (around 3am). After this stressful day of no Internet access (a fate worse than death), and losing telephone capability (worser than worse than death) I decided to shower and just get to bed.

**INTERMISSION**

The next morning, I woke up and my phone was on my nightstand. Apparently Dan had figured out what was wrong with it and had fixed it. I walked to the kitchen, and there was a man that I did not recognize just standing there. I looked at him. He looked at me. Then told me something in Spanish (which is still not my 9am language) to which I responded, "Bueno".  Let's pause a moment to reflect on how my choice of words probably could have been an inappropriate response:
"I'm here to rob you blind." "Bueno"
"I'm here to kill you." "Bueno"
"Can you make me some pancakes?" "Bueno"
Neither of these were situations I was prepared for so note to self - A little clarification never hurts... in fact, it's probably best.

Anyway, apparently he was there to do some work for my host mom, so while she was getting everything ready, I sat there, ate my Honey-O's and banana, and stared at him in total silence. Awkward is a universal language. I left the house to go to the IFSA office so that I could continue to try to work out my schedule (because they have Internet there) and did that for about an hour before heading over to campus for my Spanish class which continues to be entertaining and today it was only 2 and 1/2 hours! We are still discussing interesting government events as well as culturally relevant topics which really help our Spanish. After class, I trekked, once again, back to the office to finalize my class changes and send out emails to advisers. Once finally done there, I headed back to my house where there was once again no one, but WE HAD INTERNET PEOPLE!!! I surfed that web like a boss just because I could and was actually afraid to get off of it just in case it went down again. But I realized that staying in my house looking up videos on YouTube that I didn't really care about just because I was afraid of losing access was probably a little sad and not cute at all, so I went out with my friends Elizabeth, Bryan, and Kathy. We went to a little cafe (which beat the hell out of Starbucks everyday and twice on Sunday) and talked about tonight's events. A group wanted to go to a party that was a A$30 cover (roughly US$7 cover) for All-You-Can-Drink, but Kathy and I planned on doing what we are lovingly referring to as "Dry Bar Hopping" followed by a movie. We ruminated on how pathetic our nights sounded compared to everybody else's between sips of cafe con leche. After window shopping for a bit, we went our separate ways making planes to meet up again for our PG-13 activities. I got home, relaxed, and watched television while I waited for my host mom to come home so we could eat dinner. Dinner was fantastic! It was chicken with a vegetable sauce and vegetable bits thrown together as like a stew and it was the best thing with vegetables that I have ever tasted. I may have to seriously reconsider my disdain for green foods if this is how they do it! Now I'm getting ready to go out. I'm going to stop here because a) you've done enough reading for the day and b) I'll probably be getting back late. See y'all tomorrow!

We interrupt this broadcast because Brendan doesn't have Internet...

... or power in the entire house for that matter. I'll let you all know when it's back up... I feel like I'm living back in the early 80's... and I am afraid.

The Rubia, the Micro, and the Wrong Direction.

Waking up at 10:30 today was like heaven! Seriously, these 8:00am wake up times are evil, so being able to sleep in for a bit felt so good! I ate breakfast, prepared my lunch, and then met up with Brian and James to walk to Universidad Nacional de Cuyo for an orientation at the 'Facultad de Filosofia y Letras' or 'The Literature Building'. We thought walking would be a good idea, but, after minute 12 of walking, I was beginning to regret this decision. First, it's like a 35 minute walk. Second, it's all uphill! I didn't realize that I was a part of the quest to see The Ring to the fires of freaking Mount Doom. Had I known that I would have packed a tent, water, some rations, and my bow and arrow! The walk seemed like it took forever! Whoever looked at this mountain range and thought, "Yeah, let's build a school right here" should be smacked. Once we were finally there I was feeling very disagreeable (a feeling which usually happens whenever I exercise or eat vegetables). We toured the building and learned about the ins-and-outs of student life in a typical Argentine University. For example, did you know that instead of buying books, teachers assign reading assignments which students buy photocopies of at the desk usually located the front/first floor of the building. If the book isn't at the desk, you must first go up a flight of stairs to find the call number of the book, then go down two flights to the library, check the book out (the book is usually allowed out for just a few hours), then head back to the main floor. It's an exhaustive and confusing process that has lead me to the conclusion that I will be avoiding all classes with books not immediately available at the photocopy desk. I mean, I'm here to study abroad, not participate in 'The Amazing Race'. I already have to hop a camel to make it to my classes, I do not want to have to pull an Indiana Jones just to get the right class material. After our tour, we had Spanish class, in which we had a conversation about adoption, the rights surrounding it, and all those involved. This is a conversation that is difficult to have in English let alone a foreign one! Oh well, I guess it's all for the sake of comprehending a language.

After class, there was another tour of the 'Facultad de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales' or 'The Political Science Building'. That building functioned the same way as the one before it, so it was easy to follow along with our tour guide. When we left, a group of us decided that it would be easier to take a micro home. So we waited, and waited, and waited for the the right one to come. We needed a micro in the '30s' which means we were looking for a bus with a giant 3 on the top, with a number somewhere in the 30s on the side. Micros kept passing, but none of them were for us. Finally, a friend (we'll call her 'Rubia') saw a bus that had a 3 on the top but was number 114. She said that this was the bus she had taken to get to the University so it must be the one that takes her back. I was going with her to meet up with some friends so I hopped on with her. We were feeling pretty relieved that we didn't have to wait anymore... until the bus turned in the complete opposite direction from where we needed to go! I turned to look at her. "Where are we going?" I asked... "Um, I don't know?" was her response. We then proceed to spend the next 30 minutes not going in any familiar direction, at one point even heading up into the mountains! Seriously! We tried to make sense of where we were based on the street signs and direction that we were heading, but the bus made three U-turns and went into  two random side streets! I told her right then and there that if she ever chose something again based on her past experiences I would slap her. As if the situation couldn't get any worse, it seems as though half the city of Mendoza wanted to get on the exact micro that we were on. It soon became a game: How Many People Can We Shove Onto a Micro Without it Tipping? I think the driver was shooting for a personal best. Anyway, the second that we saw a familiar land mark, we assessed where we were and promptly decided to GTFO. That was the next struggle. There were so many people, it was near impossible to move to the door! It was so uncomfortable trying to push by people and maneuver around all the stuff on the floor (I'm convinced I stepped on a small child), that we practically jumped off the micro while it was still moving! Rubia soooo owed me for this! But she paid up, buying me a snack at a coffee bar that we hit up after arriving at one of the streets near my house. After we parted, I decided that I had had enough fun for one day and elected to not hang out with some friends and, instead, just chill out at home. I wrote a few emails, Skyped with my family, and ate dinner.

Tomorrow, I don't have to be anywhere until 1:00pm, so I am for sure sleeping in. I figure with as much as this country puts me through, I deserve a late start. Don't you agree?

Are you telling me I can't siesta!?

Another busy day taking on the city of Mendoza. It started bright and early with a tour of the city that was led by the program. It was nice and all, but I feel as though it was a bit redundant at this point seeing as we had all already found our own ways around the city. We went around most of the major areas, and they pointed out where the best, cheapest places to shop were. Afterwards, we had about 2 hours until our Spanish classes, so a group decided that we would wait around, and then buy lunch at a restaurant. At first the group was set on finding a place with burritos, but after some thought, we decided that we were all feeling far too lazy to actually hunt those elusive creatures down, so we settled for Italian. Lunch was good, rich, and fulling! Afterwards, I really wanted to siesta, but, alas, some deranged lunatic scheduled my Spanish classes to be from 1:10-3or4! That's smack-dab in the middle of the greatest national pastime! Who was the sadistic maniac who thought that was a good idea!?!? I want a name! Now, instead of sleeping, I get to study the Spanish language for 3 or 4 hours. What a trade!

After Spanish, I hung around and talked to a friend before heading home (stopping once to buy a few things from the store). It's beginning to warm up over here, but we've all been warned not to get our hopes up as another cold front is expected to come in on Thursday. Aw, crap! I was so looking forward to a day without wearing my pajamas under my street clothes (which I do for added layers without shame).

Tomorrow I get to sleep in a little bit before heading over to a quick orientation and then another fun couple hours of Spanish. I also need to keep working on credit approvals/class times. It's really a pain! and I thought registration at DU was troublesome!

What is that sandwich? and why is it the way that it is?

I must be adopting a true Argentine mentality because I now consider any time before 11:30 am to be sinful by virtue of it's very existence. Waking up at 8:00 was brutal! and cold! I made myself a quick breakfast and packed a quick lunch (because we were going to be too busy to return to our houses to eat with our families) and then grumpily stumbled out of my house to get to school. I contemplated waiting for the bus, but I was not in a patient mood and I just wanted to keep moving. Pro: Exercise! Con: Walking. Uphill. A lot farther than I originally thought. I ended up being 12 minutes late, but (this is South America) they hadn't started yet. Which was a good thing because even when I actually got there I had to call a friend to direct me from the entrance. Once I found the right auditorium, I walked past the line of French students waiting to get into the same auditorium (bet they loved that) to sit with my Amurrikan group. The woman thought it would be a good idea for everyone to go around the entire auditorium and have everybody introduce themselves. Homegirl must have lost her mind because there were at least 70+ people in here, but lo, she who holds the microphone holds the power so all of us went around and said our names, where we were from, and what we were studying. We started with the French (have you ever heard Spanish with a French accent? suddenly not being able to roll your 'r's doesn't seem so bad), moved through the Americans ( hhhhhollllaa, mi yAmo Ashley), breezed through the Colombians, Mexicans, Dominicans, and Spaniards (who showed us how it was really done), and rounded it out with the Germans (who could easily be confused with the French). After a gruelling 2 and 1/2 hours of PowerPoints and descriptions (of which no one from the Mendoza Crew paid attention), we broke for lunch.

What should have been an opportunity to just veg out turned into conversations about identity, credits, and school spirit. In other words, a conversation I was thrilled to bits to have. Whatever. After lunch was our exciting 3 hour Spanish class. The Mendoza Crew could hardly contain our excitement as we scampered to the appropriate building. It actually didn't turn out to be that brutal, and it was mildly fascinating and (I'll admit it) a bit nice to actually work on the language. During the class, we took a few breaks which were nice, except for the going to and from. Let me explain. The way the building is situated, there is another classroom that sits between us and freedom. That other classroom also happens to be filled with Argentine students, so every time we took a break, we got these really wonderful stares of "WTF". Best part of the day.

After Spanish, I went with some friends to try to find notebooks. Everything was closed since we got out on the tail end of siesta, but we eventually found a book store that sold us some. Afterwards, we stopped by a Carrefour to try to find hair dryers/straighteners and then to Congresso for and Argentine History class. The class ended up being about 7 American students and 9 Argentine students. A couple of us were unhappy with this because with the number of Mendoza Crew students taking this class, speaking in English would be too easy. James and I ultimately left. We figured that there were other history-type classes offered and that (since this month is our 'shopping period') we would have time to return if we needed to. On the way out I actually heard one Argentine girl tell one of her friends who was waiting for the class, "Good luck with the estudiantes intercambios [exchange students]." Well, we don't like you either! The only good thing that happened during all of this is that the professor wanted to count how many exchange students she had. When she got to me, she said, "You're a regular (meaning Argentine) student right?" and when I told her 'no' she seemed a bit suprised and asked me where I was from. Success! I blend in! or at least seem like I could be Colombian! I'll take it!

At home, I did my homework and just relaxed/tried to stay warm in the freezing house. After a dinner of chicken and a zucchini-like vegetable, my host-mother's sister and her husband came over. They, too, have an IFSA-Butler student (which I guess makes us host-cousins) who came with them, and we just sat in my room and talked about our different Spanish classes while the adults chatted. It's nice seeing other students with their host-families, and it's really cool when the host-families are related (there are a couple of cases like this). The best part about the day was that it passed without a bathroom incident. No sinks tried to take me down and no bidets tried to kick my ass. Ah, small victories. Let's see if we can keep up this trend! Tomorrow, our orientation consists of a city tour. Wonder what new things they have to show us?