Well, I finally have all my grades from last quarter. I got A's in Grammar, Composition, Geography, Folklore, Current Events, and History. I got A-'s in Conversation, Bible, and Orthography. *Go Me*
This quarter I'm taking Advanced Grammar, Conversation, and Composition. I'm also taking Phonetics, Translation (ooohhh fun!) Folklore, Bible, and Geography.
Tomorrow is my first day of class this quarter. I don't have class till 10:30 am so that will be a nice way to ease into the quarter. I actually really like my schedule this quarter. Monday I have class from 8:30 am till 10:30 am (Grammar) and then Folklore at 2:30 pm until 4:30. Tuesday I have Conversation at 10:30 am till 12:30, Phonetics at 1:30pm ad then Translation from 5:30-7:30 pm. Wednesday is Grammar at 10:30 until 12:30 and then Bible at 3:30-5:30. Thursday is Composition at 10:30 and then geography at 2:30-4:30. Friday I don't have any classes (yay!!) but there are ACA meetings at 10:30 am (as announced) so some days I will have to be a normal human in the morning and other days I won't.
That's about the run down for this quarter. In a few weeks (we'll probably find out when this Friday in the meeting) we will be going to Iguazu Falls. The falls are in the north in a province called Misiones. It's squished between Paraguay and Brazil. From what I've seen in pictures, it's really pretty. It better be, since Megan wants to go up there when she comes to visit in March. At the end of February, the ACA program takes us up to Peru and to Machu Picchu (this is basically THE trip that convinced me to come down here and the one I've been looking forward to this whole time). March is Spring Break (or fall break depending on which season you choose to call it by) and then in April is our trip to Rio de Janiero. I have two more quarters, 4.5 months, and lots to learn between now and the end of May. It seems like a long time but I know it will fly by and instead of wanting time to go faster--so I can go home--I will be wanting everything to slow down before I head back to the States. It's all about perspective I suppose.
Happy New Year everyone!
__----Travels to date: # of countries- 2 (Uruguay, Argentina)
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Monday, December 31, 2012
A Series of Unfortunate Events
It has taken me a few days to come to grips with what I'm about to share. I had moments where I felt pretty stupid and incompetent..and a little embarrassed. In retrospect, there's really not much we could have done differently to change the out come. Below is an account of my journey back to the UAP from Bariloche.
Thursday morning, 6:30 am.
Anna and Dylan were the first up. They showered and packed up there things. At 7 am I also took a quick shower and got the rest of my things pulled together. By 7:55 I was heading downstairs with my bags and was ready for breakfast.
At 8, the three of us grabbed a quick breakfast. Anna finished a few things on her computer. By 8:30 we loaded our things into the car and we headed out. We stopped at a gas station to fill up the rental and then Anna drove straight to the bus terminal. We arrived by 8:45; Anna pulled up to the taxi loading area and we unloaded our stuff. She parked. We walked our things in, Anna bought her public bus ticket, and then left with the rental car to return it.
Dylan and I checked our bus tickets to double check which bus company we were looking for. The ticket was purchased through FlechaBus. It was then that we realized our bus was at 10 instead of 10:30. We weren't concerned since Anna had just over an hour before we were supposed to be leaving. Dylan and I took turns walking the length of the bus terminal looking for our bus.
Anna returned at 10:10 and we immediately went outside to look for our bus since Dylan and I hadn't seen it. Anna ran in and asked the lady at the Flecha counter where our bus was and she said it had already left. Dylan and I both said we hadn't seen a Flecha bus come in at all. We went inside and the woman explained that we were actually riding with Chevallier, another bus company. It said htis at the very bottom of our tickets (frustrating!!).
We purchased new tickets to Buenos Aires (our original tickets were taking us to Parana, a town 1 hour from the UAP but there weren't any more buses running there until Sat., so we choose to go to B.A which is 6 hours from the UAP). Our bus we scheduled for 2pm.
We got on the bus, it was actually a very nice bus, and were on it all night until about 12 pm the next day (Friday). From there, Anna caught a ferry into Uruguay since she was going to miss her bus that was scheduled to leave from Parana that night. Dylan and I bought tickets to Parana, but realized that it was going to be too late for us to catch a bus to the UAP.
Dylan called his family to see if they could pick us up. Before they decided he ran out of minutes and we had to wait for them to call him back.
We got on our bus at 4:20 (not to be confused with the 4:15 bus to Parana from the same company that left from adjacent slots). It was not as nice of a bus but it was alright. Dylan's family finally called him back and they agreed to pick us up. They did and I was back in the dorm by 1 am (Saturday morning).
I've gone over the scenario dozens of times and it doesn't seem to matter what we had done, we just weren't supposed to make that bus in Bariloche. We left with plenty of time, had everything ready and worked out. I spent an extra $200 on bus tickets that I really didnt want to and couldn't really afford. But it doesn't matter at this point. Thankfully we arrived back safely and everything will work out financially..eventually.
Tonight is New Year's Eve. I didn't get invited anywhere, which is fine, so I'll be spending the night chillin in my room, eating watermelon, and maybe drinking some terere. 2 hours till the new year in Argentina. 4 months and 27 days till I'm home.
This year is going to be great!
Thursday morning, 6:30 am.
Anna and Dylan were the first up. They showered and packed up there things. At 7 am I also took a quick shower and got the rest of my things pulled together. By 7:55 I was heading downstairs with my bags and was ready for breakfast.
At 8, the three of us grabbed a quick breakfast. Anna finished a few things on her computer. By 8:30 we loaded our things into the car and we headed out. We stopped at a gas station to fill up the rental and then Anna drove straight to the bus terminal. We arrived by 8:45; Anna pulled up to the taxi loading area and we unloaded our stuff. She parked. We walked our things in, Anna bought her public bus ticket, and then left with the rental car to return it.
Dylan and I checked our bus tickets to double check which bus company we were looking for. The ticket was purchased through FlechaBus. It was then that we realized our bus was at 10 instead of 10:30. We weren't concerned since Anna had just over an hour before we were supposed to be leaving. Dylan and I took turns walking the length of the bus terminal looking for our bus.
Anna returned at 10:10 and we immediately went outside to look for our bus since Dylan and I hadn't seen it. Anna ran in and asked the lady at the Flecha counter where our bus was and she said it had already left. Dylan and I both said we hadn't seen a Flecha bus come in at all. We went inside and the woman explained that we were actually riding with Chevallier, another bus company. It said htis at the very bottom of our tickets (frustrating!!).
We purchased new tickets to Buenos Aires (our original tickets were taking us to Parana, a town 1 hour from the UAP but there weren't any more buses running there until Sat., so we choose to go to B.A which is 6 hours from the UAP). Our bus we scheduled for 2pm.
We got on the bus, it was actually a very nice bus, and were on it all night until about 12 pm the next day (Friday). From there, Anna caught a ferry into Uruguay since she was going to miss her bus that was scheduled to leave from Parana that night. Dylan and I bought tickets to Parana, but realized that it was going to be too late for us to catch a bus to the UAP.
Dylan called his family to see if they could pick us up. Before they decided he ran out of minutes and we had to wait for them to call him back.
We got on our bus at 4:20 (not to be confused with the 4:15 bus to Parana from the same company that left from adjacent slots). It was not as nice of a bus but it was alright. Dylan's family finally called him back and they agreed to pick us up. They did and I was back in the dorm by 1 am (Saturday morning).
I've gone over the scenario dozens of times and it doesn't seem to matter what we had done, we just weren't supposed to make that bus in Bariloche. We left with plenty of time, had everything ready and worked out. I spent an extra $200 on bus tickets that I really didnt want to and couldn't really afford. But it doesn't matter at this point. Thankfully we arrived back safely and everything will work out financially..eventually.
Tonight is New Year's Eve. I didn't get invited anywhere, which is fine, so I'll be spending the night chillin in my room, eating watermelon, and maybe drinking some terere. 2 hours till the new year in Argentina. 4 months and 27 days till I'm home.
This year is going to be great!
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