One month to go!

Me o my! Its one month to go! I cant believe it! Life here is going well, I have been focusing more time on hanging around the city and with friends as opposed to studying ooops. O well, in do time, everything will get done, just depends on how much time i give myself and if I rush things haha. Anyway, its rained all day yesterday so I took advantage and studied after leaving my friend Tiago´s house. It was nice to lay in bed in the rain and study with mate and coffee from Brazil mmmm. Then I went out to a friends bday party with a bunch of crazy ass ppl! I had to keep asking them what they were saying, not because I didnt understand what they were saying in Spanish, but because I didnt understand what they were saying in any language. I think they were either super high or drank too much. It was definitely a challenge on my language skills haha. I went with my friend Coralie who told me she is going to cry when i leave in a month. I told her if she does that I will punch her haha. Anyway, I have 3 weeks of classes and then a 10 day break for studying and then finals and then chau! I gotta get my list together of things I want to bring home, I believe a big bucket of Dulce de Leche, a soccer jersey for Dad, yerba mate, a bottle of red wine, Argentine flag, and I have no idea what else....any suggestions? o Effei´s surprise for her baby hehehe! Anyway, I love you all and I cant believe my little adventure here is almost over, this last month is going to fly by! I gotta take lots of pictures, go to Teatro Colon, una Estancia to see the life of a Gaucho haha, and an Argentine soccer game. That´s all I REALLY want to do! Anything else will be extra and a nice addition to my culture aquisition of Argentina. Anywhooooo its a lovely day, Im off to run in the park and do some meditation. My friend Tiago is coming over later to go to Barrio Chino and then Im going to make him some Feijao from Brazil, he just broke up with his BF...pobre. Chau todos!

Love Rachel

Brasilllllloooo

Well I have returned safe and sound from Brasil, it was amazing! I had such a great time but I am exhausted, we did so much in so little time as usual. We went to Porto Alegre which is in Rio Grande do Sul also known as the Gaucho part of Brasil. The Portuguese is more similar to Spanish in this part which is probably why I actually spoke Portuguese while I was there. I cant believe it, the amount of Portuguese I understood and was able to speak, I am literally on my way to being trilingual Im so happy! Anyway, we had a good time, we ate lots of food, lots of Feijao which is a black bean guiso sooooo good! lots of rice, lots of fruit, lots of chocolate from a part called Gramado. Gramado is a city outside of Porto Alegre which is really similar to Lake Tahoe and it has a bunch of little chocolate shops. It was really amazing, the whole trip. Tiago, my little Brazilian friend, well his family told me to come back always, they are soooo sweet and they wouldnt let me pay for anything! And I felt so bad because they accomodated for me for everything because I dont eat meat or milk products, ugh I felt so awful. Brasilians are the sweeetest ppl! I have to live there one day! I must! I know that if I lived in Brazil just six months, I could be fluent easily. Im going to look more into it later for my graduate studies. Anyway, what else? Not much, just back here in Buenos Aires with o my god! 35 days left, and I have to write a paper consisting of 17 pages, and then I have 3 finals and thats it. Wow its really ending really soon and then back to good old California lifestyle, right? English, surfing, and big breakfasts with eggs, bacon, and sausage haha. Well, I gotta go study now and get back into my workout routine and yoga! I havent done yoga in 5 days, I feel so mushy! Talk to you all soon!

Love Rachel the world traveller

I have 6 countries now on my list! US, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil! Yeah! Now I gotta go to Europe and Africa...
BESOS

Long time no see

Sorry friends and family, Dad, haha! I havent written in so long. I just wasnt really having anything too interesting to write about. My weeks are quickly coming to an end here. I have 5 weeks left in school and 6 weeks until I come home o my gooodness! Time to come home and speak English once again, itll be so weird! So lately, things have been going really well and I have been having a lot of fun. I also have been studying a bunch too though! I finally dont have to use a dictionary when I read and definitely when I talk, I have learned how to either just explain the word and then figure it out or most of the time I just know it and then pronounce it wrong or sometimes if Im lucky I pronounce it right haha. So what´s left for school? Well, I get my Macroeconomics midterm back tomorrow night and if I didnt pass I have a second chance to take it on the 31st, then I have my final on the 28th, then for Mercosur I have to write a paper about Integration and Global Warming in Latin America and my final for that class is the 1st of July. Then for Globalization I have just my final because I passed my midterm so I dont have to do anything special for that. I believe all I have to do is write a one page paper and talk with the professor about what I wrote about and thats it. Thatll be on the 15th of June so in one month that´s nothing! That teacher loves me anyway because I actually read the newspaper and know history on Argentina and it helps that I have lived here for the whole year and actually know the politicians that he complains about. haha! Yesterday was Buddha´s birthday and I went to my friend Cinthia´s temple and celebrated, it was really nice. I believe I will be going back to the temple on Saturdays to do some meditation with them. The Argentines who are Buddhist really remind me of my friends in Sacramento, especially all my yogi buddys. Guess being a yogi and practicing eastern spirituality when you are not Asian makes you act similiar no matter where you are. I love it, it makes me feel at home because ppl here sometimes dont understand my diet nor my love for yoga and think Im just doing it for exercise when it actually is something so much more. O and Friday I went with my buddy Coralie to go dancing which was amazing and super Argentine because as usual we didnt get home until 6 am haha. which is early! We walked home and saw a Transvestite Prostitute get into the front seat of a cab and then later a taxi driver with his pants down peeing on the side of the road and then a bunch of nuts doing other things. The morning hours of Argentina are crazy. Anyway, it was a good night, I am REALLY going to miss Coralie. She is sooooooo fun! and she loves to walk and study and I dont know I just really love her and her two friends also. And I love that she HATES to speak English too, we always speak Spanish even though she speaks English because she is Canuk but French Canuk. Anyway, Im going to visit her when she gets home in January and of course I will force her to come to Sacramento and ride bikes with me. Well, today Im going to meet my Argentine friend for lunch and then a walk to the Planetarium, Im going to try and convince her to go to the MALBA because they have a Cuban Art exhibit going on right now. O and on Friday morning I will be in Brasilllllllllll until Tuesday night! YEAH! Itll be fun! Gotta get caught up on some Portuguese before I go hahaha. Im not as good as I wanted to be but I guess when i get home I can practice more since i wont be so confused with Spanish and Portuguese when I live in California.

Well loves! I love you all and I cant wait to see your shining faces! Its almost been a year can you believe it?????
XOXOXOXOXO
Rachel