Submitted by Kimberly Tomlinson on the 2012 fall semester program in Buenos Aires, Argentina…
So much has happened since my last post! I went to a jungle, voted for the FIRST TIME, and united with some UD alums!!
The weekend of October 19th our group took its only weekend long excursion (as an entire group at least!). We went to the province of Misiones to see one of the 7 natural wonders of the world (as of 2011!) Las Cataratas de Iguazú! We flew out of the Aeroparque here in Buenos Aires (the smaller of the two airports in the city) on Friday morning. It was a miserable walk from our apartment to the school. It was pouring rain and we had all of our weekend belongings. However, we arrived at the most laid back airport I have EVER experienced (I learned very quickly that the Iguazú airport was even MORE laid back) After breezing through security 20 minutes before our flight we boarded our two hour plane ride to Misiones! We arrived to the sun shining and 80+ degree weather! AMAZING! We were picked up at the airport and driven to our Hostel which was by far the most amazing hostel I have ever seen. The main building was very open to the fresh air (and bugs unfortunately) but there was a pool and a relatively cheap kitchen! Our first day we had the option of paying an additional price to do a few outdoorsy/adventurous activities. I, along with 4 others from my group, elected not to go and instead spent all of Friday LOVING the sunshine by the pool! After dinner, we all went to bed early to get ready for our Saturday adventures!
Saturday morning was pouring rain. The sunshine from the day before was no where to be found, but I elected to make the most of the situation. After all, we were going to a jungle/rainforest, a little rain couldn’t hurt! We set out on our adventure! First stop was La Garganta del Diablo (The Throat of the Devil) which is also the border between Argentina and Brazil. I honestly don’t even know how to put into words what I saw because calling it a waterfall doesn’t nearly do it justice! We continued to hike around the national park of Iguazú and I literally took hundreds of photos and not one of them did my afternoon justice. For me, the fact that it was raining increased the magic of the day. After hiking down to the river, we took a speed boat under the falls! It was freezing, but AMAZING!
My OTHER big news involves the presidential election! Last Friday the 26 I voted in my FIRST election! A group of us from the trip found out that if we went to the US embassy between 2:30 and 4 we would have the opportunity to fill out a write in ballot that would be sent in for us!! After months of attempting to fill out absentee ballots and contact local authorities it feels AMAZING to finally have my vote in.
Saturday evening, I went to my professor’s tango show in the city center (brown nosing a little NEVER hurts). However, in the middle of his show he pulled me up onto stage to dance with him…not my most SHINING dancing moment, but definitely a fun experience and the show was so great! (After the show he came over to me and I said, “Profesor, ahora voy a recibir una A en la clase, verdad?” (Professor, now I’m going to get an A in class, right?) and he responded with a laugh and “Claro!” (Of course)).
Last but not least, I had the opportunity last weekend to meet up with a few friends of friends who are UD alumni teaching English abroad here in Buenos Aires! It was a lot of fun to talk to them and it has certainly inspired me to look into ALL of my opportunities for my impending doom…I mean graduation!
So that is all for now! It is finals time so thats what I am working on!
Kim
PS GO VOTE NEXT TUESDAY!