Monday, November 22, 2010

It is All Coming to a Close

So with only one week left in Mendoza I am feeling the mixed feelings of excitement to go home, and resentment for leaving this beautiful country. For my last two weeks of the program I am going with three girl friends on a whirlwind tour of the entireity of Patagonia, we are going to make the lovely 36 hour bus ride from Mendoza to Rio Gallegos and then the short hop over to Calafate. Due to our lack in funds we have limited ourselves to mate and peaches for food throughout the trip....maybe some bread and onions as well. After a few days in Calafate and the surrounding towns we are going to make our way back up to El Bolson and Bariloche. We will travel until the 10th, and naturally I leave the 11th so this week is also my deadline for packing up everything I own, which is going to be an adventure in and of itself.




Other plans for this week, we have our Thanksgiving dinner this week, though there won´t be any Turkey, or my family´s tradition of lasagna I am still excited for the great food and the last opportunity to see everyone in our program before heading back to the states. Following our feast, we have planned our final debut at Casa 3 for the final Fiesta Americana. If I haven´t told you about these insanely ridiculous parties, the basic idea is, at the beggining of the semester Dan one of my friends from the program approached one of the local bar/clubs and asked if we could use the space to have a party, we would be in control of the music and we would bring in a crapton of business. Well we did, there were over 300 people at the first party, wayy too many for the space capacity of the club but it was an incredible business deal for the place, they actually ran out of beer at one point I believe. So after that the owners hired us Americanos to plan a huge party every month and we have delivered every month. So as our final fade to black party I am sure it is going to be insane.



Ross is going to celebrate his birthday today as well so we are going to begin with our usual happy hour at Antares, and then migrate to his favorite peruvian restaurant for some fantastically delicious cheap cuisine. All good things in my opinion, I would like to go to all of the cafe-restaurants that I haven´t been to yet, but I don´t think that is realistic or financially smart.



Of course, I will spend at least one day just sitting in the Plaza reading as it has been my daily routine since coming to the beautiful city, and I need to say goodbye to all of my artisan friends that I have come to make over the course of the semester. Yesterday we even kept up the tradition of Sunday futbol in Parque San Martin with the locals which was followed by a trip for some excellent empanadas and gallons of water since it was brutally hot yesterday.



To think of all of the fantastic things I have done here, the great routines and traditions our program has had, it is sad to think it is almost over. I am SO not ready to return to the real world of work and studies and speaking in English.... (maybe i am ready for that last one) But it is going to be a rough transition, I am excited to see all of the people I have missed but it is going to be hard leaving behind everything I have made a part of my life here in Mendoza. The people, the places, the foods, everything that I now feel is a natural part of my life I will have to leave behind. It is hard having friends in the program who live on the opposite end of the country back in the U.S. I guess it will just make a better excuse for having to travel more.



I will definitely be coming home a travel junkie, I can already predict it, I have already started planning my next trip, to the Philippines in the spring, doing service work of course but still it will get me out of the country for a little while. I am just excited to make traveling a real part of my life





(sorry for any spelling errors, my computer is still broken and this one does not have spell check).

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