It's been a while...

Hola! Sorry I've been so neglectful in posting..I really don't have any excuse because I still haven't started school yet! Good news though! I will be starting school this Monday! I don't know if I'm excited  or nervous...maybe some of both. I don't really know what to expect but maybe my next blog post will be all about school :)

Moving on....here's a quick overview of some important things I've done in the past three and a half weeks:

1. Traveled to Tucumán by bus for my first Inbound Exchange Student Orientation
2. Ventured to the city alone!
3. Washed my feet in a Bidet with a fellow exchanger...
4. Traveled to Cafayate for a horse race
5. Walked in a parade
6. Went to the National Election for the Queen of Argentina (student queen)
7. Started School!

Now for more detail....and pictures!

1. Three weekends ago (wow, time goes by so fast here, it feels like this was last weekend) I traveled to Tucumán, a city about five hours south of Jujuy with the other exchange students in my city. I don't know if I mentioned this previously, but there are four of us including me. Sabrina Brodersen from Denmark, Thea Cohen from Vermont!, and Kevin Cord from Germany. Anyway, we travled by bus, but traveling by bus long distance is like flying first class. The chairs recline all the way back, they provide a blanket and pillow, free food and drinks, and movies. I can't say that I didn't enjoy the bus ride! We arrived in Tucumán early Friday evening and we stayed overnight with host families. The next day we took another bus (not as fancy) to a city called Conception. There we met up with nearly all of the exchange students in our district. There were kids from France, Denmark, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Canada, and USA. There were also a bunch of exchangers from Argentina that had gone abroad previously. Needless to say we all got along really well because well, exchange students always get along. We're all experiencing the same things and can relate with one another. They call it an instant bond. We spent the day playing games, going over rules, and eating. By the end of the day I had a new group of friends from all over the world. After that we went back to Tucumán for the night and then returned to Jujuy on Sunday.

All of the students at the orientation.

2. There isn't much to say about venturing to the city alone. I live in the country but nearly everything I do is in the city so I travel there by bus. I've now traveled by bus alone five times and found my way around the city to get where I need to be. Might not seem that exciting, but it is a big accomplishment for me! As an exchange student, the littlest accomplishments reward you with the best feelings. Using a new word, ordering something, successfully getting to your destination alone...etc. It's scary to be independent in a different country but it's also the most amazing feeling when you are successful.


3. In almost every bathroom in Argentina, there is a bidet. This isn't very common in the US nor is it common in Denmark so both Sabrina and I think it's a rather odd concept. Upon spending the night at Sabrinas, we went to the city because she wanted to buy new shoes and a few other things. Upon our return, we both felt as though our feet were dirty and we wanted to wash them. However, in the bathroom at her host family's house, they only have a shower and the shower doesn't have a door, it's just completely open. So, we decided to wash our feet in the bidet because frankly there was no other place to wash them. We both thought it was hilarious and a little awkward because the water shoots up. Here are some pictures of us...

4. Can't quite remember exactly how many weekends ago it was, maybe four, I traveled to Cafayate with my host family for my younger sisters' endurance horse race. It was easily one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. It was similar to the Grand Canyon I would like to say but I've never been to the Grand Canyon so I can't say for sure. We spent a lot of time at the horse race so there isn't much to tell. Here are some pics! 

So beautiful!

5. The last week of September was the week of the student festivals. Each school in the city (there are many!) builds a float to represent their school and elects a queen and two princesses to ride on the float. For one week, they have a parade every night and each float gets to be in three of the parades. The floats are quite amazing, I will post a picture below. I had to walk in one of the parades with the entire Rotary club. We had to wear our Rotary blazers and wave. It was freezing cold that night and we had to stand around a lot and wait for the floats ahead of us. It was a pretty cool experience over all though!

This is my school's float! Pretty amazing, right?!

All of the Rotary Club, Exchange students,
and Rotaract in the parade!

6. During the week of the student festivals, they have the national election of the queen on the Friday of that week. It's held in the professional futbol (soccer) stadium. I would basically compare it to Miss America in the United States. Each province in Argentina elects a girl under the age of 18 to be the queen of their province. There are 24 provinces. All of the girls come to Jujuy for the competition each year and one of them is elected the National Queen of Argentina. I went to the election with my host aunt, cousins, grandmother and sisters. My host uncle owns a box in the stadium (for the futbol games) so we got to sit in his box to watch the election! It was amazing! The stage was really cool and they had a bunch of dancers perform periodically throughout the night. After the election was over, Axel, a famous singer in Argentina performed. Oh, I didn't mention this above. The election began at 10 p.m. and Axel finished performing at 4 a.m. Needless to say, it was a very late night!

View of the stage from the box!

All of the queens from each of the provinces!

First and Second Ladies, First and Second Princesses, and the Queen.
The Queen is from the Province of Mendoza.

7. I finally started school! It took a while to start because of the student festivals. However I am now enrolled in "The Normal School" which is the oldest public school in the city. I am in the final (or senior) year. The school year ends sometime in December and then we have summer vacation so I will do another senior year there starting in March. All of my classmates are very nice and I have made many new friends! I have school everyday from 8 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. Only four and a half hours! I have  either three of four classes a day, it varies. My classes change everyday. Currently I am taking Math, Literature, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, English, Philosophy, Geography, History, and Civics. Most of my teachers are very nice but they don't really pay much attention to me. My Philosophy teacher is kind of a witch but the rest are pretty easy going. Sometimes the teachers don't come to class because they don't want to so we have what is called an "empty class". Basically when this happens we can do whatever we want; leave, stay, chat with friends, etc. This happens a few times every week. The teachers here are paid very little so they can choose whether or not they want to show up. This was very different and surprising for me but sometimes it's nice to have a break and just chat with friends in Spanish! Overall, school is going well and I'm understanding more of what the teachers say each day! 

First Day, First Day! All ready to go in my uniform!
(Yes, this is the public school uniform, I'm aware
that I look like a doctor ;) )

Well that's all the news I have for now. Sorry it took me so long to post! I'll try to be better about the next post! Until then....

Chau, un beso!