Ok....well Im gonna try and get this week updated on here and the pictures up tomorrow...This week has been absolutley crazy and tomorrow night we fly to Ecuador!! But about this past week.... Saturday July 15th: Ok last Saturday we took a day trip across the Rio de la Plata to the neighboring country of Uruguay. We took a boat called the Buquebus...that was a little like our catamaran boat we took to the Bahamas that one time mom and Ashley...and so yea I was a little worried I would get sick but it wasn't bad AT all...you could barely tell we were moving. Well originally it was me, Drew and Lori until this girl in my class Jazmine decided to come along too. Well she is very very young and from California and well needless to say we all had very different opinions on things in general and debated on everything you could think of during the 3 hour boat ride to Uruguay. A few things I have learned from traveling abroad are that 1) for some reason everytime you meet someone in another country from the US they immediatley want to talk about religion and/or politics....WHAT THE HECK???....the 2 most controversial things ever to talk about....and I mean don't get me wrong I love to debate but give me a break...2) Pretty much everyone from the west coast is absolutley retarded when it comes to their thoughts about the south...I have been asked numerous times over the past 2 years if we had slaves?!?!?!?.....COME ON people wake up and smell the coffee this is 2006!!!!!...I normally respond with yea well You can normally tell youre in the south when you pass the plantations and the lynchings in the front yards...I tell him life is pretty rough without electricity and having to walk outside to use the bathroom in the freezing winter...but the good thing was we always had nice sweaters our slaves knit us daily...especially with that abundance of cotton growing everywhere!!!!! IGNORANCE....which brings me to my third point...3) Everyone wants to argue about these controversial topics yet seem to have NO education what so ever ove the topic. So as many of you can imagine...I loose my patience very easily with other Americans abroad....Jazmine was one of these..... Enough about that though....So we arrive in Colonia and everything is soooo unorganized...I seriously was freaking out and everyone was getting soo ticked off cause we had no idea what was going on...but after literally shoving our lunch down our throats the rest of the trip was quite pleasant!! We took an English tour which consisted of a small tour on the buss further inland and a walking tour around the old historical circuit. The people there were sooo great...that is one thing I love soo much about Spanish culture is just the geniune kindness in everyone...and without alterior motives. The day was beautiful...for once NOT RAINING!!! LOL....I got some really amazing pictures and had a great time...I especially enjoyed the fact that I good breath some fresh air...I have decided I could never live in the big city...I miss my suburb....and the summer weather...hahaha. Oh and random little fact...one day a week or so before we randomly met this Argentine women in a bookstore who spoke english and was talking with us and stuff and it comes to find out that her friend was studying at the same university as us and they went on the same trip to Uruguay and we got to see them again...again just another example of how friendly everyone is...she went out of her way to make sure we were ok and enjoying ourseleves. Great trip!! Sunday July 16th: I acctually got to sleep in!!! But I still didn't sleep a ton...its really noisy outside my window...but when I finally got up it was raining again so we couldn't do the sight seeing we originally wanted to so Drew and I just went to see Superman...it was pretty good...but long as crap. We found a litte store across from the mall that actually sold soveniours...so I got the last of everything I needed to get for everyone... Monday July 17th: This week started off busy....with knowning that we only had a week left we needed to get all of our sightseeing done a little everyday. On Monday we ventured out to a part called San Telmo to see a cool park and church...but the park wasn't that amazing and the church was closed...sad times...we couldn't really do anything down there either because it was in a really sketch part of town... Tuesday July 18th: Well right after school we tried to go to the MALBA...a huge art museum...well when we got there we saw it was closed on Tuesdays so then we went to antother one in Recolleta...which was the National art museum...it was really cool and there was a special exhibition by Fernando Botero a famous artist from Colombia who illustrated the violence and suffereing in Colombia over the years...the awesome thing was that on Tuesdays it was all free...so we lucked out and we could take pictures. They had alot of Edgar Degas paintings....he is famous for painting ballerinas and dancers...and they had a few Monet, Picasso and Van Gohg. It was really cool.... Wednesday July 19th: It was a beautiful day and felt amazing outside for once. Well since the first week we got here we have been talking about going to the zoo and today we finally did!! Im glad we did too because it was really cool...but soo sad at the same time. All I've got to say is the next time I see someone protesting the GA Aquarium Im gonna direct them down here to protest this zoo. The really cool thing about it is that you can get soooo close to the animals...alot of them you can even pet....but the super sad thing is that there is no room for these animals!! For instance the giraffe that we saw was no only by its self but in a small area the size of maybe a master bedroom just walking around in circles and the monkeys were in small enclosed rooms...I seriously wanted to just cry...and at some parts I felt like I was in the movie Madagascar....LOL...and that some of the animals were going to randomly attempt to escape...it was pretty funny. But overall Im really glad we went because we got some great pics and I haven't been to a zoo in forever! Thursday July 20th: Well today was our exam in class....at the time I didn't have a clue about how well I did...after class me Drew and Greg...our new friend...went to Paseo del Tigre...It is beautiful out there...we took the train there and then a boat along the river for about an hour to see all the houses and places along the river....again another beautiful day...its crazy how the weather is better right before we are leaving....figures. Anyways there were children as in teenagers EVERYWHERE....it was seriously the craziest thing we had ever seen and at first we could not figure out why in the world they were all there....then it hit us that today was Dia del amigo....friends day!!....how fun is that....later that night a bunch of us went out to dinner to celebrate friends day and everywhere was packed...and we all decided we were going to create a friends day in the US on December 1st...lol...Just another reason for us to celebrate something! We had great food at the Manhatten Club...which was a pretty cool place but strangly eery on the inside. It was shaped on the outside like the empire state building and inside were huge pictures of the NYC skyline with the twin towers...seeing those pictures everywhere honestly brought a little sadness to me. Sometimes I think too many of us forget about 9/11 and the impact it had on so many people. Over all the night was great fun and we stayed out really really late.... Friday July 21st: So not a good idea to stay out that late...I was soooo tired this morning. We didn't have class till 11:15 and we had to just go to get our grade....I got an 8 out of 10 in the course but its more than 80%....so its like a high B low A....which I was very happy with! I said goodbye to other people which was kindof sad but at the same time exciting to see how many new friendships I had started that Im sure I would keep in touch with. I ran a few errands trying to get ready for tomorrow and took a little nap this afternoon. We got a new girl at my house this morning but she was asleep all afternoon so I still haven't met her. I must say I will be sad to leave my host mom too because she has been absolutley incredible. She is so much fun and there is never a dull moment! Tonight a few of us are going to dinner and to possibly see Pirates of the Caribean 2...then tomorrow it is packing packing packing. The week has been very fun and eventful and has flown by like crazy....actually this whole month has. It has all been soo much fun and I am soo glad that I have been so lucky to be able to travel down here and study and make new friends and learn so much about this amazing country and culture. Its getting late here so Im probably not gonna have time to put my pics up tonight but I deifnitley will tomorrow. Thanks again for reading these everyone...and for your comments...they really make my day! I love you guys and miss yall!