Wow!  We've been so busy exploring the blog has been neglected.  Below is a rundown of the interesting things we've done.

We have a pet - Paco, a betta fish, came home on Friday, May 11.

We have checked out the nightlife a few times - in both Ciudad Vieja and the W Lounge (which is only 5 blocks from our apartment).  The nightlife starts much later here with people eating dinner at 10 or 11 and then going out at 1 or 2am.  It's definitely different to get used to!

We visited the famous Punta del Este!  The trip to Punta del Este was interesting to say the least.  We met at the travel agency at 8am, although the tour didn't end up leaving until almost 9:30am.  The bus was super nice and spacious and leather seats but cold!  We stopped in random cities along the way to Punta del Este to check out the beaches.  Seeing that Montevideo hosts about fifty percent of the Uruguayan population, the towns are very small.  We learned that in the summer time the entire coastline is crazy with tourists, but during the winter it's very dead.  Either way, we saw some beautiful places (check out the pictures!).  Punta del Este was amazing and so weird at the same time.  The city is full of grand hotels, modern apartment buildings, shopping and restaurants; most of which are closed due to the season.  Punta del Este only has about 1,000 year-round residents!  It reminded me of a ghost town, beautiful buildings and businesses closed up until the summer tourist season. 

We took a city tour of Montevideo.  It was quite intense and lasted three hours!  We saw some amazing things as well as met a nice guy from Hollywood.  Later that night we joined him for our first South American futbol game!  Fun times ... let's just say the fans are CRAZY (see photos!).  Following the game we headed over to Bar Fun Fun to meet up with some people from the school and enjoy live music.  It was a great day!

We also checked out one of the local flea markets. It was amazing! It went on forever. You could literally buy anything your heart desires there, including a single golf shoe. Ryan and Jasmine purchased some DVD's for $1 each ;)  Now that we're better acquainted, we'll be going back soon to get more bargains.

We had tea and snacks with Senor and Senora Renfrew (a retired professor from NMU!). It was an amazing time!  They are super nice people and we are lucky to have met them. They will be in Montevideo until late June and we hope to see them often.  This Sunday we will be joining them for dinner.

Most importantly, we met with our internship advisors.  I will be working for Guilford Institute, an English and Portuguese language school.  I am supposed to teach English, but they've decided to have me work on marketing first.  I will be doing research, offering suggestions, working on the website as well as possibly hosting some marketing seminars for local business people.  Very exciting!  Ryan's position is even more exciting!  He is working for Bantol, a local dairy products company.  He is working under the second highest person in the company and will be using his marketing and economics knowledge. He will mainly be working on a top secret project which I am not at liberty to discuss!  Beyond what's here, we've been keeping busy with classes, working out and walking around the city.  Today was our last day of class which is sad but we're both very excited to move onto our internships.  We hope that everyone has a great Memorial weekend, and remembers us on their day off!  PS - feel free to send us messages and emails, it's great to hear from everyone!