Gasp.

Oh, restrain yourselves already, there’s a flip side. Of course there’s a flip side.

These past three months were EYE-OPENING rather than life changing. I’m still the same old me; same stubbornness, same sense of humor, same you name it. However, I have gained invaluable things. I have a broader perspective of the world (yeah blah, choke that down). I have a better grasp of who I am as a person. And I now have a helluva a lot of streets smarts (kinda hard not to when you live in a city of 13 million people).

Studying abroad is a learning experience. Not book learning, (well, a bit of book learning) but about people, culture, the world and yourself. My greatest accomplishment of this experience was not changing myself, but rather discovering and learning more about myself. I am independent. I have an insatiable need to immerse myself in other cultures. I like adventure (you probably learned that about me, too).

I know I can’t make you study abroad, but let me say one thing...you will have the time of your life if you do. I guarantee. Honestly, if this year turns out to be the sole highlight of my life, I would be A-OK with that. I went whale watching in Patagonia. I waddled with penguins. I skied in the Andes. I rappelled down a waterfall. I jumped out of an effing plane. Wait, I did what? Hahaa oh yeah, I did.

Studying abroad allows you to see, do and live. Accordingly, I did more things, saw more places and lived like there was no tomorrow. I think it’s safe to declare my first semester abroad a success!

I wish I could bottle Argentina and send it to you all. Eight episodes were certainly not enough to capture the diverse and simply amazing country that it is. There is no equal. I guarantee. I am glad that I can rest assured, knowing that I have another semester In Buenos Aires. I have a whole three more months to live it up! ‘Cause well, after that it’s back to the daily grind in The ‘Bu (oh who am I kidding, Malibu rocks). On the itinerary for second semester, I’ve got spring break in Brazil, a trip to Chile, and a trip to Argentina’s wine country, Mendoza lined up. Oh, buuuuuuut first I have a month-long backpacking trip! A few friends and I are starting off in Ecuador, then trekking up to Machu Picchu in Peru, and then going wherever the wind takes us. The one stipulation: make it to Buenos Aires before February 5th (when classes start).

Although this is the end of my JYA run, is it definitely just the beginning for me.

There are two things I have left to do: give you my thanks for logging on to the site, and say goodbye. I will say thank you because your viewership and readership is what drives JYA. Thank you immensely for that. I won’t say goodbye though. I hate goodbyes. How about a nice “See you later”? Sounds good to me.

See you later,
Stacey

P.S. Really, you can see me later. Follow the rest of my journey on my second semester personal travel diary at www.getjealous.com/staclg86. I like to call it JYA Unplugged.

P.S.S. Virtual pat on the back to my fellow JYA cast members and the whole JYA team. The goal was to show the world, well…the world through study abroad eyes. Mission accomplished.

P.S.S. Holler!

Like I said in my previous blog, my two friends and I had a 12-hour layover in Panama. Yes, I know, that’s half a day but we planned it that way because we wanted ample time to go adventuring. And c’mon now, you know I love me some adventure.

Our main goal of our 12-hour Panamanian adventure was to obviously see the canal. Although, we had doubts because we of the many nay-sayers back in BA. “The canal is too far from the airport” they said, “you’ll never be able to do that in 12 hours”.

Oh, did we prove them wrong.

We touched down in Panama around 8am on Thursday morning. All rested up from our 8-hour flight we headed directly to immigration (yay passport stamp!) and customs. There, the people told us that before they let us into the country we needed get tourist cards available for purchase for 5 American dollars (cash only) at a different desk. Great. Like we would have 5 USD after three months in Argentina. The workers directed us to an ATM upstairs, so up we went. Airport information upstairs then said the ATM was downstairs so, frustrated, we went back to the immigration desk and told them our ATM location woes. Quickly the nice Panamanian immigration lady stamped our passports sans tourist card!

..and that’s how I got into Panama semi-illegally.

After that whole ordeal, we went to the tourism desk to find out our options in getting to the canal. One tour fit us perfectly, we would be able to see the old city, the new city, the canal….it was like the stars were aligned! Okay, I’m lying. The company works in conjunction with our airline so that in-transit passengers can tour Panama while waiting for their transfer flight. It’s still cool though.

Confession…I thought Panama would be kinda…eh, how do I put this...Okay, I just wasn’t expecting it to be as nice as it was. Sorry, Panama! I’m bowing my head in shame. But, seriously wow! Panama is nice! From the high-rise towers (one of them being a Trump hotel), to the historic Ciudad Vieja, to the clean blue waters, I like Panama!

Due to its one time status as an American territory, Panama is very Americanized. Pizza Hut, Quizno’s, Wendy’s, the numerous BMW’s I saw….it was like a little America hidden between Costa Rica and Colombia. Some may see that as a good thing, others may see that as a bad thing. All I know is that it was a nice transition time for me before I made my first “appearance” in America in three months.

As you can tell, my 12-hour Panama adventure was successful! Now I can say I visited South America, Central America and North America all within 2 days!

8 hour flight from Buenos Aires to Panama
12 hour layover in Panama (we planned it that way so we could see the city and the canal)
7 hour flight from Panama to Los Angeles
7 hour layover in Los Angeles (nope, didn't plan that one)
3 hour flight from Los Angeles to Portland
------------------------------------
= WOWZA. 37 hours of travel.

I slept about 13 hours last night, but that's definitely not enough. I was planning to write about my adventure in Panama, but I'm too tired. I'll get back to you after I nap.

-Being in the city
-Using my Spanish, and moreover my Argentine accent
-Taking taxis everywhere
-Going out to a club at 2 am. (I've said it before and I'll say it again, 2 am is when nightlife begins!)
-Maru Botana (amazing bakery/cafe across from my homestay apartment and across the street from the Pepperdine house)...best cakes in Buenos Aires...best cakes in the world.
-The lovely Pepperdine kids here with me (Especially JJ cuz he's leaving me foreverrr) and the faculty as well (Raffa, Susie, Abuelo, Maria and Lucchi, I love you!)
-Helado, specifically Freddo, Persicco and Volta
-Subte linea D
-Buying fruit at the corner fruit shop
-Bowling nights with the gang
-Traveling South America
-Exploring B.A.
-Casa Holden
-Plaza Serrano (plaza full of bars and clubs at night, but on Saturday and Sunday afternoons they all turn into CLOTHING STORES! Yes girls!)
- 11 de Septiembre and Olleros (my cross streets)

...There’s more I'm sure, but I can’t think of any right now. But basically, I'm gonna miss this city a lotttttt. Actually I miss it already, and I haven't even left yet. Thank heavens I signed up for the whole year, I don't know what I would do if this was my one and only semester in Buenos Aires!

I am off to finish off my packing, then get ready for our final banquet.

Guess what? Today I am in Buenos Aires, tomorrow I will be in Panama, Friday I will be in Los Angeles and then Portland. WHAT kind of life am I leading??

The next time I blog I will be in America. That is weird to think about.

Much love from Buenos Aires,
Stace

I'm attempting to work on my 10 page paper as of this moment, but as you can tell it is going slowly. I just wrote 1 page...9 more to go. Blast, I think I'll need to pull an all-nighter so I can study for Spanish. I have no one to blame but myself, I chose to spend this whole weekend Christmas shopping and do everything besides study. I make no apologies though. I won't be back to BA until February, so I'd rather have a fun last weekend than being holed up in my room doing work.

Back to the paper. PRAY FOR ME. heh.

I speak the truth.

Last weekend a group of us traveled to Punta del Este, Uruguay for the Thanksgiving holiday. 80-degree weather on Thanksgiving is ridic for me. I mean I've had all of my past 19 Thanksgivings in Oregon, so this is a huge change! Oh, but what a good change it was!

Punta del Este is an upscale beach town very much like Pepperdine's Malibu. Even though it is in Uruguay, most of the people that travel there and/or have beach houses there are upper class Argentineans. We stayed at a resort that was 15 km away from the city, but that was ok with us because it gave us the opportunity to rent a car! After three months of being car-less and dependent on taxis, subways and buses this was a definite JOY! And I didn't even drive the car (I can't drive sticks)! Our car was a trusty 5-seat Fiat hatchback. What's that you say, we had six people?? Not a problem, we were efficient and used the trunk as seat #6! Dangerous perhaps, but this is South America, isn't everything dangerous??

Because finals are just around the corner and all of our other trips had been action-packed, this weekend was reserved for RELAXATION. So basically, that is all we did: tanned on the beach, lounged by the pool and drove to our hearts' content. The beaches in Punta del Este are beautiful, we went to Playa Brava, which is the surfing beach located on the eastern part of the peninsula and faces the Atlantic Ocean. This is where the famous "Mano" (Hand) is located (look at my pics if you're not familiar!). In contrast the beach on the western side, Playa Mansa, is a lot quieter because it faces the Rio de La Plata (River Plate).

On one of the nights we decided to drive to Uruguay's capital, Montevideo. It was only an hour away and we decided we had a lot of gas to burn. Oh you should have seen me in the trunk of our little car! There I was, comfortable with a pillow and blanket and all tech'd out with my laptop for "GPS" use.

Well, we got to Montevideo safely...but frankly, Montevideo did not have much to offer. We ended up going to a super sketch carnival and then (as a highlight) had dinner at a great restaurant. No, I'm not being sarcastic...it really was great. Later, in search of some nightlife, we asked the waitress to point us in the right direction. We followed her directions and yeahhhhh, we got pretty creeped out by the desolate surroundings and high-tailed it back to our home away from home in Punta del Este.

The rest of the weekend went superbly. Even though Montevideo was a bit of an upset, I can now say I’ve been to the capital of Uruguay in the trunk of a car!

Oh, and I have decided that when I am old and rich I will be in the market for a beach house in Punta del Este.

Hold up, NEWSFLASH: (I just found this out literally 15 seconds ago) The Bush twins are in South America right now and Barbara has been in Buenos Aires for a couple days. Yesterday she got her purse stolen at a restaurant...that's Buenos Aires for ya. But, hey...what was the Secret Service doing during this thievery??

Anyways, back to me. I shall not lie, I've been coming down with a bit of homesickness recently. It probably hit the most when we had our "Thanksgiving" dinner this past Sunday. We had Thanksgiving early because we will all be traveling this weekend. I love Buenos Aires and I'm really starting to feel this is a place I can call home...but now that we're getting into the holiday season and I miss my family!

I'm not going to let the homesickness get to me. Otherwise I won't enjoy my last 2 weeks to the fullest. Plus, it's not like I don't have another semester here! I'm freaking coming back to BA from February-May! It is far from over. At least I have a busy 2 weeks ahead of me, what with finals, Christmas shopping and a trip to Punta del Este, Uruguay. : ]

I've been to many a concert, but I will say that this was the best. BEP was great and so was the crowd (even though my friend lost her shoe). It was just an upbeat, feel good type of show. That's what I like about the Black Eyed Peas, they make fun music that you just wanna dance to. Because sometimes "I JUST WANNA DANCE!" (Dane Cook anyone??). I couldn't imagine a better concert to go to while studying abroad in Buenos Aires. Especially since us Pepperdine kids had unofficially dubbed "Pump It" this year's theme song awhile ago.

So um Mr. Justin Randall Timberlake if you'd like to add a Buenos Aires stop to your tour anytime from now to May 2007, I really wouldn't be opposed. Just throwing that out there.

Not to end this blog on a Debbie Downer note, but I have a tragic story to tell you. Thursdays we usually go to this club called Lost because it's hip-hop night. This is big for Pepperdine students because the majority of clubs here play techno ish. Anyway, I was all set on going last Thursday because I hadn't gone in a couple weeks. Remember, most clubs in B.A. don't open until 2 a.m., so you have really have to fight your sleepiness before going out. That night I was unvictorious and decided to give and go to bed at a measly 11:30 pm.

BAD IDEA.

Why you ask??? Well, the next morning I find out that the BLACK EYED PEAS were at the club.

omygah.

Yeahhhhh, and I was fast asleep in bed. I will never sleep again. This is like the time I missed a Britney Spears sighting while I was checking out at the Malibu Sav-On's. Hurumph.

Here’s a rundown of my 4-day weekend…

Wednesday: After our classes a group of 13 of us headed to the Retiro bus terminal to catch our 7pm bus to Iguazu Falls. Note: when taking long bus rides such as these, always spring for the nicest seats. In this case we got the Tutto Letto/Super Cama seats. They basically turned into twin beds and were probably more comfortable than the bed in my homestay.

Thursday: 18 hours later we reached Puerto Iguazu. We settled into the cabanas we rented (had views of the Iguazu River, Brazil and Paraguay!) and went out for lunch. After eating we took the 4-peso shuttle to Iguazu National Park (about 20 minutes from town). I was a little bitter at first because we had to pay 30 pesos to get in, but once I saw the falls it was all worth it. Unfortunately, since we got there a little late in the day, we only got to see the Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s Throat) before getting kicked out.

Friday: Got up early for our 4-hour safari adventure! We were picked up in a huge safari truck type vehicle (sorry, don’t know how to phrase it) and we were off to the jungle. Our first stop was to go zip-lining! You don’t know how excited I was to do that. It’s always been one of my dreams : ] (sad, I know). Anyway, we got to zip-line for ½ a mile and it was just as fun as I had imagined it would be. We then got back in the truck and drove to a waterfall in the middle of nowhere to go wet rappelling. I’m not going to lie, I was much more scared about this than skydiving. But once I was at a 90 degree angle from the waterfall it was easy! Well, except for the part when I was literally IN the waterfall and could barely breath because water was everywhere. Anyhoooo, the best part of the day was when we went back to Iguazu National Park for a jet boat ride. All, I can say is, best time ever. The boat driver takes you under waterfalls and you get drencheddddd. You’ll probably get to see the video in my next episode. It looks like a scene from Titanic or Poseidon…but fun.

Saturday: Shopped for souvenirs then got back on the bus for another 18 hours!

Sunday: Arrived in B.A. early in the morning, so provided enough time to do homework (and *cough* go shopping *cough*) after a packed weekend!

I also end up eating out with friends a lot. Yanno, we try to hit up the classier places that we wouldn't want to waste our/have enough money for in the States. Last Friday, a group of 10 of us went to this restaurant called Roof. It was so "Sex and the City"-esque. I probably spent about 20 American dollars on a great meal. But what I recently learned is that I shouldn't look at my expenses in dollars. I have to keep pesos as pesos. If I convert them I'm only making an excuse to spend more money!

So what if everything is 3 times less...I'm spending 4 times more!

Two of my friends and I had lunch with an American actress this weekend. Yes, in Buenos Aires.

This is how it happened. So Britney, Stephani and I were at the subte stop just sitting and talking (in English) when a woman walks up to us and asks us (in English) where we were from. Steph says she's from San Jose, and the woman says, "Oh, I'm from LA". Then all three of us tell her that we actually go to school at Pepperdine in Malibu. The woman replies, "I live in Malibu!"

Ok, first off this is crazy enough! Malibu only has a population of roughly 13,000 people. How is it possible its few inhabitants run into each other in Buenos Aires, Argentina?

Back to the story. So we get to talking (her name is Jamie) and she tells us where she lives in Malibu, why she's here in Buenos Aires (for tango dancing) and how long (9 days), etc. Anyway, in the end, Jamie takes us under her wing (even calls us her daughters) and goes on our city outing with us. She takes us out to lunch, and during our conversation we find out that she is an actress! Most of her work was done in the 80's because she is now focusing on being an acting teacher. She was on the show Falcon Crest, had her own TV show for awhile, has worked with Clint Eastwood, Billy Bob Thorton, Johnny Depp, and my favorite, The Olsen Twins (Holiday in the Sun)!

After lunch we went to the San Telmo market and watched street performers dance the tango. Remember, Jamie came to Buenos Aires to tango dance. So, the male tango dancer (let's just call him Che for fun) tells the crowd that later he'd like a lady to dance with him, and Jamie quickly is up on her feet. However, Che says she has to sit back down because male tango dancers have to give women "the eye" before they can stand up to dance. Jamie sits back down and tells us "Oh well, I'm never gonna see these people again. You've got to put yourself out there."

Truer words have never been said.

Finally Che stares her down and Jamie seizes her opportunity. She ends up dancing with Che twice and the crowd fell in love with her. One tourist videotaping the performance says to her, "Hey, I think I met you last night. What a small world. There are no coincidences." (Ok, so not in those exact words. I don't really remember it all, but he did in fact say "no coincidences")

Now I'm gonna go deep with this reflection. Are you ready? Heh.

It was an eye-opening day. Yeah, on the surface we had lunch with an actress that just so happens to live in Malibu like we do. But Steph, Brit and I really admire Jamie. She's the kind of person that can make friends with anyone, and can tag along anytime because she just has that charismatic personality…the kind of person that you're jealous of. And on top of that, as witnessed by her tango street performance, she's the type of person that has let her inhibitions go. She's brave enough to take chances and live with no regrets. It’s safe to say that Jamie taught us a thing or two about life. We definitely met her for a reason.

That tourist was right...there are no coincidences.

But here's where the rant starts. A certain television network has started streaming full episodes of television shows on their website. For free! GLORIOUS, right?? No, not. Not for me at least. I log on to this certain website, to watch my certain medical dramedy and what pray-tell, pops up on my screen? "Only viewers within the United States can watch these full-length episodes".

Don't tease me like that. This is injustice. Absentees of the world, let's press for reform!

Study Abroad Moral of the Story: You're going to miss things going on in America, literally and figuratively. Eh, I guess $2 a week is a small fee to pay for my enjoyment...I'm a survivor, I can deal.

Wait. Was that a dream or did I actually jump out of a plane yesterday?

That’s freakdiculously (word that I made up, check it out at urbandictionary.com) extreme. Especially since I’m not a thrill seeker.

Basically, the whole experience was indescribable. All I can say is “Uh, wow”. LUCKILY, I have pictures and video of everything! Each jumper had their own cameraman, so I’m bringing you a first hand account of it all! Check out my album entitled, “Freefalling” for pictures andddd wait for my episode 2 episodes from now (should be #6) for the video.

Ahhh! I need to do it again! Me and some fellow Pacific Northwesterners (P.N.Dub’s) in my program are already planning another jump at home. Want to join?

But yeah, no wonder why I’m not homesick yet. My days and nights are so packed the time just whizzes by. I have no time to be homesick. Don’t get me wrong I miss my family and a lot of things from home, but I can still keep going. Oh, but what I would give for a shopping trip to Target, a pack of Orbit gum and my TiVo

My apologies for the brandname dropping. I can’t help it, I’m a product of “The System”.

It was crazy fun.

Now I'm crazy tired (and it's been 2 days since I got back).

I've got a lot of catching up to do.

And it is now officially my birthday (Argentina time).

I'm 20.

That's old.

Now on to compiling interview questions for JYA, calling family members, uploading pictures, organizing my Christmas break....basically everything besides homework, because I don't have any.

Jealous?