Day 4 •• Pictures

Day 4 •• May 30

9:15am. 

I'm in a car heading to ISAM! The bus ride was good. We all awoke 'round 4:30am and talked for about an hour. Breakfast was served at 8:15. We arrived at the bus station at 9.

5:30pm 

I'm sitting in my dorm room as I type. Unfortunately, no wifi. My roommates are Lucia and Pauline. They're quite nice. Thankfully, Sarah is right down the hall. It's been hard attempting to communicate. I can't wait for our Spanish lessons to start. After lunch (hispanic version of cafeteria food) Sarah and I went to the Music Building to jam with Kevin, a international student to SVA .... and it just started pouring. And thundering. Delightful. Anyhow, we hung out there for a while. The others joined us later. Got the wifi password, and was able to Skype home. Took a shower a few minutes ago and now I'm waiting until supper, which is at 6:30.

10:00 

At vespers we were made to introduce ourselves and answer questions. Someone asked Sarah and I if we had boyfriends. Awkward. But it got worse. We were then made to stand out in the foyer and greet everyone ... in the traditional Argentinian greetings. Which means a kiss on either cheek. Guys and girls. Delightful.

Day 3 •• Pictures

Day 3 •• May 29

9am 

So, we girls were supposed to be up by 7am so we could be downstairs with our bags by 8. However, my alarm didn't go off (new watch) so we girls awoke to Sofia crying. I checked my watch and it was 7:51am. Oh gosh. Ran around the room packing up and washing up. Got downstairs to find that the bus was late. Delightful.

8:45pm 

On the sleeper bus heading to ISAM. Today was good. Went to the Catholic school and visited with the 16 year old class. They practiced their English and we practiced our Spanish. Ate breakfast there, too. Afterwards, we toured Buenos Aires until 7pm. Bought souvenirs, lunch and last minutes stuff. Returned to the hotel, loaded our bags onto a bus which took us to the station for the sleeper buses. After waiting for 15 minutes, we loaded the bus. It's quite nice!

10:30 

Dinner was surprisingly good. Much better than airplane meals. But I'm falling asleep as I type. Night!

Day 2 •• Pictures

Day 2 •• May 28

(Time is in GMT)

2:48am 

We're on our last flight. In Lima, Peru we had our first "real" security check. Now we're an hour or so away from Buenos Aires. Hopefully the hotel will let us check in. If not, then we're going to have quite an interesting night / day.

4:30 

Touched down in Buenos Aries. From the plane you can see lights everywhere! If all goes well, we'll collect our luggage and check into our hotel. However, I have a feeling it might not be that simple.

6:00

I was correct. Right now we're chilling around our luggage as Uncle Andy tries to figure out a way to get us to our hotel. Somehow, the transportation that ISAM arranged for us didn't work out. Thankfully, there's pretty good wifi, so we're able to contact home.

9:00 

We're at the hotel. Finally. But we can't go to our rooms. So we've been chilling / sleeping in the lobby while we wait.

1pm 

Bought breakfast and toured Buenos Aires for a few hours while we waited for our rooms to be ready. I'm exhausted. I feel like a zombie ... and probably look like one.

2:00 

We're in our rooms, finally. Sarah and I are getting ready to go out with Uncle Andy to buy lunch.

11pm 

Grabbed lunch at Panda Express ... but something didn't agree with my stomach. :/ Took a 3 hour nap, then went out night shopping. Compared prices, ran around the mall, got lost in an empty art gallery with Sarah and River, and ended up running down an up escalator. Between Sarah and I, we found that we could successfully order Subway and Burger King food in Spanish!

Day 1 •• Pictures

Day 1 •• May 27

(All time in EST)

5:15am 

We're getting close to Boston. I can see the buildings cutting into the sky. I'm hungry; I haven't eaten anything, yet. With only 3 hours of fitful sleep, I'm tired.

6:30 

I'm on the plane. We depart in 15 minutes. I'm getting India flashbacks. Since it's post Memorial Day rush, bag check and security were wicked easy.

1pm 

I just finished lunch. We're on our flight to San Salvador. When I arrived in Dulles, I found out that JetBlue had forgotten to put my suitcase on the plane. So I had to fill out a report, just in case it didn't arrive in time on the next flight. Thankfully, it all worked out. Barring a few other inconveniences, we made it aboard our flight. Currently we're flying over Florida!

6:45 

Just finished "dinner". We're on our way to Lima, Peru. There are no personal TVs and the movie that's playing seems dull. But Reiss and I have an extra seat in our row, so we have plenty of room. We've been introducing each other to different songs/artist off our phones. The sunset is beautiful. I keep taking pictures every 3 minutes as the horizon changes colors.

So, I jumped out of a perfectly good plane...

     Yes, you read the title correct. I did indeed jump out of a perfectly good plane... but I had a parachute on. Growing up across town from JumpTown New England accustomed me to people falling out of the sky. You'd walk out of WalMart, look at the horizon (WM is on a hill) and there'd be specks with colorful canopies drifting towards the ground. 

    

     I don't think I ever "decided" to skydive, I believe I just assumed I'd jump once I was old enough. Since "old enough" is 18, I jumped the day after my 18th birthday. I dragged three reluctant* friends with me and we had an incredible time!

*jk... I think they were more excited than me!

AHHHH!!

(Because who doesn't like taking pics with a webcam!) 

     May 27th will start at 3:15am. By 4, Dad and I should be driving towards Boston. I board my first flight at 6:45am. In Dulles, Virginia at 11:10am, I’ll board the plane that will take me out of the US ... to Argentina.

     Myself and 4 other high school juniors are part of a student exchange program. Shenandoah Valley Academy (SVA) in  New Market, Virginia had hosted 8 students from  Instituto Superior Adventista de Misiones, Argentina (ISAM) over the past few years. Now it’s time for ISAM to return the favor. 

     In January, we got a call from good friends of ours,  the Riveras, who work and live at SVA. Mr. Rivera, the school’s director of English Language Learners, had been asked to accompany the exchanges students. “Would any of the Motts be interesting in joining the group?” Uh, YEAH! After thinking, praying and planning, it was decided that I would take advantage of this incredible opportunity to learn and experience the South American language and culture.

     So here I am. 19 days away from leaving... and I’m crazy busy. (No surprise there!) I have to finish two college classes (Intermediate Algebra and Introductory Sociology), complete any co-op work needing to be done, and practice for and schedule my driving test for when I return. Delightful.

     My summer doesn’t stop there. After I return from Argentina on July 1st (Tuesday), I’ll have a day with my family, take my driving test (Thursday), then head up to Maine on Friday to work at Camp Lawroweld for the rest of the summer.