Coming soon! I promise!

Hey all,

I arrived in Argentina 151 days ago, and now I have less than 48 hours left before I head to the airport. Crazy!

So the blog is coming to an end...but not quite yet! I still plan to post my final reflections, a post about my family's visit, how I've been spending these last couple of weeks, and my personal guide to the city :) Most of that won't be up until I'm home, so stay tuned!! The blog's not over until I say it's over!! Which will be sometime before 2011...I think.

Anyway, thank you all so much for reading, and I apologize for the lack of updates lately. I've just been living the life, cramming in some final cultural experiences/Christmas shopping, and lazing in the heat.

I'll be writing to you soon!

Love,

Isabella

Acción de Gracias en Uruguay

Another November thing I skipped writing about - Thanksgiving! I felt very thankful for many things that day, one being my study abroad program, IfSA. Not only did they provide us with an amazing Thanksgiving dinner, they made a whole vacation out of it! We spent three days and two nights in beautiful Colonia, Uruguay, where we got to relax, explore, go to the beach, etc. Yes, Thanksgiving on the beach. Incredible. I didn't take many photos, but here are a few:

Approaching our program director's house, which is also a B&B and a lemon plantation (!!!):

The beautiful house, where we did not actually stay:

The delicious spread:

My plate:

Somewhat odd, yet definitely delicious, pumpkin pie for dessert:

Exploring the town:

Uruguayan flora:

It was a really lovely holiday. As always, it was nice to get away from the city for a bit, but nice to return as well.

My family, meanwhile, was chillin' in Bs As, feeling thankful that they did not have to cook a turkey this year, and I thankfully returned to them on Saturday night for another week of Batts family adventures. All of which I will write about. Eventually. Stay tuned!

21 añitos

I turned twenty-one down here! Since I've been able to legally purchase alcohol since I got here, it was a somewhat anti-climactic experience compared to what it might have been in the States, but a birthday nonetheless. And this was my first time turning years (is that okay to say? cumplir años? I just don't know anymore) during summer, which was quite lovely!

So instead of "having a party," I celebrated in smaller ways, and did other cool non-birthday-related things that I decided would count as part of my birthday anyway.

1) The fantastic Patagonian adventure overlapped a tiny bit with my birthday, so I count it as part of the birthday package. The weather we got while down there was the universe's birthday gift to me.

2) Monday: My host-mom and host-sis took me out for a great birthday dinner!

They created this beautiful cake-display for me:

...and they took a bunch of pictures, some of which came out re-copadas:

...and some of which just look like me being, well, myself:

3) Tuesday: Jamie and I had an adorable lunch at La Salamandra before she took off for Chile, and I insisted that it was very much part of my birthday and made us take food pictures.

4) Wednesday: I invited my yanquis out to teatime at Tea Connection. It was Robyn's idea for each person to take a turn telling their favorite story about me. Zoé of course chose some winners, including the one about the time I got "trapped" in the bathroom.

My guests:

I'm gonna miss these folks!

More cake and wishes for me:

5) Friday: Hot Festival, a pop music festival, was going on, so while my family was in a plane on their way, I was seeing Girl-Talk, Scissor Sisters, Mika, and Phoenix perform! I liked Mika by far the best, and his Spanish was great, which I know the audience appreciated. Seeing so many concerts one after the other was pretty exhausting, but it was definitely a fun time.

Chillin' in the heat at Hot Festival:

Mika:

7) Saturday: To conclude my birthday week, my family showed up! More about their visit soon :) I am actually still receiving cards from my mom in the mail – she sent twenty-one of them before coming here. Sneaky.

Well, there you have it. A birthday abroad well spent, if I do say so myself. I realize there was actually zero alcohol involved, which may disappoint some U.S. readers, but cake is way yummier in my book.

Now before I drop dead of self-centeredness, I shall close this post and move on to the next one!

Besos,

21-year-old Isa

Here I am!!

Well hello readers!!

Sorry I've been so incredibly m.i.a. lately. As several people (well, one person, whose voice surely speaks to the desires of many) recently pointed out, I got a little lazy in November. 3 posts? Pathetic!! I've got just shy of two weeks to make up for that and then it's blognomore. BuenosAiresnomore. Let's not even talk about it.

So here come a few little blogposts about what I've been up to lately. One right after the other. Ready?