One not-so-lazy Sunday my friends and I decided to take a day trip to Uruguay because it’s a mere 76 km across Río de la Plata from Buenos Aires, and I received a new stamp in my passport that I otherwise would not have.
Colonia del Sacramento sits on the southwestern corner of Uruguay and receives the daily ferries from Buenos Aires. The small city, formally a Portuguese port, is charming in all its cobblestoned glory.
You know what I hate? Goodbyes.
It's true, I'll avoid them at all costs if I have to. I don't like the finality in them. So even though I knew going into this trip that I would eventually have to kiss my life in Cape Town goodbye, it most certainly was not going to be easy.
I already made one post about the things that I didn't expect to be different when I came to China, so as I wrap up my time here I thought it would be helpful to remind myself of some of the things that are the same. Studying abroad always allows opportunities for comparison and these comparisons are helpful in understanding both the Chinese culture I came here to learn about, as well as my own culture.
I sang The Lion King’s "Circle of Life" on a loop for 40 minutes in my head--
To distract myself from my inner thighs bruising and the unsteady sway of my body as I clung to Eli, my camel, for dear life. Because if I fall, I will not get up. But if I fall, I will fall in the Sahara . . . and that is not so bad.
The sand in the Sahara is like flour, soft and billowy, to fall into it would be like a caress . . . to be surrounded by it was a wonder.
Every college student knows the famous pick-two triangle: school, social life, and sleep. It basically means that no matter how hard you try, in trying to be successful in all three of these domains, one side of the triangle always falls.
According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—in other words, a legitimate source), this winter is going to be the strongest El Niño in 18 years. An El Niño year occurs when there is a change in air pressure and an increase in temperature in the tropical Pacific that results in drastic changes in weather patterns. This phenomenon happens at irregular intervals every 2-7 years.
So what did this mean for me? A very rainy spring.
Draped over the rising hillsides in central Tuscany, Volterra is a stone-clad town topped with gorgeous medieval towers, and littered with winding alleyways where swinging washing lines give way to blooming hanging baskets of rose flowers.
The moment you get off the Loreto station and walk up to Via Padova, you enter the world of secret Milan. Multiculturalism is evident everywhere: from the South American restaurants, Chinese supermarkets, to the many money transfer service shops in every corner.