Another weekend…another adventure… Thursday after class, four of us decided we would try to find something to eat. I haven’t spent much time in El Centro yet, so I was excited to go downtown and eat at a true Venezuelan restaurant. Two of the girls I went with had asked one of their professors for suggestions on where to eat, and she told us a name of a great Italian restaurant in an area we were all pretty familiar with. So after class, we took the bus to El Centro and started on our search for the restaurant. After walking for [View Full Entry]

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Nothing too crazy has happened here during the week, but while there's kind of a lull, I thought I’d share a bit more than just what I do on the weekends. Of course the weekends are the exciting times, but the weekdays have their perks and quirks too. I’ll try to share different aspects of the culture and my life here when I get a chance. Starting with food: the most important part of every day! The most common meal in Mérida consists of arepas and ‘squeaky cheese’ (as some students at Venusa have named it). Arepas are small pancake-like sandwiches [View Full Entry]

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Following a night of sleeping in hammocks, we all woke up at 6:30, stuffed ourselves with amazing food, and headed out on another safari. We rode in the jeeps for about fifteen minutes until we reached the river. We hopped into a huge canoe, and our guide began to paddle away. Once it was deep enough, one of the local boys started the motor- but we still had to maintain our balance so as not to fall into the piranha-filled water. The ride was amazing- we saw howler monkeys, iguanas, caiman, birds, piranhas, turtles, poisonous snakes, pink freshwater dolphins, and capybara [View Full Entry]

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It’s Week Three already! Time has gone so fast here! So far, I’ve had two great weekends, six days of classes, and two exams. I still (or only?) have three weekends, fourteen days of classes, eight exams, and three papers. Eight exams and three classes seem like a lot, but I know it’s going to go by too quickly. Last week mainly involved a lot of class and a lot of studying. My first two exams went as good as I could hope- I got an A on one, and I’ll get the other back today. They both involved a lot [View Full Entry]

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So I set up this blog, thinking that I would use it to post my pictures so everyone at home could see them. I figured it would be a good way to stay connected to everyone at home, and have them enjoy the same things I’m enjoying. I figured I would write every day, or at least every other. But today is the first day I’ve actually had time to sit down and write! But that’s a good sign- it means I’m busy! I’ll start at the beginning, but I know that know matter how hard I try, no one else [View Full Entry]

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Hey- I'm just trying this out. I'm supposed to be studying for my Spanish final tomorrow, but this is the best form of procrastination I can find. I'm so excited to go. I don't really know what to expect, which makes it even better. I know I'm going to have an amazing time- I can't wait to speak Spanish, meet all of the people, see the land, ride the cable car, ride a freezing cold bus...everything just seems so different there, but in the best way possible. But that's it for now. I just wanted to see how this works. Love! [View Full Entry]

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