no puedo entender español a 50mph!

we landed in buenos aires this morning!

there were a lot of us on my flight from dallas to ba (me, beth, alex, andrea, brynne, hillary, and abby), and after making it through customs we were greeted by claudia and roberto, our professors. then we went to an apartment where our families picked us up!

i was greeted by my host mom, marcela, and she took me to their apartment--it's in barrio norte on the seventh floor of a very beautiful apartment building. i say on the seventh flor...i should say it IS the seventh floor.

i wandered around a little on my own today--we get our phones tomorrow, so we had no way of getting in touch with each other. everyone is very friendly, but they all speak very, very, very, very quickly, so i couldn't understand a lot of what was happening today. i hope that will change...

it's 10:40 now, i'm going to eat some sushi with my host sister and her friends and then probably go to bed to recover from last night while they go out. dinner is eaten around 10 or 11, and going out starts, at the earliest, at 2; it ends at 7. i don't think i can function tomorrow on 2 hours of sleep, so i will be skipping tonight, thank you very much.

loves!

so many errands, so little time

i leave on FRIDAY.

holey moley, this snuck up on me.
please email me your address so i can send you a postcard!
ellenvirginia@gmail.com

in the meantime, i'll be running to target, grandma's house, radio shack, the sprint store, reruns, last dinners/lunches/coffees, costco...

a whirlwind, or, a tumbleweed

deepest apologies for the lack of updates, but i have been quite busy readying myself for my holiday(s). first off, i shall relate my cross country road trip to bring my beloved car, gertrude, back to kansas.

my friend richard and i drove back together. this makes sense becuase 1. he is from kansas city (bv north) and 2. likes roadtrips. we took along his pinata and named it tumbleweed becuase in the middle of arizona, richard saw his first tumbleweed.

these are my roomates, chasing us and waving goodbye.

we stopped the first night in kingman, arizona, right after the ca/az border. the next morning, we at breakfast with 6 guys from the netherlands riding their harleys along route 66. on day two, we drove across arizona and new mexico, stopping at a meteor crater. they entrapped tourists with tantalizing signs such as this:

obviously, we stopped. we arrived that night in albequequre (i still can't spell it) to stay with our friend tyler. we at delicious tamales at the frontier, a unm legendary diner.

the next day we drove for 13, count 'em, 13 hours to come home to KC. highlights include:

i was very glad to be home.

until!

i discovered that my friend beth did not have the receipt necessary to pick up my visa at the brazilian consulate in los angeles becuase i had never given it to her becuase i had LOST IT. i had never, ever, lost anything this important before.

plan number 1: fly to LA two days before we were supposed to leave for BAires, get my visa, then fly straight to dallas and then to BA.

why plan number 1 failed: ticket prices were EXPENSIVE, in the $500 range. so i looked to use my southwest free flight, but i couldnt use them for the dates i wanted. the dates i could use them for: the very next day at 7:30 am. there were also multiple flights available wednesday and thursday to come home. so, at 10:30 pm i booked my flight and told mom she had to take me to KCI at 5:50am.

i arrived in LA at 9:00, and my good friend sarah picked me up. she was kind enough to let me borrow her car. long story short, i drove to the brazilian consulate, aruged with the security gaurd for a little while, and left with my visa in hand 3 hours later. i treated myself with a honey vanilla latte from urth caffe, and returned to sarah's apartment, where i booked a flight for 7:05 that night. i got back to KC at 12:20 that night, where mom picked me up a mere 20 hours later.

this is how fast i move.

countdown to argentina holiday: 6 days!

san diego

emily and i were kidnapped by carly and maddy to san diego. we left on saturday afternoon, checked in to our hotel, and spent the evening wandering around downtown san diego.

downtown san diego is a perfect example of what downtown renovation should be: there are condos and houses right around the corner from restaurants, coffeeshops, and grocery stores, and it's all connected by public transportation. the original architecure is still present and still beautiful, and the new buildings fit in perfectly.

and, we found a whale mural.

sunday we went to the zoo!












i love the zoo!

a mystery holiday

I have been informed that this weekend I will be kidnapped and will embark on a mystery holiday--my big sis Carly and her friend Maddy have decided to kidnap my friend Emily and I.

Pictures and details when we return!