continued from previous post: Latin America and Al

Topic 2b: My Spanish professor found out that I was not accepted to Argentina. I had emailed her to ask for advice as to which country to visit and if she had heard of any good language immersion programs. She wrote back to say that she had a little chat with someone at the centre for International Programs (well, she didn't call it that but I hope that's what she meant) and I can go. I'm supposed to ask her tomorrow. WHAT? It doesn't work like that does it? And why me? There were 26 or so other people who were not accepted either. You know what is the weirdest part? I've gotten myself so worked up about the idea of another country, a cheaper program, a homestay family, I'm not sure if I want to go on a university exchange anymore. Sigh.

Topic 3: I have recently begun turning to another source for my news. I started regularly checking CBC website for news. Then I added BBC for a broader picture since it caters a bit better to world news than the CBC. Now my new pal is Al Jazeera. I must admit that when I heard that it was a popular and credible news site my first reaction (ok, i'm ashamed) was "I must have heard wrong. How can a credible global, news source come from the middle east??" So I rejected it right away based on my own biases. I decided to give it a chance this past week and I must say that it is not as extensive as BBC in terms of number of stories but it has to be the least biased news source I have encountered and has as wide or greater coverage in terms of countries and geographical areas covered as BBC. I recommend.

busy weekend

I pretty much threw the biggest, most funnest party of my party throwing life for our dear friend who will be hitched this summer. Problem? That's all the bragging I can do because the happenings have to remain top secret. Oh well. Just know it was a fantastic party!

Friday night I officially 'barhopped' for the first time. The flow was Cowboys, Doogies, the Ranch. Great times. Even if Cowboys was a little dead there was still line dancing lessons.

Here is the deal: I'm not going to Argentina. At least not through the school. i was accepted to the Monterrey campus of the Mexican ITESM university. Looking through the brochure the campus is amazing (10 soccer fields! what?). The perk is that the city is beautiful and it is a popular destination for international students so meeting people shouldn't be too difficult. However, it is expensive to do since i would be paying Guelph tuition (when I don't even need more classes to graduate and can't get a minor for the ones I take), and a few thousand dollars for living and food. Thats not counting insurance, fun times, flight, etc.

Here is what I'm thinking
Objective: learn spanish
-Monterrey is beautiful but I would likely be encouraged to take a class or two that would improve my spanish and then classes in English. Also, I could fall into the trap of only associating with other exchange students and just speaking a lot of English. I don't want that.
SO: I am now researching schools throughout latin america that offer straight Spanish. I would live with a host family (room and board!) and take 4-6 classes of spanish daily with 4 or 5 other students per class. All of this costing the same or less than the term in Mexico. Right now my top choices are Antigua, Guatemala and Quito, Ecuador. Ah, life is exciting, no?

Pathetic Fallacy

It's March 1st. This morning during my first class I received an email stating that i have been accepted on exchange to Mexico. You heard right. Not Argentina. Needless to say that I am thoroughly disappointed (crushed you might say). There are many factors that I can talk about in another post but basically I want South America and not Mexico. I'm not happy.

i have purchased the latest issue of Adbusters and some pop and I'm going to wallow for the rest of today before I decide what to make of this.

la he hecho

I have done it! Applied to spend the Fall semester in San Rafael, Argentina. The application is due January 26th and I had been putting it off for over a week because it required me to answer questions about previous travel experience (very little), how I would adapt to a new culture, etc. Well today i finally submitted it, played up my experience in Calgary (oh, poor me, we had to arrange our own phone, internet and find a job....i'm so independent).
The next part of the application involved a language proficiency test since the university in San rafael is all Spanish and I will be taking classes in spanish! I tried to prepare by speaking with friends, a girl on exchange from Mexico came over yesterday and helped me (try explaining Christian denominations in spanish!). So I go in prepared to do a full oral exam and barely had to speak a word of Spanish. I had the professor last year for Spanish and he just gave me good marks from what he knew and it was over in 10 minutes. Check! My Spanish in-proficiency will not keep me from travelling.

Now I wait until march 1st.