Welcome to my first post about my time studying abroad here in Montevideo, Uruguay! I have been here for 15 days now and have already fallen in love with this country. The people here are so welcoming and helpful. They don't laugh at me when I speak my broken Spanish, but they help me through it and work with me until we can understand each other. My host parents and university have been amazing as well as the community that I have with the other USAC students. In such a short amount of time I know that I have already made some lifelong friends. Every day I feel more comfortable and grateful for this opportunity.
The first day was a rough one. After waking up early and driving from Bellingham to Seattle, my flight was delayed for an hour, giving me only 15 minutes to make my connecting flight in Miami to Montevideo. Luckily we were able to make up a little bit of that time in the air, but once we landed in Miami I had to sprint to my flight and barely made it. Once I finally sat down on the plane to Montevideo it hit me, I was really going to study abroad. It was happening!
After 21 hours of travel, we had finally arrived and I was so excited! I finally got to meet Madelyn, my roommate, and we quickly figured out that we had so much in common. Our USAC program directors met us at the airport and then drove us to our houses. My host parents were so sweet and greeted us with a kiss on the cheek when we got there. They have been so understanding and patient with Madelyn and me.
My first week of classes were great! This semester I am taking Spanish Composition, Spanish Conversation, Latin American Women's Voices, a dance class and a viticulture field study. It seems like a lot, but my composition class is the only one that meets more than once a week! Most days I only have about two hours of class and the rest of the time I've been exploring and walking around the city.
Here are some photo highlights from the first two weeks:
