I still feel like Uruguay is so far away but it's finally under a month until I will be in Montevideo so it's getting there!
I do not have anything new to report really. I just found a lot more websites and I found an amazing blog done by a southern California family who relocated to Montevideo. They talk about daily life in Uruguay among other things and I am finding them to be helpful.
I, also, found another blog by a student who studied abroad in Montevideo. I have not had the chance to read it yet or find out what school she attended (probably the Univeridad Católica), but I am excited to read her blog.
I found out the other day that there IS a Mcdonalds in Uruguay. (Yesssss!) I must locate it immediately and find the shortest route because I do not see myself liking Uruguayan food at all. I'm a picky eater and the usual cusine of beef and seafood does not sound appealing to me. Bleh! But Mcdonalds will be my lifesaver.
I still don't know what to do about adapters and converters because everyone has their own opinion about them., so I will probably wait until I get there to buy those things. Downside is that if I can't charge my laptop or phone then I can't contact my parents when I get there, but my parents are talking about getting me a pre-paid cell phone and I found out last night that my international student ID has one so I can purchase an international phone card online. I think....
Hayley, Kelsey, and I are still waiting to get an email from the University about arrival dates and housing. Really we're waiting to get info about everything. We just know we were signed up for a foreigner Spanish course and that it´s about $225 USD (US Dollars). Hayley, also, found a blog on housing on the UM website and it was not encouraging. It made it seem like housing would be a challenge. Our options are host family or finding a place of our own. With host families, apparently you ask for a trial? You try them out for a period of time then sign a contract with them and you have to stay throughout the whole contract. I just hope we can move out if we're not happy with the family. Then apartment searching in a foreign country in a different language sounds difficult! Not to mention it seems like a lot of money trying to pay for a hostel while we search and finding a place in the city. o.O
I'm not worried about anything, though. Give me a week more without direct contact from UM and that might change, but I am still excited as ever and researching more about Montevideo and Uruguay in general every day. I am probably over doing it, but this is my first time ever doing anything like this. I don't mind being caught off guard or surprised by anything, but I'd rather be surprised with "Hey, they have Walmart here!" than "US citizens have to pay how much to arrive by plane in Uruguay?!". Know what I mean?
I'm starting to see that my blogs will always be on the long side... but I want people to get a detailed experience along with me, so it's kind of inevitable. I'm thinking maybe two more blogs before I leave on February 25th and hopefully those will be full of way more information from UM and not me just looking up things online that may or may not be true.
Chau!
January 30, 2010
January 18, 2010
Uruguay... that's in Europe somewhere, right?
So, I realize a lot of people know I'm going to Uruguay, but have no idea where it is or what it's like. I'm going to use this post to briefly profile Uruguay from my study abroad material and things I've found online.
First off, Uruguay is NOT in Europe. Nor is it in Central America. It's located in southern South America with Argentina to its left and Brazil to the northeast. The rest is surrounded by water-- either the Rio de Plata or the Atlantic Ocean. I'll be in it´s capital, Montevideo, which is located on the southern coast along the Rio de Plata. The weather is fairly temperate and it´s seasons are reversed from those of North America. Temperatures in July average 52 degrees fahrenheit and 73 degrees in January (which are the peak months of winter and summer). It´s, also, free of natural disasters which my parents will love.
Population: 3.5 million people with a little over a million living in Montevideo (it´s capital).
Language: The official Language is Spanish with English and Portugese being common second languages. Near the border of Brazil a mix of Spanish and Portuguese is used.
Religion: Uruguay is one of the most secular countries in Latin America and there is no official religion. Roman Catholics do prevail, though, only less than half of this denomination attends church regularly. Church and state are strictly separated and religious freedom is guaranteed to all of it´s citizens.
General Attitudes: Uruguayans are very proud of their country and do not like to hear people praise other countries more than Uruguay. They have a motto "Nadie es más importante que nadie"(No one is more important than anyone else) and hate aggressiveness and arrogance. They tend to be pessimistic, opinionated, and individualistic. Punctuality is not a bad thing but it´s okay to be late. However, the more formal the event the more important it is to be on time.
Personal Appearance: Conservative well-tailored clothes. Subdued clothes are more common and makeup and jewelry are not usually worn. So, pretty much they wear jeans and a t-shirt which is standard for a lot of Latin America.
In other news, I finally bought my plane ticket! I will leave on February 25th at 1:50pm from Raleigh, NC. I'm really excited because I will be riding down with two other girls from UNCG going to UM and we'll have some fun connections in New York and Brazil before we reach Montevideo. We got our tickets for a little over $800 roundtrip so that is excellent considering we're leaving in the middle of day with two connections and going completely out of our way.
The coordinator at UM doesn't arrive in her office until January 25th, so we've gotten no packet of information on host families or classes since they've been on summer vacation. Unfortunately that means we bought our tickets without knowing a lot. Our plan is that if we arrive early we'll stay in a hostel for a few days and explore the city. We've already got one picked out and I'm sure we'll try to hit the beach before school starts.
Lastly, classes start tomorrow for UNCG. I'm pretty excited I get to relax for another month before I have to worry about classes even if I'll be in school in June while UNCG is out. Oh, well. But I'm super excited! I finally have a date I can tell people for Uruguay and it´s a little over a month away!
I've been into a lot of George Lopez things lately and really anything Spanish related, so here's a link to a funny video to end my post.
First off, Uruguay is NOT in Europe. Nor is it in Central America. It's located in southern South America with Argentina to its left and Brazil to the northeast. The rest is surrounded by water-- either the Rio de Plata or the Atlantic Ocean. I'll be in it´s capital, Montevideo, which is located on the southern coast along the Rio de Plata. The weather is fairly temperate and it´s seasons are reversed from those of North America. Temperatures in July average 52 degrees fahrenheit and 73 degrees in January (which are the peak months of winter and summer). It´s, also, free of natural disasters which my parents will love.
Population: 3.5 million people with a little over a million living in Montevideo (it´s capital).
Language: The official Language is Spanish with English and Portugese being common second languages. Near the border of Brazil a mix of Spanish and Portuguese is used.
Religion: Uruguay is one of the most secular countries in Latin America and there is no official religion. Roman Catholics do prevail, though, only less than half of this denomination attends church regularly. Church and state are strictly separated and religious freedom is guaranteed to all of it´s citizens.
General Attitudes: Uruguayans are very proud of their country and do not like to hear people praise other countries more than Uruguay. They have a motto "Nadie es más importante que nadie"(No one is more important than anyone else) and hate aggressiveness and arrogance. They tend to be pessimistic, opinionated, and individualistic. Punctuality is not a bad thing but it´s okay to be late. However, the more formal the event the more important it is to be on time.
Personal Appearance: Conservative well-tailored clothes. Subdued clothes are more common and makeup and jewelry are not usually worn. So, pretty much they wear jeans and a t-shirt which is standard for a lot of Latin America.
In other news, I finally bought my plane ticket! I will leave on February 25th at 1:50pm from Raleigh, NC. I'm really excited because I will be riding down with two other girls from UNCG going to UM and we'll have some fun connections in New York and Brazil before we reach Montevideo. We got our tickets for a little over $800 roundtrip so that is excellent considering we're leaving in the middle of day with two connections and going completely out of our way.
The coordinator at UM doesn't arrive in her office until January 25th, so we've gotten no packet of information on host families or classes since they've been on summer vacation. Unfortunately that means we bought our tickets without knowing a lot. Our plan is that if we arrive early we'll stay in a hostel for a few days and explore the city. We've already got one picked out and I'm sure we'll try to hit the beach before school starts.
Lastly, classes start tomorrow for UNCG. I'm pretty excited I get to relax for another month before I have to worry about classes even if I'll be in school in June while UNCG is out. Oh, well. But I'm super excited! I finally have a date I can tell people for Uruguay and it´s a little over a month away!
I've been into a lot of George Lopez things lately and really anything Spanish related, so here's a link to a funny video to end my post.
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