First and foremost, I just want to say that I am so proud of the Uruguayan soccer team in this year's World Cup. I don't think anyone in the country really expected us to get farther than the first round and it was awesome to be there and watch the patriotism grow exponentially with each win. Volveremos a ser campeones, Uruguay!
My birthday was July 6. I bring it up because I wrote about it in my letters for study abroad about how I wanted to experience a real birthday in Spanish. Actually, my birthday was celebrated more the Friday before we a fiestita, or little party, at our apartment then I treated myself to Mcdonald's and the movie Eclipse on my actual birthday as I had an exam that day then the Uruguay game immediately after. It was drawn out a little as I got on a plane two days later on my way to the States and people who looked at my ID would say happy belated birthday to me.
Speaking of being in the States-- it's true! I'm pretty sure I said I wasn't going to return before December but things happened to fall into place at just the right time and I was able to buy a flight around 3 in the afternoon and fly out 12 hours later. Don't ever do that in July. Ugh. It gave me such a headache trying to find a not outrageously priced flight the day of. I have learned from this experience that if you buy a round-trip ticket just stick to it and buy your ticket at least 4 weeks beforehand. Otherwise you will give yourself a headache trying to remember all the jingles from commericials such as Expedia and Hotwire so you can find the cheapest flight possible.
But I'm glad I decided to come back for three weeks. I've been here for a week and have already managed to visit Walmart numerous times, two malls, and ride my bike a few times. I'm living the life. My only regret is that I won't be there when the majority of the new international students arrive but I will barely be there for orientation so I can't feel too bad. I'm just soaking up the sun while I can and trying to absorb almost 5 months of American culture via TV, internet, and friends while I can.
Bringin' it back to Uruguay: I found a blog post about customer service (servicio al cliente) in Uruguay. I only skimmed it, but I agreed with a lot of what it said.
