PROMOCIÓN DIRECTA Y HELADO!

(Direct Promotion and Ice Cream!)

Today was perhaps my busiest day this semester.  This morning I went to the eye doctor. Everything was good. After that, I started to seriously study for my History test. I drilled the questions into my cerebellum as much as I could, but I also had to work on a group presentation.  I went to UBP early today to work on it and to study with some classmates.

Finally, it was time.

When it comes to presentations, I like to go first because once my presentation is out of the way, I can enjoy the rest. But today, our group had to go 3rd.  I had angst. However, we did a pretty good job. From there I had to go directly to take the History test. Moment of truth...

It was really easy! Why was I so worried??? I finished in about 7 minutes, and when the professor gave me the answer key, I found out that I did not miss a single question!!!! I GOT A 10!!! With my two test scores being 10 and my 95% attendance, I officially have Direct Promotion for History and therefore am exempt of the final.

Franklin came out a little later.  He got a 9. Pretty good Franklin!  We waited for Elsa and when she came out she got a 9 too! We were all pretty happy. So Elsa asked if we wanted to go get ice cream at Caseratto. Sure!!!  When we arrived, Mimi, Beatriz and Catherine were there. We said hello and ordered our ice cream. It was delicious!!! A very good way to end this busy day. Now I want to relax. But...

I have a Literature exam tomorrow...

INTERNATIONAL FAIR AND MERIENDA WITH CARO!!!!!!!

It's the International Fair!!! I've been looking forward to this day for months! Today I went to UBP early to add some finishing touches to my stand. I wore my Samford polo and HCAS nametag to look official.  I think I looked pretty good! When I arrived I finished my stand and the fair began. UBP Students and people from Córdoba came for information on studying/researching/working abroad. Since I was representing a university, mainly students came by my stand.  I told them about Samford's location, it's schools, our exchange program, the culture, and I would answer their questions too.  I also made a sheet for them to leave their contact information if they wanted more information (I learned that from many a Preview Day with Dr. Ledgerwood!). I enjoyed myself.  As an Ambassador, I really enjoy talking about my school, and the whole fair was really fun.  When I wasn't busy at my stand, I went to visit my friends in "other countries." I visited Japan, where Yui and Kanna were making origami at their Kansai Gaidai University stand;  I visited Elsa, Hiem, Lulu, Audrey and Valentin in France...they had cake! I visited Paola and Edgar in Mexico, and Yassi in Austria.  The Quebec group had delicious food from Quebec at their stand.  Everybody was representing where they were from.

As the fair continued, there were other things happening.  Popcorn for sale. Talks about study abroad and postgrad research, Traditional Mexican Dance. We had fun. Then it was lunchtime.  All of us participating in the fair got a free lunch (Thanks CRI!). After lunch, we went back to our stands.  In the afternoon, things slowed down a lot, and everyone wanted to take a nap.  However, I quickly woke up when I saw Carolina show up in her Samford shirt!  She came to check out the stands for post graduate opportunities and to help me out a little bit too. 

 To finish the fair, the Canadians played music and sang for us.  Very chill. Very relaxing. There were also raffle competitions, but I never win. At the end, there was traditional Japanese dancing.

After the fair, Caro and I went to complete our new tradition: every time we see each other, we have to have a merienda together! So we went to Caseratto and had coffee with cake. We also began to plan a weekend for me to go to her hometown of Villa María to visit. I can't wait!

Merienda with Carolina!

*Note: Merienda is an afternoon snack, between lunch and dinner.

After class, Elsa asked if I was coming, and I said not today. I waited on Carolina to get out of the HR event.  She and her friend from middle school, Bruno came out and we left together. We rode the bus for about an hour to get downtown, and the fact that Av General Paz was closed because of a protest made it even longer! But we didn't mind.  Caro and I were catching up and talking about our lives and future plans. Bruno is pretty cool, although a little reckless. Whenever the light was red, he would cross anyway while we waited for it to change.

Anyway, we went to a pastry shop called Lapana.  I met another one of Caro's friends from middle school- Emi. Emi had actually gone to the US to visit Caro for a week last semester, but we never met. She's nice. Bruno had gone to talk to a friend he recognized across the street.  We ordered and chatted.  Apparently Caro wants to go back to the US for a while. We had a lot of fun.

Merienda is just a "snack!"

Bruno joined us later and when we finished, he had to leave. So Caro, Emi and I went across the street to Paseo del Buen Pastor (Remember I wanted to visit here?) We sat on the steps to keep hanging out and chatting.  Carolina kept asking me all of the questions she was asked in the US: "How do you like it here? What's your favorite thing about Córdoba? What struck you as different here? Have you visited ____ yet? All of these and more! We were sitting in front of a statue of Rodrigo, an iconic Cordoban singer who tragically died in a car accident.  One of his best known songs was called "Soy Cordobés" (I'm Cordoban). We took a picture.

Took a picture with Rodrigo. Soy Cordobés!

After a while, we were planning on other activities when it started raining.  So we walked to the bus stop and waited for the bus to show.  When it did, I said goodbye and went home. I really enjoyed today.

REUNION!!!!!!!

Monday, August 4

Last fall, a student from Universidad Blas Pascal came to Samford as part of our new foreign exchange program.  Her name was Carolina.  Caro cast a spell on everyone she met. Everyone loved her.  Her first semester here, she and I were Spanish lab assistants in the same hour, so we got to work together and become friends. She enjoyed talking about her home in Argentina and about how life is different up here. She loved her experience abroad that she stayed another semester.  At around that time, I was starting to think about doing the exchange and going down to Argentina.  Caro encouraged me to, and started telling me more about the culture of Argentina. She finally had to go back at the end of the second semester, but at that point I had decided to come to Argentina, so we agreed to meet again. Sure enough I eventually made it down here, and sure enough, she messaged me on Facebook and said, I'm nearby! Let's meet!

So I gave her the address so that she could find me, a little later I walked out of the house and there she was! It was so good to see her again! We hugged and got in the car. She drove us up Rafael Nuñez (a very important street) and we found a nice patisserie called Delicity. There we enjoyed a smoothie and a pastry called alfahores de maicena. We caught up and had a good time talking. Afterwards, she took me home again, we agreed to hang out again sometime, and she left. It was fun.