October is already over!? Time to reflect.

     I have one month left until my last final here. Twenty days until my boyfriend is here to visit me, and a month until my parents are here to travel Patagonia with me. I can't wait to show them everything I've seen in Mendoza, show them how much my Spanish has improved, and travel a little nicer than how the typical college student travels (house on the lake in Bariloche instead of dirty hostel!?) I'm a little homesick, I miss my norms, and I've gained a lot of appreciation for where I live in the U.S.
    My finals aren't going to be too hard. One is a presentation, a couple are oral interview type, and another is an essay. I'm terrified for when I go back to DU and start the accounting core for my major. I've barely been in school here. I've never been the type to skip class, take the easy way out of assignments, or procrastinate, but it's been really easy to do fine in class without putting in too much effort. And I only need a 6 out of 10 to pass. The fact is that the kind of work I've had to do for classes here is read and summarize. This kind of busy work is what we did sophomore year of high school. I hope I still know how to study when I get back. I register this week for classes next quarter, which means it's almost time to go home and go back to reality. However, in a way, this change in attitude toward school has been good for me. I think I prioritize school too much. I've been a straight A student since elementary school, and I know that this will be very hard to maintain in the accounting core. You aren't expected to get As in the core. This is preparing me to receive my first B. In ethics boot camp at DU, Professor Ciocchetti gives a speech about prioritizing your life, and work or school should never be in the top 4; rather the top priorities should be filled with family, friends and your passions. Ciocchetti would be so proud of me right now. School is probably number 10 on my list right now. I'm going to pass, but there are just so many more important things here, right now than reading and summarizing.
    Being the foreign exchange student here has made me feel super guilty for how I have viewed foreign exchange students at DU. Probably 20% of DU is foreign students from China, and a lot of them are cliquey, and I haven't tried to make any friends with them. I've found it a pain to work with people in classes who don't speak English as well, because I was solely thinking about my grades. But now I'm in that exact position as the weird foreigner who cliques with the other foreigners, sits with the rest of the US kids, speaks English with the other exchange students, and am the one nobody wants in their group for class because I can't do as quality work. I will never again take for granted how hard it is to switch cultures and be the foreign exchange student, and the intercambios at DU deserve so much more credit from students at DU.  DU prides itself in their inclusiveness, but I don't think you can really understand the meaning of this until after studying abroad in a country with a different culture, different language, different customs.
 
    My host family here doesn't eat the best quality food, and I was starting to feel the effects of this on my health and how I felt throughout the day. Sometimes I eat lunch then immediately want to sleep because the quality of the food makes me tired. The empty white carbs I eat almost every day could be a cause of why siestas exist. But I've been trying to change my habits during the day to stay healthier, including buying a gym pass and buying healthier snacks rather than eating crackers at my house for snacks. The Argentinians just don't really snack, so my options for food in between lunch and my 10 pm dinner is crackers and tea. Even if it means I'm spending a little extra money, I've felt a lot better in the past month about my decisions. 
     I was reaching a point after a few months where Mendoza was starting to feel monotonous. My host family has a daily routine which involves a lot of sleeping when they aren't watching tv, and it's been hard for me to adjust to having a family that's not on the go all the time and ready for the next activity at any moment like my friends and family at home. My host family is quiet, and not much goes on in the house. Meals are short and outings infrequent. This, in addition to not having much to do in the house except Facebook, can be a bit depressive. The solution to this has been to get out of the house as much as possible. I try to find things to do in the centro after class, study in coffee shops, skype with friends from home. I fill almost every day in the weekends with day trips and hikes and meeting up with friends. It's a shame I haven't been able to connect with my host family like I had hoped, but there isn't much in common. I've tried to stay more occupied lately, and it's improved my attitude.
  
    My goal for October was to meet more local people, and make more Argentinian friends.  It's been hard to make friends here because of the language barrier and cultural differences; the women seem more closed off, and the men are more interested in dating. But I'd say in the last couple weeks I've done better at accomplishing my goal, by meeting people through some of my friends in the program who have host siblings that like to go out and introduce us to others. It's nice to have parties and houses to go to rather than always going to the bars. The other hard part is that we leave in a month, so any friendships I make now only have a month to progress. Living here, I've experienced a balance between feeling part of the culture and seeing the naturaleza in South America. I've been traveling all over Argentina, experiencing the Andes and the everything to see here, while absorbing a lot of the culture along the way, but traveling so much still makes me feel somewhat like a tourist rather than a mendocino, and although I call Mendoza my home now, it still feels temporary. It's a trade off, choosing to travel or immerse myself completely into the city. It's two different ways of experiencing Argentina and progressing my Spanish, and although I've seen amazing views, I wish I could say I've made lifelong Argentinian friendships, because I really haven't. The people in my program are amazing, and we are already talking about reunions, but I can't say that I have connected strongly with the people of Mendoza. This is probably the one major flaw in my experience abroad. `
    When I go back to school next quarter, I wont be in a Spanish class, so in my last month here before traveling with family, I need to speak as much Spanish as possible. My goal for when I go back to school is to still practice using Spanish outside of classes. My Argentina bucket list hasn't been completed yet. I still have so many things to do and see, and one month left to do it.