Hola! Here's a quick update :D

          I have been living here for two months now and it's kind of hard to believe. It feels like I just got here yesterday, but it also feels like I live here now... I feel fully settled in my new environment :) The change of meal times, school tell 1pm, 6-7 hours of sleep every night, swimming for 2 hours strait, taking the city bus, and going out with friends on the weekends until 5 or 6am, all of this feels normal and most importantly i'm not so tired anymore. Salta is one os the most tourist filled cities in Argentina besides Buenos Aires. I proved how well acquainted I am with Salta when I was able to answer their questions in Spanish. One of the things I really enjoy (and I didn't think I would at first), is taking the bus and walking everywhere. I feel very independent and grown up as I take the bus to and from swim practice, home from school, or to a friends house. One of the many reasons why I love Satla is because you can go anywhere walking or on the bus, and I find something about that to be highly rewarding.

          So... my Spanish is A LOT better. I understand pretty much everything, and I have even started to understand the actual Spanish, by that I mean, I don't have to translate what they're saying into English, I just think about it in Spanish. This is happening more and more which is definitely a good sign :) I even understand stuff in school now and can actually do most of my classwork.. YAY! And if I can't do the work, I've found a way to write it in English and then translate is verbally to my teacher. It's a lot easier to speak then it is to write so I do that when it's a really big assignment or when it needs to get done fast. Won't be like that for long so I'm trying to enjoy it. My grammar has greatly improved and gets better everyday ( the hardest thing about Spanish = Verbs). My host father says I need two more months and I will be speaking close to perfect Spanish. I can't wait! My brain still can't comprehend that I will be fluent in Spanish by the end of the experience. I'm not sure why I can't believe it, but all I know is it better work! :D

          I'm really exited to spend holidays here. I think it is SOOOO cool that I get to experience a different Christmas, New Years, or Easter tradition and I also can't wait for that. HAHA I'm exited for a lot of things! The other day I got to chat with my bestie Becca. She is spending the year in France on AFS. Her Blog! I can't even explain how great it is to have your best friend with you every step of the way sharing a similar experience.  I love talking to someone who knows exactly how I'm feeling cause she's going through a similar thing. I am very lucky to have her during this experience and especially when we get back in a year. We both agree being abroad only makes you more exited and anxious for your future. A lot of things will have changes once we get back, I mean we will be seniors for crying out loud, and thats what makes it so fun and interesting. We will be able to speak a different language! Yea! I can't think about it... I just get to exited. HAHA (Mom and Dad no worries, you are not forgotten! You are my other shoulders to lean on for support. Thankfully you have been through this to so you know what its like and you know just how to support me! :)

          So.... two months down and nine to go and I am going to cherish every moment because time really does go by fast. I love how this experience challenges me, how much I am learning, the people I am meeting, and the bond I am building with my new family that gets stronger and stronger every day. I feel I have grown a lot in these past two months and I can't imagine what it will be like after a YEAR. Nine months left, I sure I can handle that :D Chau for now!

Ah :) Just another day in Argentina paradise!

(Drinking Mate, Andes Mountains in the background)

Livin' the life? Why yes.. yes I sure am!

          

Another Great Weekend! :D

            4 day weekend!!! This past week I was preparing for my first swimming competition in Argentina. My club, Gimnasia y Tiro, is one of the best swim club around. We competed against Chile, Tukuman, Satiago, and many other provinces in Northern Argentina. I actually found out that some of the competitions are on TV... no pressure. Very exited that I also will get to travel with my team :D Friday I competed in the 100 FREE. The meet was supposed to start at 5:30, but Welcome to Latin America, it didn't start until 6:30. Which means, I warmed up at 6... and my first event wasn't until 8:30. Its hard to stay awake and ready to race after waiting that long... definitely will take some getting use to and a lot more training. 4th place, not bad for my first event :) I was supposed to swim in one more event that night, but the power went out! Saturday I competed in the 50 Breast and 50 free. Here's the thing, I will literally rather swim ANYTHING other then breast stroke. But, here they run things a little differently, everyone has to swim everything. Which means, breast stroke. No surprise that I was second to last in this event. After that, I got to swim the 50 free :) YAY! It was a really close race, still not sure how I did. All I know is I finished in 34 seconds... not bad at all :) (BTW, the length of the pool is a little longer... took me awhile to figure out that I was actually swimming more than I'm use to, at first I thought it was just me, one of Lydia's "blonde moments" as my friends would say) Overall great first competition. I can't wait for more to come!

50 FREE STYLE - 34 seconds

My new swimming buddies! :D <3

            Saturday, after my swim meet, I went home to pack my clothes. My family and I visited Santiago, a neighboring province, an approximate 5 hour car ride. The drive wasn't so bad, but what I'm not use to is a very small car, and five people... =very cozy :) I loved being able to talk more with my family... sometimes all you need is a road trip to spark a good conversation. My host mom is from Santiago. Santiago is very very hot! hot! hot! hot! But very beautiful. We stayed with my host moms sister... which makes her like my aunt. It gets hard to figure out who's who when there are SO many family members. Suz's house is amazing :) On top of the pool and beautiful house, she has a beautiful Golden Retriever who just had 7 puppies!! One of them she decided to keep! The cutest little thing ever! :D

Sol! :) Yes it is Spring, but feels like summer.

SO CUTE!!!

 AWWW!! The puppy is hungry :)

               Sunday we went to my mom's nephew's, my cousin's farm house to eat an Asado. I have learned that Asado is more then just grilled meat, it means so much more. It means family, friends, laughter, conversation, and love. People always ask me if I like Asado and I say, what' not to love!? It's flippin' delicious! For the first time in my life, I can actually say I LOVE meat! 

My cousin, he owns the farm and plays polo!! Which I find to be very cool :D

 YUM!

               In Argentina, especially Southern Argentina, they sing a lot of Folk Glory. It is a more modern version of they're native music and apparently the lyrics have a deep meaning... which I wouldn't really know because one of the hardest things to understand is music, that and jokes (Which I try really really hard to understand, but I'm usually the only one not laughing with a very confused type of face... patience, I will understand eventually, I hope!). All I know is the music is beautiful :D Along with Folk Glory is the Native dance, both can be different where ever you go in Argentina. Sadly videos take a long time to load, so this is the only one, but its adorable! :)

The cutest little boy in the world!

               As you can see, it was just a great time :) Some of my favorite things to do is to spend time with family, learn about culture, and listen to music, therefore I had a really great time. After listening to some music, all of the kids played football (soccer). My cousin has a small football field on the property. It was lots of fun, but I was definitely sore the next day. Once it got dark I got to learn a new card game. Luckily I'm a quick study and was beating them by the end of it :) Go Lydia!!! HAHA

A beautiful house!

 And a beautiful night :)

               Great weekend!!! And more to come!!! I really love everything about Argentina. The more I get to know about the history or understand the language and culture, I just get more and more fascinated and I guess you can say I am falling in love. I have been here for almost 2 months now... which seams crazy! I have 9 more months here and I can already tell time is going to go by very fast. There are definitely some things I miss about home, but the second I even think about being sad, its easy to remind myself of how lucky I am to be here and what an amazing experience this is. I truly believe that by studying abroad for a year, I am learning 10 times more then I would be home or at school. (PS, now that I am understanding more Spanish, I actually have to start doing more work in school, I new it had to come eventually, break time over, time to work!)

PS: If you've been wondering why I refer to my family here like my real family, it's because they really are family. One of the greatest aspects of AFS is that you build a bond with another family. They have opened their house and their arms to me, and wanted to take care of me for a whole year. So yes, they are my new family and I love them more and more every day! :) Plus it makes it a lot easier to say my cousin, or my mom's nephew, instead of saying my host mom's nephew... 

My Routine

            I have been living in Salta, Argentina for 6 weeks. I love everything about it! I can really tell that I have really started the AFS experience. Which means, the ups and downs, whip lash, bipolarness that comes with everything. But I was prepared... it is getting better. I have starting somewhat of a routine and thought I'd share with you what I do in a regular week :)

Monday- I get up for school at 7am and get to school around 8am. School gets out at 1pm and I go back to my house to eat lunch. It depends, but we normally have lunch with the whole family. Then I leave the house at 3pm, usually take the bus (YES and actual city bus, its very easy), and go to swim practice. We swim from 3:30-5:30. 2 whole hours! It feels great! :D We swim about 3-4 miles per practice... I have never swam this much ever. At 6, I take the bus home, and relax!!! Normally try to sleep a bit if I can. My parents get home from work at 9:20ish, and we usually eat dinner at 10pm.. which is early.

Tuesday- 7am, school. At 1pm, I stay at school and eat lunch with friends because at 2:30 I have "gym". "Gym" is nothing like gym in the States. They don't normally start doing anything until 15 min. after it was supposed to start haha It's on Latin American time. Right now during gym class, we are working on a dance. In late Oct., on family day (another holiday), some of the girls are going to perform a dance. I love it! :) It's mostly Reggaeton, but were also dancing to the pussycat dolls "when I grow up". Its going to be amazing and I am VERy exited! Don't worry, I will put up a video of the performance on my blog. After gym at 3:30pm, I go home on the bus. Starting this week I will hopefully be starting a dance class... which will start around 7pm. I have always loved to dance, but dance classes at home are expensive, and here not so much. I'm happy to be able to try something I might not be able to do at home.

Wednesday- Same as Monday!!!

Thursday- Same as Tuesday!!!

Friday- Same as Monday, but I can go out.

Saturday- My family allows me to go out once a weekend, so I normally go out Sat. Don't worry, Im a good girl :D haha

Sunday- This is the day you relax with the family. Sometimes we go do something like visit the Reservoir, or sometimes we just rest and relax. :D Most of the time we have an asado. (Today were having left over asado because we had friends over last night.)

(This is the Reservoir we visited last Sunday :) Beautiful and a lot of fun!) 

I am very exited for next weekend! :D Im not sure what I'm going to do yet... I have to choose between going to visit a neighboring province with my parents, or participating in the swimming competition. I REALLy want to swim :) The event is here in Salta at my club. Four other provinces are coming to compete :) There is another competition at the end of Oct. I'm so exited I get to travel with my team. If I do compete next weekend, I will be swimming the 50 FREE, 50 BACK, 50 BREAST, 50 FLY, and 100 FREE, and possibly 100 BACK. 

I LOVE SALTA!!! :D It is a beautiful city. My brain still can't comprehend that I have 10 more months here. I wonder how I will feel in a year... different? changed? I wonder what 10 months even feels like! Will it feel like it went by really quickly? IDK, but I have 10 months until I figure it out :) 

Oh yeah... While it is getting colder in CT, it is getting HOT here. It is only spring and during the day is gets up to 90 degrees...! Plus, the sun feels a lot stronger here because of the high altitude. It still gets cold at night, but not as much as before. People keep telling me that this is nothing, weight until December (Summer)! The worse part is in school, we have to wear ALL of our uniform. Knee high socks pulled up all the way, And all of the layers! Plus, we can't role up the sleeves either. I can already tell this could be the death of me!!!

Chau!