Hellooo!
So it´s my third day in the lovely Cochabamba, and I´m loving it so far! We arrived in La Paz at 7 AM Thursday (to be greeted by -1C degree weather, haha), and then connected to Cobhamba, arriving around 11. The flight was absolutely gorgeous, although between the small plane and altitude I felt a little sick. I got some nice photos flying over the Andes, though, and of aerial views of the city.
Cochabamba itself sits in a valley, and it´s a wonderful juxtaposition of palm trees in the foreground and arid peaks in the distance (not high enough to be snowy here). It´s not as high of an altitude as La Paz, which is the highest capital in the world, but I did feel it a little the first day, and I´m sure I would if I did any serious exercise. It´s spring time, and the weather is very dry, about 80 and sunny, with a pleasant breeze (that the local coordinator says is full of disease, so we have to be careful, haha). In fact the city´s nickname is the City of Eternal Spring because it´s always temperate. It gets much cooler at night, but I have lots of blankies :-).
My host family consists of a divorced mom who I met today because she was away for work, a sister named Paola who´s 23 and has thus far been very friendly, and a host brother
who´s 25 and said hi but keeps to himself. The house is very nice and comfy, and is adjoined to another, where my host aunt, uncle, and grandmother live. I´ve talked mostly to my host aunt, Tia Marta, who has been playing mom since Olivia (my host mom) was gone, and she´s extremely pleasant. She never married because the she says Bolivian men are too controlling, so she devoted her life to her career and her nieces and nephews - independent woman! My host mom ownes a shoe and accessory store called Elegance that I haven´t had a chance to see yet, but I think they do quite well.
They do speak a good bit of English, but I´ve asked they only speak Spanish so I can learn. So far it hasn´t been too much of a struggle, but I certainly have a lot to learn. Yesterday we met the Spanish teacher and she evaluated each of us to see what level we should be in. In fact, we´re all going to be in the same class minus possibly one girl, Weenta, who hadn´t had Spanish in a few years. Toni, the teacher, seems like she´s going to be excellente! She´s very passionate, and has 20 years of experience. By the end I think we´ll all see a huge difference in our Spanish :-D.
The other students doing the program are all super-cool, and we´ve had no trouble talking and starting to get to know one another. They are Bridget (from Texas, but goes to WVU, so we´ve known each other for awhile), Han
nah (from Winthrop in South Carolina), Weenta (from Pitt), Margaret (from the University of Massachusettes), and Sean (from the University of Indiana in Bloomington - he´s the only guy, but doesn´t seem to mind). It´s neat because we all have a lot in common, but come from very diverse backgrounds and interests. We also all live within about a 15 minute walk from one another (with the exception of poor Sean who lives pretty far out and has to take the bus), so that´s nice too.
Overall life had been very nice. The exchange rate is 7 Bolivianos to 1 Dollar, and everything is suuuper cheap. For intstance, I´m at an internet cafe that costs 2.50B per hour, and last night we went out for a little bite to eat and a drink, and it was only 32B for a pretty large tunda salad sandwich, fries, and a beer, just over $3. This is a good thing because I just haaappened to leave my wallet at home, so all I have is $90 leftover from what my mom gave me at the airport when I realized it. So, I think I´ll survive for a few weeks before my credit card arrives. This is a pic of us exchanging money - there are people with a sign that says "dolares" just on the street near our Spanish classes, and they give you a better rate than the banks... Gotta love it!
I didn´t bring my camera cable, but hopefully I can get some pics up on Flickr within a few days. I´ll probably just use the account I already have, which is http://www.flickr.com/photos/alannainbrazil/. I´m also adding this link and a few blogs of others I´m travling with to my interesting links section. Eric is our professor, and Bridget and Hannah are other participants.
Ok, I´m almost out of time...
Hasta Pronto!!!
Alanna
So it´s my third day in the lovely Cochabamba, and I´m loving it so far! We arrived in La Paz at 7 AM Thursday (to be greeted by -1C degree weather, haha), and then connected to Cobhamba, arriving around 11. The flight was absolutely gorgeous, although between the small plane and altitude I felt a little sick. I got some nice photos flying over the Andes, though, and of aerial views of the city.
Cochabamba itself sits in a valley, and it´s a wonderful juxtaposition of palm trees in the foreground and arid peaks in the distance (not high enough to be snowy here). It´s not as high of an altitude as La Paz, which is the highest capital in the world, but I did feel it a little the first day, and I´m sure I would if I did any serious exercise. It´s spring time, and the weather is very dry, about 80 and sunny, with a pleasant breeze (that the local coordinator says is full of disease, so we have to be careful, haha). In fact the city´s nickname is the City of Eternal Spring because it´s always temperate. It gets much cooler at night, but I have lots of blankies :-).
My host family consists of a divorced mom who I met today because she was away for work, a sister named Paola who´s 23 and has thus far been very friendly, and a host brother
who´s 25 and said hi but keeps to himself. The house is very nice and comfy, and is adjoined to another, where my host aunt, uncle, and grandmother live. I´ve talked mostly to my host aunt, Tia Marta, who has been playing mom since Olivia (my host mom) was gone, and she´s extremely pleasant. She never married because the she says Bolivian men are too controlling, so she devoted her life to her career and her nieces and nephews - independent woman! My host mom ownes a shoe and accessory store called Elegance that I haven´t had a chance to see yet, but I think they do quite well.They do speak a good bit of English, but I´ve asked they only speak Spanish so I can learn. So far it hasn´t been too much of a struggle, but I certainly have a lot to learn. Yesterday we met the Spanish teacher and she evaluated each of us to see what level we should be in. In fact, we´re all going to be in the same class minus possibly one girl, Weenta, who hadn´t had Spanish in a few years. Toni, the teacher, seems like she´s going to be excellente! She´s very passionate, and has 20 years of experience. By the end I think we´ll all see a huge difference in our Spanish :-D.
The other students doing the program are all super-cool, and we´ve had no trouble talking and starting to get to know one another. They are Bridget (from Texas, but goes to WVU, so we´ve known each other for awhile), Han
nah (from Winthrop in South Carolina), Weenta (from Pitt), Margaret (from the University of Massachusettes), and Sean (from the University of Indiana in Bloomington - he´s the only guy, but doesn´t seem to mind). It´s neat because we all have a lot in common, but come from very diverse backgrounds and interests. We also all live within about a 15 minute walk from one another (with the exception of poor Sean who lives pretty far out and has to take the bus), so that´s nice too.Overall life had been very nice. The exchange rate is 7 Bolivianos to 1 Dollar, and everything is suuuper cheap. For intstance, I´m at an internet cafe that costs 2.50B per hour, and last night we went out for a little bite to eat and a drink, and it was only 32B for a pretty large tunda salad sandwich, fries, and a beer, just over $3. This is a good thing because I just haaappened to leave my wallet at home, so all I have is $90 leftover from what my mom gave me at the airport when I realized it. So, I think I´ll survive for a few weeks before my credit card arrives. This is a pic of us exchanging money - there are people with a sign that says "dolares" just on the street near our Spanish classes, and they give you a better rate than the banks... Gotta love it!
I didn´t bring my camera cable, but hopefully I can get some pics up on Flickr within a few days. I´ll probably just use the account I already have, which is http://www.flickr.com/photos/alannainbrazil/. I´m also adding this link and a few blogs of others I´m travling with to my interesting links section. Eric is our professor, and Bridget and Hannah are other participants.Ok, I´m almost out of time...
Hasta Pronto!!!
Alanna
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