Its Saturday evening here in Rosario, approaching the end of my second week here.  Thursday was a memorial day in honor of all the soldiers who fought and died for Argentina in the Islas Malvinas War, so we didn't have school and we had a four day weekend.  This is the second long weekend that we have had, and there is another one next week too, because of Easter, so I feel like I'm never in school!  Speaking of school, I had my first full week of classes (sort-of) and I love all of them.  I decided to take an Art and Lit. class, as well as an Argentine Topics class in addition to my grammar and conversation classes, and they are both really interesting.  In my Art and Lit. class, we are focusing on the lit half right now, and we are reading a book about barbarism in Argentina, which is really interesting, but a bit depressing.  On Wednesday, we watched a movie called Camila, a true story, and a pretty good movie as well.  

A big thing happened this week as well:  The first democratic president to serve after the dictatorships here, Pres. Alfonsín, died from lung cancer on tuesday night.  He was really beloved here, and a good honest politician-- 70,000 people attended his funeral in Buenos Aires, and it has been all over the news here for several days now.  

On Wednesday night, all of the students in my program decided to have an Asado, because we didn't have to go to class the next day.  We all brought stuff to grill and something to drink, and met down at this picnic area down by the river called Club Mitre, and we had a party.  I met some really nice people at the table next to ours, who were celebrating a birthday, and spoke alot of spanish.  I also met one of the team members of Rosario Central, one of the two fútbol teams in the city.  That was kinda cool, since its like religion here in Argentina.  I'll have to make sure I get to one of the games while I'm here...

Next weekend, I am planning to take a bus down to the lakes district, to a town called El Bolsón, which is really close to Bariloche, one of the ski resorts.  There is some really good hiking around it, and its right next to the Andés, so hopefully I can get some good photos while I'm there.  I'm really looking forward to getting to be in nature again.  Living in a city is nice, but it will be nice to hear a river instead of trucks all the time!

Last week, I picked up a copy of Harry Potter, in spanish, so I have been inching my way through it.  Its not such a quick read when I don't know all the words, so I think it will keep me busy for a while, as well as pad out my vocabulary a bit.  I've also been experiencing the trials of running in a busy city.  In the last two weeks, I have learned that I need to walk to a park, rather than try to run on the streets.  There are way to many cars here to be able to run  on the streets.  You have to stop at every corner, and then go, and then  stop, and on and on... Anyways, I started walking to one of the parks, and then running in the park, and then walking back home.  It takes a lot longer to go on a run this way, but the expereince has been much more enjoyable.  I will certainly appreciate the quiet Ashland streets when I get back!

I think thats all for now...

All my love,

Sarah