From Montevideo with Love

Time really lfies here and now it´s been already 4 weeks that I´m in beautiful Montevideo, Uruguay and I´m sorry I didn´t post last week but,  when I was talking about the survival of the fittest and twist and turns to spice up lifes in my last post, I didn´t really know that these 2 weeks would have some more of those in store for me …

Morning Run at the Rambla in Montevideo

With the end of the Intensive Spanish course, the actual semester at the Universidad Cátolica de Uruguay began this past Monday, and therewith some really demanding new challenges … The exchange student courses such as Cultura Uruguaya and Advanced Spanish (I somehow passed last week’s test and got admitted to this course) are not even too bad, and are actually understandable regarding my level of Spanish, but not the real classes that I am taking … that´s a different story. As expected, I didn´t understand a whole lot in my first couple of Organizational Behavior, Negotiations or Industrial Psychology (which is my new favorite class, because it´s just really interesting) classes, but in some distant future (hopefully before the exam period) I will be able to understand what´s going on … (As betimes I tend to exaggerate you might be well advised to read between the lines^^). But it is really exciting and I like challenges, so it´s great fun! 

Alfajor con dulce de leche (yes, it´s unhealthy!!!)

 

This week I was also able to observe some more very interesting features of Uruguayan culture (not in my culture class, which is rather a farce, as the professor tells us about how to drink Mate and about the Carnaval^^) for example a more than casual get – to know – circle during a lecture where the professor “mooched off” of another student by drinking probably his entire Mate (Mate is a kind of tea; very common in South America in general, but especially in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay; a little bit like a coffee/tea substitute, drank at almost every occasion (a nice way to socialize because it is normally shared with others) and carried around in typical Mate vessels (the herbs) and the Thermos (the hot water) and some kind of metal straw to drink it). Or that after a couple minutes of chatting you actually kiss your professor on the cheek (I would love to see some of our teachers faces if we did that :P )

Then we were also able to experience Uruguayan football lunacy, first hand, watching the World Championship Qualification Match between Uruguay and Paraguay with the other exchange students, and someone very special, we are going to talk about in a second … Patience, my friends!!! Dressed up according to Uruguayan soccer standards and equipped with flags we entered the stadium, where we got to see a rather middleclass boring football match, that unfortunately for my new beloved home, ended 1:1. But it was very interesting to observe that Uruguayans live and celebrate soccer with all their soul and express joy as well as frustration very explicitly!

URUGUAY!!!

From interesting features of Uruguayan culture to the first challenge that I had and still have to face, hanging over my head like a pending sword of Damocles, inasmuch as I might have to move again and look for another place to stay, due to reasons that exceed my simple level of comprehension. Nevertheless from a first misunderstanding, that I would have to move out immediately, over I could stay until I find another place to stay, to well maybe you might still be able to stay, we went through every notion! Of course a little bit disappointed, because I really like the people here and the place is pretty convenient for me, I started looking for alternative places to stay here in Montevideo. Right now, even I don´t know what´s it gonna be next week, but I will keep you posted!!!

Franca & me at the Rambla by night

And last but definitely not least, by any means, let´s talk about this very special person that not only accompanied me to the Football match, but that I spent quite a lot of time with in these last 2 weeks, and that might be the main reason, why I was a little bit busy and also explaining the rather promising title of this post^^ Well let´s say I met someone, who would have thought of that . . . I have a Uruguayan girlfriend!!! Here name is Franca (18), convert to the church, preparing to become a translator and studying Design, she is a really nice girl and I love her!!! So yeah I know, this has been kind of fast, but it feels very right … So we met for the first time at the Opening Ceremony of the Institute, where we were introduced to each other and started chatting, me making a bunch of stupid jokes and she offering to show me a around here in Montevideo, and as she seemed to be really nice (and cute!!!) I thought, well that sounds like a pretty good offer!!! So we started to hang out and check out some nice places here in Montevideo, and we seemed to like each other’s company and met a little more often, went out to dinner and just had a really great time, chatting, laughing, getting to know each other and  becoming friends. I won´t bore you with all the details such as faux pas, first kiss, or her cuddliness etc^^ and I mean a little privacy might be adequate anyway^^ Together we speak in English and Spanish and we are likewise each other´s private language tutor. And what started as a tourist and  tour guide relationship soon developed into something much deeper and now we love each other and are “officially” together.

 This week I had the treat to, of course spend a lot of time with Franca, but also in particular to meet some of her family members that live a little dispersed all over Montevideo, enabling me to see different parts of, or “the other” Montevideo, reminding me a lot of Mauritius. Her family lives about an hour away from the city center, nevertheless that is still inside of Montevideo, which is obviously a much outspread city, and they were all really nice and welcoming. I also got invited to have lunch with her grandparents, who live in a very nice little house on the outskirts of Montevideo! The food was great, the atmosphere very friendly and these 2 fellows are super fun to be around and we got along with each other really well, especially her grandpa Ruben is a blast, loud, jovial and a womanizer :P

I started my study journal again and would like to share a small lesson that I learned this week: I was studying the events preceding the final and infinite sacrifice of the Savior, the Atonement, and I stumbled over a fact that I never realized before: Right before they made their way to Gethsemane Jesus and his apostles sang a hymn! That really surprised me, but in second thought not at all, because through music and especially hymns God can be praised and worshipped, and many feelings and different moods can be conveyed and caused by different types of music. I was able to experience that first hand in my life. I really love music and the power that music has, in a workshop I once attended, it has been said, that a person that is singing cannot feel fear at the same time! I wasn´t able to prove this and I´ll let you be the judge thereof. Let it just be said, that music is something very beautiful and can be used to lift up, to rejoice and to beautify, so let´s all think about how we use music, and what kind of music we listen to and what influence this music has on us … adjustments might be necessary^^

My little "indigena" ice-monster

So yeah, that´s quite some news, and might come kind of unexpected, but as a good friend once said, wherever life may take me and I really like where it takes me right now. For right now the next destination of the wayfarer is Argentina, wish me luck & love you all!!!