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I worked at the UT Study Abroad Fair yesterday as I tried to get more people to go study abroad by sharing my experience in Argentina. If you are one of the people I talked with, maybe my website at this point is going to be a bit confusing. You should probably start reading from about November 2005 when I got back from Cba if you want to read about Argentina. Here is a quick reference (you might have to scroll down in order to find the entry you are looking for):Brasil - July 2005 - Highlights: camping on the beach with a Columbian, an Austrian, and a German, hang-gliding over Rio, and Ilha Grande.Uruguay - February 2005 Highlights: Punta Del Este and the personal tours I was given by Gabriel’s family - a Uruguyian UTK friend whose family met me at the airport when I first arrived in Montevideo.Chile & Bolivia - May 2005 Highlights: multi-colored lakes, moon-like deserts, geysers, llamas, and other things I had never seen as we traveled across the north of Chile and the south of Bolivia in Toyota Land Cruisers.As for other trips inside of Argentina (such as visiting the sea lions, penguins, and whales in Puerto Madryn, hiking through the indigenous north of Argentina - Salta, Jujuy, La Quebrada, visiting the wineries and the Andes mountains near Mendoza with my parents, standing in awe of the waterfalls at Iguazu with my sister, Buenos Aires - pictures 1, 2, 3 - or Bariloche and Patagonia try clicking on some of the links I have provided above. To recap about some of the other things I might have mentioned:- I bought a motorcycle (which I wrecked three times - 1, 2, 3 and caused me to break my camera) and a cell phone.- I taught English to make a (very) little amount of money (the exchange rate works two ways!) - first as a private tutor and then in a school called IICANA in Cba. Both of these jobs proved to be a great way to meet a lot of Argentinians - I even dated one of them.- My first semester I was part of ISEP’s Direct Program (because it was more inexpensive than the Exchange Program). During the first semester, I lived with a great family (1, 2, 3) who was very patient with my poor (poor!) spanish. I was planning to stay for only one semester, however, after seeing my spanish improve and really enjoying my life in Argentina, I decided to enroll myself in La Catolica and found housing via some of the international students from the first semester. In fact, during the second semester I lived in a beautiful 1920s Italian-style house in a great neighborhood (1, 2) with a French guy, a German girl, and an Argentinian guy. I was not part of ISEP during the second semester although I did stay enrolled at UT via the Programs Abroad Office.- I played a lot of soccer. There were pick-up games every day of the week in El Parque Sarmiento, which was located in the center of town. The level of play was extremely high - I was embarressed more times than I would like to remember by men who could have been my dad.- I also went to as many soccer games as possible, including several matches in Cba, a Brasil vs. Argentina World-Cup qualifying match in Buenos Aires, and a Brasilian match between Vasco De Gama and Corrinthians in Rio De Janeiro. Futbol/soccer is such a beautiful game and the passion of Argentinians and Brasilians for a match is unbelievable. - I tried to learn a bit of Tango and Cuarteto as well as improve my Salsa dancing.- The credits I received at La Universidad Catolica de Córdoba transferred back to UTK without a problem although I didn’t petition any classes i.e. I just let the classes I took at La Catolica count as elective hours at UT because I needed the hours and not a specific class to graduate.- As for plane tickets, I saved my airline flight miles and flew down to Argentina for about $35.00 in taxes and 50,000 U.S. Air Frequent Flyer miles (a typical ticket to Buenos Aires from Knoxville costs about $1,200). I used Points.com to monitor and help me accumulate my airline miles.Another quick note, if you want to test your Spanish, here is what I wrote during my last week in Argentina about my entire experience. The entry served as a reference point for me in the future to remember that, at one time, I could speak (well, I guess write) pretty good spanish (although I use a lot of slang).I have to give a lot of credit to these two UTK friends of mine, Roberto and Gabriel, who persuaded me to go to Argentina and whose families invited me into their homes as if I was a long-lost son. I spent my first two weeks in South America with their families (one week in Montevideo w/Gabriel’s family and one week in Buenos Aires w/Roberto’s family). Both of them and their families were a huge reason why I enjoyed South America so much.The Fair was a terrific success as some 500 UT students came through. It was nice to talk with people about my experiences as I tried to get each one excited about their (possible) trip. I was interviewed by UT’s Media Relations for a press release promoting the Quality Enhancement Plan which is trying to push UT into a more international role. If that gets published somewhere online, I will post a link to it. I also did an on-camera interview for the UT TV station and guess who was working the camera? Two girls - one from Romania and the other from Bulgaria. Let the international vibe continue!

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