After much insistence from my friends at the International Student House in Washington, and due to the fact that I am starting perhaps the best summer of my life in South America, there’s never been a better time to get a blog going again! Last time I was in South America (4 years ago as a freshman…) I had a blog and I also used to blog about Mexico for the Foreign Policy Association. A lot of my friends suggested I start a blog about dating or random stories, since both tend to be highly entertaining, but I am going to start out with a travel blog, since my adventure has just begun.
About me: I’m in my second year of graduate school (yeah!!!! I can now say that I am a “half master”) at Georgetown University, working on my MA in Latin American Studies. I moved to Washington in August from Denver (I think Colorado is the best state in the US! So far I’ve visited 39 states, so that’s quite a bit of the country). This summer I will be in Santiago de Chile with a Georgetown Program at Universidad Alberto Hurtado, studying globalization, political economy of Chile, and societal inequalities. I’ll also be putting together a large research project on the country’s sovereign wealth fund for copper (more later – input will greatly be appreciated).
Before heading to Chile I decided to spend time in Paraguay. Paraguay? Yes, Paraguay! (see Wikipedia here and an English-language tourist site here for some great information) I lived here for two months during the North American summer after my first year of college at the University of Colorado. At the time it was quite a shock to my system being 5000+ miles from home in a very foreign country, but in retrospect it was one of the best decisions of my life. After being accustomed to living there, I had such a great time that I decided to come back to visit my host family, soak in the culture, see old friends, and eat delicious food!
I arrived in the capital, Asuncion, on Friday, and have been loving every minute of it. Instead of telling you all about it, these two pictures can basically sum up the past two days:
At a birthday party for my friend Lily. Gosh Paraguayans are so cool!
Eating asado, essentially the best steak in the entire world
This summer is going to be great! Of course I miss everyone who is reading this blog, and that’s largely why I am writing it. I will also enjoy the chance to reflect on how my summer is progressing, and hope to continue learning more about myself and this region of the world that I continue to fall in love with. Until my next post (soon)!
