Going For The Gap!

Hi Everyone!

Just an update: I am loving University of Denver!! It is amazing out here and I feel like it is the perfect school coming from my Gap Year. There is so much to do here between the city and the mountains, making it very difficult to get bored! I am hoping to study global health-- my year inspired me to do so. I want to be able to continue my travels after college but want to be able to bring something to the countries I visit. I believe healthcare is the perfect thing. During my travels I witnessed so many sick or injured kids and what is more beneficial than being able to assist them? Honestly if it wasn't for my Gap Year I wouldn't have a clue of what I want to study. Know I am motivated and passionate about this subject making it very easy to study and stay focused.

Since I am so passionate about Gap Years, I have created a website called Going For The Gap (goingforthegap.com) which promotes and advises Gap Year's. Tell everyone about it!!!

Also check out all my photos at: www.mygapyear.shutterfly.com

THANKS!

Over and Out.

I just want to say THANKS to everyone who followed my blog. It was an amazing year and I am sad to say it's over. I am actually heading to College (yes, finally) on September 5th. Now, I don't know if I will have anything to blog remotely as entertaining and crazy as this past year soooo I guess this is goodbye until I set out in my next adventure abroad!

Over and out!

Me Voy

Sitting on the plane going to Buenos Aires. It's over. I can't believe how time flies. I am going to miss Argentina and my Romero family MUCHISIMO!! Walking away from them down the ramp was so hard... tears fell from my eyes as my hands took turns throwing to my family afar. I am wearing a gorgeous scarf Mama made for me. I will always remember her kindness and gratuity.

I see the faces and hear the cries of the people I left behind, and feel the lump in my throat as I try to stay strong (not wanting everyone on the plane think I'm crazy....). In these cases however I am as vulnerable as can be. My heart takes over my emotions and my pride is forced to step back. I am so happy to have experienced what I did. The dining hall and all the kids...Luci, Ana, Graciela, y Erica as well as the Hermanas, Luci + fam, boys from futbol, and of course mi familia and mi amor Argentina!

BESOS X SIEMPRE.

Last Day Rio

Well its my last day in Rio believe it or not. It is a gorgeous day with the sun shining down. Warm enough finally for just shorts and a t-shirt! I am sitting in a park watching local kids enjoy the day with a game of pick up futbol. What I really want to do right now is join haha! I already miss all the kids from the Dining Hall whom I just said goodbye to. I just want to go back and play another round with them! It really beats everything in life. Sharing laughs over a simple game of futbol. It has just been two hours since I have seen them this morning, or left them, and I miss them soo much! Knowing that I may never see them again kills me. I am tempted to go back and see if they want to play again! I know another goodbye will be unbearable-- as you can see the first one didn't go so well with me. This Gap Year has been too good to me and I'm gunna miss every part of it. I already do!!! Everyone I've met has a place in my heart and memories that I will cherish forever... from Bolivia and Peru to Australia and New Zealand now back here to this little town in Argentina. Thanks for everything. Argentina rocks and I can't wait to return (SOON HOPEFULLY!!!).

Oh The Place's You'll Go!

On this day last year I was putting on my long white dress taking pictures with my friends and heading off to my high school graduation. The theme? Dr Suess' Oh The Places You'll go...
 
It was funny coincidence that it was my graduation theme since it was also my favorite book growing up. I never realized just how appropriate the theme would be this time last year.  Sitting 
 
in that big stadium and receiving my diploma I don't think I could’ve ever guessed where I am now. Instead of gussying up for a big night, I am in a small town in Argentina eating Asasado, drinking Mate, and watching the sun set over the Andes 
 
mountains. So when I think back to that Graduation day I smile because Dr Suess couldn't have been more right, and the graduation theme any less apropriate... Oh the places I'll go...

Viva Argentina!!

My host family is absolutely great as you all already know. I keep boasting about them and really can’t stop. I am so sad to be leaving them so soon! Only after two days I felt close to them and now with only a week or so left I feel like I would be saying goodbye to my real family. Coming home everyday after work, talking about our days, eating a lot of food, making popcorn and sitting down to watch a movie, all of these things make Argentina feel like my true home. After traveling for a few days, it felt great to sit down and converse with my family and sleep in my own bed! It was also nice to come home to my other family: thehhhhhhhhkids. It was sooo nice coming back and being with them again. There huge smiles, simple happiness and warm souls just make me as happy as anyone can be. The girls at the orphanage are literally like my sisters and it will be so sad to say goodbye. This past Friday they had an event at their school for the 200th Anniversary of the revolution and I went like some crazy sibling snapping photos at every moment. Spending 4 days apart was more than enough! We gave each other the biggest hugs after being apart and it was wonderful! Wednesday (5/26) I came back from Buenos Aires and worked at the Dining Hall right after. I played soccer with the kids all night, ended up buying them some Coca-cola and cookies because they beat me in soccer (fyi it was a pretty close game). Just being here is amazing and each and every child has an impact on me. Watching all the crazy boys on the soccer field running around, pushing and shoving trying to get to the same soccer ball is not only hilarious but gives me the biggest smile. There are so many different moments with each kid that make me smile when I think back on them. I honestly could go on writing about all of this forever so I guess I am just going to leave it as I love Argentina. I love everything about it and it has given me SO much happiness. I just hope I am spreading that out just as equally to those that I encounter here.

The other Saturday the kids at soccer had a match against another team in Cordoba. It was a ton of fun!! They were so cute with their jerseys and goal cheering. : )

Home Again

Home again. It is funny to me how comfortable I have gotten with this family in such a short period of time. After traveling for the past 4 days or so during the long weekend, it was nice coming back home to Rio Ceballos. I knew I would be greeted with hugs and besos followed by a good amount of food (I was right!). My travels were absolutely amazing and added a total different element to my trip here in Argentina. Traveling and being a total hippie is a whole different experience in itself. Planning your schedule, going out by yourself, discovering new people and places, it is a journey any nineteen year old could dream of. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, forced me to try new things and most of all, put my spanish to the test! I feel incredibly fortunate to have experienced everything I have within the past 3 weeks, let alone the past year. The adventures, the people and places I have encountered have been branded into my heart and soul forever. I will carry the lessons that they taught me and be sure to hold onto them forever for losing it all would just be a sin. I wish I had the time and dinero to revisit all my host families and tell them how I still think about them all the time. To the one host family in the middle of no where Bolivia, with no phone or source of communication, that even though my stay was brief, their impact on me will never fade. I still see the faces and hear the voices of all the kids running in the street screaming, “A la Cancha!!” or the faces with tears rolling down their cheeks as my companions and I say goodbye for possibly forever. All these little moments from this one big year is truly what makes a Gap Year. But really, it shouldn’t be called that because there are no gaps left in my body or soul. It is complete, hearty and ready to conquer anything that comes my way. It was a very FULL year.

Travels!

WOW!!! I had an AMAZING weekend full of travels. I went to Santiago, Valparaiso, Mendoza and Buenos Aires...I don't know how it all worked out but it was incredible!

In Santiago we walked around the city and went to the top of the mountain San Cristobol. It was a gorgeous day and we saw a lot of the city! Chile is full of color and for me was a mix between Peru/Bolivia and Argentina. Ps- got the bEST ice cream. It was with real fruit blended with natural chocolate frozen yogurt. YUM!!

Valparaiso is GORGEOUS and I loved it there. It is only a 2 hour bus ride away so on Sunday we woke up early and hopped on a bus and spent the day there. Valpo is cool because it is split between two different parts, new and old. One part is Old Valparaiso and the other Vino del Mar-- very posh and new. I did a city tour since I only had a day-- it was great because I got to see everything. It would have been hard to walk around myself because Valpo is on a hill so it would be a lot of trekking up the steep streets. Valparaiso is full of awesome colors and is just charming--The beach is awesome as well. I really liked Valpo and wish I had more time there! After the tour was over I hoped back on a bus just as the sun was setting. I was on the beach for the first part of the sunset in Valpo (it was perfect earlier when the sun was coming down and hitting the buildings perfectly). I got to see the sun set over the Andes and it was absolutely amazing. When you see something as pretty and magnificent as that it is truly breath taking. It is one of those moments where you have to sit back and enjoy the moment and take in life. My day in Valpo was just great and I hope I make it back there one time.

When I returned to Santiago we had dinner with friends who we met on the tour. They were all super nice: two from Nebraska, 1 from Colombia but living in Buenos Aires, and one from Quito Ecuador.
Luckily they all spoke English!

Bus to MENDOZA--Wine Capital!

Mendoza was incredibly gorgeous. Since it is Fall here all the leaves were changing colors and the vineyards were outstanding. The colors were just incredible and the mountains in the backdrop made it even more breathtaking. I arrived to Mendoza around 6 am after taking a 6 hour overnight bus, which are pretty comfortable actually. During the day we went on a bike vineyard tour because that is the thing to do in Mendoza. The sun was out, the colors were spectacular, the mountains were glowing and the wine well, was good? Haha I felt a little silly becasue frankly I don't like wine and don't know annyything about it so I would only take really small sips. I had to experience it though because how could I be in a wine capital and not try any wine? Biking was amazing in itself--just being outside and chilling was awesome.

I had a suppper great day in Mendoza and didn't have too much else to do unless I spent a lot of money doing adventure stuff that I have already done in Australia and New Zealand. This is when I thought about flying to Buenos Aires to meet up with another good friend/volunteer. The flights were cheap so I thought, heck why not! It May 25th as well which was Argentina's 200th Anniversary of the revolution: Bicentenario!!! There was festivals, parades and concerts going on --- a once in a lifetime opportunity!

TO BUENOS AIRES!!

I decided to go for it. I hoped on a plane and met my friend in Buenos Aires. It was just crazy there with so many people but it was soooo awesome to experience. The whole city was decorated with blue and white and was so vibrant. We wondered the streets watching all the festivities and ate some yummy empanadas. It was a great night/afternoon!!

The next day was gorgeous out, yet again, so I toured the city and it was fabulous. The city is really super gorgeous and different than any other South American country I have been to.

HOME! I flew home later that afternoon because I had work in the Dining Hall. I went straight to from the airport to the Dining Hall and played there for a long time. We had a really intense soccer match that night haha it was a ton of fun. The cherry on top of all of my travels. It was amazing coming home and playing with the kids again and coming home to a homemade family dinner!

I just had an amazzzing few days! I love Argentina.

Argentina Update: May 23

HOLA from Santiago, Chile!

This weekend was a long weekend in Argentina because of the 200th anniversary of their revolution. My friends (other volunteers) decided to go to Santiago Chile and then to Mendoza for the 4 day weekend. Santiago is a gorgeous city surrounded by the Andes mountains. Today we climbed to the top of San Cristobal which was a mountain and overlooked the whole city and the mountainous backdrop. We walked around and I enjoyed the Fall weather that I missed at home while in Bolivia. The leaves are changing, the sun was out, and the air was nice and crisp (but a little chilly). Tomorrow we are taking a 2 hour bus ride to Valparaiso and will spend the day there. After that it is back to Argentina for Mendoza for two days. Being able to travel around and see different things has been awesome.

Everything is going very well back in Rio Ceballos Cordoba. My family is AWESOME and I really enjoy hanging out with them. We have become so close so fast... it will be hard leaving them so soon. You really don´t realize how short a month truly is until your down here and the days are flying by! My volunteer placements are also going great. Saturday morning I had soccer with the kids. Every other Saturday they get to play another soccer program. It was really fun watching them play and fun helping coach!!

The dining hall is also going really well and I love it. Playing soccer is so much fun and a great end to my day. The kids are also adorable and so much fun to be with. The orphanage is going well and I am really close with everyone there especially the younger girls.

Honestly everything is just fantastic down here and I love being back in South America. The culture people everything excites and fascinates me. I really enjoy living this life! Especially because Siestas are the best thing ever invented (long lunch breaks for naps).

Anyway, I will upload pictures very soon! I cant wait to share with you the Santiago pictures as well as my family, sports, dining hall and orphanage photos.

Take care, UN BESO!

Argentina!!!

Right now I am in Rio Ceballos, Cordoba, Argentina for the last part of my Gap Year. I am staying with a host family and working in an orphanage, dining hall for low income families, and coaching soccer for disadvantaged kids... and on weekends I get to travel!

My homestay family is GREAT! My mom is so sweet and my siblings are great. I have two sisters and a brother all in their twenties and one of them has a daughter who is 6 months old . They are so welcoming and I already feel like I have been living in their house for 5 months, not 5 days.

Cordoba is such a gorgeous place with a lot to see and do. The city itself is great, a university city, and the landscape around it is amazing. This past weekend I went with some volunteers to a National Park 2 hours away. Unfortunately it was a little cold and cloudy but it was still nice being up in the mountains going for a hike! Although I loved Australia and New Zealand, I love being back in South America talking spanish and learning a new culture. The Cordoba accent, however, is VERY hard for me to understand and they talk SO fast!! It is hard to keep up. Mate is a huge part of my life now as well....oh, and beef oF COURSE! I am force fed a ton of food: beef, bread, empanadas.... everything. I can't complain because it is pretty delicious! The Mate is good and the Argentineans literally bring it everywhere they go. I am doing my best to fit in and drink it whenever offered!

Today I went to a Folklorico Festival with my mom, dad, and baby sister Maia (Maya). It was a lot of fun and I enjoy doing stuff with my family.

Futbol, soccer, is funny here because ONLY the boys play it. I am the only girl at soccer practices and I love it jaja (haha). All the boys stare curiously as I show them my amazing moves.... they haven't really seen a girl play! The parents especially get a laugh out of it. I really enjoy it because even though I can't communicate that well (my spanish went down the drain while I was away and I cant understand them) we share a bond through both of our passion for soccer. It is probably my favorite part of the day besides coming home to my family, sitting down at the table and discussing our days (to the best of my ability).

Anyway, I will keep you updated on my adventures! Here are some pictures so far:

Un Beso!

3 More Days...?!

WOW! Only 3 more days left on this trip... I can't believe it! It has absolutely flown by but has been SO much fun. Tomorrow we head to Sydney for a free day and the zoo and the next day we have a big tour of the city. After that... a 14 hour flight ride home. I can't believe it.

I have had an awesome time and will update this blog once in Sydney and will be sure to update the blog with all my photos! Keep reading cause there will be more coming!

Cheers!
Natalie

Surf Camp!!

Surf camp was AWESOME! For four days we got to surf at remote white sand, aqua water beaches with amazing instructors and tons of perfect waves. The best part was we got to feast on food after every surf! We drove about 5 hours from Byron Bay to pretty much the middle of no where and stayed at Surfaris... they had a little lodge/hostal type thing we stayed in for the week. They provided all the meals and each and every one of them was awesome! Every day we got up at 7:00, had breakfast, got our wetsuits on, and drove about 20min to a beach (what beach we went to depended on the wind). All the instructors were reallly nice-- Steve, Damien, and Ross. They taught us how to paddle, catch a good waves, stand up, and most of all, ride the wave! It was definitely frustrating at times but when I caught a great wave (thanks to the instructors help) it was sooo much fun! For the most part the weather was perfect, at least the middle two days, with blue skies, warm temperature and a hot sun. The highlight of surf camp was tandem surfing with Ross, one of the instructors. We caught 3 hugeee waves and it was sosososo fun! Anyway, surf camp was awesome and it seems so weird that the end is so near... only 5 more days left! I can't believe it but I have truly been having the time of my life here down under!

Byron Bay: Chill Central!

For two days my group and I got to stay at these nice houses right across from the beach in Byron Bay and CHILL! Byron Bay is a very laid back place full of surfers and old hippies. I spent my frees days in Byron at the beach, walking around town, sea kayaking with dolphins and my favorite... scuba diving! The scuba spot where Lesley, Michael, Carolyn and I dove is in the top 10 places in Australia to dive! It was soo cool; I saw sharks, manta rays, sting rays, turtles of all sizes (two of them were feasting on a jellyfish), and of course all types of fish. I had a blast! Sea kayaking was also a lot of fun but I got really sea sick rocking back and forth over the big swells. Luckily, we got to see tons of dolphins surfing in the waves--they came right by us! Besides scuba and kayaking, I mainly relaxed and caught up on some sleep. I also got some awesome fish and chips right by the beach! My time at Byron Bay was great but I was ready to move onto SURF CAMP!

Life Down Under: Australia!

It's been a long time and I have done SO much since I last posted I don't even know where to begin!

I arrived to Australia on a hot summer day and we went straight to the beach because our accommodation wasn't quite ready. We ran right into the blue water with roaring waves, perfect for body surfing and then chilled under the hot sun on some white sand. I knew I would like Australia already!!

Since then, my group and I have volunteered on North Keppel Island and trekked through Fraser Island. Let me start with North Keppel:

We took a boat from Rockhampton to North Keppel island and camped there for a week, doing service work during the day. The service work ended up not being that long but it was very hot under the strong Aussie sun. For the project we recorded GPS coordinates of certain plants/trees/grass, planted trees, and cleared a fire trail. Plotting the GPS coordinates took the most time and it was a bit tedious. On the island there is also an environmental education program so there was a bunch of kids staying on the main beach in these cabins that we all wish we could stay in but we weren't allowed because they didn't have "background checks" on us... we had to stay about a miles walk away haha. Anyway, we got to spend time with the kids playing games and sharing our adventures. They were fun and it was cool to hang out with them. All the staff on the island was also great and I really enjoyed working with them. One morning they actually took us snorkeling and that was awwwesome! The fish were great and some people in my group even saw a shark (a small one of course). The sunsets were incredible on our beach but the mosquitoes were quite terrible unfortunately. In all it was a great week and I REALLY enjoyed my time on the island.

Fraser Island!
We split into two groups and backpacked around the gorgeous lakes of Fraser Island, the largest sand Island in the world. My group was Doug, Carolyn, John, James and me. The cool thing about this expedition was that we were totally on our own, without a guide or instructor. The paths weren't difficult to navigate at all but the fact we were on our own was cool (my instructor Leo was still on the island though and we did camp with her one night). The weather was unfortunately miserable and it rained pretty much every day. Despite this, my group and I found a way to make our experience very memorable. I might even say it was one of my favorite weeks! In the rain and bugs we managed to laugh and create life long memories. This was our journey:
Day 1: Ferry to Fraser Island and taxi to east coast, Dilli Village. We taxied along the beach in this 4x4, which was really cool (people usually always drive Fraser Island instead of walk but the trails were gorgeous!). We then walked to Dilli Village 6.4km to Lake Boomjamin. We swam in the lake after setting up tents and cooked our canned ravioli dinner... that night it rained : (
Day 2: Lake Boomjamin to Central Station= 15km. This was our longest day and it started to rain midday. We ran into another group around lunch time and went swimming together. Right as we started again it started to rain.. and rain... and rain. We luckily made it to Central Station and met up with our instructor. We made soup that night with some bread and went to bed early... more rain. Doug and James' tent was soakkked! They basically slept in a puddle. That morning we woke up to even more rain. It was crazy.
Day 3: Central Station to King Fisher Resort (originally to Lake McKenzie): We ran into Rangers who told us that we shouldn't camp at Lake McKenzie because the weather was going to get worse. He suggested we go to King Fisher and sleep inside"Great," we thought. We had to do 2 days of walking in one. Luckily the KM wasn't that bad, about a total of 16km. We ate lunch at Lake McKenzie instead and took a swim. The water in the lake was aqua and the sand was soo soft. It was awesome but it was too bad that it was rainy and not sunny. We still managed to have a great time and played a lot of frisbee until we decided we should move on before the weather gets worse. We walked to King Fisher to find a lovely resort waiting for us... now all we had to do was get a room with our "emergency" money. I mean, it kind of was an emergency we needed a place to stay! We got a room for $148 that slept 3 people but we snuck another two in and they slept on the ground. It was HEAVEN sleeping in a warm bed under a roof and finally being dry (I was basically wet THE whole time). When I got out of Lake McKenzie I just put my rain gear right over my clothes because everything was already wet and going to get even more wet. Anyway, the hotel was awesome and we all went to bed really early and got a great nights sleep. The next day we slept in, swam in the pool, and then took the ferry back to our hostal in Hervy Bay!
It seems like it would be miserable with all the rain and honestly at times it REALLY was but I had an amazing time and got really close with my group mates. We all picked each other up and kept one another going in hard times. I can definitely say it was one of my favorite parts of the trip!

Tomorrow (2/3) we head to Byron Bay to chill for a little bit and start surf camp! I am so excited to finally learn how to actually surf! Hopefully I will actually get good... : ) After that it is Sydney for a few days and then... HOME! It is so weird that the trip has gone by this far!

Cheers!!
Natalie

Bungee Video!

Free Days in Queenstown!

The Glacier ^





Helms Deep Backdrop and the Kawarau river!!

The next morning we woke up and drove to see part of the glacier we didn't get to see the day before.We only saw a little bit of it but it was still very pretty. Then we all hopped back into the van and drove to Queenstown for our free days. Little did I know that I was gunna have the time of my life there and fall in love with the "city."

The first full day I was there the girls all got up and walked around the town. Our hostal was right along the lake so each time we walked into town and back we had a spectacular view. So we shopped and explored the town when I decided that I really wanted to go river surfing! Queenstown is the only place to do it so I knew that I had to take advantage of the opportunity. I was relunctent, however, because I was the only one who wanted to go... for some reason. I said screw it and decided to go anyway knowing that I would meet other adventurist along the way. At 2:00 I ran to the office, nervous, but glad I had signed up. I hopped on the bus to find that a loud group of Americans were going to be doing it with me: perfect. They were from the group Pacific Challenge, a group we have been following pretty much this whole time. I got all suited up in my wetsuit, flippers, helmet, life jacket and boogie board and headed down to the river, which was perfect aqua. Basically what I did was went through class 2-4 rapids on a boogie board... it was awesome. I got to do barrel rolls and plow through the waves. At one point we faced up river and rode the wave like I was surfing on it. It was hard to catch and not everyone did but I was lucky enough to get on it for a while. I also got to go through the Pillars of the Kings, the scene in first lord of the rings where the fellowship are on the canoes and go by the huge king statues. Unfortunatly the statues weren't there anymore but we got to see where there were. We stopped to jump of this rock (I did a flip) and to watch the bungee jumpers fall from the bridge above. Little did I know that I was going to be doing that the very next day! In the end, we went through our final rapids and they were a class 4. It was pretty intense but there was like 6 guides with us so I felt completely safe. What we had to do was duck our heads under water when we saw the white water coming otherwise it would just throw us back. I went through it full of screams and laughs and luckily survived! It was a fun day and I was glad I took advantage of the opportunity. 

I came back to the hostal and missed the other girls who went out to dinner so I just walked along the pier, watching the sunset. The sun hit the mountains and it was gorgeous. I walked around then grabbed a Fergburger which is the best burger ever. It is famous in the town and is always jam packed with people-- for a verry good reason! I then met up later with the rest of the girls and had a chill night... internet and bed! 

My second day of Queenstown is written below... possibly one of the best days everrr!! Here is my bungee video though!