Where was Renae?

So I’ve been home for about 4 weeks now and regret to inform you that when I say home, I mean California. My trip has come to an end and saying that there has been a bit of a gap between now and my last blog would be an understatement, so I admit...it has been a while. From the time I last told you about my trip to Mendoza until now, a lot has happened. I have visited 5 countries (Uruguay, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina), improved my spanish significantly, gotten quite good at dancing the tango, gained an appreciation for other languages and cultures, and even have a boyfriend. (I know I had joked around about that in my first blog, but I really wasn’t expecting to go to Argentina and come back with a boyfriend at all, let alone a Swiss guy who is half argentine.)

I have found out that internet in third world countries is horrible…ESPECIALLY in Bolivia and now have a high appreciation for things I never thought about before, like phone plans (which are really expensive in Argentina), free/complimentary water (nothing’s better than sitting down at a table and having a waiter pour me a FREE glass of water) and toilet paper (both because toilet paper is not provided in the few public bathrooms you can find and the fact that you can’t throw the toilet paper in the toilet, which took a while to get used to). I definitely have come back with a whole new perspective of the world and although I am grateful for the country I live in, I have realized there are some things that we really need to work on in the States (such as our education system, world knowledge/current events and health care). It really surprised me how much other countries know about the world yet how little we know about them and my goal now is to interest the people of our country in the world we live in outside of our own country. Arriving back to the states after travelling South America is a bittersweet feeling and I’ll let the next few posts show you why.

I put together a video with  trip. By the time you finish reading my next 7 posts about my months adventure...see you if you match up the video clips to the place they were taken at. Enjoy :)