International Potluck

The last week we did a International Potluck in the IEP program. The experience was amazing, we taste food from many different countries and enjoyed a great time with our friends. And the best of all, everybody ate all the food we (the Uruguayan-Argentinian students) cooked.

The days before the potluck we felt very confused about the food to cook. Everyday we were changing our "menu" because we wanted to do something great. Finally, we decided to do only desserts. After buy all the stuff needed in Walmart, the morning of the potluck day we cooked our typical food in Guess Hall.

Because some of the typical food are fried, all the Hall was impregnated with this particular odor. Then, by the time of the potluck we had our food ready so we left the food on the table of desserts and then enjoyed all the preparations made by the rest of the IEP students (and teachers!).

In summary, was a great experience not only to taste foreign food but to meet and chat with people from other countries that usually we don't see daily because the schedule. I think this kind of events must be done regularly to unify the IEP group.

Go Rebs!

The day that everyone talked to me about finally came. The first Football game at home, Ole Miss vs. S.E. Louisiana. I was so expectant to see the "tailgating in the Grove" because I heard great stories from all my American friends about this big day. They said me that in this day everybody is dressing formal, and they usual go to the Grove several hours before the game to eat, drink and chat with friends. And this was so true! The night before, some IEP students and I went to the Grove and we saw (impressed) a lot of tents ready for the begining of this party day. But the best, without doubts, was the day of the game.

I came to the Grove at 2 pm. and there were to many people in this place! It was unrecognizable! Everyone dressing well (everybody except the IEP students :) ), laughing, eating, drinking and singing the catchiest song I ever heard: the Hotty Toddy!. We had our own tent so we drank and ate to, and then we took a lot of pictures of this amazing party. Then, the ours passed and it was time for the game!

The game was fabulous. I didn't understand every rule, but the show was great! Again, we took a lot of pics and sung the Hotty Toddy several times. Fortunately Ole Miss won, so everybody went home happy and we came to our rooms happy too, because we lived an amazing experience that no everybody has the oportunity to live.

Ole Miss !!!

It was a great semester! Without doubts, the best experience of my entire life.

I remember since department of international studies of my university told me that I won the scholarship to go to Ole Miss, I was so excited about that. There were so many things to do, and my first thought was "I don't have time enough !!!". In less than a month I had to get my U.S. Visa, prepare and send a lot of papers, visit my mom in Argentina and get the tickets to fly !

After a long waiting, the day came and I arrived at Ole Miss. My first impression was "This is awesome !!!", I could not believe my eyes; everything was clean and tidy, and the campus was huge!. And the best part is the first impresion remained until the end of the journey. I was so anxious to meet new people and make friends for different cultures, and fortunately this was a great opportunity to do so!

I met a lot of new friends from different parts of the entire world, and I met some American friends too, that were so friendly and invited us to their houses to discover how is a tipical american family. This was the best part of the trip, meet people. The other spanish speakers and I were in many places with different people who showed and teached us a lot of America, tipical food, places and culture.

What I remember most about the trip (besides the friends I met) was the Football season (everyone goes crazy and the party in the grove was so nice!), the travel to Las Vegas (I won $5.000!!!) and the Grand Canyon (the most beautiful place I never seen).

Definitely, as I said, was the greatest experience of my life, and without any doubts I'll remember it forever and I can't wait to get a new oportunity to come back.

Career choices

I chose my career a few years ago. I've to recognize that when I was a child, my dream was to be a doctor, but in my adolescence I realized that the blood wasn't my favourite thing to work with, so I decided that my future would be the computers :P

Now, I have to prepare one exam to get my major in computer science, the one I think was the biggest goal on my whole career. However, I used to put me some intermediate goals like get my intermediate degrees, or get good qualifications in the exams, or deal with the university, work and sports at the same time. I think it was because to get a long-term goal, you first have to meet intermediate goals, and go step by step.

And the other important factor are choices. Because choices helps you to meet goals, so you have to think very well about your decisions. Simple decisions that you make today, can affect your future in many years.

I learned the real importance of choices about two months ago, when I was informed to won a scholarship to come to Ole Miss, because the choice to live in Uruguay (about 7 years ago), and go to the university wich I choose, among other things, made possible to me to be here today.

Household chores...

Household chores are the most scary things that everyone has to do in the house. They consume a lot of time, aren't funny, and when you finish in one side of the house, the other side is a disaster again.

However, there are a few household chores that I don't dislike. For example, wash the dishes or wash clothes aren't funny at all, but they are a "necesary evil", and over time I'm just starting to learn to get along with them.

In the other side, there are some chores that I dislike absolutely. Iron clothes, clean the bathroom or clean the floor, are tasks that I hate to do, every time I has to. But, again, all of this are the "necesary evil" if you live alone, and don't want to share your house with bugs, termites, lice and racoons.

Finally, the chores that falls in the "other" category. This are the chores that you do when it's necesary. Once a year, once a month, o once you can't enter your room because the clothes and trash are avoiding you to enter.

Anyway, household chores existst since ever, and will continue for years, until someone invents a magic robot to do all. Until then, we have to keep cleaning.