Blonde Baixinha: América do Sul: part deux

Me, Alvaro, and Meghan at Belmont's Graduation, May 2010

Should I be studying for the GRE (that is tomorrow) instead of blogging? Absolutely.
Am I so sick of looking at scarcely-used-in-normal-conversation words and quantitative comparisons that I feel like I could skip graduate school altogether? Again-absolutely.
Is my mind already four days ahead and in South America? ...absolutely.
So I'll take a break from verbose word problems, polynomials, and analogies in order to give everyone an update on what's ahead for my little excursion.

I've been somewhat lax about planning this trip after the last go. The curve balls of life in Nashville have helped in keeping me focused on the present instead of getting over excited about my future travels. Aside from spending the majority of my time planning and studying for some sort of medical career, I have been quite distracted by the odd sequence of events that was February and March of my life, which included being broadsided by a car (and consequently being car-less since), having my bank account hijacked in order for someone in Boston to purchase an absurd amount of donuts (several hundred dollars worth), and losing my job due to budget/census issues at the hospital. Needless to say, instead of spending that time dreaming of my trip and planning, I was worrying if it would even happen.

After this mini taste of the real world, my heart sincerely goes out to anyone that has suddenly become unemployed-especially those who have families to support. At the end of the day, I am more than grateful that my biggest problems consisted of paying off a completely self-indulgent trip abroad and feeling depressed because I missed the productivity, people, and atmosphere of the hospital.

So four months after I last ventured into the southern hemisphere, I'm going for round two.
If all goes as planned, I will be giving my dear friends Meghan and Alvaro a huge hug in Lima's Jorge Chavez International airport that night. Thinking about my relationship with them is pretty awesome. We shared a home in Munich, moved to new homes in Dresden, Alvaro visited our homes in Nashville, and now I am visiting their casas in Lima. By U.S. standards (sorry south americans, but there are seven continents), our relationships have spanned three continents in the past two years and even more countries.

As for the rest of my twenty-five days abroad, they will consist of hanging out in the one and only Brazil.

It all starts Friday at 12:30pm. Two countries, at least five cities, and a plethora (see I'm getting some GRE practice here) of amazing friends.