Goodbye, Uruguay!

Hard to believe, but I think this may be my last blog post from Uruguay!  Amazing that the time has already gone.  Well, lots of things have happened in these last weeks.  One exciting event was when I ran my first ever race... a 10K, hosted by Nike.  It was pretty exciting, with thousands of people all in our neon yellow shirts, the roads closed off, the city cheering us on!  I accomplished my goals: running it in well under 75 minutes, running the whole thing, and not falling!  Then last week, I finished up everything at work and said goodbye to pretty much everyone.  Also went to my last Hebrew class.  It can be hard to say goodbye and to really close all the doors... everyone tries to find another way to see you again, but the best thing always ends up being to just say goodbye when you plan to!  Otherwise the goodbyes could go on forever.  All of the Fulbrighters also presented at our final presentation, where we got another chance to see some of our mentors (even some all the way from Paysandu!).

Then, this past Thursday, I went for 6 days to Chile, and had the most amazing time.  I stayed with Marianne, a home friend of Elizabeth, who was an awesome host and tour guide!  It was great to stay with someone who both totally understood what it was like to be a young American living in South America, but someone who had been in Chile for over a year, so she really knew her way around.  It was interesting to compare our experiences, and to get to see some amazing sights.  I spent most of the time in Santiago, sightseeing, taking pictures of the beautiful Andes whenever I could see them through the unfortunate smog, and buying a store's worth of amazing yet inexpensive hand-made jewelry.  We also visited Valparaiso, a port city with lots of colorful houses up on a huge hill, and Viña del Mar, an up-scale beach town.  I went to some amazing exhibits (saw a real Easter-Island Moai statue!), saw some of Pablo Neruda's homes, and found some fantastic murals and street art.

Now, back in Montevideo, I'm just tying up all of the loose ends, buying last minute gifts, getting my things organized, and saying my last goodbyes to everyone.  Then on Monday, fellow Fulbrighter Kate and I will be flying out at 11pm, and I'll be arriving in New York Tuesday morning!  Hopefully Ollie will make a special experience at the airport :)  As for future plans, I plan to keep applying for jobs, start doing some serious research about grad school programs, catch up with friends, take on some new projects (guitar, scrap book, etc.), and see where the next road takes me!