Adventures in Montevideo

 Hello everyone! Welcome to my favorite month in Latin America so far and my fourth month here! This month was probably the most fun I have had here, however, it was probably the most costly as well. During the week of Easter, I was fortunate enough to be able to vacation in Argentina for my spring break! My first part of the trip was in Buenos Aires! The photo above is a neighborhood in Buenos Aires called La Boca (The mouth) referring to its proximity to the port opening to the Rio de Plata waterfront. In this neighborhood, there are brightly colored buildings and eclectic scenery that bring life to the concrete jungle that is Buenos Aires. On the streets of La Boca,   there are restaurants that have live tango performances right out front of the dining area for onlookers to watch as they pass by.  This was only one of the many amazing sights I was able to see during my time in Argentina!                 ...

 Hello everyone! Welcome to my  third instalment of my blog series of my study abroad adventures! This post is my mid-adventure period post, woohoo! I have made so many friends and memories that I will cherish for years to come! During march were all of my midterms and other examinations for my courses, so that had preoccupied the majority of my free time that I had. However, I was still able to gain some invaluable experiences during this time! The first major thing that I was able to experience was going to a birthday barbeque with some of my friends in the Indian community in Montevideo. Due to Uruguay's expansion of its software and technology sector, many businesses have hired oversees workers to come abroad and work on various projects while living in the city. Above pictured is a biking trip that some of my USAC friends and I took during the middle of the month! In Uruguay there are 19 departamentos (counties) that make up the country as a whole. The capital, Montevid...

 Hello everyone! Welcome back everyone! I hope yall's February has been going well! I can definitely say that mine has been quite an adventure! Throughout this month, I have gotten used to classes and have already made some incredible friends from outside the program! One amazing thing that I have gotten to experience is the wonder of cooking through my Latin American Cuisine course here in Uruguay! I made an empanada, as seen above, made to look like someone sleeping on a pillow of fluffy masa (dough). I have been able to eat some amazing cuisine here in Uruguay, however, my bad luck had caught up to me, as I ended up having some pretty intense food poisoning and had to be admitted to the hospital (I am okay now though!).  Something that has also been integral to my time here is how I have been getting to know the queer scene abroad. As a queer man myself, I felt like it was difficult to not have the same accepting support system like I do in Richmond. What helped relieve so...

 Hello everyone!       My name is Keaton Thorum and this is my study abroad blog! As a part of gaining honors credits for my time in Montevideo, Uruguay, I will be updating this blog frequently about my adventures here! The first photo, as seen above, is my first day of classes at my university in Montevideo, known as Universidad ORT in Montevideo, or ORT for short. This is a private university in Uruguay that is known for its business school and school of humanities, as such, I took classes pertaining to the Spanish language and learning about Latin American culture.  During my first few weeks of orientation of the program I met a lot of amazing people within the USAC Study Abroad program, here is a photo we took together on the first week! Overall, my first month of studying abroad has been mostly just becoming acclimated with my new surroundings and home environment here in Latin America. I am excited to see what study aboard has in store for me!