The Uruguay Chronicles

It's been a few weeks now since I first arrived in Montevideo. And in all honesty,
it feels like years have passed.

The effects of changing your environment

I could not recommend anyone a bigger life change than to just pack your things and go live somewhere else. Preferably as far away from your current home as possible. Your perspectives will change, and your mind will be blown. If it isn't because of the culture shock, then the people you meet, and the prices of alcohol will do the trick just as fine.

Social Life

Which brings me to the people you meet. At first, I was insanely scared that I would be alone and isolated for a long time.

Thus, I jotted some plans down before coming here.
One of them was the following: "Meet at least one group of new people each week."
Which I saw as a very difficult task. It was an entirely new country after all.

Good news, hostels completely obliterate this problem.

For those who do not know what a hostel is. It's basically a house where people spend the night whilst traveling. So people hop in and out every few days. Some people also stay in hostels for a longer period of time because of work or language classes.
Or if they accidentally made a misclick on Airbnb.

*Cough cough*

But yeah- you can walk up to anyone and start chatting for a few hours. There are people in the house all the time, and each one of them is completely open to starting a conversation. Not to mention, most of those people are very friendly. That is crazy and truly awesome. I actually had to limit
the people I meet to 4-5 groups each week. Because otherwise, I would simply get too distracted
from my work.

Oh boy, then there's the variety of humans. One day you're talking to a music group consisting entirely of Brazilians, the other the group is an entire mash-up of Germans, Argentinians, Australians, Norwegians, and Belgians. Seriously, the only two continents that did not seem to participate in this orgy of nationalities are Asia and Africa. No offense, Asia and Africa, but you're seriously missing out.

This brought me to huge revelations about some cultures. For example,

did you know Aussies (a superior term for 'Australians') greet each other by saying:
"G'day, cunt."

Oh- the Aussies. Such fascinating creatures.

The people who manage the current hostel are really chill as well. And that's not only because they're stoned 80% of the time (the other 20% of the time they actually work). Which reminds me.

Did you know marijuana is legal in Uruguay? No? Do you suddenly feel the intense urge to visit this place?
This is probably a huge hint that you are, in fact, addicted.
But hey, who am I to judge?

Seriously though, that stuff is everywhere. I've literally seen it lying around in the streets. And I'm pretty certain that at each moment in time, 50% of the population is stoned. Although I don't have any scientific numbers to back that up.

Montevideo

Overall, Montevideo is a very safe place. The people are warm and nice. Apparently, this city has specialized itself in meat. Absolutely delicious meat. Sadly, this place is also the most expensive in South America. Or so I've heard. The prices are exactly the same as those of any normal Western country. Except for the alcohol, the alcohol is dead cheap. :winky_face:

Something I totally had not expected, the city is very progressive and gay.
Seriously, there's a lot of gay here. Gays walking in the streets, gays painted on the walls...
It's in the air or something.

Now I know what you're thinking: "Is this guy a HOMOPHOBE??!"

My answer to you is clear and simple:
Yes, of course. Gay people should be restrained, banned from Youtube and have their main source of energy removed. Namely pizza.

My real answer:
Of course not. Also, pizza is the main source of energy for literally everyone.

It just gets confusing.
Is that guy on my left staring at me a little bit too much?

Can I actually hit on the cute, red-haired girl that just served me my coffee without getting the aggravating response: "No, homo."

Only one way to find out...

I'll keep you updated.