We talked for hours and didn’t go to bed until nearly four am. We said good night and agreed to wake up just five hours after going to bed.

Laura had a two bedroom apartment and gave me her room to sleep in while she shared the guest bedroom with her mom.

Around 9am Laura knocked on my (her) door to let me know that breakfast was ready.

As I sat down to the table she apologized for not having bacon and eggs.

I started laughing and asked if she learned that from watching US television? She smiled and replied yes. I laughed and tried to rectify this assumption. I let her know that I normally have a bowl of cereal. And I told her that some people even skip the first meal of the day.

Laura’s mom had gone to the shop to pick of breakfast and there were a few paper bags set out on the table while her mom prepared tea and coffee. I was curious what was inside the bag and as Laura opened them to set it out on plates, I found out that a typical breakfast consists of medialunas (croissants) and lots and lots pastries covered in sugar.

Uruguayans love their sweets!

American television does a disservice to the rest of the world, and ourselves, by how we are portrayed. The bacon and eggs reference was just one of many I encountered in my travels.

During breakfast the TV was on in the background airing Buenos Dias Montevideo, which is along the lines of Good Morning America, but they are dressed way more casual. Some of the hosts are beachside, even in swimsuits, giving their morning reports.

We sat and talked at the beach for hours. We talked about life, food (I explained what PBJ was), travel, our favorite tv shows (she knew US shows and we found out quickly that we have very similar taste!) and other pop culture (I explained what a ‘chick flick’ is).

We also talked about cultural traditions like weddings, marriage and last names (most people in South America have two last names).

Men and women take the last name from their mother AND father. So they start with three (or four, if a middle name is given) names! When they marry, they choose which one they want to continue with. So if  is the daughter, Julia, for example, is the daughter of (her mother’s maiden name) Rodriguez, and (her father’s last name) Bruno, Julia is given the name of Julia Rodriguez Bruno, and whatever middle name she is given. Then when she gets married to Pablo Garcia she can be Julia Rodriguez Garcia or Julia Bruno Garcia. Can be confusing but pretty cool to have so much history in one name.

Laura told me that when I get travel through Argentina, I might think that Uruguayans are lazier but in fact they are more relaxed than their neighbors across the Rio de la Plata. She said Argentines are always in a rush.

I laughed and from my experience in Argentina the prior year, I had told her that their ‘fast-pace’ was nothing compared to New York City. I told her that we rush rush rush with everything and that one of my goals with this trip was to finally, slow down. She told me Uruguay should certainly help with that.

Through all of our hours of chatting, I quickly began to realize that while we are from different places and have different backgrounds, we enjoy, and want, very similar things.