Today´s my last full day in Buenos Aires. At least for a while.
Strange, it hasn´t really kicked in yet.
The past few days have been nice. Quiet, because most of my friends have left or have been traveling. Today I´m finally turning in my independent study. I packed up most of my stuff yesterday. I´ve been successful in doing the last few things I really wanted to do. Tuesday night I went to the Peña de Colorado. Very cool place. There´s a show everynight and you can get food there. Its more folk-music and music/food from the provinces. I went with Steph and had a tasty locro norteño for dinner and we listened to a good band. Well, the was a main guy and then various other musicians would join him based on the song. He played flute and would record as he played and use it to make levels. He could play entirely by himself and he´d create a really cool, full sounding song, recording it all live. Very cool.
Yesterday I went to MALBA (Museum of Latin American Art). I´m not a huge museum person, but I liked this one. Glad I went.
Today I was wandering around the city getting a few last minute things done. I went to a bookstore I had heard about that used to be an old theater. Its really cool. The balcony seats are reading rooms and there´s a café on the stage.
Anyway, time to turn in my paper! Tongiht we´re having a goodbye dinner. I made chocolate chip cookies--yum!
I´ll probably have another entry on the way... I´ll try to update that I´m home safe and sound, though I pretty much jump right back in to a crazy schedule. I´ll see what I can do.
Chau!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Saturday, December 15, 2007
La playa, fiestas, and goodbyes
I spent a few days relaxing at the beach with Sarah and Kate! We went to Pinamar, which is about 3 hours from the city by car, but 5 by bus. We had originally planned on staying until Tuesday, but when we found out Sarah didn't have to take her final we decided to stay one more day. It was pretty calm there because high season doesn't really start until next week. Lots of restaurants and shops were closed, but it didn't really make a huge difference to us. The beach was nice, though it got a bit windy in the afternoons.
The first night we got invited to an asado (barbecue) by a group of dads and their kids that were staying at the hotel. Good food and an entertaining night. One of the dads kept jokingly speaking "English" for us, which was spanish with a terrible accent and a few English words thrown in.
The second day was pretty cloudy, so we walked to Carilo, the next beach/town over from Pinamar. Carilo is basically a town in a forest and most of the buildings are cottage style. Really quaint. We went back to the hotel to do our "spa circuit" and massages. It.... wasn't exactly what we were expecting, but something to laugh about. We went back to Carilo for dinner to a nice Italian place. They made a deal with us that, if we corrected the English in the menu, they'd give us free desserts. It was a win-win situation....
Tuesday and Wednesday we spent on the beach. We all got a little burned on Tuesday. I did a pretty good job of avoiding it.... except for a line down the back of my legs that fried. Tuesday night we decided to stay in and ordered pizza and empanadas and watched the mockumentary "Best in Show." Overall, a very relaxing, fun trip.
I've been spending lots of time with Sarah and Kate, which has been lots of fun. Right now lots of people have either gone back to the U.S., will be soon, or are travelling. We had the "fiesta de despedida" (goodbye party) with FLACSO on the 6th. They had it in a fancy place and invited all the students, host families, and FLACSO staff, professors, and tutors. I finally met Dana, who has been living with Cata and Annie for the last few months. She's really fun--it's a shame I didnt meet her sooner! They gave out various awards and prizes and I won 2 things! There was a photography contest (of trips and of Buenos Aires) and I won for one of my Buenos Aires pictures. It was of a car made out of books that, instead of "Arma de destruccion massiva" (weapon of mass destruction) it says "Arma de instruccion massiva" (weapon of mass instruction). I got the picture framed and a DVD of a music festival. They also had a contest of words we had learned throughout the semester. I had been trying to save them on my computer,so was able to turn in a pretty decent list. Anyone with over 200 words got a prize--I got an agenda/planner that has an Argentine cartoon as the theme and a Charly Garcia CD. Not bad, haha. After dinner and announcements and whatnot it turned into a dance party. It was a fun night. Strange to think I won't see a lot of the people again...
Cata is gone as well. She, her boyfriend, and a friend are in Colorado for a few months with a work-exchange program. She left before Annie did! We had a suprise going away party for her the 7th, which was fun. I got to meet a lot of her friends, who are really nice.
Other than that.... I've just been trying to do a little bit of everything in the time I have left. Unfortunately I'm not completely done with school. Turned in my lit paper on Friday, but I still have to finish my independent study paper. I've been trying to combine schoolwork, hanging out with friends, and checking off the last things I've been wanting to do in the city.
Alright, well that's enough procrastinating for me. I'm going to work a bit more on my paper--it needs to be done!
The first night we got invited to an asado (barbecue) by a group of dads and their kids that were staying at the hotel. Good food and an entertaining night. One of the dads kept jokingly speaking "English" for us, which was spanish with a terrible accent and a few English words thrown in.
The second day was pretty cloudy, so we walked to Carilo, the next beach/town over from Pinamar. Carilo is basically a town in a forest and most of the buildings are cottage style. Really quaint. We went back to the hotel to do our "spa circuit" and massages. It.... wasn't exactly what we were expecting, but something to laugh about. We went back to Carilo for dinner to a nice Italian place. They made a deal with us that, if we corrected the English in the menu, they'd give us free desserts. It was a win-win situation....
Tuesday and Wednesday we spent on the beach. We all got a little burned on Tuesday. I did a pretty good job of avoiding it.... except for a line down the back of my legs that fried. Tuesday night we decided to stay in and ordered pizza and empanadas and watched the mockumentary "Best in Show." Overall, a very relaxing, fun trip.
I've been spending lots of time with Sarah and Kate, which has been lots of fun. Right now lots of people have either gone back to the U.S., will be soon, or are travelling. We had the "fiesta de despedida" (goodbye party) with FLACSO on the 6th. They had it in a fancy place and invited all the students, host families, and FLACSO staff, professors, and tutors. I finally met Dana, who has been living with Cata and Annie for the last few months. She's really fun--it's a shame I didnt meet her sooner! They gave out various awards and prizes and I won 2 things! There was a photography contest (of trips and of Buenos Aires) and I won for one of my Buenos Aires pictures. It was of a car made out of books that, instead of "Arma de destruccion massiva" (weapon of mass destruction) it says "Arma de instruccion massiva" (weapon of mass instruction). I got the picture framed and a DVD of a music festival. They also had a contest of words we had learned throughout the semester. I had been trying to save them on my computer,so was able to turn in a pretty decent list. Anyone with over 200 words got a prize--I got an agenda/planner that has an Argentine cartoon as the theme and a Charly Garcia CD. Not bad, haha. After dinner and announcements and whatnot it turned into a dance party. It was a fun night. Strange to think I won't see a lot of the people again...
Cata is gone as well. She, her boyfriend, and a friend are in Colorado for a few months with a work-exchange program. She left before Annie did! We had a suprise going away party for her the 7th, which was fun. I got to meet a lot of her friends, who are really nice.
Other than that.... I've just been trying to do a little bit of everything in the time I have left. Unfortunately I'm not completely done with school. Turned in my lit paper on Friday, but I still have to finish my independent study paper. I've been trying to combine schoolwork, hanging out with friends, and checking off the last things I've been wanting to do in the city.
Alright, well that's enough procrastinating for me. I'm going to work a bit more on my paper--it needs to be done!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Time is ticking...
Hello to all! Strange to think that in a few weeks I´ll be back home in the U.S. and jumping into a busy schedule again (well... not that I´m not busy here, but a different busy schedule?). I was very anti-going home before...but I´m starting to be ready. It´s going to be really hard to leave obviously, but there are things I´m just starting to miss more and things here that well... I won´t miss as much. I´m going to try to make the most of my last 3 weeks though!
"Thanksgiving" went well. We had our family dinner with my host family, Annie, and one of Joaquin´s friends. They weren´t exactly a fan of the pumpkin pie. Oh well. The boys tried a bite and were done, but Elvira said that they even did that was out of love for me.
Lets see.... what else is new.
Took my 2nd anthropology parcial and I got a 9 on that as well! I´m proud and a bit suprised to say that I have the highest grade in that class (they posted all the grades online with names. A little different than the US). I went back last week to get my grade form signed and hung out with some of the girls for a bit. That was fun. During our conversation we started talking about U.S. culture and they know/watch more U.S. tv shows than I do and know a lot about the music (or at least certain aspects?). It was interesting. They asked if any of the Argentine music or tv programs made it to the US....not so much. Hopefully I´m goign to go out with some of the girls this weekend. We´ll see if it works out.
Finished with choir and we had a choir concert at the conservatory (not the past Saturday, but the one before). It went pretty well considering it was the most disorganized choir I´ve ever been in and probably less than half of the choir came to the concert. After our last class I went out with some of the people for a bit, which was fun. I never really did make good friends with the people in that class. Aquaintances and "friends" in class, but nothing more. I´m ok with that though I guess.
Took the 2nd Cuestiones Culturales parcial. It went well, was easier than I thought it would be. I´ll find out tomorrow what I got. Last night Sarah took me out to dinner to help her study for her parcial. I can handle that --free pizza and icecream to ramble about my notes? Sure! It was good catch-up time as well after a long day.
I´m such an honors kid. The majority of my update is about classes... Sorry.
Yesterday I finished my painting. I´m really excited about it, I like it a lot. I can´t take complete credit for it, because I got a lot of help, but its still exciting to think that its "my" painting.
On Sunday I went to the Delta for the day, which was lots of fun. Close to Tigre, but not quite. I went with a group of people from the program who I´m not super close with, but I´ve become better friends with a few of them recently. More or less the people from the Argentina v. Bolivia futbol game. Sarah and Amanda came as well. We took 2 trains and then a boat ride to Juan´s (Argentine friend) house and met up with some of his friends there. We had lunch then spent the day in the water and hanging out. Very relaxing. I love boat rides as well, they make me happy. I had planned on having a dinner party at my house that night, but realized that wouldn´t exactly work once we didnt get there until 1 and needed a ride back to the train station. It was a fun, relaxing day though.
I can´t really remember what else I did last weekend. Saturday night we attempted to go to a peña (traditional music and sometimes food and dancing) but it was us and lots of grandparents, so we ended up sitting at one of the tables outside and talking instead. Friday night I went to a party for one of Michelle´s Argentine friends... except the party ended up being everyone goign to a boliche and her friend didn´t get there until 4ish. haha. There were lots of changes in plans this weekend.
Today I took my Spanish written exam. The "theme" was indecisiveness. The first reading pretty much described my life. I need to work on that....
Thursday is the oral exam and then I´m done with everything with a fixed schedule. I have to turn in my paper for literature and write and turn in my independent study paper. Both of those have flexible due dates though.... which actually makes it a little more difficult sometimes. I´m going to go to the beach for a few days as well, though I´m not sure how I´m working my schedule yet.
Anyway, off to tango and then getting some work done tonight!
"Thanksgiving" went well. We had our family dinner with my host family, Annie, and one of Joaquin´s friends. They weren´t exactly a fan of the pumpkin pie. Oh well. The boys tried a bite and were done, but Elvira said that they even did that was out of love for me.
Lets see.... what else is new.
Took my 2nd anthropology parcial and I got a 9 on that as well! I´m proud and a bit suprised to say that I have the highest grade in that class (they posted all the grades online with names. A little different than the US). I went back last week to get my grade form signed and hung out with some of the girls for a bit. That was fun. During our conversation we started talking about U.S. culture and they know/watch more U.S. tv shows than I do and know a lot about the music (or at least certain aspects?). It was interesting. They asked if any of the Argentine music or tv programs made it to the US....not so much. Hopefully I´m goign to go out with some of the girls this weekend. We´ll see if it works out.
Finished with choir and we had a choir concert at the conservatory (not the past Saturday, but the one before). It went pretty well considering it was the most disorganized choir I´ve ever been in and probably less than half of the choir came to the concert. After our last class I went out with some of the people for a bit, which was fun. I never really did make good friends with the people in that class. Aquaintances and "friends" in class, but nothing more. I´m ok with that though I guess.
Took the 2nd Cuestiones Culturales parcial. It went well, was easier than I thought it would be. I´ll find out tomorrow what I got. Last night Sarah took me out to dinner to help her study for her parcial. I can handle that --free pizza and icecream to ramble about my notes? Sure! It was good catch-up time as well after a long day.
I´m such an honors kid. The majority of my update is about classes... Sorry.
Yesterday I finished my painting. I´m really excited about it, I like it a lot. I can´t take complete credit for it, because I got a lot of help, but its still exciting to think that its "my" painting.
On Sunday I went to the Delta for the day, which was lots of fun. Close to Tigre, but not quite. I went with a group of people from the program who I´m not super close with, but I´ve become better friends with a few of them recently. More or less the people from the Argentina v. Bolivia futbol game. Sarah and Amanda came as well. We took 2 trains and then a boat ride to Juan´s (Argentine friend) house and met up with some of his friends there. We had lunch then spent the day in the water and hanging out. Very relaxing. I love boat rides as well, they make me happy. I had planned on having a dinner party at my house that night, but realized that wouldn´t exactly work once we didnt get there until 1 and needed a ride back to the train station. It was a fun, relaxing day though.
I can´t really remember what else I did last weekend. Saturday night we attempted to go to a peña (traditional music and sometimes food and dancing) but it was us and lots of grandparents, so we ended up sitting at one of the tables outside and talking instead. Friday night I went to a party for one of Michelle´s Argentine friends... except the party ended up being everyone goign to a boliche and her friend didn´t get there until 4ish. haha. There were lots of changes in plans this weekend.
Today I took my Spanish written exam. The "theme" was indecisiveness. The first reading pretty much described my life. I need to work on that....
Thursday is the oral exam and then I´m done with everything with a fixed schedule. I have to turn in my paper for literature and write and turn in my independent study paper. Both of those have flexible due dates though.... which actually makes it a little more difficult sometimes. I´m going to go to the beach for a few days as well, though I´m not sure how I´m working my schedule yet.
Anyway, off to tango and then getting some work done tonight!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
¡Feliz día de acción de gracias!
Just wanted to say feliz día de acción de gracias a todos (Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!). Tonight I´m going to eat dinner with my host family. We´re having chicken, which is more or less similar to turkey (not that common and pretty expensive here) and mashed potatoes and I don´t know what else. I´m going to make pumpkin pie as well =)
It´s strange to think of everyone back home celebrating "normally" with their families and whatnot. Oh well. I´ll be celebrating with my surrogate family here.
It´s strange to think of everyone back home celebrating "normally" with their families and whatnot. Oh well. I´ll be celebrating with my surrogate family here.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Spanish and English are the same,right?
So today I went to lunch with some people. As I was casually looking over the menu I was thinking in the back of my head, this is too complicated for me right now, I'm just going to "cheat" and read the English underneath. As I started reading, I realized how much easier it was.
Then I also realized that the first line was in I talian and the second in Spanish.... Go figure.
Today was pretty eventful. Got up early and went to the airport to meet Sarah and her sister and get my ATM card before they headed off to Barriloche. Found my way there on a bus, which I was pretty proud of myself for. From there went to do a dress fitting for my dress for Rach's wedding. Apparently their power had been out though and they didnt have time to finish. They tried to call me but I never got the message since I didn't hear my cell phone ring and they talked to Elvira but I wasn't at home (and our house phone doesn't call cells, her cell didn't have minutes,etc). Oh well. Now I'm going back tomorrow.
Did some work. Went to lunch. Did some more work. Had a meeting with my tutor for my independent study (I dont think I ever wrote this but I switched tutors a couple weeks ago. Not so cool considering how close it is to the end of the semester, but things are much better now). Things are really starting to click and I'm getting excited. Finished/turned something in for lit and talked with the professor a bit about the final paper. I have some ideas for that now as well. So overall a good day.
Had a bit of a headache when I came home so I napped and now I'll do a bit of work and eat dinner and whatnot.
And to end on a completely random note, apparently back home my cat jumped out of the second story window today while my mom was painting. He's fine though. Crazy cat.
Then I also realized that the first line was in I talian and the second in Spanish.... Go figure.
Today was pretty eventful. Got up early and went to the airport to meet Sarah and her sister and get my ATM card before they headed off to Barriloche. Found my way there on a bus, which I was pretty proud of myself for. From there went to do a dress fitting for my dress for Rach's wedding. Apparently their power had been out though and they didnt have time to finish. They tried to call me but I never got the message since I didn't hear my cell phone ring and they talked to Elvira but I wasn't at home (and our house phone doesn't call cells, her cell didn't have minutes,etc). Oh well. Now I'm going back tomorrow.
Did some work. Went to lunch. Did some more work. Had a meeting with my tutor for my independent study (I dont think I ever wrote this but I switched tutors a couple weeks ago. Not so cool considering how close it is to the end of the semester, but things are much better now). Things are really starting to click and I'm getting excited. Finished/turned something in for lit and talked with the professor a bit about the final paper. I have some ideas for that now as well. So overall a good day.
Had a bit of a headache when I came home so I napped and now I'll do a bit of work and eat dinner and whatnot.
And to end on a completely random note, apparently back home my cat jumped out of the second story window today while my mom was painting. He's fine though. Crazy cat.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
A weekend of firsts
This weekend has been quite eventful and full of new experiences.
Well, Friday wasn't too terribly exciting. I had a meeting with my tutor for my independent study (very little time left and lots to do--eek!), did some work, then went home and went for a run (about time!) around the ecological reserve in Puerto Madero. That night I went to dinner with Alex at Cumana, which has food more typical of norhtern Argentina. We both had yummy empanandas and shared desserts--including an empanada filled with dulce de leche! I had heard a lot about the restaurant and finally went. It was packed! Lots of people waiting outside for a table. It's not that big of a place and the menu is very simple (empanadas, pizza, tamales, etc) but we found out what the big deal was all about....
Saturday I went to the Argentina v. Boliva futbol (soccer) game! It was my first soccer game I've been to in Argentina. It was fun and Argentina won 3-0. They played in River stadium (the biggest stadium in Buenos Aires/Argentina, which is the Buenos Aires team River Plate's home stadium). One of the guys in our group is from Bolivia and proudly wore his Bolivia jersey sitting in the middle of us. We were in a calmer section though, so fortunately there weren't any problems. It was interesting to see/hear all the chants and random traditions of the games. I usually couldn't make out the words completely though (a bit harder w/ the stadium echo effect). During one though everyone jumps and says something about if you dont jump, you're English. Haha, fair enough. The other interesting thing of note was that at one point during the game they used firehoses to spray the crowd. It was really hot in the sun (fortunately we were in the shade), so they did it to cool people down. Apparently they do it when there are problems in the crowd as well though.
After the game I rode the subte D line the entire line to get home--first time I'd done that. It was slightly difficult walking home to my house because there was a HUGE parade of Comunidad Homosexual Argentina going through Avenida de Mayo. I hadn't seen a parade here before either and this one was huge.
Saturday night I went out to dinner with Michelle and Amanda. We went to Meridiano 58, where I had gone with some girls at the beginning of the semester (and wanted to go to with my parents, but they went there for lunch just as a coincedence). I did wear my new dress though, which keeps me on the weekend of firsts theme. After dinner, Sarah, Michelle, and I attempted to go to Acabar (a restaurant/bar where you can play boardgames) but it was way too crowed. We found a fun spot called Sonomans and relaxed on the patio outside. Apparently we picked a good place because it got packed!
Today I went to the Feria de Mataderos with Sarah, Kate, Amanda, and Michelle. Mataderos is the barrio/neighborhood its in, which is in the southwest corner/limits of the city of Buenos Aires (almost out of the Guia T!). Mataderos means slaughterhouse. This feria is similar to a lot of the others, but this one has more of a folk/provincia feel to it. There was music and folk dancing all afternoon. They had a lot of food typical of Northern Argentina. We ate tamales and some kind of cornbread with cheese. They also had some kind of horse races. It started late because there were cars in the path. They found the owners for some and then just pushed a taxi out of the way (which had to be good for the car?). We watched for a bit (they rode so fast on the pavement and without real saddles!), but it looked like it was about to pour any moment so we left. From there we took a bus back into the main part of the city and I took the subte home (We took the subte--the entire line of E--plus a taxi ride to get there. From the bus I then rode the entire A line minus 1 stop to my house. I'd never ridden the whole line and now practically 3 times in 2 days!).
I took a nap for a bit, but now its time to do homework. Lots to do! Its so strange how everything is starting to come to an end. I don't like it. I'm just not ready yet. I'm not sure if I ever will be. Some people are staying for an entire year (a lot of them decided to do it while they were here this semester). I'd love to do that or study somewhere else for another semester, but its just not really possible. There'd be a lot of things I'd miss out on next semester as well. Oh well. Alright, time to do work!
Well, Friday wasn't too terribly exciting. I had a meeting with my tutor for my independent study (very little time left and lots to do--eek!), did some work, then went home and went for a run (about time!) around the ecological reserve in Puerto Madero. That night I went to dinner with Alex at Cumana, which has food more typical of norhtern Argentina. We both had yummy empanandas and shared desserts--including an empanada filled with dulce de leche! I had heard a lot about the restaurant and finally went. It was packed! Lots of people waiting outside for a table. It's not that big of a place and the menu is very simple (empanadas, pizza, tamales, etc) but we found out what the big deal was all about....
Saturday I went to the Argentina v. Boliva futbol (soccer) game! It was my first soccer game I've been to in Argentina. It was fun and Argentina won 3-0. They played in River stadium (the biggest stadium in Buenos Aires/Argentina, which is the Buenos Aires team River Plate's home stadium). One of the guys in our group is from Bolivia and proudly wore his Bolivia jersey sitting in the middle of us. We were in a calmer section though, so fortunately there weren't any problems. It was interesting to see/hear all the chants and random traditions of the games. I usually couldn't make out the words completely though (a bit harder w/ the stadium echo effect). During one though everyone jumps and says something about if you dont jump, you're English. Haha, fair enough. The other interesting thing of note was that at one point during the game they used firehoses to spray the crowd. It was really hot in the sun (fortunately we were in the shade), so they did it to cool people down. Apparently they do it when there are problems in the crowd as well though.
After the game I rode the subte D line the entire line to get home--first time I'd done that. It was slightly difficult walking home to my house because there was a HUGE parade of Comunidad Homosexual Argentina going through Avenida de Mayo. I hadn't seen a parade here before either and this one was huge.
Saturday night I went out to dinner with Michelle and Amanda. We went to Meridiano 58, where I had gone with some girls at the beginning of the semester (and wanted to go to with my parents, but they went there for lunch just as a coincedence). I did wear my new dress though, which keeps me on the weekend of firsts theme. After dinner, Sarah, Michelle, and I attempted to go to Acabar (a restaurant/bar where you can play boardgames) but it was way too crowed. We found a fun spot called Sonomans and relaxed on the patio outside. Apparently we picked a good place because it got packed!
Today I went to the Feria de Mataderos with Sarah, Kate, Amanda, and Michelle. Mataderos is the barrio/neighborhood its in, which is in the southwest corner/limits of the city of Buenos Aires (almost out of the Guia T!). Mataderos means slaughterhouse. This feria is similar to a lot of the others, but this one has more of a folk/provincia feel to it. There was music and folk dancing all afternoon. They had a lot of food typical of Northern Argentina. We ate tamales and some kind of cornbread with cheese. They also had some kind of horse races. It started late because there were cars in the path. They found the owners for some and then just pushed a taxi out of the way (which had to be good for the car?). We watched for a bit (they rode so fast on the pavement and without real saddles!), but it looked like it was about to pour any moment so we left. From there we took a bus back into the main part of the city and I took the subte home (We took the subte--the entire line of E--plus a taxi ride to get there. From the bus I then rode the entire A line minus 1 stop to my house. I'd never ridden the whole line and now practically 3 times in 2 days!).
I took a nap for a bit, but now its time to do homework. Lots to do! Its so strange how everything is starting to come to an end. I don't like it. I'm just not ready yet. I'm not sure if I ever will be. Some people are staying for an entire year (a lot of them decided to do it while they were here this semester). I'd love to do that or study somewhere else for another semester, but its just not really possible. There'd be a lot of things I'd miss out on next semester as well. Oh well. Alright, time to do work!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Wednesdays are long days...
Today as been a bit of a long day, as usual on Wednesdays, but a good day none-the-less. I was up late studying last night so I´m pretty tired, but life is good.
I took my parcial for Anthro this morning and I think it went well. I´m not quite as confident as I was at the end of the last one, but I think I did well anyway and that I won´t have to take the final. I talked with some of the girls after class and we´re hopefully going to get together next weekend or something. That would be fun.
Went from there to Lit, as usual. Today we had we had someone come in to speak with us. Don´t know how much you know about the 70´s in Argentina, but basically there was a genocide in which the government detained/sequestered "insurgents," who where then tortured, killed, forced into exhile, or "disapeared." Lots of students, intellectuals, artists, etc. Today José Sculman came to speak with us. He is a survivor who was captured/detained/tortured twice and now he writes about the experiences and the time period and whatnot and works with a human rights organization. It was really powerful. And intense. He read us some of his stuff, which gave it a whole new dimension. Good class. Scary stuff that happened.
(Sorry, I feel like my English is really awkward right now. I´ve been in classes in Spanish all day and I´m having hard time coming up with the right words)
Anyway, in a bit I have choir and then I´m painting tonight--yay!
Tomorrow I´m going on a tour with my Culture class to see French influences in the city. While part of this includes architecture, etc, it also means the methods or torture used in the 1970s, so we´ll be seeing some pretty powerful stuff tomorrow as well.
It´s so strange that, when I´m learning about things that happened during the time there are so many references to places in and around the city that I know. I have my own associations with these places and to put them in the context of such horrible events is just.... such a strange and disconcerting thought.
It´s hard to imagine the people who lived through the time or are survivors. First, that its real and they lived it and its not just a "story" or a "far away history" and second to think how so many places in the city have memories or history attached, but its everyday places all around the city.
I´m not really sure if that makes sense or not....
I took my parcial for Anthro this morning and I think it went well. I´m not quite as confident as I was at the end of the last one, but I think I did well anyway and that I won´t have to take the final. I talked with some of the girls after class and we´re hopefully going to get together next weekend or something. That would be fun.
Went from there to Lit, as usual. Today we had we had someone come in to speak with us. Don´t know how much you know about the 70´s in Argentina, but basically there was a genocide in which the government detained/sequestered "insurgents," who where then tortured, killed, forced into exhile, or "disapeared." Lots of students, intellectuals, artists, etc. Today José Sculman came to speak with us. He is a survivor who was captured/detained/tortured twice and now he writes about the experiences and the time period and whatnot and works with a human rights organization. It was really powerful. And intense. He read us some of his stuff, which gave it a whole new dimension. Good class. Scary stuff that happened.
(Sorry, I feel like my English is really awkward right now. I´ve been in classes in Spanish all day and I´m having hard time coming up with the right words)
Anyway, in a bit I have choir and then I´m painting tonight--yay!
Tomorrow I´m going on a tour with my Culture class to see French influences in the city. While part of this includes architecture, etc, it also means the methods or torture used in the 1970s, so we´ll be seeing some pretty powerful stuff tomorrow as well.
It´s so strange that, when I´m learning about things that happened during the time there are so many references to places in and around the city that I know. I have my own associations with these places and to put them in the context of such horrible events is just.... such a strange and disconcerting thought.
It´s hard to imagine the people who lived through the time or are survivors. First, that its real and they lived it and its not just a "story" or a "far away history" and second to think how so many places in the city have memories or history attached, but its everyday places all around the city.
I´m not really sure if that makes sense or not....
Monday, November 12, 2007
Visas and ATM cards
So this morning I spent about 3 1/2 hours in the Migrations Office for my visa. It was the 3rd time, but we had to go to extend the date and whatnot. The people who went last week said it only took about 1 1/2 hours, but I guess the fact that today is Monday as opposed to Friday helped. I overheard some of the staff commenting about how many people there were and that, even for a Monday, there usually aren´t that many people. Needless to say, I didnt go to class at 11. Oh well.
Saturday night I lost my ATM card. Boo. Very out of character for me. I realized right as I was about to go out, so tried to refrain from freaking out and made phone calls to cancel it and have a new one set to a friend´s sister who will be visiting next week. Today I went to the bank and asked about it and the card is there, but I need my original passport to get it out. I had a copy of my passport and my original visa form (from this morning), but had stopped by my house to drop off my original passport so I didn´t have to carry it around. Oh well. They said that if I don´t come back for it in 48 hours they´ll destroy it. I figure I´ll let them do that and just get my new one from Sarah´s sister since I´ve already cancelled it. Oh goodness...
Right now they´re finally repairing our appartment. They´ve been supposed to for a while now, but they just started last week. So... lots of things are rearranged. New painting. Soon the light will be fixed in my room--woohoo!
Anyway, thats my "fun" news for now. Haha. Now its time to get some studying done. I have my 2nd "midterm" in anthropology on Wednesday!
Saturday night I lost my ATM card. Boo. Very out of character for me. I realized right as I was about to go out, so tried to refrain from freaking out and made phone calls to cancel it and have a new one set to a friend´s sister who will be visiting next week. Today I went to the bank and asked about it and the card is there, but I need my original passport to get it out. I had a copy of my passport and my original visa form (from this morning), but had stopped by my house to drop off my original passport so I didn´t have to carry it around. Oh well. They said that if I don´t come back for it in 48 hours they´ll destroy it. I figure I´ll let them do that and just get my new one from Sarah´s sister since I´ve already cancelled it. Oh goodness...
Right now they´re finally repairing our appartment. They´ve been supposed to for a while now, but they just started last week. So... lots of things are rearranged. New painting. Soon the light will be fixed in my room--woohoo!
Anyway, thats my "fun" news for now. Haha. Now its time to get some studying done. I have my 2nd "midterm" in anthropology on Wednesday!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
The last few days...
Hola again!
Life is good in BsAs. Last night Sarah hosted an empanada and wine party, which was lots of fun! Sarah and Kate baked us yummy desserts and everyone else brought their favorite/ "the best" empanadas and wine. My empanandas never actually got eaten because somehow the box got overlooked in the kitchen (Sarah thought I was crazy, but I found them afterward. Haha. They really are good though!) There were about 10 girls and Sarah's host parents hung out with us for a while as well. Good, quality (and slightly crazy) time spent together talking and laughing.
I started a painting class the other day, which I'm very excited about. I always said I wanted to learn to paint and now I'm working on an oil painting! I'm trying at least, we'll see how it goes.
Today I went out with Sarah and Michelle to find a dress for Rachael's wedding. Success! I'm getting one custom-fitted/made for a price I'd spend in the U.S. on a dress. Afterward we wandered a bit, looking at shops and at the feria.
And now I'm going to read a bit before dinner and going out. =)
Life is good in BsAs. Last night Sarah hosted an empanada and wine party, which was lots of fun! Sarah and Kate baked us yummy desserts and everyone else brought their favorite/ "the best" empanadas and wine. My empanandas never actually got eaten because somehow the box got overlooked in the kitchen (Sarah thought I was crazy, but I found them afterward. Haha. They really are good though!) There were about 10 girls and Sarah's host parents hung out with us for a while as well. Good, quality (and slightly crazy) time spent together talking and laughing.
I started a painting class the other day, which I'm very excited about. I always said I wanted to learn to paint and now I'm working on an oil painting! I'm trying at least, we'll see how it goes.
Today I went out with Sarah and Michelle to find a dress for Rachael's wedding. Success! I'm getting one custom-fitted/made for a price I'd spend in the U.S. on a dress. Afterward we wandered a bit, looking at shops and at the feria.
And now I'm going to read a bit before dinner and going out. =)
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Bomb threats and the education system...
My host brother, Joaquin, has had bomb threats at his school since last Wednesday. There have been multiple a day, so that they have to evacuate each time and wait until everything is investigated until they can go back to school. One day there were 4 bomb threats. Elvira just didnt even send him to school on Monday because more time has been spend going in and out of the building than in class. Terrible, no? Its probably just a joke, but you can never take it that way.
A lot of the schools work on interesting schedules here, with different students going during different sessions. At Joaquin´s school there´s a morning, afternoon, and evening session. He goes to both the morning and afternoon sessions so that he has more time with each class and can also take French. As of a few years ago, a law was passed that every school has to teach English, so now if students want to take another language its in addition to English or through a private organization/school.
My class went well today in UBA. I´m almost done. Next week we have our second parcial (kind of like midterm?) and if I get a 7 or higher I get direct promotion and don´t need to take the final. So...that´s what I´m going for. I feel like I´m finally starting to connect more with some of the people in the class, which I´m excited about but wish it could have happened sooner since class is almost over. I was talking with 2 of the girls after class today though and we´re hopefully going to hang out after parciales and whatnot are out of the way. They told me that I definitely have to let them know before I leave.
I think I wrote a bit about UBA before, but in general it still just makes me laugh. Today we moved classrooms because there was construction or something that made a noise so loud no one could hear in the classroom. The walls are covered with posters and banners and graffiti. Lots of socialist propoganda. And graffiti paintings of Che. Not exactly Elon. That´s what I wanted though and it´s really interesting to experience things that are different.
Anyway, just thought I´d share. Speaking of classes, thats where I need to go now....
A lot of the schools work on interesting schedules here, with different students going during different sessions. At Joaquin´s school there´s a morning, afternoon, and evening session. He goes to both the morning and afternoon sessions so that he has more time with each class and can also take French. As of a few years ago, a law was passed that every school has to teach English, so now if students want to take another language its in addition to English or through a private organization/school.
My class went well today in UBA. I´m almost done. Next week we have our second parcial (kind of like midterm?) and if I get a 7 or higher I get direct promotion and don´t need to take the final. So...that´s what I´m going for. I feel like I´m finally starting to connect more with some of the people in the class, which I´m excited about but wish it could have happened sooner since class is almost over. I was talking with 2 of the girls after class today though and we´re hopefully going to hang out after parciales and whatnot are out of the way. They told me that I definitely have to let them know before I leave.
I think I wrote a bit about UBA before, but in general it still just makes me laugh. Today we moved classrooms because there was construction or something that made a noise so loud no one could hear in the classroom. The walls are covered with posters and banners and graffiti. Lots of socialist propoganda. And graffiti paintings of Che. Not exactly Elon. That´s what I wanted though and it´s really interesting to experience things that are different.
Anyway, just thought I´d share. Speaking of classes, thats where I need to go now....
Monday, November 5, 2007
And they got home safely
Just fyi, my parents arrived safely back in Dulles airport this morning.
Now I start a long week of playing catch-up as I go back to "routine" instead of vacation mode.
Now I start a long week of playing catch-up as I go back to "routine" instead of vacation mode.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
The padres came to visit!
My parents left earlier tonight for the airport. Their plane should be taking off pretty soon now. It was a really great visit--lots packed into 9 days. A bit exhausting, but good. It was really good to see them. I hadn´t really been missing things from home (mostly because I´m distracted by my exciting "new" life here), but I definitely got really excited thinking about them coming and it was a little hard to say goodbye and see you in December. Elvira said its because before I was distracted, but now I reestablished that connection. She's probably right. I can't even imagine what the goodbyes are going to be like in December when I won't be coming back to see those people after a month or so. It's going to be rough.
Anyway.... About the visit.
My parents arrived Saturday morning and went to the appartment they rented. There was some problem with the locks, but it all got worked out. We had empanadas for lunch--I figured we´d start out right with a very typical Argentine food. That afternoon we did a driving tour to see some of the highlights of the city. Afterwards we went to my appartment and they met my host family. It went really well. I played interpreter. My dad is did suprisingly well understanding and speaking a little bit of Spanish considering he hasn´t taken Spanish since college. His memory is ridiculous. We went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant that night with my host family as well. Yum. I packed my things up and then headed over to their appartment, since we were leaving in the morning. Unfortunately, we blew a fuse or something and all the electricity went out. We waited for the owners to come, but they couldn´t do anything either. A slightly rought start for the appartment building.
Sunday we went to Colonia, Uruguay. It's only an hour on the ferry across the river (or 3 if you take the slower one like I did earlier in the semester). Unlike my last visit, the weather was fabulous this time. We checked into our hotel (a hotel! Not a hostel! How wondeful!) and then went wandering in the historic district. Historic Colonia is very quaint--lots of old buildings and houses, cobblestone roads, restaurants and shops, all surrounded by the river. We basically wandered, browsed stores, and ate all day. We stopped by the restaurant I at lunch in last time and the owner/waitors/cooks, Ana and Carlos, remembered me. Ana had to think for a minute after I said something, but Carlos recognized me and came up to me right away. It was nice to talk to them for a bit. Had a nice dinner (also returned to where I ate dinner before. Maybe not original, but tasty) and then went for coffee at another restaurant with live music. Nothing else too noteworthy in Colonia, but it was very pretty and relaxing.
Also, Sunday was election day in Argentina. The current president's (Kirchner) wife, Cristina, was elected president--the first elected female president in Argentina.
Monday we came back to Buenos Aires. I thought I was going to have work and classes all days, but some plans changed so I got to play tourguide instead. I had to stop by FLACSO, so they got to meet a few people and see where I have a few of my classes. Stopped by a deli for lunch that I usually frequent a few times a week. Went on a mission for newspapers (for my independent study) and a hairdryer (which wouldn't be a culprit of another poweroutage in the appartment) and then wandered around Calle Florida, Plaza San Martin and Plaza de Mayo. After that I went to class, then came home for a big family dinner: Elvira (host mom), Joaquin (host brother), Catalina (host sister), Annie (Cata's student), and my real parents. Elvira had appetizers and wine waiting for us at the house. Dinner was a bit of an adventure. We started out walking the wrong way (2 similar street names, went to the wrong one) and when we arrived we learned were at El Palacio Espanol instead of Vasco Frances... we had the wrong address. The address I had gotten from the internet was really the address of another restaurant. We ended up eating there and it was good so it all worked out. Just made life a bit more interesting.
Tuesday I skipped my Spanish class to spend the day with my parents in Recoleta. We went to the cementary, which, though it sounds a bit morbid, was really cool. Its filled with monuments/mausoleums and there are lots of famous people from Argentina's history. I was able to explain a few, though a majority of the names that I did recognize I knew from street names or subte stops. We saw where Eva Peron (Evita) is buried and it was suprisingly unelaborate. We met up with Sarah and had lunch, which was fun. Tried to go to the Cultural Center to see some art exhibits afterward, but they're closed more or less on strike (welcome to Argentina). Went to Buenos Aires Design for a bit (basically a mall of cool things for the house?) and wandered around for a bit. My parents came to watch my tango class for a bit and afterwards we went to a tango show at Cafe Tortoni--a very classic and historic cafe in Buenos Aires. The show was really good and during one part, both dancers brought people up onstage with them and I got to dance!! I was quite excited and was actually able to follow pretty well and half-way pull it off. I think the combination of having come from tango class, a glass of wine with dinner, and the fact that he was really good and could lead all went together to make it work. I was super excited. It was really interesting to see where everyone in the audience was from as well. Out of 15 or so tables there were people from 10 countries. Pretty impressive.
Wednesday: Happy halloween, though its not really celebrated here. My parents brought me some halloween candy (including Reeses and candy corn!) which was exciting. I had class all day (11-8 with 2 hours total of breaks in between) so my parents were left alone in the city. They had various (outdoor) plans, but unfortunately it rained on and off all day. They went to the botanical gardens anyway (which apparently had many more cats than flowers in bloom) and to lunch in Palermo. There was an amusing/frustrating series of events trying to get to dinner that night. I was going to talk to my parents from my appartment about meeting up but discovered that I had the wrong number for their appartment, my house phone can't call cell phones, my cell phone was out of minutes, and my internet wasn't working to use skype or email. So I just walked over to their apartment. When I told them the name of the restaurant we had reservations at (Meridiano 58--which I had gone to early on in the semester and planned since that night to go to with my parents) they told me they had stumbled upon it and eaten there for lunch. Haha. I just couldn't win. We ended up going to Bar 6, which a friend had recommended and I'd read about in some of the guide books. Very good food, so everything worked out.
Thursday I had class in the morning and then we left for IGUAZU! It was an absolutely incredible trip. We spent all day Friday in the parks, but unfortunately had very rainy weather. I guess thats to be expected in a sub-tropical climate where it rains every 4-5 days. Even though the skies were gray, the views of the falls were still incredible. I took lots of pictures, but they just can't even capture it. The falls are an array of lots of waterfalls of all different sizes. There are falls in both Argentina and Brasil, but we couldn't go on the Brasil side since its so difficult (and expensive) for U.S. citizens to get visas there. We did the various trails and then took a speedboat out under the falls. Have you been soaked by a massive waterfall? I have. Incredible. From there we took the boat down the river and then rode in the back of an open truck through the jungle. Unfortunately, it starting pouring at this point (making us even wetter than from the falls) so the ride wasn't quite as enjoyable. We attempted to dry out a bit during lunch and did a bit more sight-seeing before going back to the hostel. We stayed at the Hostel Inn--amazingly nice for a hostel.
Saturday the weather was absolutely beautiful ( I got nice and sunburned as well, though yes I was wearing sunscreen). We took the train out to La Garganta del Diablo (Devil's throat), which is a really impressive view of the falls--my favorite. We took a raft down the river from there, which was really serene and hard to imagine that we had been so close to such a powerful waterfall. We repeated some of the walks from the day before to see the falls with a blue-sky background and got to see a rainbow as well! If you ever have the chance to go to Iguazu, I highly recommend it. It was just breathtakingly beautiful.
We were really lucky about spotting animals in the park also. We saw toucans, guinea pigs (wild), a deer, coatis (kind of like racoons), monkeys, turtles, and various other birds.
Saturdany evening we flew back to Buenos Aires. Elvira made dinner for us and, as my dad said, it was probably the best dinner we had during the trip. She made lomo (steak--filet?) with grapes and almonds and rice and stawberries with cream for dessert. Yum.
Today my parents brought their luggage over to my house and then we went out exploring the city one more time. Elvira accompanied us to the feria (market/fair) in San Telmo, which is 2 streets from my house, lunch at a parilla (grill), and then to La Boca, famous for its multi-color painted houses. When the immigrants (mostly Italian) moved there, they used whatever paints they had, which resulted in brightly, multi-colored houses. After we went to find a t-shirt for my dad and relaxed for a bit in a cafe before final packing and goodbyes. Around 7:15 they got in a cab and were off to the airport. Now my life will go back to "routine," though I'm quite alright with "routine" since I'm in Argentina.
Overall, it was a great visit and we got to do lots of fun things, including lots of things I hadn't gotten the chance to do before. I'm in the process of uploading pictures of our adventures, so be sure to look for them soon!
Anyway.... About the visit.
My parents arrived Saturday morning and went to the appartment they rented. There was some problem with the locks, but it all got worked out. We had empanadas for lunch--I figured we´d start out right with a very typical Argentine food. That afternoon we did a driving tour to see some of the highlights of the city. Afterwards we went to my appartment and they met my host family. It went really well. I played interpreter. My dad is did suprisingly well understanding and speaking a little bit of Spanish considering he hasn´t taken Spanish since college. His memory is ridiculous. We went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant that night with my host family as well. Yum. I packed my things up and then headed over to their appartment, since we were leaving in the morning. Unfortunately, we blew a fuse or something and all the electricity went out. We waited for the owners to come, but they couldn´t do anything either. A slightly rought start for the appartment building.
Sunday we went to Colonia, Uruguay. It's only an hour on the ferry across the river (or 3 if you take the slower one like I did earlier in the semester). Unlike my last visit, the weather was fabulous this time. We checked into our hotel (a hotel! Not a hostel! How wondeful!) and then went wandering in the historic district. Historic Colonia is very quaint--lots of old buildings and houses, cobblestone roads, restaurants and shops, all surrounded by the river. We basically wandered, browsed stores, and ate all day. We stopped by the restaurant I at lunch in last time and the owner/waitors/cooks, Ana and Carlos, remembered me. Ana had to think for a minute after I said something, but Carlos recognized me and came up to me right away. It was nice to talk to them for a bit. Had a nice dinner (also returned to where I ate dinner before. Maybe not original, but tasty) and then went for coffee at another restaurant with live music. Nothing else too noteworthy in Colonia, but it was very pretty and relaxing.
Also, Sunday was election day in Argentina. The current president's (Kirchner) wife, Cristina, was elected president--the first elected female president in Argentina.
Monday we came back to Buenos Aires. I thought I was going to have work and classes all days, but some plans changed so I got to play tourguide instead. I had to stop by FLACSO, so they got to meet a few people and see where I have a few of my classes. Stopped by a deli for lunch that I usually frequent a few times a week. Went on a mission for newspapers (for my independent study) and a hairdryer (which wouldn't be a culprit of another poweroutage in the appartment) and then wandered around Calle Florida, Plaza San Martin and Plaza de Mayo. After that I went to class, then came home for a big family dinner: Elvira (host mom), Joaquin (host brother), Catalina (host sister), Annie (Cata's student), and my real parents. Elvira had appetizers and wine waiting for us at the house. Dinner was a bit of an adventure. We started out walking the wrong way (2 similar street names, went to the wrong one) and when we arrived we learned were at El Palacio Espanol instead of Vasco Frances... we had the wrong address. The address I had gotten from the internet was really the address of another restaurant. We ended up eating there and it was good so it all worked out. Just made life a bit more interesting.
Tuesday I skipped my Spanish class to spend the day with my parents in Recoleta. We went to the cementary, which, though it sounds a bit morbid, was really cool. Its filled with monuments/mausoleums and there are lots of famous people from Argentina's history. I was able to explain a few, though a majority of the names that I did recognize I knew from street names or subte stops. We saw where Eva Peron (Evita) is buried and it was suprisingly unelaborate. We met up with Sarah and had lunch, which was fun. Tried to go to the Cultural Center to see some art exhibits afterward, but they're closed more or less on strike (welcome to Argentina). Went to Buenos Aires Design for a bit (basically a mall of cool things for the house?) and wandered around for a bit. My parents came to watch my tango class for a bit and afterwards we went to a tango show at Cafe Tortoni--a very classic and historic cafe in Buenos Aires. The show was really good and during one part, both dancers brought people up onstage with them and I got to dance!! I was quite excited and was actually able to follow pretty well and half-way pull it off. I think the combination of having come from tango class, a glass of wine with dinner, and the fact that he was really good and could lead all went together to make it work. I was super excited. It was really interesting to see where everyone in the audience was from as well. Out of 15 or so tables there were people from 10 countries. Pretty impressive.
Wednesday: Happy halloween, though its not really celebrated here. My parents brought me some halloween candy (including Reeses and candy corn!) which was exciting. I had class all day (11-8 with 2 hours total of breaks in between) so my parents were left alone in the city. They had various (outdoor) plans, but unfortunately it rained on and off all day. They went to the botanical gardens anyway (which apparently had many more cats than flowers in bloom) and to lunch in Palermo. There was an amusing/frustrating series of events trying to get to dinner that night. I was going to talk to my parents from my appartment about meeting up but discovered that I had the wrong number for their appartment, my house phone can't call cell phones, my cell phone was out of minutes, and my internet wasn't working to use skype or email. So I just walked over to their apartment. When I told them the name of the restaurant we had reservations at (Meridiano 58--which I had gone to early on in the semester and planned since that night to go to with my parents) they told me they had stumbled upon it and eaten there for lunch. Haha. I just couldn't win. We ended up going to Bar 6, which a friend had recommended and I'd read about in some of the guide books. Very good food, so everything worked out.
Thursday I had class in the morning and then we left for IGUAZU! It was an absolutely incredible trip. We spent all day Friday in the parks, but unfortunately had very rainy weather. I guess thats to be expected in a sub-tropical climate where it rains every 4-5 days. Even though the skies were gray, the views of the falls were still incredible. I took lots of pictures, but they just can't even capture it. The falls are an array of lots of waterfalls of all different sizes. There are falls in both Argentina and Brasil, but we couldn't go on the Brasil side since its so difficult (and expensive) for U.S. citizens to get visas there. We did the various trails and then took a speedboat out under the falls. Have you been soaked by a massive waterfall? I have. Incredible. From there we took the boat down the river and then rode in the back of an open truck through the jungle. Unfortunately, it starting pouring at this point (making us even wetter than from the falls) so the ride wasn't quite as enjoyable. We attempted to dry out a bit during lunch and did a bit more sight-seeing before going back to the hostel. We stayed at the Hostel Inn--amazingly nice for a hostel.
Saturday the weather was absolutely beautiful ( I got nice and sunburned as well, though yes I was wearing sunscreen). We took the train out to La Garganta del Diablo (Devil's throat), which is a really impressive view of the falls--my favorite. We took a raft down the river from there, which was really serene and hard to imagine that we had been so close to such a powerful waterfall. We repeated some of the walks from the day before to see the falls with a blue-sky background and got to see a rainbow as well! If you ever have the chance to go to Iguazu, I highly recommend it. It was just breathtakingly beautiful.
We were really lucky about spotting animals in the park also. We saw toucans, guinea pigs (wild), a deer, coatis (kind of like racoons), monkeys, turtles, and various other birds.
Saturdany evening we flew back to Buenos Aires. Elvira made dinner for us and, as my dad said, it was probably the best dinner we had during the trip. She made lomo (steak--filet?) with grapes and almonds and rice and stawberries with cream for dessert. Yum.
Today my parents brought their luggage over to my house and then we went out exploring the city one more time. Elvira accompanied us to the feria (market/fair) in San Telmo, which is 2 streets from my house, lunch at a parilla (grill), and then to La Boca, famous for its multi-color painted houses. When the immigrants (mostly Italian) moved there, they used whatever paints they had, which resulted in brightly, multi-colored houses. After we went to find a t-shirt for my dad and relaxed for a bit in a cafe before final packing and goodbyes. Around 7:15 they got in a cab and were off to the airport. Now my life will go back to "routine," though I'm quite alright with "routine" since I'm in Argentina.
Overall, it was a great visit and we got to do lots of fun things, including lots of things I hadn't gotten the chance to do before. I'm in the process of uploading pictures of our adventures, so be sure to look for them soon!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
My parents are here!
My parents arrived safely in Buenos Aires Saturday morning. We've been having lot of fun! I'll update soon on our adventures, but right now I have 30 minutes to pack and get to the airport, so I'd better get on that. We're going to Iguazu Falls!
Back in a few...
Back in a few...
Thursday, October 25, 2007
So remember that time I went to Puerto Madryn?
So I'm going to try to backtrack a little and update about my travel adventures.
Two weekends ago (Oct 11/12-16) I went down south to Patagonia to Puerto Madryn. It was AMAZING. Definitely my best trip here.
It started out a bit rough. Michelle, Sarah, and I missed our bus. The 18-hour bus to Puerto Madryn. I had left late, Sarah had left with plenty of time, but not enough for the traffic, and Michelle was there early but didn't see the bus (and Sarah had our tickets...). When we asked where it should be (they give you a range, not a specific place for the bus), they said it had left a minute or two earlier, but that we should take a taxi to the station on the other side of the city. We ran through the station and hopped in a cab but, unfortunately, met the slowest, least aggressive taxi driver Buenos Aires has ever know. When we realized we'd never make it in time we just went back to my house. "Suprise, Elvira! We're back!"
We spent a few hours making phone calls and looking online, but most places had closed at that point. We found a few possibilities and decided we'd make the final arrangements in the morning. We went out to dinner to relax a bit, but first stopped by Sarah's house. We told her host dad what had happened and he said, " Hold on, let me go make you girls a drink." We had a really good dinner at a pizza place called Piolos and hten the girls spent the night at my house.
We woke up early Friday morning and called about flights, but they didn't have any spaces, so we decided to take the 1:00 pm bus. We could only buy the tickets at the terminal, so we hurried over from my house.
After the intial problems, the trip went really smoothly. Wonderfully. It was a loooong bus ride, but not terrible. Sarah brought chips and salsa she had found (not exactly common here) and mate to share. We got to our hostel at 7:30 am Saturday and asked about tours while we were checking in. There was a tour leaving at 8:00 am and we said "We'll do it!" So we changed clothes, brushed our teeth, and grabbed a few pieces of toast and left again. (On a slightly grosser note, we definitely didn't shower for a couple days because of our crazy travels. Definitely a record for me).
The tour was great. The first stop was Trelew, where we took a boat ride to see the toninas (black and white dolphins. Not sure what the name is in English?). When they had said it a dolphin tour I wasn't super excited since I've seen them before, but this was completely different. I felt like a little kid getting all excited on the boat when we spotted them. They swam really fast though, so I have lots of pictures of water without dolphins. =)
We continued on to Punto Tumbo--to see the penguins!! That was the main reason I wanted to go to Puerto Madryn. We got to walk among the penguins in their colony, it was incredible. It wasn't exactly what I had pictured for a penguin's habitat though. They make holes in the dirt or under bushes for their nests. One hill was filled with holes and looked like it should have prairie dogs popping out, but instead there were penguins. No ice. No freezing cold. We were right by the ocean though. Now is the time when the penguins are waiting for their babies to hatch, so we got to see lots of penguin pairs with their eggs. It was interesting as well that there were guanacos (in the llama family) wandering around, in between the penguins. Who knew.
The next stop was Gaiman, a Welsh town where they still speak a mixture of Spanish and Welsh. (A lot of Welsh people migrated to the U.S. and to Argentina. In Argentina they were more sucessful in maintaining their culture, as opposed to the U.S. where they integrated more). We had tea at La Casa de Te Gales (The Welsh Tea House) where Princess Diana visited in 1995. We had lots of tea and pastries.
During the tour we met some cool people, including 4 girls from Belgium, Germany, Israel, and Finland. (Learned that in Belgium the waffles are more of a little old lady's afternoon snack, but the fries are amazing)
Three are studying in Buenos Aires and the other is more or less touring the world (Asia, Australia, South America to be exact) for a year and has been working/living in Buenos Aires for a few weeks. After the tour was over we all headed over to a bar to watch the end of the Argentina v. Chile futbol game (Argentina won, woohoo!). We just continued on to dinner from there, which was quite tasty. By this point we were exhausted,so went back to the hostel to sleep. We had a few complications (lack of sheets, confusion over which beds were occupied/not) which were a bit frustrating, but after it was all cleared up we happily fell asleep.
Sunday we did another full-day tour, this time of Peninsula Valdes. The first stop was probably my favorite. We stopped on the beach and watched about 6-8 whales right off the shore. The whales are Franca whales and go to Peninsula Valdes every year on their way to Antartica and are apparently the biggest whales in th world. They have callosidades (callosities) on their head/face which is kind of a big white...skin.... growth... thing. We saw a grey whale as well (as in color, still a Ballena Franca), which are more rare. We were so close to them, it was really cool to watch. We stopped next to see a dead baby whale that had washed up to shore. Sad. Next we saw elephant seals! They were really cool too. Usually they live offshore a distance where the water is deeper, but they come to shore for a bit to have their babies. We were able to see lots of "little" elephant seal babies. When they're born they're all black and after 25 days they aquire their grey/white coloring. After 25 days their mothers also leave them--sad. The seals were all up and down the shoreline, sleeping in the sun. Some would throw rocks on themselves to cool off, which was kind of amusing to watch. On our next stop we saw some more penguins (same kind as the day before, definitely not as many) and then went on for our boat tour! It was an interesting process they had to get onto the boat and into the water: They had a tractor pull the boat and passengers along the beach and into the water (One of the other tours had the people being pulled on a platform with the boat behind it). You would think the whole process could start a little closer to the water, but I guess whatever floats your boat (or....gets it into the water? yea, sorry). It was nice to be out on the (very blue) water and we saw a decent number of whales, but not as cool as when we were close to them on the shore.
That evening when we went back to Puerto Madryn we went to the beach and had fantastic 6-peso rabas (calamari) from a beach-side stand and some vino tinto. After we got cleaned up a bit and went out for a nice dinner and then early to bed again.
Monday morning we woke up to watch the sunrise on the beach. It was beautiful. We slept for a bit more then got ready and checked out of the hostel. We wandered around town a bit for the morning, had a yummy lunch, and then headed back for the bus. We were tempted to miss it again to stay longer in Puerto Madryn, but decided we had better go back home to BsAs.
The most interesting part of the trip was sharing mate with the bus drivers. I can't remember if I've talked about mate or not, but a quick explanation: Its an Argentine tradition. You drink yerba (like a loose tea) with hot water poured over it out of the mate (a cup made out of a gourd usually) with the bombilla (metal straw). Its usually meant to be passed around and shared in a group of friends, etc. Anyway, the attendant guy (I don't really know what to call him) had commented to Michelle about it and a few minutes later, one of the bus drivers came and sat in the empty seats across from her. He commented as well and asked if we'd like to come down and share mate with the bus drivers. We decided this was too strange of a situation to pass up. (We've also decided that bus drivers have a thing for Michelle, as this is the 3rd time a bus driver has hit on her). We went into the front cabin where the driver is and shared mate with the 2 bus drivers and the assistant/attendant person. Only in Argentina.....
And that, my friends, is the story of Puerto Madryn =)
Two weekends ago (Oct 11/12-16) I went down south to Patagonia to Puerto Madryn. It was AMAZING. Definitely my best trip here.
It started out a bit rough. Michelle, Sarah, and I missed our bus. The 18-hour bus to Puerto Madryn. I had left late, Sarah had left with plenty of time, but not enough for the traffic, and Michelle was there early but didn't see the bus (and Sarah had our tickets...). When we asked where it should be (they give you a range, not a specific place for the bus), they said it had left a minute or two earlier, but that we should take a taxi to the station on the other side of the city. We ran through the station and hopped in a cab but, unfortunately, met the slowest, least aggressive taxi driver Buenos Aires has ever know. When we realized we'd never make it in time we just went back to my house. "Suprise, Elvira! We're back!"
We spent a few hours making phone calls and looking online, but most places had closed at that point. We found a few possibilities and decided we'd make the final arrangements in the morning. We went out to dinner to relax a bit, but first stopped by Sarah's house. We told her host dad what had happened and he said, " Hold on, let me go make you girls a drink." We had a really good dinner at a pizza place called Piolos and hten the girls spent the night at my house.
We woke up early Friday morning and called about flights, but they didn't have any spaces, so we decided to take the 1:00 pm bus. We could only buy the tickets at the terminal, so we hurried over from my house.
After the intial problems, the trip went really smoothly. Wonderfully. It was a loooong bus ride, but not terrible. Sarah brought chips and salsa she had found (not exactly common here) and mate to share. We got to our hostel at 7:30 am Saturday and asked about tours while we were checking in. There was a tour leaving at 8:00 am and we said "We'll do it!" So we changed clothes, brushed our teeth, and grabbed a few pieces of toast and left again. (On a slightly grosser note, we definitely didn't shower for a couple days because of our crazy travels. Definitely a record for me).
The tour was great. The first stop was Trelew, where we took a boat ride to see the toninas (black and white dolphins. Not sure what the name is in English?). When they had said it a dolphin tour I wasn't super excited since I've seen them before, but this was completely different. I felt like a little kid getting all excited on the boat when we spotted them. They swam really fast though, so I have lots of pictures of water without dolphins. =)
We continued on to Punto Tumbo--to see the penguins!! That was the main reason I wanted to go to Puerto Madryn. We got to walk among the penguins in their colony, it was incredible. It wasn't exactly what I had pictured for a penguin's habitat though. They make holes in the dirt or under bushes for their nests. One hill was filled with holes and looked like it should have prairie dogs popping out, but instead there were penguins. No ice. No freezing cold. We were right by the ocean though. Now is the time when the penguins are waiting for their babies to hatch, so we got to see lots of penguin pairs with their eggs. It was interesting as well that there were guanacos (in the llama family) wandering around, in between the penguins. Who knew.
The next stop was Gaiman, a Welsh town where they still speak a mixture of Spanish and Welsh. (A lot of Welsh people migrated to the U.S. and to Argentina. In Argentina they were more sucessful in maintaining their culture, as opposed to the U.S. where they integrated more). We had tea at La Casa de Te Gales (The Welsh Tea House) where Princess Diana visited in 1995. We had lots of tea and pastries.
During the tour we met some cool people, including 4 girls from Belgium, Germany, Israel, and Finland. (Learned that in Belgium the waffles are more of a little old lady's afternoon snack, but the fries are amazing)
Three are studying in Buenos Aires and the other is more or less touring the world (Asia, Australia, South America to be exact) for a year and has been working/living in Buenos Aires for a few weeks. After the tour was over we all headed over to a bar to watch the end of the Argentina v. Chile futbol game (Argentina won, woohoo!). We just continued on to dinner from there, which was quite tasty. By this point we were exhausted,so went back to the hostel to sleep. We had a few complications (lack of sheets, confusion over which beds were occupied/not) which were a bit frustrating, but after it was all cleared up we happily fell asleep.
Sunday we did another full-day tour, this time of Peninsula Valdes. The first stop was probably my favorite. We stopped on the beach and watched about 6-8 whales right off the shore. The whales are Franca whales and go to Peninsula Valdes every year on their way to Antartica and are apparently the biggest whales in th world. They have callosidades (callosities) on their head/face which is kind of a big white...skin.... growth... thing. We saw a grey whale as well (as in color, still a Ballena Franca), which are more rare. We were so close to them, it was really cool to watch. We stopped next to see a dead baby whale that had washed up to shore. Sad. Next we saw elephant seals! They were really cool too. Usually they live offshore a distance where the water is deeper, but they come to shore for a bit to have their babies. We were able to see lots of "little" elephant seal babies. When they're born they're all black and after 25 days they aquire their grey/white coloring. After 25 days their mothers also leave them--sad. The seals were all up and down the shoreline, sleeping in the sun. Some would throw rocks on themselves to cool off, which was kind of amusing to watch. On our next stop we saw some more penguins (same kind as the day before, definitely not as many) and then went on for our boat tour! It was an interesting process they had to get onto the boat and into the water: They had a tractor pull the boat and passengers along the beach and into the water (One of the other tours had the people being pulled on a platform with the boat behind it). You would think the whole process could start a little closer to the water, but I guess whatever floats your boat (or....gets it into the water? yea, sorry). It was nice to be out on the (very blue) water and we saw a decent number of whales, but not as cool as when we were close to them on the shore.
That evening when we went back to Puerto Madryn we went to the beach and had fantastic 6-peso rabas (calamari) from a beach-side stand and some vino tinto. After we got cleaned up a bit and went out for a nice dinner and then early to bed again.
Monday morning we woke up to watch the sunrise on the beach. It was beautiful. We slept for a bit more then got ready and checked out of the hostel. We wandered around town a bit for the morning, had a yummy lunch, and then headed back for the bus. We were tempted to miss it again to stay longer in Puerto Madryn, but decided we had better go back home to BsAs.
The most interesting part of the trip was sharing mate with the bus drivers. I can't remember if I've talked about mate or not, but a quick explanation: Its an Argentine tradition. You drink yerba (like a loose tea) with hot water poured over it out of the mate (a cup made out of a gourd usually) with the bombilla (metal straw). Its usually meant to be passed around and shared in a group of friends, etc. Anyway, the attendant guy (I don't really know what to call him) had commented to Michelle about it and a few minutes later, one of the bus drivers came and sat in the empty seats across from her. He commented as well and asked if we'd like to come down and share mate with the bus drivers. We decided this was too strange of a situation to pass up. (We've also decided that bus drivers have a thing for Michelle, as this is the 3rd time a bus driver has hit on her). We went into the front cabin where the driver is and shared mate with the 2 bus drivers and the assistant/attendant person. Only in Argentina.....
And that, my friends, is the story of Puerto Madryn =)
A Little Bit of Everything
So as I'm waiting for my tea to cool, I figured I could write for a few. It's raining today. It poured earlier, but fortunately I made it to my class before the sky opened up. A lot of my classmates weren't quite so lucky and were drenched after walking a few blocks.
I haven't been feeling great since I got back from Mendoza, but I'm starting to feel a little better. My ears were (kind of still are) clogged, which made life a bit more interesting (especially going to choir).
Yesterday my anthropology class went really well. We got our parciales (midterms) back and I got a 9--woohoo! We had some group work time during class and the professor came up to talk to me and for the first time really showed interest. She was asking about what other classes I'm taking, why I chose Argentina, what my exchange program is like, how I've adjusted, etc. It seems like she realized from my midterm that I do understand Spanish (more or less) so she could talk to me. I'm starting to know a lot more people in the class, which I like. I wouldn't say I'm good friends with anyone or anything, but its nice to be greeted by a lot of people and have them ask how I'm doing and how my parcial went, etc.
Nothing else too terribly exciting this week. My week days have been a lot busier since I've been traveling so much on my free days, but its been worth it.
My tango class this afternoon was cancelled (good thing I checked my email right before I was getting ready to leave!) but tonight there's a group of us going to a milonga (where the real tango takes place). I'm excited since I haven't been yet.
Tomorrow I have some meetings and whatnot and then Saturday my parents get here!
I haven't been feeling great since I got back from Mendoza, but I'm starting to feel a little better. My ears were (kind of still are) clogged, which made life a bit more interesting (especially going to choir).
Yesterday my anthropology class went really well. We got our parciales (midterms) back and I got a 9--woohoo! We had some group work time during class and the professor came up to talk to me and for the first time really showed interest. She was asking about what other classes I'm taking, why I chose Argentina, what my exchange program is like, how I've adjusted, etc. It seems like she realized from my midterm that I do understand Spanish (more or less) so she could talk to me. I'm starting to know a lot more people in the class, which I like. I wouldn't say I'm good friends with anyone or anything, but its nice to be greeted by a lot of people and have them ask how I'm doing and how my parcial went, etc.
Nothing else too terribly exciting this week. My week days have been a lot busier since I've been traveling so much on my free days, but its been worth it.
My tango class this afternoon was cancelled (good thing I checked my email right before I was getting ready to leave!) but tonight there's a group of us going to a milonga (where the real tango takes place). I'm excited since I haven't been yet.
Tomorrow I have some meetings and whatnot and then Saturday my parents get here!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Pictures!
I finally made a site for pictures! They're not all organized/renamed/etc, but the internet is slow and who knows when I'll have the time.
So... see more of my adventures at:
http://community.webshots.com/user/beccawatts
So... see more of my adventures at:
http://community.webshots.com/user/beccawatts
Mendoza!
I'm home again!
This past weekend I went with Sarah, Alex, and Liana to Mendoza--wine country in the north, close to Chile.
As always, it started with an adventure. I slept over Sarah's house since we had to catch an early morning flight. I didn't go over until late and she didn't start packing until about 2, so needless to say we had more of a nap than a good night's sleep. We both set our alarms, but we awoke instead at 5:15 am to the taxi driver buzzing our appartment to say he was waiting downstairs. We were out the door in 4 minutes. We were pretty impressed with ourselves. We made it to the airport and fortunately everything went well with the flight.
We went from the airport to the hostel, only to find that we were at the wrong hostel. For some reason it make sense to give 2 hostels in the city the same name? We found the right one, dropped off our stuff, and headed out almost immediately for a tour we had lined up: BikesandWine. So, on limited sleep the four of us biked in the sun between wineries all day. It was fun, but left a little to be desired. All costs were supposed to be included in the tour price, but we still had to pay in order to do the wine tastings at most of the bodegas (wineries). The tours weren't amazing either. We did have an awesome lunch though (which was included). We had delicious food and ate outside on a shaded patio. We visited a place that made chocolates and liquors as well--yum . There was another place that made olive oil but it was just a bit too far for us to bike that day. At the end of the day we were (of course) rushing back to return the bikes and catch the van. We told Sarah to go ahead and let them know we were on our way--she's the fastest since she's a cyclist. She was so focused on her mission that she biked right past the place. We got there and a lady asked us, "Was your friend wearing a blue shirt?" She came back eventually though, so it all worked out.
We were exhausted by the time we got back to the hostel. Alex and Liana were staying in a hotel so we waited with them for a taxi. We called 3 times and even after an hour they never showed. They ended up waiting outside and still didn't find a ride until they met a couple who called a remise-driver friend of theirs. We had decided we'd just do dinner separately instead of our original plan of a nice restaurant. Sarah and I showered but then crashed in our rooms. We woke up late and thought about dinner, but decided to just sleep instead. It was a good choice.
Saturday we woke up nice and refreshed. It was definitely the best day. Sarah and I met up with her friend Christy at a nearby cafe. Christy is studying abroad in Mendoza and she and Sarah grew up doing triathalons together. Later, Alex, Liana, Sarah and I went to lunch at a bodega called Familia Zuccardi. Amazing. It was almost a 3 hour lunch. It was a set menu and the food just kept coming! We had empanadas, bread, salad and vegetables, asado (barbecue) with 5 different kinds of meat (steak, chicken, etc.), and creme brulee for dessert. With the different courses we tried their different types of white, red, and dessert wines. It was absolutely delicious. We ate outside again and our table overlooked a rose garden. (I'm turning into my mom--about half my pictures from my trip are of flowers!). After lunch we took a tour of the winery--much better than the previous day tours.
That night we went to rent a car for the next day and then all met up with Christy again and went out for "dinner," though we weren't very hungry. We split apetizers, wine and dessert. We went to a new restaurant in town with a somewhat creepy waitor. We weren't too impressed by it, but we had fun. Went to bed pretty early that night as well.
Sunday started out a bit complicated as well. Sarah and I went to pick up the girls (finding them was a little more challenging than planned) and then on a hunt for an ATM. We had lunch at a good mexican place (a bit hard to find in Argentina--good that is) and then went for a drive through the Andes mountains. It was beautiful. Stopped at a lake that was almost unnaturally blue and at a few points up in the mountains. That night we met up with Christy again for another great meal. (We ate a lot this weekend, if you hadn't noticed). I had a steak in a malbec sauce which delicious.
This morning we got up early again and flew back to BsAs. Overall, a fun trip. Mendoza is beautiful and we had great weather. If we had more time there it would have been fun to do some more outdoorsy type things--rafting, hiking, etc.
Unfortunately, I'm sick again. Boo. My allergies had been acting up during the weekend and after the drive in the mountains my ears clogged up and just never popped, which made dinner and the rest of the trip a bit more interesting. I was excited when they finally clear on the airplane, but then it all happened again. I went home with Sarah and her host mom said I'd better go to the doctor, so 3 prescriptions later (sinus infection, ears, etc) I'm on my way to getting better. Oh goodness.
Spent most of the afternoon with Alex and Sarah and then the evening relaxing, unpacking, etc. Wasn't quite as productive as I probably should have been, but that's usually how it is, isn't it?
This week is going to be pretty busy, but my parents come on Saturday! I'm excited =)
This past weekend I went with Sarah, Alex, and Liana to Mendoza--wine country in the north, close to Chile.
As always, it started with an adventure. I slept over Sarah's house since we had to catch an early morning flight. I didn't go over until late and she didn't start packing until about 2, so needless to say we had more of a nap than a good night's sleep. We both set our alarms, but we awoke instead at 5:15 am to the taxi driver buzzing our appartment to say he was waiting downstairs. We were out the door in 4 minutes. We were pretty impressed with ourselves. We made it to the airport and fortunately everything went well with the flight.
We went from the airport to the hostel, only to find that we were at the wrong hostel. For some reason it make sense to give 2 hostels in the city the same name? We found the right one, dropped off our stuff, and headed out almost immediately for a tour we had lined up: BikesandWine. So, on limited sleep the four of us biked in the sun between wineries all day. It was fun, but left a little to be desired. All costs were supposed to be included in the tour price, but we still had to pay in order to do the wine tastings at most of the bodegas (wineries). The tours weren't amazing either. We did have an awesome lunch though (which was included). We had delicious food and ate outside on a shaded patio. We visited a place that made chocolates and liquors as well--yum . There was another place that made olive oil but it was just a bit too far for us to bike that day. At the end of the day we were (of course) rushing back to return the bikes and catch the van. We told Sarah to go ahead and let them know we were on our way--she's the fastest since she's a cyclist. She was so focused on her mission that she biked right past the place. We got there and a lady asked us, "Was your friend wearing a blue shirt?" She came back eventually though, so it all worked out.
We were exhausted by the time we got back to the hostel. Alex and Liana were staying in a hotel so we waited with them for a taxi. We called 3 times and even after an hour they never showed. They ended up waiting outside and still didn't find a ride until they met a couple who called a remise-driver friend of theirs. We had decided we'd just do dinner separately instead of our original plan of a nice restaurant. Sarah and I showered but then crashed in our rooms. We woke up late and thought about dinner, but decided to just sleep instead. It was a good choice.
Saturday we woke up nice and refreshed. It was definitely the best day. Sarah and I met up with her friend Christy at a nearby cafe. Christy is studying abroad in Mendoza and she and Sarah grew up doing triathalons together. Later, Alex, Liana, Sarah and I went to lunch at a bodega called Familia Zuccardi. Amazing. It was almost a 3 hour lunch. It was a set menu and the food just kept coming! We had empanadas, bread, salad and vegetables, asado (barbecue) with 5 different kinds of meat (steak, chicken, etc.), and creme brulee for dessert. With the different courses we tried their different types of white, red, and dessert wines. It was absolutely delicious. We ate outside again and our table overlooked a rose garden. (I'm turning into my mom--about half my pictures from my trip are of flowers!). After lunch we took a tour of the winery--much better than the previous day tours.
That night we went to rent a car for the next day and then all met up with Christy again and went out for "dinner," though we weren't very hungry. We split apetizers, wine and dessert. We went to a new restaurant in town with a somewhat creepy waitor. We weren't too impressed by it, but we had fun. Went to bed pretty early that night as well.
Sunday started out a bit complicated as well. Sarah and I went to pick up the girls (finding them was a little more challenging than planned) and then on a hunt for an ATM. We had lunch at a good mexican place (a bit hard to find in Argentina--good that is) and then went for a drive through the Andes mountains. It was beautiful. Stopped at a lake that was almost unnaturally blue and at a few points up in the mountains. That night we met up with Christy again for another great meal. (We ate a lot this weekend, if you hadn't noticed). I had a steak in a malbec sauce which delicious.
This morning we got up early again and flew back to BsAs. Overall, a fun trip. Mendoza is beautiful and we had great weather. If we had more time there it would have been fun to do some more outdoorsy type things--rafting, hiking, etc.
Unfortunately, I'm sick again. Boo. My allergies had been acting up during the weekend and after the drive in the mountains my ears clogged up and just never popped, which made dinner and the rest of the trip a bit more interesting. I was excited when they finally clear on the airplane, but then it all happened again. I went home with Sarah and her host mom said I'd better go to the doctor, so 3 prescriptions later (sinus infection, ears, etc) I'm on my way to getting better. Oh goodness.
Spent most of the afternoon with Alex and Sarah and then the evening relaxing, unpacking, etc. Wasn't quite as productive as I probably should have been, but that's usually how it is, isn't it?
This week is going to be pretty busy, but my parents come on Saturday! I'm excited =)
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
What a relief
Alright. I´m just going to write about my 2 viajes (trips) later. It´s decided.
I feel so relieved right now. This morning I had my parcial (midterm) for my Anthropology class in UBA (where I´m the only extranjera/foreign student). Its like a weight lifted now that its over. The system is a bit different here. Actually each class its a bit different for me. For anthropology I have 2 midterms and have to get at least a 4 (out of 10) on them to continue taking the class. If I get an average of 7+ (or maybe its 7+ on each?), I´m done. If not, I have an oral final. We shall see. I studied lots but wasn´t sure if I was prepared or not at all, I didnt really know what to expect. It was easier than I thought though and I feel good about it. Now we´ll just see about the grade I get. There´s not so much an "inflation" of grades here, so its a lot harder to get good grades. A 10 is pretty much impossible in UBA. Too bad my grades will be transfering back.
I had a parcial last Thursday as well in my Cuestiones Culturales class. I felt good about that one as well. Now I´m more or less done with tests for a little while, yay!
Ok. Enough about school. Its kind of consumed my life since last week though.
What else.
Friday was Elvira´s birthday (my host mom). I didnt see her for most of the day, as we were both running in and out of the house, but I bought her flowers and made a sign for the front door. That night Cata and Annie and her sister and her sister´s husband came over for dinner, which was fun. We suprised her with a cake we had bought (or a brownie with dulce de leche to be exact). A fun night.
Saturday night was "La noche de los museos" (night of the museums). A hundred or so of the city´s museums were open from 7pm-2am with free entrance and there were various live bands and other events as well. There were people all over the city. It was incredible to see how crowded the museums and even the streets were with people participating. I went with Elvira and Joaquin and their friends (the parents are friends with Elvira, the son with Joaquin). They have a car so we were able to go to various parts of the city. We went to el museo del traje (museum of clothing) which was kind of cool, but ridiculously crowded. We listened to the live band for a bit and Joaquin won the raffle for their CD. Afterwards we went to the Museum of Immigrants (where I had gone to get my Visa). Outside was a feria (theres really no good translation. Fair? Market?) with stands set up by countries selling traditional food and wares, which was really cool. I tried a German beer in honor of Alison studying abroad in Heidelberg and a Colombian coffee for my Colombian friends here. We tried to go to two others but the lines were ridiculous. We finished at the museum about the money/currency. By that point I was exhausted and just wanted to go home, but overall it was a good night. I´m not a huge museum person (though I would like to like them more?), but it was interesting to see everything that went into "la noche de los museos."
This weekend I went to a musical on Sunday that was fabulous. It was called "Las medias de los flamencos" (The Flamingo´s Stockings) and one of the guys I sing with in choir is in it. The plot is more or less a fable of why the flamingo´s legs are colored. What really made the show was the movement/dancing. All of the actors were playing animals and moved like the animals would move. Words don´t do it justice. The way they moved and danced was just incredible.
Anyway, now I´m off to choir. Yay. Tomorrow evening I leave for Puerto Madryn, which is down south on the coast. Should be fun!
I´m working on making a photo page as well so I´ll post the link once its ready (a bit more complicated with finicky internet)!
I feel so relieved right now. This morning I had my parcial (midterm) for my Anthropology class in UBA (where I´m the only extranjera/foreign student). Its like a weight lifted now that its over. The system is a bit different here. Actually each class its a bit different for me. For anthropology I have 2 midterms and have to get at least a 4 (out of 10) on them to continue taking the class. If I get an average of 7+ (or maybe its 7+ on each?), I´m done. If not, I have an oral final. We shall see. I studied lots but wasn´t sure if I was prepared or not at all, I didnt really know what to expect. It was easier than I thought though and I feel good about it. Now we´ll just see about the grade I get. There´s not so much an "inflation" of grades here, so its a lot harder to get good grades. A 10 is pretty much impossible in UBA. Too bad my grades will be transfering back.
I had a parcial last Thursday as well in my Cuestiones Culturales class. I felt good about that one as well. Now I´m more or less done with tests for a little while, yay!
Ok. Enough about school. Its kind of consumed my life since last week though.
What else.
Friday was Elvira´s birthday (my host mom). I didnt see her for most of the day, as we were both running in and out of the house, but I bought her flowers and made a sign for the front door. That night Cata and Annie and her sister and her sister´s husband came over for dinner, which was fun. We suprised her with a cake we had bought (or a brownie with dulce de leche to be exact). A fun night.
Saturday night was "La noche de los museos" (night of the museums). A hundred or so of the city´s museums were open from 7pm-2am with free entrance and there were various live bands and other events as well. There were people all over the city. It was incredible to see how crowded the museums and even the streets were with people participating. I went with Elvira and Joaquin and their friends (the parents are friends with Elvira, the son with Joaquin). They have a car so we were able to go to various parts of the city. We went to el museo del traje (museum of clothing) which was kind of cool, but ridiculously crowded. We listened to the live band for a bit and Joaquin won the raffle for their CD. Afterwards we went to the Museum of Immigrants (where I had gone to get my Visa). Outside was a feria (theres really no good translation. Fair? Market?) with stands set up by countries selling traditional food and wares, which was really cool. I tried a German beer in honor of Alison studying abroad in Heidelberg and a Colombian coffee for my Colombian friends here. We tried to go to two others but the lines were ridiculous. We finished at the museum about the money/currency. By that point I was exhausted and just wanted to go home, but overall it was a good night. I´m not a huge museum person (though I would like to like them more?), but it was interesting to see everything that went into "la noche de los museos."
This weekend I went to a musical on Sunday that was fabulous. It was called "Las medias de los flamencos" (The Flamingo´s Stockings) and one of the guys I sing with in choir is in it. The plot is more or less a fable of why the flamingo´s legs are colored. What really made the show was the movement/dancing. All of the actors were playing animals and moved like the animals would move. Words don´t do it justice. The way they moved and danced was just incredible.
Anyway, now I´m off to choir. Yay. Tomorrow evening I leave for Puerto Madryn, which is down south on the coast. Should be fun!
I´m working on making a photo page as well so I´ll post the link once its ready (a bit more complicated with finicky internet)!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
A quick attempt at an update...
About 2 weeks ago I left for my first trip with the program to Jujuy, a province in the North-West corner of Argentina. Now I´m about to leave for the second trip, to Córdoba, and I still haven´t updated.
Jujuy was fun. Hopefully I´ll be able to explain it more later but, for now: We went from Wednesday to Sunday and it was wonderful to escape from the city for a bit. We were in the mountains/desert and it was really pretty and each day we traveled to visit a different part of the province. It was a bit more educational than I had expected--it was a seminar with UBA Philosophy and Letters, so we had guides and lectures at the various places we visited.
The trip to Córdoba is apparently more relaxing. I´ll let you know when I get back (I promise!).
Last Friday was the first day of Spring and also Student´s Day, so no one had classes. Someone told me that students´day is to honor the students who disapeared during the dictatorship in the ´70s, though I´m not sure if thats true or not. A few friends and I went to a park to have a picnic and were surrounded by Argentines, though mostly high-school aged. It was a lot of fun.
Sunday night I got to meet some of my extended Argentine family. It was my "aunt´s" birthday, so we went over to her house to celebrate and I met various cousins/aunts/etc. It was fun, though I was very glad to have Annie (my host mom´s daughter´s student) there with me.
Lots more going on, but not enough time to write. Just wanted to let you all know that I´m alive and well though. It must be a good thing if I´m too busy to write, right?
Jujuy was fun. Hopefully I´ll be able to explain it more later but, for now: We went from Wednesday to Sunday and it was wonderful to escape from the city for a bit. We were in the mountains/desert and it was really pretty and each day we traveled to visit a different part of the province. It was a bit more educational than I had expected--it was a seminar with UBA Philosophy and Letters, so we had guides and lectures at the various places we visited.
The trip to Córdoba is apparently more relaxing. I´ll let you know when I get back (I promise!).
Last Friday was the first day of Spring and also Student´s Day, so no one had classes. Someone told me that students´day is to honor the students who disapeared during the dictatorship in the ´70s, though I´m not sure if thats true or not. A few friends and I went to a park to have a picnic and were surrounded by Argentines, though mostly high-school aged. It was a lot of fun.
Sunday night I got to meet some of my extended Argentine family. It was my "aunt´s" birthday, so we went over to her house to celebrate and I met various cousins/aunts/etc. It was fun, though I was very glad to have Annie (my host mom´s daughter´s student) there with me.
Lots more going on, but not enough time to write. Just wanted to let you all know that I´m alive and well though. It must be a good thing if I´m too busy to write, right?
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Classes and a long-overdue update
It had been a while since I updated, so I'll write 2 in one day.
Life is good. My classes are going well and, as of Friday, I'm finally officially registered and whatnot (a month after starting? something like that).
I'm taking:
Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). UBA is like nothing I've seen before. Its a huge public school, free, very much underfunded, and the best in the country. I have my lecture class in a huge warehouse-looking room with 100 (200? I dont know, I'm terrible at estimating people) people. The professor uses a mic (when it works) and smokes more or less throughout the entire class. In UBA, all of the walls are covered with posters (usually hand-painted) advertising events or student groups or political propoganda. There are lots of students handing out fliers as well. It's definitely an interesting experience. I have my "practica" class as well (what is it in English? We don't have it at Elon. Recitation?), which probably has 20-30 students. I ended up changing that class for another time, but I've made some friends, so thats good.
Cultural Issues in Argentine History through my program. It's been pretty interesting and its comparative to the U.S. as well. The professor is great and really excited about the subject and teaching, so it makes it much more interesting.
The language in action: Word and Urban Landscape in Argentine Literature through my program. I really enjoy this professor as well. Every other week we have a regular class, with a lecture/presentations/discussions/etc. The other week we go on "field trips" around the city to visit areas where authors live or wrote or areas of inspiration or that appear in various poems/stories.
Language Class. Really not that exciting. At this point I've learned all of the grammar basics, I just need lots of practice. So, lots of review with other people from the U.S. In the other classes there are people from all over, but in mine we're all from the U.S. Oh well.
Choir with IUNA (the arts school). I joined/went to my first class last week. It was so exciting! Its great to sing again, because I haven't really since high school. We sing mostly in Spanish, but we're doing a few songs in English as well. I was excited that I knew two of them--"Remember Oh Thou Man" (which I sang with madrigals) and "Weep, Oh Mine Eyes" (which I played in a quartet in orchestra).
Independent Study. I'm studying the influences of English on the Spanish in Buenos Aires. It's still not really focused. I'm going to see if I can turn it into something for my thesis at Elon though. We'll see.
Next week I'm going to Jujuy and later in the month Cordoba, both trips with the program. It shold be fun. I've overcome my fear of talking on the phone in Spanish (so much harder than in person) as I now talk with some friends I've met here on the phone. I'm understanding the TV much better now as well. I don't watch much, but sometimes I'll join Elvira (my "mom") to watch something. She likes Patinando por un Sueno (Iceskating for a Dream), which is more or less Dancing with the Stars, but iceskating.
I'm also starting to learn to go with the flow a little more here because plans often don't work out so well. Last night I actually made a plan of where I wanted to go and had a friend to go with me but at the last minute it just didn't work out. I ended up going to dinner with Elvira and Joaquin to their friends house though. Today, after sending many text messages, I found a friend to go with me to a free concert. When we got there though there weren't any tickets left. We ran into Esteban, an argentino that sings in the choir with me, and ended up hanging out with him. He was our tourguide of Recoleta (one of the barrios/neighborhoods) and we went to the museum of fine arts, the feria (fair? I'm not sure what it translates to exactly. Lots of stands selling things, music, food, etc. They happen all over every weekend), and then for coffee and a snack. It was really fun.
Anyway, almost time for dinner. Thats enough of a random update for now. I'll try to be a little more consistent with the updates!! Hasta luego.....
Life is good. My classes are going well and, as of Friday, I'm finally officially registered and whatnot (a month after starting? something like that).
I'm taking:
Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). UBA is like nothing I've seen before. Its a huge public school, free, very much underfunded, and the best in the country. I have my lecture class in a huge warehouse-looking room with 100 (200? I dont know, I'm terrible at estimating people) people. The professor uses a mic (when it works) and smokes more or less throughout the entire class. In UBA, all of the walls are covered with posters (usually hand-painted) advertising events or student groups or political propoganda. There are lots of students handing out fliers as well. It's definitely an interesting experience. I have my "practica" class as well (what is it in English? We don't have it at Elon. Recitation?), which probably has 20-30 students. I ended up changing that class for another time, but I've made some friends, so thats good.
Cultural Issues in Argentine History through my program. It's been pretty interesting and its comparative to the U.S. as well. The professor is great and really excited about the subject and teaching, so it makes it much more interesting.
The language in action: Word and Urban Landscape in Argentine Literature through my program. I really enjoy this professor as well. Every other week we have a regular class, with a lecture/presentations/discussions/etc. The other week we go on "field trips" around the city to visit areas where authors live or wrote or areas of inspiration or that appear in various poems/stories.
Language Class. Really not that exciting. At this point I've learned all of the grammar basics, I just need lots of practice. So, lots of review with other people from the U.S. In the other classes there are people from all over, but in mine we're all from the U.S. Oh well.
Choir with IUNA (the arts school). I joined/went to my first class last week. It was so exciting! Its great to sing again, because I haven't really since high school. We sing mostly in Spanish, but we're doing a few songs in English as well. I was excited that I knew two of them--"Remember Oh Thou Man" (which I sang with madrigals) and "Weep, Oh Mine Eyes" (which I played in a quartet in orchestra).
Independent Study. I'm studying the influences of English on the Spanish in Buenos Aires. It's still not really focused. I'm going to see if I can turn it into something for my thesis at Elon though. We'll see.
Next week I'm going to Jujuy and later in the month Cordoba, both trips with the program. It shold be fun. I've overcome my fear of talking on the phone in Spanish (so much harder than in person) as I now talk with some friends I've met here on the phone. I'm understanding the TV much better now as well. I don't watch much, but sometimes I'll join Elvira (my "mom") to watch something. She likes Patinando por un Sueno (Iceskating for a Dream), which is more or less Dancing with the Stars, but iceskating.
I'm also starting to learn to go with the flow a little more here because plans often don't work out so well. Last night I actually made a plan of where I wanted to go and had a friend to go with me but at the last minute it just didn't work out. I ended up going to dinner with Elvira and Joaquin to their friends house though. Today, after sending many text messages, I found a friend to go with me to a free concert. When we got there though there weren't any tickets left. We ran into Esteban, an argentino that sings in the choir with me, and ended up hanging out with him. He was our tourguide of Recoleta (one of the barrios/neighborhoods) and we went to the museum of fine arts, the feria (fair? I'm not sure what it translates to exactly. Lots of stands selling things, music, food, etc. They happen all over every weekend), and then for coffee and a snack. It was really fun.
Anyway, almost time for dinner. Thats enough of a random update for now. I'll try to be a little more consistent with the updates!! Hasta luego.....
The bracelet
So a few weeks ago I went to meet up with some friends at Plaza Serrano. There are lots of restaurants and bars with open space in the middle. I was the first one to get there, so I started walking around, looking at the booths selling jewelry/crafts in the center of the plaza. One of the vendors struck up a conversation with me and we talked for about 20 minutes before my friends finally got there. I love talking to new people. He made bracelets and after talking for a few minutes he said he wanted to give me something. He gave me a bracelet, not like the ones he sold, but simple with string and a wooden bead. It's a "dream bracelet" (pulsera de deseos, but desires translates a little funny in English). I had to make a wish on the bead and when it falls off, that means it comes true. (There was also something about positive energy but I didnt really catch that part...).
Anyway, I don't know if the bracelet is like birthday candles, where you're not supposed to tell, but I'm going to anyway. I wished for "direction."
I had heard from others that, in general, you change a lot when you study abroad. You discover a lot about yourself when you're taken so far out of our comfort zone. I had somewhat expected this, and wanted this, but didn't realize to what extent I'd experience it. Sometimes I feel like my world has been turned upside down. Obviously I'm living in a different culture, different language, etc. But I'm trying so many new things and meeting so many new people and really just trying to have an open mind and it's making me question everything. My favorite example, as silly as it is, is that I didn't like tea and only sometimes would drink coffee back home. Now I have coffee and/or tea pretty much every day. And I like it. It's just makning me reevaluate a lot of things that I thought/wanted/liked/etc.
But even though right now my life is a little confusing, I know its a good thing. I know that, one day the bracelet will fall off and I will have a clearer idea of who I am, what I am, what I like, etc (which may or may not be at the same time). I know I will come out of this better and stronger. And I'm really excited about that.
Anyway, I don't know if the bracelet is like birthday candles, where you're not supposed to tell, but I'm going to anyway. I wished for "direction."
I had heard from others that, in general, you change a lot when you study abroad. You discover a lot about yourself when you're taken so far out of our comfort zone. I had somewhat expected this, and wanted this, but didn't realize to what extent I'd experience it. Sometimes I feel like my world has been turned upside down. Obviously I'm living in a different culture, different language, etc. But I'm trying so many new things and meeting so many new people and really just trying to have an open mind and it's making me question everything. My favorite example, as silly as it is, is that I didn't like tea and only sometimes would drink coffee back home. Now I have coffee and/or tea pretty much every day. And I like it. It's just makning me reevaluate a lot of things that I thought/wanted/liked/etc.
But even though right now my life is a little confusing, I know its a good thing. I know that, one day the bracelet will fall off and I will have a clearer idea of who I am, what I am, what I like, etc (which may or may not be at the same time). I know I will come out of this better and stronger. And I'm really excited about that.
Monday, August 20, 2007
A weekend in Uruguay
I just got back this morning from a long weekend in Uruguay. Today is a national holiday--Día del Libertador José de San Martín (an anniversary of the death of San Martín), which means no classes for me and a perfect opportunity to travel. Just as an FYI (if I already wrote about this I apologize), San Martín was on of the leaders in the fight for independence of Argentina, Chile, and Peru. However, after he had a meeting with Simon Bolivar he stepped down and Bolivar went on to get most of the credit as liberator of Spanish South America.
Friday morning I left with Sarah, Alex, Sarah, and Annie and we took a ferry to Colonia, Uruguay. I was suprised by how nice the boat was--I guess I hadn't been picturing a car-carrying, almost cruiseship-resembling kind of boat. We slept most of the ride there, which was nice to get a little bit more sleep after an early morning start. Once we got to Colonia we got ourselfs oriented, taking a bus to the tourist office, exchanging some money, finding our hostel (El Espanol), etc. From there we went to find food and stumbled upon a great place for lunch called La Florida. A nice little couple had made a house into a restaurant, fille with artworks and antiques and a comfortable, homey feel. We had a delicious lunch (most notably the chocolate mohito cake for dessert) and Carlos and Ana, the owners/cooks, were fabulous. It was pretty confusing paying in Colonia (and throughout the weekend) since we had a mixture of dollars, Argentine pesos, and Uruguyan pesos, all with very different exchange rates.
After lunch we wandered around the historic area for a while. Colonia is an old colonial (hence the name) town--the oldest in Uruguay. The weather was pretty terrible (very cold, windy, and rainy), which made it a little harder to enjoy the picturesque views. We went back to the bus station to buy tickets to Montevideo in the morning (the only tickets we didn't buy ahead of time so we could decided how long we wanted to spend in Colonia once we got there). From there we just went to El Drugstore, the restuarante we had seen in a guidebook. It was filled with funky artwork and bold colors--a very fun atmosphere. We ended up spending most of the night there, listening to the live music and sharing drinks, dinners, and desserts. It was a very fun night.
Saturday morning we took the bus over to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. Apparently it's supposed to be like the Buenos Aires of 20 years ago. I'm not sure if I see that or not. Sometimes I feel like what my mom says is true--"A city is a city." I suppose it was a lot less hectic, but, from our experiences at least, not as exciting. We wandered around some of the main streets of the city and most of the stores were closed even though it Saturday afternoon. It was just hard to find things to do sometimes since the museums and stores where pretty much closed, which I didn't understand. That night was a lot of fun at the hostel though. We stayed at Ciudad Vieja, which was filled with lots of young people. We met people from Holland, France, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Uruguay, Brasil, the US, and England. Another group of students from FLACSO was staying there, which was a fun coincidence. Stefan's group of friends was there as well (which I had known but didn't make the connection about until Saturday night when I first saw them). There was a dinner at the hostel, but we went out instead since they were having asado (barbeque) and we had two vegetarians in our group. When we came back the common room was filled with lots of happy, loud (wine-filled) people. There were lots of fun conversations throughout the night as well as music played (and at times sung to) on the guitar and mandolin. A lot of people ended up going out much later in the night, but I decided to sleep instead so that I could wake up for the city tour in the morning.
Sunday morning we took a bus tour of the city. Once again the weather was cold, windy, cloudy, and rainy. The tour was pretty interesting, though I zoned out for a bit since I was in the back, it was early in the morning, the mic stopped working half-way through the tour, and the entire tour was in Spanish. Once we got back from the tour we went to a "feria," which was pretty much a huge fleemarket. They had a little bit of everything there, including clothing, fruit, birds and other various animals, jewelry, tools, bike tires, and antiques. We went back and watched "Something's Gotta Give" at the hostel and chilled for a bit since we didn't have any plans and wanted to get out of the cold. Later we ventured out to the grocery store for a few things, a restaurant for coffee, and, after a quick stop back at the hostel, a restaurant for dinner. We found a little Italian place that was very tasty. I had homemade pasta stuffed with ricotta and salmon. After dinner we had a bit more time to relax in the hostel and then started our journey back to Buenos Aires. We had wanted to leave Monday afternoon but there weren't any tickets left, so we opted to travel overnight. We took the bus back to Colonia around 1:00am and then the ferry back to Buenos Aires around 4:30am. We got into BA about 7:30, though I didn't make it back to my appartment until 9 or so.
We got lucky and had great roommates in both hostels. In Colonia we met Helga from Trinidad. She's a freelance journalist that writes about vacationing, mostly with a focus on wine. She ended up coming to Montevideo as well and we met up again at the second hostel. In Montevideio we roomed with Tinka from Holland, who is doing an internship in Buenos Aires. We hung out with Tinka a lot and hopefully we'll get to see her in BA as well.
Overall it was a fun weekend and I'm glad we went. I might go back to Colonia when its warmer and go to a beach in Uruguay. I'm wasn't super impressed with Montevideo though. I definitely prefer Buenos Aires. This was my first trip though where a group of friends planned it ourselves just for the heck of it. It wasn't a family vacation or a trip through an organization or school. There were multiple times this weekend when one of us would just stop for a second and say, "Hey, did you know we're in Uruguay?"
Friday morning I left with Sarah, Alex, Sarah, and Annie and we took a ferry to Colonia, Uruguay. I was suprised by how nice the boat was--I guess I hadn't been picturing a car-carrying, almost cruiseship-resembling kind of boat. We slept most of the ride there, which was nice to get a little bit more sleep after an early morning start. Once we got to Colonia we got ourselfs oriented, taking a bus to the tourist office, exchanging some money, finding our hostel (El Espanol), etc. From there we went to find food and stumbled upon a great place for lunch called La Florida. A nice little couple had made a house into a restaurant, fille with artworks and antiques and a comfortable, homey feel. We had a delicious lunch (most notably the chocolate mohito cake for dessert) and Carlos and Ana, the owners/cooks, were fabulous. It was pretty confusing paying in Colonia (and throughout the weekend) since we had a mixture of dollars, Argentine pesos, and Uruguyan pesos, all with very different exchange rates.
After lunch we wandered around the historic area for a while. Colonia is an old colonial (hence the name) town--the oldest in Uruguay. The weather was pretty terrible (very cold, windy, and rainy), which made it a little harder to enjoy the picturesque views. We went back to the bus station to buy tickets to Montevideo in the morning (the only tickets we didn't buy ahead of time so we could decided how long we wanted to spend in Colonia once we got there). From there we just went to El Drugstore, the restuarante we had seen in a guidebook. It was filled with funky artwork and bold colors--a very fun atmosphere. We ended up spending most of the night there, listening to the live music and sharing drinks, dinners, and desserts. It was a very fun night.
Saturday morning we took the bus over to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. Apparently it's supposed to be like the Buenos Aires of 20 years ago. I'm not sure if I see that or not. Sometimes I feel like what my mom says is true--"A city is a city." I suppose it was a lot less hectic, but, from our experiences at least, not as exciting. We wandered around some of the main streets of the city and most of the stores were closed even though it Saturday afternoon. It was just hard to find things to do sometimes since the museums and stores where pretty much closed, which I didn't understand. That night was a lot of fun at the hostel though. We stayed at Ciudad Vieja, which was filled with lots of young people. We met people from Holland, France, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Uruguay, Brasil, the US, and England. Another group of students from FLACSO was staying there, which was a fun coincidence. Stefan's group of friends was there as well (which I had known but didn't make the connection about until Saturday night when I first saw them). There was a dinner at the hostel, but we went out instead since they were having asado (barbeque) and we had two vegetarians in our group. When we came back the common room was filled with lots of happy, loud (wine-filled) people. There were lots of fun conversations throughout the night as well as music played (and at times sung to) on the guitar and mandolin. A lot of people ended up going out much later in the night, but I decided to sleep instead so that I could wake up for the city tour in the morning.
Sunday morning we took a bus tour of the city. Once again the weather was cold, windy, cloudy, and rainy. The tour was pretty interesting, though I zoned out for a bit since I was in the back, it was early in the morning, the mic stopped working half-way through the tour, and the entire tour was in Spanish. Once we got back from the tour we went to a "feria," which was pretty much a huge fleemarket. They had a little bit of everything there, including clothing, fruit, birds and other various animals, jewelry, tools, bike tires, and antiques. We went back and watched "Something's Gotta Give" at the hostel and chilled for a bit since we didn't have any plans and wanted to get out of the cold. Later we ventured out to the grocery store for a few things, a restaurant for coffee, and, after a quick stop back at the hostel, a restaurant for dinner. We found a little Italian place that was very tasty. I had homemade pasta stuffed with ricotta and salmon. After dinner we had a bit more time to relax in the hostel and then started our journey back to Buenos Aires. We had wanted to leave Monday afternoon but there weren't any tickets left, so we opted to travel overnight. We took the bus back to Colonia around 1:00am and then the ferry back to Buenos Aires around 4:30am. We got into BA about 7:30, though I didn't make it back to my appartment until 9 or so.
We got lucky and had great roommates in both hostels. In Colonia we met Helga from Trinidad. She's a freelance journalist that writes about vacationing, mostly with a focus on wine. She ended up coming to Montevideo as well and we met up again at the second hostel. In Montevideio we roomed with Tinka from Holland, who is doing an internship in Buenos Aires. We hung out with Tinka a lot and hopefully we'll get to see her in BA as well.
Overall it was a fun weekend and I'm glad we went. I might go back to Colonia when its warmer and go to a beach in Uruguay. I'm wasn't super impressed with Montevideo though. I definitely prefer Buenos Aires. This was my first trip though where a group of friends planned it ourselves just for the heck of it. It wasn't a family vacation or a trip through an organization or school. There were multiple times this weekend when one of us would just stop for a second and say, "Hey, did you know we're in Uruguay?"
Thursday, August 9, 2007
So then we played Spanish pictionary in a bar....
When I made this blog, I didn’t think I’d be updating quite so frequently. There’s so much going on though that I can hardly remember everything I want to share.
Tuesday was my first day of classes (only at UCA, the Catholic University of Argentina). In the morning I went to an Argentine Literature class in the Latin American Studies Program (aka mostly foreign students). I showed up to the classroom on my schedule and found two guys from the program, but no one else. We waited for a while and then decided it was time to ask, which was also an adventure. Every time we tracked someone down, they sent us to someone else. Eventually we found out that we had the wrong room listed on our schedules and were able to go to our class, just 20 minutes late. I think I liked the class, but I’m deciding between that one and another one that will start next week.
After class I got my student ID and then ran around the city a bit. I had to go to FLACSO to find out which classes I can take at UBA, though it turned out I could have done it online. I got the classes I wanted though, so they’ll start on Monday. Then I went back to UCA to have lunch with Stefan (from the plane) before our class on Peronismo (aka politics started by/based on Juan Peron). I decided it wasn’t the class for me though, so I won’t be taking that one. Afterwards I went to a class about making documentaries, specifically documentaries in Buenos Aires. It seemed really, really interesting, but I don’t think I want to devote that much time to filming and editing this semester.
I tried to go get photocopies of a story I needed for my lit class, but didn’t have much success. They don’t have the same system here, where you can just buy all of your textbooks from the campus shop. In fact, there usually aren’t campuses at all (UCA is the closest to a “campus,” since all the buildings are next to each other as opposed to all around the city). Here, the bibliographies for the classes are usually excerpts from various books, either in the forms of photocopies (from libraries, original books, or places that just do photocopies of texts and notes) or in books which may or may not be in the many bookstores in the city. The professor had said that the story would be in the print lab/photocopy center in the building, but when I went (and after I figured out the system) it wasn’t there. I emailed the professor though and she sent me a link online. That’s a nice thing about UCA—small classes, a lot like Elon.
That night I went out and had one of the most fun nights yet. I met up with a few people at a restaurant and we just chilled, talked, and enjoyed ice cream and wine. Afterwards, we went to the bar (Jobs) where we had gone as a group to celebrate the end of orientation. It’s a big place, filled with picnic tables, pool tables, darts, and foosball. We noticed that the people at some of the tables were playing board games as well. Maybe this exists in the U.S. and I just don’t know about it, but board games in a bar was a very new concept for me. We ended up playing Pictionary in Spanish with two Argentines. It was so much fun. We played in teams and it was very amusing when the US kids would guess the words correctly instead of the Argentines. There were many times we had to switch the cards though because we just didn’t know the words or we would understand the drawing, but not know how to say it in Spanish.
Wednesday was not particularly exciting. I stayed around the house for most of the morning/afternoon to be with Joaquin as well as wait for the computer technician to come to make the wireless internet work. Turns out it the wireless router wasn’t working because the cable was plugged into the wrong spot. Go figure. At least it didn’t cost that much for him to come out and he was able to fix up Elvira’s computer as well. Afterwards I went to another class at UCA—Introduction to Sociology. Once again it was somewhat of a wild goose chase trying to find which classroom I was supposed to be in. It was my first class where I was the only exchange student as opposed to there only being a few, if any, Argentines. The other students were really nice. At first it was a bit awkward, but they all talked to me, asking where I was from, what I studied, if I liked it here, etc. The girl I sat next to helped me after class, showing me where to go to get the syllabus.
Thursday I had my Lit class again. Unlike the other classes, which tend to start 10-20 minutes late, this one started a minute or two early. I was not expecting that at all, but I walked in right as she was starting. The story we read was interesting, though I didn’t fully understand it until we talked about it in class. It was all a satire of the government when Rosas was dictator, but since I’m far from an expert on Argentine history I missed a lot of the connections. I was surprised by how much a lot of the other (foreign) students knew though. That afternoon I had lunch with Sarah and then Elvira took us shopping for boots. It seems as if everyone here wears either boots or Converse sneakers. We both bought a pair, though it took me a while since I’m incredibly indecisive. I went back to UCA for the Sociology class (it’s a Wed, Thurs class. Strange). Once again, I really enjoyed the people. I understood the first half of class really well, but the second half I was pretty lost. I may or may not keep this class, depending on how I like the UBA class Monday.
I like how close/affectionate people are in Argentina. During our break in class one of the students bought a snack and another bought a drink and then they all shared it with a big group of friends (I was very excited I was included). Also, a kiss on the cheek is the standard greeting and goodbye here. Even on the first day of class, some of the students (who I had never met before) kissed me hello along with their other classmates. It’s a very friendly feeling, though still a bit strange at times.
Thursday night I went out with some friends and ended up meeting and talking with some Argentines, which was exciting. I like having new friends within the program, but I really want to make friends outside of the program as well.
Today I successfully bought a book for my lit class and booked my ferry/bus to go to Uruguay next weekend. We have a 3-day-weekend so I’m going to go to Colonia and Montevideo with some friends. Tonight I think I’m going to go out salsa dancing, which I’m very exciting about. Apparently people don’t start showing up until 2 or 3 in the morning though, so I think I’ll nap between dinner and going out. We shall see how it goes.
Tuesday was my first day of classes (only at UCA, the Catholic University of Argentina). In the morning I went to an Argentine Literature class in the Latin American Studies Program (aka mostly foreign students). I showed up to the classroom on my schedule and found two guys from the program, but no one else. We waited for a while and then decided it was time to ask, which was also an adventure. Every time we tracked someone down, they sent us to someone else. Eventually we found out that we had the wrong room listed on our schedules and were able to go to our class, just 20 minutes late. I think I liked the class, but I’m deciding between that one and another one that will start next week.
After class I got my student ID and then ran around the city a bit. I had to go to FLACSO to find out which classes I can take at UBA, though it turned out I could have done it online. I got the classes I wanted though, so they’ll start on Monday. Then I went back to UCA to have lunch with Stefan (from the plane) before our class on Peronismo (aka politics started by/based on Juan Peron). I decided it wasn’t the class for me though, so I won’t be taking that one. Afterwards I went to a class about making documentaries, specifically documentaries in Buenos Aires. It seemed really, really interesting, but I don’t think I want to devote that much time to filming and editing this semester.
I tried to go get photocopies of a story I needed for my lit class, but didn’t have much success. They don’t have the same system here, where you can just buy all of your textbooks from the campus shop. In fact, there usually aren’t campuses at all (UCA is the closest to a “campus,” since all the buildings are next to each other as opposed to all around the city). Here, the bibliographies for the classes are usually excerpts from various books, either in the forms of photocopies (from libraries, original books, or places that just do photocopies of texts and notes) or in books which may or may not be in the many bookstores in the city. The professor had said that the story would be in the print lab/photocopy center in the building, but when I went (and after I figured out the system) it wasn’t there. I emailed the professor though and she sent me a link online. That’s a nice thing about UCA—small classes, a lot like Elon.
That night I went out and had one of the most fun nights yet. I met up with a few people at a restaurant and we just chilled, talked, and enjoyed ice cream and wine. Afterwards, we went to the bar (Jobs) where we had gone as a group to celebrate the end of orientation. It’s a big place, filled with picnic tables, pool tables, darts, and foosball. We noticed that the people at some of the tables were playing board games as well. Maybe this exists in the U.S. and I just don’t know about it, but board games in a bar was a very new concept for me. We ended up playing Pictionary in Spanish with two Argentines. It was so much fun. We played in teams and it was very amusing when the US kids would guess the words correctly instead of the Argentines. There were many times we had to switch the cards though because we just didn’t know the words or we would understand the drawing, but not know how to say it in Spanish.
Wednesday was not particularly exciting. I stayed around the house for most of the morning/afternoon to be with Joaquin as well as wait for the computer technician to come to make the wireless internet work. Turns out it the wireless router wasn’t working because the cable was plugged into the wrong spot. Go figure. At least it didn’t cost that much for him to come out and he was able to fix up Elvira’s computer as well. Afterwards I went to another class at UCA—Introduction to Sociology. Once again it was somewhat of a wild goose chase trying to find which classroom I was supposed to be in. It was my first class where I was the only exchange student as opposed to there only being a few, if any, Argentines. The other students were really nice. At first it was a bit awkward, but they all talked to me, asking where I was from, what I studied, if I liked it here, etc. The girl I sat next to helped me after class, showing me where to go to get the syllabus.
Thursday I had my Lit class again. Unlike the other classes, which tend to start 10-20 minutes late, this one started a minute or two early. I was not expecting that at all, but I walked in right as she was starting. The story we read was interesting, though I didn’t fully understand it until we talked about it in class. It was all a satire of the government when Rosas was dictator, but since I’m far from an expert on Argentine history I missed a lot of the connections. I was surprised by how much a lot of the other (foreign) students knew though. That afternoon I had lunch with Sarah and then Elvira took us shopping for boots. It seems as if everyone here wears either boots or Converse sneakers. We both bought a pair, though it took me a while since I’m incredibly indecisive. I went back to UCA for the Sociology class (it’s a Wed, Thurs class. Strange). Once again, I really enjoyed the people. I understood the first half of class really well, but the second half I was pretty lost. I may or may not keep this class, depending on how I like the UBA class Monday.
I like how close/affectionate people are in Argentina. During our break in class one of the students bought a snack and another bought a drink and then they all shared it with a big group of friends (I was very excited I was included). Also, a kiss on the cheek is the standard greeting and goodbye here. Even on the first day of class, some of the students (who I had never met before) kissed me hello along with their other classmates. It’s a very friendly feeling, though still a bit strange at times.
Thursday night I went out with some friends and ended up meeting and talking with some Argentines, which was exciting. I like having new friends within the program, but I really want to make friends outside of the program as well.
Today I successfully bought a book for my lit class and booked my ferry/bus to go to Uruguay next weekend. We have a 3-day-weekend so I’m going to go to Colonia and Montevideo with some friends. Tonight I think I’m going to go out salsa dancing, which I’m very exciting about. Apparently people don’t start showing up until 2 or 3 in the morning though, so I think I’ll nap between dinner and going out. We shall see how it goes.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Dress-up for big kids
Today was another adventure. This morning I went for the first step in the process of getting my visa (We came in on turist visas and are getting our student visas here. Apparently its easier that way). I bought some school supplies and stopped at the bakery by my house that always smells delicious. I went to FLACSO in attempts to finish registering for classes, but (to make an overly complicated story to) they weren´t ready, so I left and made copies of my passport and had a quick lunch with Sarah.
At 230, a few people met at my house and we went, accompanied by my host mom, to a leather/fur factory. Elvira knows the owner so we were able to take a tour and try things on. I had thought it would be normal leather jackets and whatnot, but we were all quite suprised. They had very equisite, elaborate jackets in all kinds of colors, made of all kinds of furs. Definitely not things you would wear everyday. We had fun trying them on though. My favorite was a huge blue coat with a large, furry blue collar that seemed to swallow me up. Eventually I´ll post a link for pictures. Overall it was fun and very interesting, though a bit disturbing if you thought about where it all came from.
Afterwards Sarah and Amanda came over (after a stop at the bakery)and hung out for a bit. After snacking for a while we decided we were still hungry, so we went to a Cuban-style restaurant I pass everyday on my way to the subte. We relaxed and enjoyed appetizers and drinks. Its been fun meeting new people.
Tomorrow I´ll go to my first classes. I´m going to go to 3, but probably only take 1 of them, if any. We shall see how it goes!
At 230, a few people met at my house and we went, accompanied by my host mom, to a leather/fur factory. Elvira knows the owner so we were able to take a tour and try things on. I had thought it would be normal leather jackets and whatnot, but we were all quite suprised. They had very equisite, elaborate jackets in all kinds of colors, made of all kinds of furs. Definitely not things you would wear everyday. We had fun trying them on though. My favorite was a huge blue coat with a large, furry blue collar that seemed to swallow me up. Eventually I´ll post a link for pictures. Overall it was fun and very interesting, though a bit disturbing if you thought about where it all came from.
Afterwards Sarah and Amanda came over (after a stop at the bakery)and hung out for a bit. After snacking for a while we decided we were still hungry, so we went to a Cuban-style restaurant I pass everyday on my way to the subte. We relaxed and enjoyed appetizers and drinks. Its been fun meeting new people.
Tomorrow I´ll go to my first classes. I´m going to go to 3, but probably only take 1 of them, if any. We shall see how it goes!
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Weekend #2
I´m not really sure where to begin. It always seems like so much happens between updates.
So, lets see.... This past week was the last week of official orientation activities with FLACSO. To celebrate, Thursdsay night we (students, staff, etc.) all went out to Job´s Bar for pizza, drinks, pool, etc. On Wednesday or Thursday I came down with a cold, which slows me down a bit. I had tried my best to avoid getting sick, but seeing as most everyone in the program was/is sick, it seems its my turn.
Friday we had a test on the basic information of the program (which apparently wasn´t taken very seriously since lots of people will be retaking it...). Afterwards, I went to get pictures taken for my Visa and then out to lunch. Sarah came home with me to see if we could get the wireless internet to work on my computer, but alas, it still won´t. I think we´re going to call someone to come out to set it up because, once school starts, it will be much more convenient to be able to access the internet from my computer. After that we wandered around San Telmo in the rain for a bit, shopping until all the stores closed. I bought one shirt, but since its short-sleeved it doesn´t exactly help me with the cold. We went to a fabulous place for dinner called Desnivel, which is a local favorite. We each had salad (I don´t eat as many fruits and vegetables here as at home) and delicious steaks and shared wine and chocolate mousse.
Saturday I went shopping for a bit since there are a lot of end of winter sales right now. I didnt find anything I liked, but the girls I was with bought a few things. The style is very different here. The 80´s are in full swing here. Leg warmers are normal. Everyone wears either boots or converse sneakers, and if boots, then their pants are usually tucked into them. Mullets and rattails are not uncommon. Lots of stretchy material. In the stores you see all kinds of colors, but most people wear dark colors--lots of black, brown, grey, dark blue and green, etc.
Anyway, after shopping (my biggest purchase of the day was tissues. very exciting) I went home for a bit before heading out again. I went out to dinner with a few of the girls to another "local favorite" type restaurant and then went to see a play. Cata (my host mom´s daughter and Annie´s host) works on production at a theater, so we went to see "Las Criadas." They talked really fast and I had a bit of a headache, so I didn´t catch all the lines. I understood the general idea though. Its definitely a fun way to practice my listening skills. I´m hoping to go to the theater again.
Today I finally went around San Telmo with Elvira, my host mom. We had been planning on doing it for quite some time, but each day I had substantial free time it rained. We walked just a few blocks from where we live and saw all kinds of things. The Manzana de las Luces is the block where the first school and universities were. The Cabildo is the building where the fight for independence from Spain was planned. We also saw the Casa Rosada and the Plaza de Mayo, 3 churches (one where San Martín is buried--an Argentine hero who fought for independence though Simon Bolivar gets much more of the credit), and a few museums. Then we wandered along the street Defensa where all the artisans, artists, antiques, and musicians are. We went into the market too, which is much of the same, though covered. This would be a antique collector´s paradaise. It was pretty, but I´m not all too interested in antiques. I did buy a necklace though from one of the stands on the street. For lunch we stopped at a little Parilla (grill) and had choripans. Its a very typical food of Argentina, which is pretty much a sausage sandwhich. It was tasty though. We wandered for a bit more before returning home to get out of the cold for a bit. Today was a lot of fun. I was able to see a lot of interesting things and finally learn a bit more about the buildings I pass everday.
So, lets see.... This past week was the last week of official orientation activities with FLACSO. To celebrate, Thursdsay night we (students, staff, etc.) all went out to Job´s Bar for pizza, drinks, pool, etc. On Wednesday or Thursday I came down with a cold, which slows me down a bit. I had tried my best to avoid getting sick, but seeing as most everyone in the program was/is sick, it seems its my turn.
Friday we had a test on the basic information of the program (which apparently wasn´t taken very seriously since lots of people will be retaking it...). Afterwards, I went to get pictures taken for my Visa and then out to lunch. Sarah came home with me to see if we could get the wireless internet to work on my computer, but alas, it still won´t. I think we´re going to call someone to come out to set it up because, once school starts, it will be much more convenient to be able to access the internet from my computer. After that we wandered around San Telmo in the rain for a bit, shopping until all the stores closed. I bought one shirt, but since its short-sleeved it doesn´t exactly help me with the cold. We went to a fabulous place for dinner called Desnivel, which is a local favorite. We each had salad (I don´t eat as many fruits and vegetables here as at home) and delicious steaks and shared wine and chocolate mousse.
Saturday I went shopping for a bit since there are a lot of end of winter sales right now. I didnt find anything I liked, but the girls I was with bought a few things. The style is very different here. The 80´s are in full swing here. Leg warmers are normal. Everyone wears either boots or converse sneakers, and if boots, then their pants are usually tucked into them. Mullets and rattails are not uncommon. Lots of stretchy material. In the stores you see all kinds of colors, but most people wear dark colors--lots of black, brown, grey, dark blue and green, etc.
Anyway, after shopping (my biggest purchase of the day was tissues. very exciting) I went home for a bit before heading out again. I went out to dinner with a few of the girls to another "local favorite" type restaurant and then went to see a play. Cata (my host mom´s daughter and Annie´s host) works on production at a theater, so we went to see "Las Criadas." They talked really fast and I had a bit of a headache, so I didn´t catch all the lines. I understood the general idea though. Its definitely a fun way to practice my listening skills. I´m hoping to go to the theater again.
Today I finally went around San Telmo with Elvira, my host mom. We had been planning on doing it for quite some time, but each day I had substantial free time it rained. We walked just a few blocks from where we live and saw all kinds of things. The Manzana de las Luces is the block where the first school and universities were. The Cabildo is the building where the fight for independence from Spain was planned. We also saw the Casa Rosada and the Plaza de Mayo, 3 churches (one where San Martín is buried--an Argentine hero who fought for independence though Simon Bolivar gets much more of the credit), and a few museums. Then we wandered along the street Defensa where all the artisans, artists, antiques, and musicians are. We went into the market too, which is much of the same, though covered. This would be a antique collector´s paradaise. It was pretty, but I´m not all too interested in antiques. I did buy a necklace though from one of the stands on the street. For lunch we stopped at a little Parilla (grill) and had choripans. Its a very typical food of Argentina, which is pretty much a sausage sandwhich. It was tasty though. We wandered for a bit more before returning home to get out of the cold for a bit. Today was a lot of fun. I was able to see a lot of interesting things and finally learn a bit more about the buildings I pass everday.
Monday, July 30, 2007
El fin de semana y las clases
This weekend was fun, though it didn´t all go exactly as planned.
Friday night I went out for a delicious dinner with some new friends. We went to a fancy restaurant and splurged on apetizers, the main meal, dessert, wine, and coffee. Yum. The exchange rate definitely works in our favor here. We had planned on going out afterwards, but after dinner we all felt so relaxed from good food and good conversation that we decided to just go home and chill and go to bed instead.
Saturday I met up with some of the other kids from the program to do a walking tour. We saw a bit of San Telmo, where I live, and then went to lunch at a cafe called London City, where apparently Cortazar wrote a lot of one of his books and set the first scene there. When we left the restaurant we saw something that might have been one of the funniest/strangest things I´ve seen in my life: hundreds of waitors/waitresses speed walking down a main road (the Casa Rosada is at one end, Congress at the other), balancing trays with a bottle of soda and water and a glass with a drink in it. I suppose it was some kind of race, because they all had numbers pinned onto their shirts. I never really got the full story, but it was very amusing (and suprising) to see.
From there we decided to cut the San Telmo tour short to visit La Boca: argued the birthplace of the tango, but not so safe after dark. We took the subte there and saw a few things, though not as much as we wanted before we decided to turn back. That night I went to dinner with some of the girls and then went to the club ("boliche") where Annie´s host/my host mom´s daughter works. I took the bus all by myself to Annie and Cata´s place--it was very exciting!
Sunday I had planned on going to church with a friend, but set my alarm for pm instead of am, and woke up very late. I wandered around San Telmo with another group though--on Sundays they close one of the roads and there are merchants selling jewelry, artsy things, clothing, etc. up and down the street, as well as lots of musicians (tango bands, percussion groups,etc).
Today I wandered around by myself a bit and shopped for a few thing--shoes that are more comfortable for walking around the city,and a peacoat (that most people wear here and I left at home). I went to lunch with a friend who was on the DC flight and then spent lots of time at FLACSO trying to figure out classes. Its overly complicated. I need to decide which classes I want to take and at which university/program, what will transfer for credits back at Elon, if the schedules overlap, and if I can get to the classes in time. Unlike having all of the classes on one campus, I´ll have classes all over the city. Luckily though, I know that at least 2, maybe 3, will be pretty close to my appartment. Most of my classes with be with foreign students, but I want to take at least one regular class with Argentine students. Its just hard to know which classes I´ll be able to do the best in with the language disadvantage. We´ll see.
Anyway, thats the update for now. Hasta luego!
Friday night I went out for a delicious dinner with some new friends. We went to a fancy restaurant and splurged on apetizers, the main meal, dessert, wine, and coffee. Yum. The exchange rate definitely works in our favor here. We had planned on going out afterwards, but after dinner we all felt so relaxed from good food and good conversation that we decided to just go home and chill and go to bed instead.
Saturday I met up with some of the other kids from the program to do a walking tour. We saw a bit of San Telmo, where I live, and then went to lunch at a cafe called London City, where apparently Cortazar wrote a lot of one of his books and set the first scene there. When we left the restaurant we saw something that might have been one of the funniest/strangest things I´ve seen in my life: hundreds of waitors/waitresses speed walking down a main road (the Casa Rosada is at one end, Congress at the other), balancing trays with a bottle of soda and water and a glass with a drink in it. I suppose it was some kind of race, because they all had numbers pinned onto their shirts. I never really got the full story, but it was very amusing (and suprising) to see.
From there we decided to cut the San Telmo tour short to visit La Boca: argued the birthplace of the tango, but not so safe after dark. We took the subte there and saw a few things, though not as much as we wanted before we decided to turn back. That night I went to dinner with some of the girls and then went to the club ("boliche") where Annie´s host/my host mom´s daughter works. I took the bus all by myself to Annie and Cata´s place--it was very exciting!
Sunday I had planned on going to church with a friend, but set my alarm for pm instead of am, and woke up very late. I wandered around San Telmo with another group though--on Sundays they close one of the roads and there are merchants selling jewelry, artsy things, clothing, etc. up and down the street, as well as lots of musicians (tango bands, percussion groups,etc).
Today I wandered around by myself a bit and shopped for a few thing--shoes that are more comfortable for walking around the city,and a peacoat (that most people wear here and I left at home). I went to lunch with a friend who was on the DC flight and then spent lots of time at FLACSO trying to figure out classes. Its overly complicated. I need to decide which classes I want to take and at which university/program, what will transfer for credits back at Elon, if the schedules overlap, and if I can get to the classes in time. Unlike having all of the classes on one campus, I´ll have classes all over the city. Luckily though, I know that at least 2, maybe 3, will be pretty close to my appartment. Most of my classes with be with foreign students, but I want to take at least one regular class with Argentine students. Its just hard to know which classes I´ll be able to do the best in with the language disadvantage. We´ll see.
Anyway, thats the update for now. Hasta luego!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Una semana
It´s been a week since I first started by adventure to Buenos Aires. I think an update is long overdue.
We arrived Monday and our group of thirteen went to find lunch together and then returned to for orientation all afternoon. That evening we went home with our host families--no hotel for us.
I live in an apartment in San Telmo, which is pretty much the political center of the city. I pass the Casa Rosada (what would be our White House. think Evita on the balcony.) and the Plaza de Mayo. I live with Elvira and her 12-year-old son, Joaquin. Joaquin´s friend Matías is usually at the house as well. Elvira has a daughter, Catalina, also, but she lives in an appartment in another part of the city. Another student in the CIEE program, Annie, lives with Cata.
Tuesday morning began our week of orientation--sessions learning about the city and the program, taking placement tests, etc. Elvira went with me and showed me the route and how to use the subway (subte). I came home by myself though and got a bit confused. I forgot I had to cross the street that divides the entire city so that the names are different on either side. Oops. I found my way home though safely. I understand the subtes now and dont mind taking them. During rush hour it gets ridiculous though; people are crammed in like sardines and literally tangled up in one another. I haven´t taken a bus yet. There are so many, all identified by numbers and colors. Eventually I´ll learn.
Tuesday night Annie and Cata came over for dinner, which was really fun. Elivira loves to cook and makes very tasty food. We eat very late. Every night it´s been around 10:00, though she said that when the schools are no longer on vacation, the usual is 9:00. I didn´t really get a chance to catch up on sleep until Wednesday, since every night we seem to talk for a few hours.
I´ve been meeting lots of really cool people. It´s strange though having to make lots of new friends again. I suppose thats what I did at the start of college, but that seems like a ways off from now.
Last night I went out for the first time which was lots of fun. Night life is so late here. I didnt leave the house until around 1 and met up with some friends who had gone out to dinner. From there we headed to a club. It was packed. It was really fun dancing and whatnot, but at times it reminded me of the subte at rush hour. There were lots of the CIEE kids there who had come in various groups. I ran into my new friend Stefan, the Brit from the airplane, at the club as well and met some of his friends and shared a cab home since he lives closeby.
After going to bed at 5:15 this morning, I got up to go to a 9:30 orientation at "La UCA" (the private Catholic university). I´m not sure yet which classes I´m taking or where. There´s a big public university (UBA), a private University (UCA), the classes through the program, and then all of the various departments and programs within each. After orientation I took the scenic route home with Eliza and took her to my subte stop. Then I wandered around a bit, just exploring the area around where I live. And now.... I´m here pretending to decide on classes, but really checking email and (finally) updating this.
Sometimes its strange to think that I´ll be here until December, but I´m really enjoying it so far and I just keep getting more excited!
We arrived Monday and our group of thirteen went to find lunch together and then returned to for orientation all afternoon. That evening we went home with our host families--no hotel for us.
I live in an apartment in San Telmo, which is pretty much the political center of the city. I pass the Casa Rosada (what would be our White House. think Evita on the balcony.) and the Plaza de Mayo. I live with Elvira and her 12-year-old son, Joaquin. Joaquin´s friend Matías is usually at the house as well. Elvira has a daughter, Catalina, also, but she lives in an appartment in another part of the city. Another student in the CIEE program, Annie, lives with Cata.
Tuesday morning began our week of orientation--sessions learning about the city and the program, taking placement tests, etc. Elvira went with me and showed me the route and how to use the subway (subte). I came home by myself though and got a bit confused. I forgot I had to cross the street that divides the entire city so that the names are different on either side. Oops. I found my way home though safely. I understand the subtes now and dont mind taking them. During rush hour it gets ridiculous though; people are crammed in like sardines and literally tangled up in one another. I haven´t taken a bus yet. There are so many, all identified by numbers and colors. Eventually I´ll learn.
Tuesday night Annie and Cata came over for dinner, which was really fun. Elivira loves to cook and makes very tasty food. We eat very late. Every night it´s been around 10:00, though she said that when the schools are no longer on vacation, the usual is 9:00. I didn´t really get a chance to catch up on sleep until Wednesday, since every night we seem to talk for a few hours.
I´ve been meeting lots of really cool people. It´s strange though having to make lots of new friends again. I suppose thats what I did at the start of college, but that seems like a ways off from now.
Last night I went out for the first time which was lots of fun. Night life is so late here. I didnt leave the house until around 1 and met up with some friends who had gone out to dinner. From there we headed to a club. It was packed. It was really fun dancing and whatnot, but at times it reminded me of the subte at rush hour. There were lots of the CIEE kids there who had come in various groups. I ran into my new friend Stefan, the Brit from the airplane, at the club as well and met some of his friends and shared a cab home since he lives closeby.
After going to bed at 5:15 this morning, I got up to go to a 9:30 orientation at "La UCA" (the private Catholic university). I´m not sure yet which classes I´m taking or where. There´s a big public university (UBA), a private University (UCA), the classes through the program, and then all of the various departments and programs within each. After orientation I took the scenic route home with Eliza and took her to my subte stop. Then I wandered around a bit, just exploring the area around where I live. And now.... I´m here pretending to decide on classes, but really checking email and (finally) updating this.
Sometimes its strange to think that I´ll be here until December, but I´m really enjoying it so far and I just keep getting more excited!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Estoy aqui!
Just to let you all know, I´m finally here safe! Off to lunch then a special orientation for the 13 of us.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Leaving home...again.
Well, tonight I leave for Buenos Aires....for the second time. Apparently the next 5 months really will be an adventure.
I went out to dinner Friday night with my parents, brother, and Jeff before heading to the airport and saying goodbye. Saying goodbye was harder than I thought it would be. At the gate I met up with Kelly and Whitney from Elon and we found about 5 other students participating in our program as well.
The first part of the flight went well. I sat next to Stefan, who will be studying abroad in B.A. for a year, though not through the same program. We got along well, which made the flight much more entertaining.
Around 4:00 am, the pilot came on, said good morning, and informed us that we would be landing in the Dulles airport again in about 20 minutes. Apparently communication was down in Brazil, so any flights going over Brazil had to turn back. I had wondered why the flight map wasn't working when I woke up in the middle of the night--they had turned it off so we wouldn't see we were flying the wrong direction. When my dad checked later, the power was apparently only out for about 3 hours--bad timing. It made for a very long day, but I'd rather be safe.
Once back at the airport (landed around 4:45), there were a few hours of logistics--getting baggage, calling for a new flight, letting CIEE know we wouldn't be there for the first day of orientation, etc. When we all found each other, there was a total of 13 of us from the program on the flight, and we bonded through the chaos. It seems like some really fun people, so I'm excited to get to know them better.
Coming home had its advantages as well. Jeff was not far from the airport this weekend and he was able to pick me up and I went to the surprise party for his parents' 25th wedding anniversary. I was able to spend more time with him, his family, and my family.
Soon I'll be heading to the airport again. Hopefully saying goodbye again today won't be as bad since I've done it already and, if all goes well, I'll be in Buenos Aires tomorrow morning.
I went out to dinner Friday night with my parents, brother, and Jeff before heading to the airport and saying goodbye. Saying goodbye was harder than I thought it would be. At the gate I met up with Kelly and Whitney from Elon and we found about 5 other students participating in our program as well.
The first part of the flight went well. I sat next to Stefan, who will be studying abroad in B.A. for a year, though not through the same program. We got along well, which made the flight much more entertaining.
Around 4:00 am, the pilot came on, said good morning, and informed us that we would be landing in the Dulles airport again in about 20 minutes. Apparently communication was down in Brazil, so any flights going over Brazil had to turn back. I had wondered why the flight map wasn't working when I woke up in the middle of the night--they had turned it off so we wouldn't see we were flying the wrong direction. When my dad checked later, the power was apparently only out for about 3 hours--bad timing. It made for a very long day, but I'd rather be safe.
Once back at the airport (landed around 4:45), there were a few hours of logistics--getting baggage, calling for a new flight, letting CIEE know we wouldn't be there for the first day of orientation, etc. When we all found each other, there was a total of 13 of us from the program on the flight, and we bonded through the chaos. It seems like some really fun people, so I'm excited to get to know them better.
Coming home had its advantages as well. Jeff was not far from the airport this weekend and he was able to pick me up and I went to the surprise party for his parents' 25th wedding anniversary. I was able to spend more time with him, his family, and my family.
Soon I'll be heading to the airport again. Hopefully saying goodbye again today won't be as bad since I've done it already and, if all goes well, I'll be in Buenos Aires tomorrow morning.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Leaving Home
Welcome to my travel journal about my semester in Buenos Aires, Argentina! In a few hours I'll be heading to the airport. I don't feel like I'm quite ready yet, but then again, I'm not sure when I'd feel 100% ready to begin a 5-month adventure in a Spanish-speaking country. I'm excited and nervous at the same time.
I'll be posting sporadic updates here about life in B.A. (and hopefully traveling as well!), so feel free to check back and see what I'm up to!
I'll be posting sporadic updates here about life in B.A. (and hopefully traveling as well!), so feel free to check back and see what I'm up to!
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