I started out this week with my History of Art exam. The exam was oral, so the professor had to talk with each student individually and it took forever. I was in the middle of the group and had to wait almost four hours. It was really easy though and I got an 8 (A-) in the class, so I was really happy about that.
The rest of the week has just been packing, hanging out with friends, saying goodbyes and preparing myself to come home. I'm really excited to come home, but I'm a little nervous. I'm definitely not excited for the whole 18 hours of travel. I hate flying and airports, and I'm going to have to lug around my two almost 50lb suitcases, my backpack and a messenger bag.
It's definitely going to be really different once I get home. I've developed a routine here. I have certain restaurants I go to, I have certain brands that I prefer when I go buy something at the supermarket, and I can either walk everywhere or take the bus. After tomorrow, that's all gone. I will have to re-adjust to the US, driving everywhere, being able to speak in English everywhere, and things like going to restaurants and supermarkets are going to feel completely strange for a while.
Studying abroad has been an incredible experience. I met some wonderful people, I learned a ton about Spanish and about myself, and overall, I'm very happy with my experience here. At this point, I'm not sure that I'll miss the city itself, because the big city is definitely not the place for me, but I will miss the friends I've made here. Luckily three of my friends here go to my CMU with me.
I fly out tomorrow night at 9pm and should arrive in TC around 3pm on Sunday. I will do a quick update when I get back! Thanks for reading this for six months! Chau!
Friday, July 22, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Week 23
Not a very exciting week due to studying for exams, but I got to get out and do a few things.
I spent all day Sunday studying psychology with my friend Travis and it paid off! I took my exam on Monday morning and got a 9 (which is equivalent to an A in US grading)! I was very excited! Afterwards, I went to China Town with Travis and Mora (our friend from our psychology class) to get churros and donuts at this place that our friend Janell had showed us a while ago. It's really good, but becoming a bit of a problem as it's cheap and easy to get to! :-p
Tuesday was pretty boring with nothing but studying.
Wednesday I met up with Travis, Emily and Mora to get Chinese for lunch, followed by more studying afterwards.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 came out on Thursday here (a day earlier than in the US), so I went to that with Travis and Karen. It was an incredible movie, and while I would have liked to go to the midnight premiere with my friends in the states, it was a fun time.
I dedicated most of Friday to studying and on Saturday, I met up with Emily and Travis to see the Casa Rosada (Pink House), which is the governmental building in Argentina. We didn't end up doing a guided visit, because the line was really long and it was a nice day, so after seeing the parts we were able to see without a guide, we headed over to the fería in Recoleta since this is the last Saturday that we can go. We shopped for a while there and enjoyed the sunshine.
And now we have one week left! After my exam on Monday, I have to start packing and get ready to go back to the states!
I spent all day Sunday studying psychology with my friend Travis and it paid off! I took my exam on Monday morning and got a 9 (which is equivalent to an A in US grading)! I was very excited! Afterwards, I went to China Town with Travis and Mora (our friend from our psychology class) to get churros and donuts at this place that our friend Janell had showed us a while ago. It's really good, but becoming a bit of a problem as it's cheap and easy to get to! :-p
Tuesday was pretty boring with nothing but studying.
Wednesday I met up with Travis, Emily and Mora to get Chinese for lunch, followed by more studying afterwards.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 came out on Thursday here (a day earlier than in the US), so I went to that with Travis and Karen. It was an incredible movie, and while I would have liked to go to the midnight premiere with my friends in the states, it was a fun time.
I dedicated most of Friday to studying and on Saturday, I met up with Emily and Travis to see the Casa Rosada (Pink House), which is the governmental building in Argentina. We didn't end up doing a guided visit, because the line was really long and it was a nice day, so after seeing the parts we were able to see without a guide, we headed over to the fería in Recoleta since this is the last Saturday that we can go. We shopped for a while there and enjoyed the sunshine.
And now we have one week left! After my exam on Monday, I have to start packing and get ready to go back to the states!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Week 22
On Sunday I decided to check out the Museo Evita, which is a museum dedicated to Eva Perón. She was first lady to Juan Perón and was very politically involved. She is very controversial here. People either love her and worship her as a saint or they absolutely hate her. It was very interesting to learn a little more about her and to see a different side of things since I had learned a few things about her in my classes this last semester.
On Monday, I met up with my friends Emily and Travis to go to the Museo Casa de Carlos Gardel (Carlos Gardel-House Museum). Carlos Gardel is probably the most well known tango singer in Argentina. The museum was small, but was still interesting. After the museum we went to a big mall in the area. It was enormous! There was a kid's area with amusement park rides and it was crazy. We didn't stay long as we didn't intend to buy anything, but it was still cool!
Tuesday I met up with Travis to study a little bit for our psychology exam that we have on Monday. After a few hours of studying, we went to get Chinese food in Barrio Chino and then we went to a churrería (a place that specializes in churros), to get donuts filled with dulce de leche. So good.
Wednesday was a pretty boring day with just a bit of studying.
Thursday I met up with Travis and Emily to go to Plaza de Mayo downtown to see Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo. Every Thursday at 3:30 p.m. a group of mothers and grandmothers meet up in Plaza de Mayo to remember their lost children. During the dictatorship in the 1970s, many children were kidnapped and either killed or adopted. They call them the desaparecidos (disappeared). The mothers used to meet up in hopes of finding their children. We also stopped at the cathedral downtown where Saint Martin is buried.
Friday I had to study all day for my Psychology exam and Saturday I went to a few ferias with my friend Travis since time is running out to get gifts and souvenirs!
*I will try to put some pictures up once my friends post them. Not only is my camera screen broken, but all of the pictures I took last week didn't turn out, because the lens cover won't open all the way unless I manually do it.*
2 weeks left! Crazy, but I am ready to go home.
On Monday, I met up with my friends Emily and Travis to go to the Museo Casa de Carlos Gardel (Carlos Gardel-House Museum). Carlos Gardel is probably the most well known tango singer in Argentina. The museum was small, but was still interesting. After the museum we went to a big mall in the area. It was enormous! There was a kid's area with amusement park rides and it was crazy. We didn't stay long as we didn't intend to buy anything, but it was still cool!
Tuesday I met up with Travis to study a little bit for our psychology exam that we have on Monday. After a few hours of studying, we went to get Chinese food in Barrio Chino and then we went to a churrería (a place that specializes in churros), to get donuts filled with dulce de leche. So good.
Wednesday was a pretty boring day with just a bit of studying.
Thursday I met up with Travis and Emily to go to Plaza de Mayo downtown to see Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo. Every Thursday at 3:30 p.m. a group of mothers and grandmothers meet up in Plaza de Mayo to remember their lost children. During the dictatorship in the 1970s, many children were kidnapped and either killed or adopted. They call them the desaparecidos (disappeared). The mothers used to meet up in hopes of finding their children. We also stopped at the cathedral downtown where Saint Martin is buried.
Friday I had to study all day for my Psychology exam and Saturday I went to a few ferias with my friend Travis since time is running out to get gifts and souvenirs!
*I will try to put some pictures up once my friends post them. Not only is my camera screen broken, but all of the pictures I took last week didn't turn out, because the lens cover won't open all the way unless I manually do it.*
2 weeks left! Crazy, but I am ready to go home.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Week 21
Sunday was a pretty calm day. I met up with my friend Travis to go to la Fería de Mataderos about an hour away from where we live. It turned out that his host family and one of the students that he lives with decided to go as well, so we met up with them at the fair, ate choripan (chorizo-a type of sausage, on bread with a chimichurri sauce- So good and cheap!), and then wandered the fair for a bit. When we decided to head on home, my friend's host parents offered to drive us, so that we didn't have to take the bus, which was really nice of them! The bus is fine, but it seems to take forever. After I got home, I spent most of the evening on my computer following the soccer game. One of the main teams in Buenos Aires, River Plate, had an important game yesterday. They needed to win by 2 points to stay a principal team. They didn't, and are now a secondary team. The fans here are crazy about soccer here, so of course there was a riot in and around the stadium. Luckily, I'm far enough away from the stadium, so it wasn't a problem for me, but watching a video of the riot was crazy! There were over 2,000 police officers using tear gas and water cannons to try to stop the rioting, but they were unsuccessful. There were fires, injuries, cars destroyed and the people even resorted to throwing things at each and at the police officers. A crazy, but historic day in Argentina.
Monday I got to sleep in since I don't have classes anymore. I went to a cafe near my house for lunch and to use their internet since it works much better than the internet at my house. I also finished my book! It was called "La Sociedad de la Nieve" (The Society of the Snow). It is a book about 16 men who survived a plane crash and seventy two days in the Andes Mountains in 1972. It was a fascinating story and I was able to read the entire book without any problems! This is the first book I've read in Spanish that wasn't for a class or meant for children. Besides finishing my book, Monday was pretty uneventful.
Tuesday- I got out and did something. I met up with Travis to eat lunch in China Town (the BEST place to eat here) and then we went downtown to La Manzana de las luces (The Apple of the lights). It was a series of old buildings that I think were used by political heads a long time ago? I don't know. It was kind of confusing and boring. There are a set of tunnels underneath the buildings and they don't know why they are there or what purpose they served. That part was kind of cool. Luckily the tour was only 10 pesos and only took about an hour out of our day. At 7:30, I met up with Travis again and our friend Mora (from Argentina) to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The cinemas here were doing a marathon of the first 7 movies. It was nice to see a movie in English and to get out of the house some more.
Wednesday was another lazy day. Didn't do anything terribly exciting.
Thursday I went to El museo nacional del teatro (The national theatre museum). It was a really tiny museum, but was kind of neat. Plus it was free, so it didn't really matter. I got to see some old costumes worn by famous actors. Most of the names were unfamiliar to me, but it was still pretty interesting. The only one I knew was a costume worn by Carlos Gardel in an old movie. Then I went to this art museum with works by Xul Solar (Sool Soh-lar). I was the only one in the museum and they didn't charge me, so I didn't stay for too long, but his art is very modern and strange. I really didn't have any interest to check it out, but I have all this free time and don't want to spend it sitting in my house.
Friday I went to the local zoo here in Buenos Aires. It was a pretty good sized zoo, but not all of the animals were out as it is cold here. It was definitely different than the zoos I'm used to. They had ducks and some other sort of animal just running around the zoo everywhere and a lot of the animals can be fed. They sell animal food around the zoo.
Saturday I headed out to Puerto Madero, the newest barrio in Buenos Aires. It was a bit of a trek, but I got to see the Puente de la mujer (The bridge of the woman). I also headed out to the ecological reserve, but it was essentially a giant field with a sidewalk. I grabbed some food from one of the many stands next to the reserve and kept walking for a bit. I then saw a huge rat on the side of the road, so I immediately left. Haha. It was a beautiful day and I didn't want to head home after going to Puerto Madero so I made a quick stop in Recoleta to go to my favorite street fair. I didn't buy anything, but it was nice to wander and look around. After getting home, I figured out that I walked approximately 7 miles on Saturday. Needless to say, I spent Saturday night in.
Monday I got to sleep in since I don't have classes anymore. I went to a cafe near my house for lunch and to use their internet since it works much better than the internet at my house. I also finished my book! It was called "La Sociedad de la Nieve" (The Society of the Snow). It is a book about 16 men who survived a plane crash and seventy two days in the Andes Mountains in 1972. It was a fascinating story and I was able to read the entire book without any problems! This is the first book I've read in Spanish that wasn't for a class or meant for children. Besides finishing my book, Monday was pretty uneventful.
Tuesday- I got out and did something. I met up with Travis to eat lunch in China Town (the BEST place to eat here) and then we went downtown to La Manzana de las luces (The Apple of the lights). It was a series of old buildings that I think were used by political heads a long time ago? I don't know. It was kind of confusing and boring. There are a set of tunnels underneath the buildings and they don't know why they are there or what purpose they served. That part was kind of cool. Luckily the tour was only 10 pesos and only took about an hour out of our day. At 7:30, I met up with Travis again and our friend Mora (from Argentina) to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The cinemas here were doing a marathon of the first 7 movies. It was nice to see a movie in English and to get out of the house some more.
Wednesday was another lazy day. Didn't do anything terribly exciting.
Thursday I went to El museo nacional del teatro (The national theatre museum). It was a really tiny museum, but was kind of neat. Plus it was free, so it didn't really matter. I got to see some old costumes worn by famous actors. Most of the names were unfamiliar to me, but it was still pretty interesting. The only one I knew was a costume worn by Carlos Gardel in an old movie. Then I went to this art museum with works by Xul Solar (Sool Soh-lar). I was the only one in the museum and they didn't charge me, so I didn't stay for too long, but his art is very modern and strange. I really didn't have any interest to check it out, but I have all this free time and don't want to spend it sitting in my house.
Friday I went to the local zoo here in Buenos Aires. It was a pretty good sized zoo, but not all of the animals were out as it is cold here. It was definitely different than the zoos I'm used to. They had ducks and some other sort of animal just running around the zoo everywhere and a lot of the animals can be fed. They sell animal food around the zoo.
Saturday I headed out to Puerto Madero, the newest barrio in Buenos Aires. It was a bit of a trek, but I got to see the Puente de la mujer (The bridge of the woman). I also headed out to the ecological reserve, but it was essentially a giant field with a sidewalk. I grabbed some food from one of the many stands next to the reserve and kept walking for a bit. I then saw a huge rat on the side of the road, so I immediately left. Haha. It was a beautiful day and I didn't want to head home after going to Puerto Madero so I made a quick stop in Recoleta to go to my favorite street fair. I didn't buy anything, but it was nice to wander and look around. After getting home, I figured out that I walked approximately 7 miles on Saturday. Needless to say, I spent Saturday night in.
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| Puente de la Mujer- Puerto Madero |
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Week 20
Week 20 started on a rainy and cold Sunday, but I still went with some friends to the feria in Recoleta since they are leaving on Saturday. We didn't stay long, because it was cold and rainy, so many of the artisans weren't there.
Monday was Flag Day in Argentina, so we didn't have class. I met up with my friend Travis to study for our Literature exam on Tuesday.
Tuesday I had my lit exam and it went really well!
Wednesday is normally my day off, but I had to go to my History of Art class since we normally have it on Monday and we didn't have school. After that, I had to go to my Psych class, because our professor didn't show up last Friday. Even though she was sick, the head of the department made us have class. Weird. Wednesday night I met up with my friends to have a goodbye dinner for those that are leaving. It wasn't terribly far from where I live, but it was pouring on Wednesday night. After we got to the restaurant at around 9, we ate delicious quesadillas, and hung out until about midnight. This is very common in Argentina. The restaurants pretty much leave you alone until you ask for the bill. After we left, it was still a torrential downpour, but we braved the rain to take the bus home since it was cheaper. After finally getting home around 1, I was completely soaked (my umbrella broke due to the wind), but it was a really good night!
Thursday I had to go to my two classes, but only to get my grades for my international classes. I got 10s (the highest you can get) in both of them! WOO!
Friday I had my last Psych class, which was exciting. 8am classes are not fun when you live 40 minutes away from the school. We had to turn in our folder of group writings from the semester and my group got a 9! I'm loving all of these good grades! :) Then I went with some friends to get lunch in China Town. Afterwards, we headed to a churrería to get churros. They were delicious. Then we had to say goodbye as 3 of my friends that ate lunch with us are leaving to go back to the states. I came home and said goodbye to my roommate and stayed in for the night. At about 7:00, my host mom told me that my roommate had returned. His flight had been cancelled due to the volcano in Chile. It started spewing ash again and the planes couldn't fly, because the ash would get in the motors. Friday night I talked with my roommate for a while since he had nothing to do, but wait. He was able to leave on Saturday morning.
Saturday was a lazy day. I met up with my friend Janell, so she could return my luggage scale to me and to say goodbye around lunchtime. Besides that, I did absolutely nothing. It was kind of nice, but I definitely need to find stuff to do to keep me busy for the last month here. I don't have anything school related until the 11 when I have my first exam. I will need to study, but not a ton. My friend Travis and I are going to try to find stuff to do this week as our friends Emily and Karen are traveling right now.
And we have a month left! It's crazy how fast time is flying!
Monday was Flag Day in Argentina, so we didn't have class. I met up with my friend Travis to study for our Literature exam on Tuesday.
Tuesday I had my lit exam and it went really well!
Wednesday is normally my day off, but I had to go to my History of Art class since we normally have it on Monday and we didn't have school. After that, I had to go to my Psych class, because our professor didn't show up last Friday. Even though she was sick, the head of the department made us have class. Weird. Wednesday night I met up with my friends to have a goodbye dinner for those that are leaving. It wasn't terribly far from where I live, but it was pouring on Wednesday night. After we got to the restaurant at around 9, we ate delicious quesadillas, and hung out until about midnight. This is very common in Argentina. The restaurants pretty much leave you alone until you ask for the bill. After we left, it was still a torrential downpour, but we braved the rain to take the bus home since it was cheaper. After finally getting home around 1, I was completely soaked (my umbrella broke due to the wind), but it was a really good night!
Thursday I had to go to my two classes, but only to get my grades for my international classes. I got 10s (the highest you can get) in both of them! WOO!
Friday I had my last Psych class, which was exciting. 8am classes are not fun when you live 40 minutes away from the school. We had to turn in our folder of group writings from the semester and my group got a 9! I'm loving all of these good grades! :) Then I went with some friends to get lunch in China Town. Afterwards, we headed to a churrería to get churros. They were delicious. Then we had to say goodbye as 3 of my friends that ate lunch with us are leaving to go back to the states. I came home and said goodbye to my roommate and stayed in for the night. At about 7:00, my host mom told me that my roommate had returned. His flight had been cancelled due to the volcano in Chile. It started spewing ash again and the planes couldn't fly, because the ash would get in the motors. Friday night I talked with my roommate for a while since he had nothing to do, but wait. He was able to leave on Saturday morning.
Saturday was a lazy day. I met up with my friend Janell, so she could return my luggage scale to me and to say goodbye around lunchtime. Besides that, I did absolutely nothing. It was kind of nice, but I definitely need to find stuff to do to keep me busy for the last month here. I don't have anything school related until the 11 when I have my first exam. I will need to study, but not a ton. My friend Travis and I are going to try to find stuff to do this week as our friends Emily and Karen are traveling right now.
And we have a month left! It's crazy how fast time is flying!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Week Nineteen
We were very busy this week. Not only did we have two papers to turn in for our international classes, but we did a ton of stuff!
On Monday, we met up to go to the Teatro Colón for a guided tour. We got to hear a little about the history of the theatre and got to see the theatre. I had heard that the tour would include a quick visit to the costume shop (Teatro Colón is completely self sufficient and makes all of their costumes and sets in workshops that are under the theatre), but due to the recent renovations, they took that part out of the the tour. It was still really interesting and a neat experience.
Tuesday night after a full day of classes, we went to see an orchestra concert in the Teatro Colón. We wanted to see a concert there as the acoustics are near perfect and we were told it was a must! It was so great! The orchestra was very good and it was nice to see the theatre in action. We got the cheapest seats and had to stand at the top of the theatre, but it was definitely worth it.
Wednesday we had plans to go to the planetarium to see the lunar eclipse, but there was a thunder storm, so we couldn't go.
Thursday before class, I met up with my friend Emily to go pick up our tickets for the futbol (soccer) game. We got a little bit lost and took the long way, but it worked out!
Friday I got up bright and early for my psychology class at 8 a.m. only to find out that our prof decided to not have class. I still would have had to go even if I knew it was cancelled ahead of time to swipe my attendance card, so it wasn't that big of a deal. I got to head home early. At 3, I had to head back to the university to attend a farewell ceremony for the international students. It was nothing special and kind of a waste of time, but it's not like I had anything else to do.
Friday night I met up with my friends to go out since half of our group is leaving in a week. We went to a boliche (club) pretty close to my house, so my taxi ride home was pretty cheap which was nice. Clubs are definitely not my scene, but we had a fun group.
Saturday, Emily, Travis and I went to the futbol (soccer) game in Belgrano. It was River Plate's (one of the big teams in Buenos Aires) last game and there were so many people! The energy was crazy and it was a lot of fun! We just go the general public seats which is the crazy section. We sat (I should say stood, since we barely sat down the whole game) up towards the very top of the stadium. There were so many people yelling, singing and cheering the whole game. The people here are very passionate about their futbol teams and River lost, so people were screaming and it was crazy. Luckily we had no problems. I've heard that some of the soccer fans here take it a little too far and people have been killed at the really important games.
On Monday, we met up to go to the Teatro Colón for a guided tour. We got to hear a little about the history of the theatre and got to see the theatre. I had heard that the tour would include a quick visit to the costume shop (Teatro Colón is completely self sufficient and makes all of their costumes and sets in workshops that are under the theatre), but due to the recent renovations, they took that part out of the the tour. It was still really interesting and a neat experience.
 |
| Me in the Teatro Colón |
Tuesday night after a full day of classes, we went to see an orchestra concert in the Teatro Colón. We wanted to see a concert there as the acoustics are near perfect and we were told it was a must! It was so great! The orchestra was very good and it was nice to see the theatre in action. We got the cheapest seats and had to stand at the top of the theatre, but it was definitely worth it.
Wednesday we had plans to go to the planetarium to see the lunar eclipse, but there was a thunder storm, so we couldn't go.
Thursday before class, I met up with my friend Emily to go pick up our tickets for the futbol (soccer) game. We got a little bit lost and took the long way, but it worked out!
Friday I got up bright and early for my psychology class at 8 a.m. only to find out that our prof decided to not have class. I still would have had to go even if I knew it was cancelled ahead of time to swipe my attendance card, so it wasn't that big of a deal. I got to head home early. At 3, I had to head back to the university to attend a farewell ceremony for the international students. It was nothing special and kind of a waste of time, but it's not like I had anything else to do.
Friday night I met up with my friends to go out since half of our group is leaving in a week. We went to a boliche (club) pretty close to my house, so my taxi ride home was pretty cheap which was nice. Clubs are definitely not my scene, but we had a fun group.
 |
| El estadio de River Plate |
Saturday, Emily, Travis and I went to the futbol (soccer) game in Belgrano. It was River Plate's (one of the big teams in Buenos Aires) last game and there were so many people! The energy was crazy and it was a lot of fun! We just go the general public seats which is the crazy section. We sat (I should say stood, since we barely sat down the whole game) up towards the very top of the stadium. There were so many people yelling, singing and cheering the whole game. The people here are very passionate about their futbol teams and River lost, so people were screaming and it was crazy. Luckily we had no problems. I've heard that some of the soccer fans here take it a little too far and people have been killed at the really important games.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Week 18
Unfortunately with the semester winding down, week 18 was full of school, studying and not much else.
On Monday I went with some friends to do a tour of the historical Teatro Colón. It's supposed to be one of the most important theatres in the world. Unfortunately all of the guided tours were sold out for the day as they offer a 50% discount on Mondays, so we bought tickets for next Monday. Normally they are 60 Pesos, but with our student visas, we only paid 10. We also bought tickets to see an orchestra concert next Tuesday at the Teatro Colón. It will be cool to see a concert there after we tour it on Monday!
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were dedicated to school and writing my 6 page research paper for my history class and on Friday I went to class at 8 a.m. like normal (I will be so glad when these 8 a.m.s are done). We got our exam grades back and I got a 9, which is equivalent to an A! There was only one 10 and two 9s, so I was really excited!
Saturday was a beautiful day, so I went with my friend Emily to walk around in San Telmo where there is a huge fería. We thought it was Saturday and Sunday, but found out that it's only on Sunday, so we just walked around, practiced Spanish and enjoyed the nice weather. We also went to the soccer stadium to find out how to get tickets to a futbol game and then headed home.
A pretty calm week, but we have a lot planed for Week 19!
On Monday I went with some friends to do a tour of the historical Teatro Colón. It's supposed to be one of the most important theatres in the world. Unfortunately all of the guided tours were sold out for the day as they offer a 50% discount on Mondays, so we bought tickets for next Monday. Normally they are 60 Pesos, but with our student visas, we only paid 10. We also bought tickets to see an orchestra concert next Tuesday at the Teatro Colón. It will be cool to see a concert there after we tour it on Monday!
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were dedicated to school and writing my 6 page research paper for my history class and on Friday I went to class at 8 a.m. like normal (I will be so glad when these 8 a.m.s are done). We got our exam grades back and I got a 9, which is equivalent to an A! There was only one 10 and two 9s, so I was really excited!
Saturday was a beautiful day, so I went with my friend Emily to walk around in San Telmo where there is a huge fería. We thought it was Saturday and Sunday, but found out that it's only on Sunday, so we just walked around, practiced Spanish and enjoyed the nice weather. We also went to the soccer stadium to find out how to get tickets to a futbol game and then headed home.
A pretty calm week, but we have a lot planed for Week 19!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Week 17
Pretty normal week this week. Got my grade back for my History of Art and Media exam and got a 6/10 which is equivalent to a B in the states. I'm very happy with it as my prof is a tough grader. Also with a 6, my final exam is only going to be on our last unit instead of the entire class. I had my Psychology exam on Tuesday and I think it went well! I knew all of the answers and it was way easier than what I was expecting. Hopefully we'll get those grades back on Tuesday. Other than that, I didn't do anything special. I met up with some friends a few times to plan out things to do for our last seven weeks and did a bunch of homework. Yesterday I got my haircut again, bought a hat since it's cold and called it a day. Week 18 will hopefully be a little more exciting! Sorry for the lame blog post, see you next Sunday! :)
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Week 16- Iguazú Falls!
This last weekend I went to Iguazú Falls and San Ignacio with some friends! It was an incredible trip and probably my favorite.
I spent Sunday stuck in my room studying all day as I had an exam for one of my Argentine classes on Monday. I feel like it went really well! I should get my grade tomorrow. Tuesday I had class all day and then met up with my friends to leave for Iguazú. Our bus left about 9:00 p.m. and we spent 21 hours on the bus. It was only supposed to be 18 hours, but there was a protest that delayed us 3 hours. Luckily, our seats were very comfortable as we paid a little more to have the nicer seats. We ended up getting to Iguazú around 6 p.m., then we walked to our hostel which was only 3 blocks from the bus terminal. We showered, got settled in and then found somewhere to eat dinner.
Thursday, we got up bright and early to head to the Parque Nacional Iguazú to see the waterfalls. We spent the entire day there and it was absolutely incredible. It started off kind of cloudy, but was nice and sunny after lunch. There were two main trails that we walked. One took you up higher to see more of a panoramic view and then the lower trail took you closer to the falls. At one point, we were right up next to it and got quite wet! After walking both of the main trails, we took a small train to La Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat) where you get to see where all the falls come together and it's huge and powerful. After heading back to the hostel, we went out and ate dinner and then spent some time at the hostel where they had live music out in the back.
Friday, we got up and ready to go pretty early again. We checked out of the hostel, but they let us keep our stuff in a locker, so we didn't have to carry everything around all day. We took a cab to Güiraoga (Gwee-rah-OH-gah) which is a animal rehabilitation center. They take in animals that can't make it in the wild due to illness or being domesticated and they work with them to rehabilitate them. If the animals can survive in the wild again, they let them go, but if they can't then they stay in the center. There were many cool birds and monkeys at the center! After our guided tour, we headed back to the center and took another cab to las Tres Fronteras (the three borders) where you can see Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil all at one point. There are small obelisks at each observation deck that you can see. It was really neat! We decided to walk back to the center as it wasn't very far and then grabbed our stuff from the hostel and got on a bus to San Ignacio. San Ignacio was about 5 hours south of Iguazú and we got there around 9 p.m. Our bus dropped us off on the side of the road and told us which way to the center. After asking someone where our hostel was, we were on our way. We got to the hostel and then dropped our stuff off and found somewhere to go to dinner. San Ignacio is a very small town, so we didn't have many options.
Saturday, we walked from our hostel to San Ignacio Miní which are Jesuit Mission Ruins. They were built in 1610 and are still in pretty good condition. It was very cool to see them! After spending some time at the ruins, we ate lunch and headed back into town. We didn't have much time to do anything, so my friend Janell and I walked to the house of Horacio Quiroga (a famous writer), but we didn't have time to go inside. We met back up with Tracy and Tyler who took a quick bike ride to the river and then headed to the bus terminal. Our bus ride back was only 15 hours and was a lot smoother than the other trips.
Now I'm back in Buenos Aires studying for my Psychology exam on Tuesday!
I spent Sunday stuck in my room studying all day as I had an exam for one of my Argentine classes on Monday. I feel like it went really well! I should get my grade tomorrow. Tuesday I had class all day and then met up with my friends to leave for Iguazú. Our bus left about 9:00 p.m. and we spent 21 hours on the bus. It was only supposed to be 18 hours, but there was a protest that delayed us 3 hours. Luckily, our seats were very comfortable as we paid a little more to have the nicer seats. We ended up getting to Iguazú around 6 p.m., then we walked to our hostel which was only 3 blocks from the bus terminal. We showered, got settled in and then found somewhere to eat dinner.
Thursday, we got up bright and early to head to the Parque Nacional Iguazú to see the waterfalls. We spent the entire day there and it was absolutely incredible. It started off kind of cloudy, but was nice and sunny after lunch. There were two main trails that we walked. One took you up higher to see more of a panoramic view and then the lower trail took you closer to the falls. At one point, we were right up next to it and got quite wet! After walking both of the main trails, we took a small train to La Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat) where you get to see where all the falls come together and it's huge and powerful. After heading back to the hostel, we went out and ate dinner and then spent some time at the hostel where they had live music out in the back.
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| Las Cataratas de Iguazú |
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| Me right in front of the falls! |
Friday, we got up and ready to go pretty early again. We checked out of the hostel, but they let us keep our stuff in a locker, so we didn't have to carry everything around all day. We took a cab to Güiraoga (Gwee-rah-OH-gah) which is a animal rehabilitation center. They take in animals that can't make it in the wild due to illness or being domesticated and they work with them to rehabilitate them. If the animals can survive in the wild again, they let them go, but if they can't then they stay in the center. There were many cool birds and monkeys at the center! After our guided tour, we headed back to the center and took another cab to las Tres Fronteras (the three borders) where you can see Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil all at one point. There are small obelisks at each observation deck that you can see. It was really neat! We decided to walk back to the center as it wasn't very far and then grabbed our stuff from the hostel and got on a bus to San Ignacio. San Ignacio was about 5 hours south of Iguazú and we got there around 9 p.m. Our bus dropped us off on the side of the road and told us which way to the center. After asking someone where our hostel was, we were on our way. We got to the hostel and then dropped our stuff off and found somewhere to go to dinner. San Ignacio is a very small town, so we didn't have many options.
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| Toucan at Güiraoga |
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| Me in front of the Argentine obelisk at Las Tres Fronteras. Paraguay is on the left and Brazil is on the right. |
Saturday, we walked from our hostel to San Ignacio Miní which are Jesuit Mission Ruins. They were built in 1610 and are still in pretty good condition. It was very cool to see them! After spending some time at the ruins, we ate lunch and headed back into town. We didn't have much time to do anything, so my friend Janell and I walked to the house of Horacio Quiroga (a famous writer), but we didn't have time to go inside. We met back up with Tracy and Tyler who took a quick bike ride to the river and then headed to the bus terminal. Our bus ride back was only 15 hours and was a lot smoother than the other trips.
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| Me in the archway of the church at San Ignacio Miní. |
Now I'm back in Buenos Aires studying for my Psychology exam on Tuesday!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Week 15
First off, where did the first half of May go? Time is flying. Week 15 was a good one with a nice balance of fun things mixed in with a ton of studying. I have my partial exam (can't call it a midterm as we have 4 classes left) for my History of Art class on Monday, so I've been studying a lot for that, because I found out that if I get at least a 6 on the partial, I only get tested on the material after the partial for my final. I don't think it will be too hard, but I want to be prepared. I also have no idea how they are going to grade my test since I'm the only one who doesn't speak Spanish as their first language.
I had a presentation for my psychology class on Tuesday, so Sunday and Monday were spent working on that. It went really well, but it was really weird to speak a little bit of English with my Argentine class. Since they are studying public relations, they have to learn English as a requirement, so part of each class has to have a small English aspect to it.
Wednesday I had to go back to migrations for the fifth time to get my visa situation resolved. Good news! It's finally done! I have my visa and an extra sheet of paper with the correction of my name. I'm so glad that it's done. I was getting sick of waking up at 6:30 on my days off to go to Retiro (the neighborhood where migrations is). After getting that taken care of, I went to the school to turn in my copy that they've been bugging me about. Now I'm all set to get my transcript and everything! After a bit of studying, I met up with my friend to go to MALBA which stands for "Museo del arte latinoamericano de Buenos Aires" (Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires). We were supposed to go for our lit class a while ago, but never made it, and it was something we wanted to check out. It was really cool! There was a ton of variety with the paintings and it was really interesting! (And free!- On Wednesdays, students enter for free). We saw a painting by Frida Kahlo as well as a painting that we talked about in our lit class.
After heading back to Belgrano, I did some more studying at a cafe until 5 when I met up with my friend Karen to go see the new Winnie the Pooh movie (in Spanish of course!). It doesn't come out in the states until July 15, but it was really good! Definitely brought back a ton of childhood memories! This one was a little more tricky to understand than Rio, because some of the dialogue and songs were kind of fast, but I got the gist of it!
Thursday was a normal day of classes and on Friday I went with some friends to the National Museum of Fine Art. It was a nice museum, but I preferred Malba.
Saturday I had to dedicate most of the day to studying for my exam on Monday, but I took a little time to go to Plaza San Martin to see this big exhibit. It's called La Torre de Babel and it's a huge tower constructed of 30,000 books. It's based on a work by Marta Munjín and after the exhibit they are donating the books to start a new multilingual library called La Biblioteca de Babel. After about an hour in line, I got to climb up to the 5th level! It was pretty awesome!
Off to do more studying! Looking forward to Iguazú on Wednesday! We leave Tuesday night and are gone for the whole weekend! It will be a really nice break from the big city!
I had a presentation for my psychology class on Tuesday, so Sunday and Monday were spent working on that. It went really well, but it was really weird to speak a little bit of English with my Argentine class. Since they are studying public relations, they have to learn English as a requirement, so part of each class has to have a small English aspect to it.
Wednesday I had to go back to migrations for the fifth time to get my visa situation resolved. Good news! It's finally done! I have my visa and an extra sheet of paper with the correction of my name. I'm so glad that it's done. I was getting sick of waking up at 6:30 on my days off to go to Retiro (the neighborhood where migrations is). After getting that taken care of, I went to the school to turn in my copy that they've been bugging me about. Now I'm all set to get my transcript and everything! After a bit of studying, I met up with my friend to go to MALBA which stands for "Museo del arte latinoamericano de Buenos Aires" (Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires). We were supposed to go for our lit class a while ago, but never made it, and it was something we wanted to check out. It was really cool! There was a ton of variety with the paintings and it was really interesting! (And free!- On Wednesdays, students enter for free). We saw a painting by Frida Kahlo as well as a painting that we talked about in our lit class.
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| Abaporu by Tarsila de Amaral (We talked about this in our lit class) |
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| Autoretrato con Mono y Perico (Self Portrait with Monkey and Parrot) by Frida Kahlo |
Thursday was a normal day of classes and on Friday I went with some friends to the National Museum of Fine Art. It was a nice museum, but I preferred Malba.
Saturday I had to dedicate most of the day to studying for my exam on Monday, but I took a little time to go to Plaza San Martin to see this big exhibit. It's called La Torre de Babel and it's a huge tower constructed of 30,000 books. It's based on a work by Marta Munjín and after the exhibit they are donating the books to start a new multilingual library called La Biblioteca de Babel. After about an hour in line, I got to climb up to the 5th level! It was pretty awesome!
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| La Torre de Babel |
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Week 14
Week 14 started out really great with a trip to Mataderos (a neighborhood about an hour from where we live) with some friends to go to the huge street fair there. Last time we went, the weather wasn't very good, so the fair wasn't in full force. The weather this time was perfect and it was a completely different experience. There were at least four times as many booths with people selling souvenirs made of leather, food and clothes. There was also live music, dancing and a horse show which was really neat to watch.
Monday, I went to class like normal, met up with a classmate to work on a presentation and then ran some errands and headed home. I hadn't feel well, but didn't think much of it. By the time I got home, I was feeling really sick and hurting, so I called my program director to find out where I should go to the doctor. After a few hours of trying to explain what was wrong, I found out that I have an inflamed nerve (not going into anymore detail), so I had to take it easy all week and rest.
Tuesday I had my presentation for my Literature class. It went well and was pretty easy. I lucked out with my topic, because I didn't have to analyze any literature, just present a genre. I also got my grade back from my lit exam. I got a 9.5 out of 10 which is really great! The grading scale is way easier here. They use a number scale from 1 to 10. 4 is usually passing. Here's what it works out to in US grading:
10= A+
9= A
8= A-
7= B+
6=B
5=B-
4=C+
3=C
2=C-
1=D+
Wednesday I returned back to Migrations to pick up my Visa since they told me it would be ready. It wasn't. They said that it was done, but that it was in the office of certification or something and that I have to go back next week. This is getting ridiculous. By the time I finally have my visa it will have been almost a 3 month process. After finding out that I have to come back next week, I headed home and worked on homework all day since I don't have class on Wednesdays.
Thursday I met up with my psychology group to work on our presentation that is next Tuesday. We worked for a little while, copied the textbook, divided it up and then my friend Travis and I went to our two international classes. Got my grade back from my History exam. 9/10! We were also told that our final for that class is turning in a paper on any topic from the class that we want which is really easy. Since I have already done my presentation in that class, all I have left is the final paper.
Friday I had Psych like normal and then went to the post office to mail in my insurance claim. Luckily I only had to wait 20 minutes this time. Usually the wait is more like an hour.
Saturday I met up with my friend Travis to work on our half of our Psych presentation. It was tougher than expected, because we have to present a part of it in English, since the major is Public Relations. My professor wants us to take the text that we have in Spanish, summarize and translate it to English, then take those slides are translate them back to Spanish. It was harder than we thought it was going to be, but we managed.
And that was pretty much my week. Nothing too exciting. Next week should be pretty normal as well, but on the 24, we're going to see the waterfalls of Iguazú!
Monday, I went to class like normal, met up with a classmate to work on a presentation and then ran some errands and headed home. I hadn't feel well, but didn't think much of it. By the time I got home, I was feeling really sick and hurting, so I called my program director to find out where I should go to the doctor. After a few hours of trying to explain what was wrong, I found out that I have an inflamed nerve (not going into anymore detail), so I had to take it easy all week and rest.
Tuesday I had my presentation for my Literature class. It went well and was pretty easy. I lucked out with my topic, because I didn't have to analyze any literature, just present a genre. I also got my grade back from my lit exam. I got a 9.5 out of 10 which is really great! The grading scale is way easier here. They use a number scale from 1 to 10. 4 is usually passing. Here's what it works out to in US grading:
10= A+
9= A
8= A-
7= B+
6=B
5=B-
4=C+
3=C
2=C-
1=D+
Wednesday I returned back to Migrations to pick up my Visa since they told me it would be ready. It wasn't. They said that it was done, but that it was in the office of certification or something and that I have to go back next week. This is getting ridiculous. By the time I finally have my visa it will have been almost a 3 month process. After finding out that I have to come back next week, I headed home and worked on homework all day since I don't have class on Wednesdays.
Thursday I met up with my psychology group to work on our presentation that is next Tuesday. We worked for a little while, copied the textbook, divided it up and then my friend Travis and I went to our two international classes. Got my grade back from my History exam. 9/10! We were also told that our final for that class is turning in a paper on any topic from the class that we want which is really easy. Since I have already done my presentation in that class, all I have left is the final paper.
Friday I had Psych like normal and then went to the post office to mail in my insurance claim. Luckily I only had to wait 20 minutes this time. Usually the wait is more like an hour.
Saturday I met up with my friend Travis to work on our half of our Psych presentation. It was tougher than expected, because we have to present a part of it in English, since the major is Public Relations. My professor wants us to take the text that we have in Spanish, summarize and translate it to English, then take those slides are translate them back to Spanish. It was harder than we thought it was going to be, but we managed.
And that was pretty much my week. Nothing too exciting. Next week should be pretty normal as well, but on the 24, we're going to see the waterfalls of Iguazú!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Week 13- Midterms
Sorry for the late update last week! May is going to be a busy month.
It's the middle of the semester. I can't believe we're already done with the first week of May. I don't know where the time goes. May is a busy month, because classes have their midterms during May. The international classes all have their exams last week and the following week, but the Argentine classes are on a different schedule. Their midterms (parciales) are all spread out. I had my two international midterms this last week. They were back to back on Thursday, but they were pretty easy! We'll see how easy they actually were when the grades are in, but for the international courses, because everyone is at a different level of Spanish, they make the questions very general. For my History midterm, we only had four questions off of a sheet that we had previously been given. As long as you studied beforehand, this one was super easy since we knew the questions beforehand. My professor gave us a sheet of 12 questions and told us he would pick 4 off of the sheet for the exam. My literature class was a little harder to study for as we didn't have a study guide or questions to go off of, but it ended up being very easy as well. We had 5 questions: 3 short essay and 2 short answer. It was a lot of writing to do in 3 hours, but they were not difficult.
My two Argentine courses have their exams towards the end of May. My History of Art exam is in 3 weeks and my Psych exam is in 4. I have two weeks without any exams, but have a presentation each week. I'm not too worried about my other exams since my professors seem to generally go easier on me since I'm not Argentine, but there is a lot of material to cover in my Psych class.
This last week was pretty uneventful due to studying for midterms all week. On Thursday night, I met up with some friends to have our first goodbye dinner since two of our friends are leaving soon as they were doing an intensive Spanish course for only 2 months. Friday I had to go to Psych at 8am like always and then had to stay at the school to help with a presentation over migration and psychology. My professor wanted me to talk a bit about my experience here. Unfortunately no one showed up to the lecture, so my friend and I just talked with the prof and one other student from Italy for a while. It was interesting, but not exactly what I had planned on for my Friday afternoon.
Saturday I met up with my friends Virginia (who is leaving on Tuesday), Janell and Tracy to go to a fería since it was a really nice day. We spent the day at the fería and stopped into the cemetery since Virginia hadn't been. Overall a pretty relaxing, but nice day.
Next week I have a presentation for literature and have to go back to get my corrected visa. Hopefully this process will finally come to a close after almost 2 months!
It's the middle of the semester. I can't believe we're already done with the first week of May. I don't know where the time goes. May is a busy month, because classes have their midterms during May. The international classes all have their exams last week and the following week, but the Argentine classes are on a different schedule. Their midterms (parciales) are all spread out. I had my two international midterms this last week. They were back to back on Thursday, but they were pretty easy! We'll see how easy they actually were when the grades are in, but for the international courses, because everyone is at a different level of Spanish, they make the questions very general. For my History midterm, we only had four questions off of a sheet that we had previously been given. As long as you studied beforehand, this one was super easy since we knew the questions beforehand. My professor gave us a sheet of 12 questions and told us he would pick 4 off of the sheet for the exam. My literature class was a little harder to study for as we didn't have a study guide or questions to go off of, but it ended up being very easy as well. We had 5 questions: 3 short essay and 2 short answer. It was a lot of writing to do in 3 hours, but they were not difficult.
My two Argentine courses have their exams towards the end of May. My History of Art exam is in 3 weeks and my Psych exam is in 4. I have two weeks without any exams, but have a presentation each week. I'm not too worried about my other exams since my professors seem to generally go easier on me since I'm not Argentine, but there is a lot of material to cover in my Psych class.
This last week was pretty uneventful due to studying for midterms all week. On Thursday night, I met up with some friends to have our first goodbye dinner since two of our friends are leaving soon as they were doing an intensive Spanish course for only 2 months. Friday I had to go to Psych at 8am like always and then had to stay at the school to help with a presentation over migration and psychology. My professor wanted me to talk a bit about my experience here. Unfortunately no one showed up to the lecture, so my friend and I just talked with the prof and one other student from Italy for a while. It was interesting, but not exactly what I had planned on for my Friday afternoon.
Saturday I met up with my friends Virginia (who is leaving on Tuesday), Janell and Tracy to go to a fería since it was a really nice day. We spent the day at the fería and stopped into the cemetery since Virginia hadn't been. Overall a pretty relaxing, but nice day.
Next week I have a presentation for literature and have to go back to get my corrected visa. Hopefully this process will finally come to a close after almost 2 months!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Week Twelve-
Sorry for the late update! Been busy studying for midterms!
Besides a few extra study sessions and a trip to the movie theater, week 12 was a pretty normal week. My two international classes spent time reviewing for our upcoming mid-terms and giving out more presentations to do. My two native classes are still going well. I'm feeling more confident about my Spanish abilities when it comes to listening, speaking and writing. It's a lot of work, but such great practice!
On Saturday, I went with some friends to see the movie "Rio". Since it was a cartoon, it was dubbed over in Spanish, which was great! I was able to understand everything and it was a really fun movie! Afterwards we got some ice cream despite it being fall and colder here and then studied for our midterms.
Fall has finally arrived with the temperature around 60 F most days. My host family said that it shouldn't get too much colder than this for winter, but after getting used to 90 degree weather everyday, 60 even seems a bit cold. Luckily I was able to find a store where I can buy some long sleeve shirts as I was a little unprepared for such cold weather.
And that was week 12. We're half way done.
Again, sorry for the late update. Busy with exams and such. And now off to bed. I have two of my midterms tomorrow.
Besides a few extra study sessions and a trip to the movie theater, week 12 was a pretty normal week. My two international classes spent time reviewing for our upcoming mid-terms and giving out more presentations to do. My two native classes are still going well. I'm feeling more confident about my Spanish abilities when it comes to listening, speaking and writing. It's a lot of work, but such great practice!
On Saturday, I went with some friends to see the movie "Rio". Since it was a cartoon, it was dubbed over in Spanish, which was great! I was able to understand everything and it was a really fun movie! Afterwards we got some ice cream despite it being fall and colder here and then studied for our midterms.
Fall has finally arrived with the temperature around 60 F most days. My host family said that it shouldn't get too much colder than this for winter, but after getting used to 90 degree weather everyday, 60 even seems a bit cold. Luckily I was able to find a store where I can buy some long sleeve shirts as I was a little unprepared for such cold weather.
And that was week 12. We're half way done.
Again, sorry for the late update. Busy with exams and such. And now off to bed. I have two of my midterms tomorrow.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Week Eleven- Semana Santa
I can't believe week eleven is over all ready. Time is flying. This week was an exciting week, because we had Thursday and Friday off for Semana Santa (Holy Week).
Sunday- I went with some friends to La Feria de Mataderos which is normally a huge street market in the barrio Mataderos which is known for their beef, but it rained on Sunday morning, so not as many people set booths up. We took a bus about 40 minutes from where we live to Mataderos around 11. After getting there to find nothing set up, we went to the museum there which had a bunch of cool stuff about the gauchos and the cattle. After the museum we saw that people were starting to set stuff up, so we went to get lunch and then headed back to the feria. There wasn't nearly as much as there normally is (so we were told), but it was still really cool to see some different things at a street fair. I love the street fairs, but they tend to get repetitive after a while.
Monday and Tuesday were just normal days of class and then on Wednesday I packed and met up with my friends at 7:45 to head over to the bus station. Our bus left at 9:15 and we were woken up around 1 am to get our passports stamped at the border. After trying to get a few more hours of sleep, we arrived in the capital, Montevideo at 5:49 in the morning. Since we couldn't check into our hostel until 1, we decided to change some money over and then we walked around, found a city guide with the bus routes and a map and found a place to eat breakfast. Then we decided to walk around to see some of Montevideo's sights and came upon a map with a suggested walking tour of La Ciudad Vieja (Old City), so we walked over there and saw some of the old buildings and ended up at a street fair. Montevideo was great, because it was a big city, but didn't feel like it. I felt very safe there and the people were very helpful and nice. After grabbing some lunch, we headed over to our hostel. We checked in, paid and were on our way once again. We went to the beach (which was really close to our hostel) and just walked around and enjoyed the city. We opted for an early dinner as we were very tired and then headed back to the hostel after some ice cream.
Tuesday morning we got up bright and early to go to Punta del Este which is kind of a beach town about 2 hours from Montevideo. The weather could not have been more perfect. It was sunny and warm! We went to the beach right away to walk around a bit and to see the hand sculpture. Then we found a spot for lunch that was supposed to be very good. It lived up to our expectations! We had some very good fresh fish! Luckily we wanted fish, because they couldn't serve anything else as it was Friday during lent and Uruguay is a Catholic country just like Argentina. They told us that people barely work during Holy Week and that they didn't have a lot of ingredients. After lunch we headed back to the bus terminal to get a ticket to go see Casapueblo, which was about 40 minutes outside of town. It was a really distinct and cool building. The architect is primarily an artist, so the building is essentially a work of art and it was filled with his art and sculptures. After seeing all that we could we asked how to get back to Punta del Este. We were told that we would have to walk back to Punta del Este (approximately 6 miles). That wasn't go to happen. Luckily we asked someone else and found out that we could take a bus. After a few failed attempts and a bit of walking, we got a bus to take us back to the city. We finished up our day in Punta del Este with some ice cream, a little more walking, some souvenir shops and a quick dinner in the terminal. On they way back, I started to feel sick. I thought it was some sort of stomach bug, but it probably had more to do with the lack of sleep. We got back to the hostel around midnight and went right to bed.
Saturday was much less rushed as we didn't have any concrete plans. We got up, ate breakfast and packed everything up for the day. After finding out where the closet supermarket was, we checked out of the hostel right at 11 and were on our way. We found another street fair a few blocks from our hostel, so we decided to check it out. It was very different from the ones we are used to. They were selling a lot of clothes and video games along with the typical street fair stuff. After browsing for a while, we headed to the supermarket, bought some food for lunch and headed back to the beach/park area. We decided to have a picnic instead of going out to lunch, because Uruguay was way more expensive than we were expecting. We just hung out by the beach for a good chunk of the day and then decided to walk around a bit before getting dinner and ice cream. We eat a lot of ice cream in South America. They have the best ice cream. I will always prefer Moomers, but this stuff is good. Before heading back to the bus terminal, we headed to another supermarket to pick up a few jars of dulce de crema de leche, which is similar to dulce to leche (basically caramel, but better), but is thicker and better and you can only get it in Uruguay. We had a bit of trouble finding a bus to take us to the terminal, but we ended up figuring it out and making it to the terminal with plenty of time to check in for our bus (we had to check in since it was international). We boarded our bus at 10, had to get our passports stamped at 3 and arrived in Buenos Aires at 7. Luckily I was able to take the train home. We weren't sure how the public transportation was going to work, because of Easter, but I only had to wait a few minutes and was home by 8.
Busy week this week! Next week I will for sure be taking it easy as I seem to have developed a cold.
Sunday- I went with some friends to La Feria de Mataderos which is normally a huge street market in the barrio Mataderos which is known for their beef, but it rained on Sunday morning, so not as many people set booths up. We took a bus about 40 minutes from where we live to Mataderos around 11. After getting there to find nothing set up, we went to the museum there which had a bunch of cool stuff about the gauchos and the cattle. After the museum we saw that people were starting to set stuff up, so we went to get lunch and then headed back to the feria. There wasn't nearly as much as there normally is (so we were told), but it was still really cool to see some different things at a street fair. I love the street fairs, but they tend to get repetitive after a while.
Monday and Tuesday were just normal days of class and then on Wednesday I packed and met up with my friends at 7:45 to head over to the bus station. Our bus left at 9:15 and we were woken up around 1 am to get our passports stamped at the border. After trying to get a few more hours of sleep, we arrived in the capital, Montevideo at 5:49 in the morning. Since we couldn't check into our hostel until 1, we decided to change some money over and then we walked around, found a city guide with the bus routes and a map and found a place to eat breakfast. Then we decided to walk around to see some of Montevideo's sights and came upon a map with a suggested walking tour of La Ciudad Vieja (Old City), so we walked over there and saw some of the old buildings and ended up at a street fair. Montevideo was great, because it was a big city, but didn't feel like it. I felt very safe there and the people were very helpful and nice. After grabbing some lunch, we headed over to our hostel. We checked in, paid and were on our way once again. We went to the beach (which was really close to our hostel) and just walked around and enjoyed the city. We opted for an early dinner as we were very tired and then headed back to the hostel after some ice cream.
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| Me in Montevideo at the beach. |
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| Montevideo, Uruguay |
Tuesday morning we got up bright and early to go to Punta del Este which is kind of a beach town about 2 hours from Montevideo. The weather could not have been more perfect. It was sunny and warm! We went to the beach right away to walk around a bit and to see the hand sculpture. Then we found a spot for lunch that was supposed to be very good. It lived up to our expectations! We had some very good fresh fish! Luckily we wanted fish, because they couldn't serve anything else as it was Friday during lent and Uruguay is a Catholic country just like Argentina. They told us that people barely work during Holy Week and that they didn't have a lot of ingredients. After lunch we headed back to the bus terminal to get a ticket to go see Casapueblo, which was about 40 minutes outside of town. It was a really distinct and cool building. The architect is primarily an artist, so the building is essentially a work of art and it was filled with his art and sculptures. After seeing all that we could we asked how to get back to Punta del Este. We were told that we would have to walk back to Punta del Este (approximately 6 miles). That wasn't go to happen. Luckily we asked someone else and found out that we could take a bus. After a few failed attempts and a bit of walking, we got a bus to take us back to the city. We finished up our day in Punta del Este with some ice cream, a little more walking, some souvenir shops and a quick dinner in the terminal. On they way back, I started to feel sick. I thought it was some sort of stomach bug, but it probably had more to do with the lack of sleep. We got back to the hostel around midnight and went right to bed.
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| Me in front of the hand in Punta del Este |
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| Casapueblo |
Saturday was much less rushed as we didn't have any concrete plans. We got up, ate breakfast and packed everything up for the day. After finding out where the closet supermarket was, we checked out of the hostel right at 11 and were on our way. We found another street fair a few blocks from our hostel, so we decided to check it out. It was very different from the ones we are used to. They were selling a lot of clothes and video games along with the typical street fair stuff. After browsing for a while, we headed to the supermarket, bought some food for lunch and headed back to the beach/park area. We decided to have a picnic instead of going out to lunch, because Uruguay was way more expensive than we were expecting. We just hung out by the beach for a good chunk of the day and then decided to walk around a bit before getting dinner and ice cream. We eat a lot of ice cream in South America. They have the best ice cream. I will always prefer Moomers, but this stuff is good. Before heading back to the bus terminal, we headed to another supermarket to pick up a few jars of dulce de crema de leche, which is similar to dulce to leche (basically caramel, but better), but is thicker and better and you can only get it in Uruguay. We had a bit of trouble finding a bus to take us to the terminal, but we ended up figuring it out and making it to the terminal with plenty of time to check in for our bus (we had to check in since it was international). We boarded our bus at 10, had to get our passports stamped at 3 and arrived in Buenos Aires at 7. Luckily I was able to take the train home. We weren't sure how the public transportation was going to work, because of Easter, but I only had to wait a few minutes and was home by 8.
Busy week this week! Next week I will for sure be taking it easy as I seem to have developed a cold.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Week Ten
I'm starting to get used to my routine. The classes are becoming pretty routine, but are going well. I'm finally getting to a point where I'm confident enough with my Spanish to actively participate in class. I really like Buenos Aires, but I find myself missing small things on a daily basis. Besides my family, friends and cats, I miss familiarity. It's kind of exciting here, because you never know what to expect every morning on your way to school, but I also miss being able to hop in my car and drive when I need to get somewhere. I always have a seat, I don't have to wait several minutes every time I want to go anywhere and I don't have to scrounge for monedas (coins) that basically don't exist here. That's a lie. There are monedas, but it seems like I'm always close to running out.
This last week was pretty normal. I planned a sort of last minute trip for the long weekend that's coming up. (We get Thursday/Friday off this week for Easter). We're going to Montevideo, Uruguay and we're going to make a pit stop in Punta del Este and Casapueblo, Uruguay as well. Uruguay is so much smaller than Buenos Aires, so it will be nice to be somewhere a little calmer.
Friday night was International Night at my school. Kids from different countries had booths with traditional food from their country. There was also a lot of music and people. It was fun, but I didn't stay too long as I was pretty tired from having class at 8am the same day. Before International Night, I hung out with some Argentine friends from my Psychology Class. We just got coffee and talked. It's great practice for me and they are all really nice!
Only have two days of class next week, which will be a nice break! Will fill you in after I get back from Uruguay! Chao!
This last week was pretty normal. I planned a sort of last minute trip for the long weekend that's coming up. (We get Thursday/Friday off this week for Easter). We're going to Montevideo, Uruguay and we're going to make a pit stop in Punta del Este and Casapueblo, Uruguay as well. Uruguay is so much smaller than Buenos Aires, so it will be nice to be somewhere a little calmer.
Friday night was International Night at my school. Kids from different countries had booths with traditional food from their country. There was also a lot of music and people. It was fun, but I didn't stay too long as I was pretty tired from having class at 8am the same day. Before International Night, I hung out with some Argentine friends from my Psychology Class. We just got coffee and talked. It's great practice for me and they are all really nice!
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| (Left-Right) Some girl I don't know, Luci, Emir (back), Valentina, Isabel, Travis (back), Mora and I! |
Only have two days of class next week, which will be a nice break! Will fill you in after I get back from Uruguay! Chao!
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Week Nine
Another normal week this week. Classes are going really well and I like them all for the most part. The reading is still a lot, but it's getting easier. I'm also figuring out how much I actually need to read for each class. A lot of classes assign a ton of reading, but we can get by without reading all of it. Friday night I went out with some Argentines from my psychology class to celebrate our friend's birthday. It was a lot of fun and I got to hang out with some locals for a while! Saturday I went with some friends to see The Sound of Music (La Novicia Rebelde) in Spanish! It was really good and was pretty easy to follow. Some of the translations didn't work too well, but it was a great show!
This is a video of the production I saw. This is Do Re Mi!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Week Eight
A pretty normal week this week. Finally confirmed my classes on Monday. After two weeks of running around getting signatures and e-mailing back and forth between advisers, this process has been completed. All of my classes have been going well. There is a lot of assigned readings, but they aren't really necessary for the class. The classes seem to be designed so that everyone can do well even without doing much. Our grades are based mostly on two tests and a couple of papers. For my history class, my prof is going to give us a list of questions we need to know for the exams. He's essentially giving us the answers. Doesn't get much easier than that! The main reasons for taking these classes is for my Spanish to improve and it definitely is! Speaking is getting much easier and faster (my host mom has been complimenting me on my Spanish lately :-D ) and listening is getting a lot easier. Some of the professors speak really fast and the students speak even faster, so I've had to get used to listening quickly and attentively for long periods of time.
My free day during the week is Wednesday and of course I have the weekend. This Wednesday, I went downtown to get some more gifts bought and to just enjoy the beautiful weather. It's fall here now and it's perfect. The weather is about 70-80 everyday and sunny. Not exactly the fall I'm used to, but it's much better than the 90 degrees at the beginning of my trip.
Saturday I went with some friends to Jardín Japonés (Japanese Garden). It was beautiful and they had a special day for Japan. All of the entrance fees and food costs, etc were donated to Japan to help with the tsunami and earthquake relief. They were selling pins that said "Fuerza Japon" (Japanese Force). It was really nice, but was heartbreaking to see some of the pictures of the damage in Japan. After the garden, my friend Karen and I went to see a march for autism, because she works at a special needs camp during the summer and wanted to check it out. It ended up being more handing out flyers and walking in front of cars at the stoplights with signs, so we headed home.
Not a terribly eventful week, but it was good and now we're 1/3 of the way done with Argentina. Crazy how time is flying!
My free day during the week is Wednesday and of course I have the weekend. This Wednesday, I went downtown to get some more gifts bought and to just enjoy the beautiful weather. It's fall here now and it's perfect. The weather is about 70-80 everyday and sunny. Not exactly the fall I'm used to, but it's much better than the 90 degrees at the beginning of my trip.
Saturday I went with some friends to Jardín Japonés (Japanese Garden). It was beautiful and they had a special day for Japan. All of the entrance fees and food costs, etc were donated to Japan to help with the tsunami and earthquake relief. They were selling pins that said "Fuerza Japon" (Japanese Force). It was really nice, but was heartbreaking to see some of the pictures of the damage in Japan. After the garden, my friend Karen and I went to see a march for autism, because she works at a special needs camp during the summer and wanted to check it out. It ended up being more handing out flyers and walking in front of cars at the stoplights with signs, so we headed home.
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| Jardin Japonés |
Not a terribly eventful week, but it was good and now we're 1/3 of the way done with Argentina. Crazy how time is flying!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Week Seven- Mendoza
Sunday- Walked around Buenos Aires a bit and then met up with a friend to talk about going somewhere for our long weekend. We decided on Mendoza!
Monday I had my first class for History of Art and Media Audiovisual with natives and it went really well! I understood everything the prof said and got my signature to take the class. I then went to Retiro to go to the Bus Station to buy tickets to Mendoza, then booked a hostel and then headed back to school to talk to my adviser about getting a signature for my psychology class. It turned out that the director that I needed to talk to had left for the day, so they told me to come back on Tuesday at 8 a.m. Of course. Always have to do everything super early here.
Got up early on Tuesday to get my signature and it turns out that the guy doesn't come to school on Tuesdays. Luckily there was another lady who signed my sheet for me. Went to my Psych class which went well, but was super long. I was told that it ended at 11:10. It actually goes until 12:50 and then I have History of Latin America and Literature of Latin America from 1-4. So I have class on Tuesdays from 9:40-4 with a ten minute break. I'm going to need to start bringing food! Went home and read for my lit class until dinner. There isn't a lot of homework for these classes, but there is a ton of reading!
Wednesday I got to sleep in, went to the school to buy another book and to pick one up that I had ordered. It rained and I didn't have my umbrella, so I went straight home by means of bus. Luckily I didn't have to wait for the bus today. Got home and packed for Mendoza. We met up at 7:30 to grab some food real quick and then head over to the bus station. We left Buenos Aires at 10:00.
After a very long bus ride, we made it to Mendoza. Our bus ride was supposed to be 14 hours which wouldn't have been too bad, but there was a terrible accident during the night and we had to wait several hours. It got kind of foggy and was raining during the night and when this car was passing another car, it hit a bus head on. Sadly, they were all killed as their car caught on fire after going underneath the bus. The bus driver and some passengers suffered some minor injuries, but were ok. I had no idea of any problem until the morning, because I had been able to sleep pretty well on the bus. We ended up stopping at another terminal to grab some lunch since they didn't have food to give us and then about 6 hours late, we made it to our hostel. We got the hostel and found out that some people left their stuff in our room and we had to wait for them to come back. We went up to the roof and talked with this couple that is originally from South Africa, but had been living in London. After almost two hours of waiting, we got settled into our room and walked to the center to eat dinner and see La Plaza Independencia. The plaza was really cool and full of people as it was a national holiday. We walked around and looked at the different things people were selling and headed back to the hostel after watching this guy paint these incredible pictures with only spray paint. We got back, got everything ready for Thursday and went to bed.
Thursday morning, we got up early to eat "breakfast" which consisted of terrible coffee and stale, dry toast and then headed out to go biking through the vineyards. We walked to the bus stop and took it to Maipú, which is still in Grand Mendoza, but not in the actually city of Mendoza. We rented bikes for the day and headed off. We decided to bike all the way to the furthest winery first, so that way we would have less distance after the wine tastings. After about an hour and a half, we finally got to Carinae Bodega. They gave us a tour of the cellar and told us a little bit about how they make the wine and a little about the company. Then we were able to try 4 different wines. They were all very good and they explained each wine to us and what made it distinct. Then we headed across the street to the olive oil factory. It was really interesting, but pretty short. The tour lasted only about 15 minutes, but we got to see some of the olive trees and some of the old a new equipment. They only have a harvest period of April to July, so they only run the machines during those months, but they make thousands of liters of olive oil. Afterwards, we got to taste some of their products and headed to the next bodega. After a bit of a ride, we made it to Di Tomasso Bodega which is the oldest one in the area. There wasn't a tour, but the wine tasting was more thorough and we got to look around afterwards. We were hoping to grab lunch at this bodega, but it was very expensive, so we decided to wait. We rode up to the place that was supposed to have good lunch, but it had closed minutes before we got there, so we kept going and decided to grab food if we saw any. The problem with the bike tour is that everything is very spread out and there isn't really a path to ride on. You either have to ride on the road (which is usually fine) or it's very bumpy and difficult. There was one section of construction which was a bit of a pain to ride on. After the lunch place, we kept riding Historia y Sabores (history and flavors) which is a chocolate, liqueur place. We got to sample some chocolate and some of the marmalade that they make there. Not really a tour, but we got to look around again. After this we had one stop left. We biked past the bike rental place and head to La Bodega Rural. Because it was a holiday, the winery was closed, but they have a museum that is free. We looked around that for a bit and then headed back to the bike rental. In total, we biked about 15 miles. It was super long, but the weather was perfect and Mendoza was beautiful. We then took the bus back to Mendoza and ate Subway. This was the first we had really eaten all day and I had wanted to try Subway. It was good, but different from Subway in the US. After looking around a bit, we headed back to the hostel to pack and sleep.
Friday morning we got up bright and early to meet our bus to take us to Villavicencio which is where they get their water that they bottle from. Our bus was an hour late as per usual and we drove about an hour out of Mendoza and up the mountains. It got to a point where it was so cloudy that we couldn't see, so we headed down a bit and they let us out to look around. Continuing down the mountain, we stopped at an old hotel that used to be very popular, but is now closed. We got to look around the gardens and the grounds. It was beautiful, but it was pretty cold on top of the mountain. We had one more stop after the hotel and that was nice, but it was cold and everything starts to look the same after a while. We then headed back to Mendoza and got off in the center. We found a sidewalk "museum" that we stopped to look at. There were dioramas on the street depicting Mendoza throughout the years. It was neat, but didn't take much time to go through like we had thought. We then headed into a few touristy shops and then walked over to an aquarium that we wanted to go to. It was cool, but small. We went across the street afterwards to the serpentario, which is essentially a bunch of snakes in cages. I was not a huge fan, but it was kind of neat. Because we had thought that all of this was going to take much longer, we had a little extra time to kill. We ended up just walking around the city and then headed to the bus station. We left Mendoza and got back to Buenos Aires around 10 a.m.
It was a really nice trip! A little rushed, but I'm very glad I went!
Monday I had my first class for History of Art and Media Audiovisual with natives and it went really well! I understood everything the prof said and got my signature to take the class. I then went to Retiro to go to the Bus Station to buy tickets to Mendoza, then booked a hostel and then headed back to school to talk to my adviser about getting a signature for my psychology class. It turned out that the director that I needed to talk to had left for the day, so they told me to come back on Tuesday at 8 a.m. Of course. Always have to do everything super early here.
Got up early on Tuesday to get my signature and it turns out that the guy doesn't come to school on Tuesdays. Luckily there was another lady who signed my sheet for me. Went to my Psych class which went well, but was super long. I was told that it ended at 11:10. It actually goes until 12:50 and then I have History of Latin America and Literature of Latin America from 1-4. So I have class on Tuesdays from 9:40-4 with a ten minute break. I'm going to need to start bringing food! Went home and read for my lit class until dinner. There isn't a lot of homework for these classes, but there is a ton of reading!
Wednesday I got to sleep in, went to the school to buy another book and to pick one up that I had ordered. It rained and I didn't have my umbrella, so I went straight home by means of bus. Luckily I didn't have to wait for the bus today. Got home and packed for Mendoza. We met up at 7:30 to grab some food real quick and then head over to the bus station. We left Buenos Aires at 10:00.
After a very long bus ride, we made it to Mendoza. Our bus ride was supposed to be 14 hours which wouldn't have been too bad, but there was a terrible accident during the night and we had to wait several hours. It got kind of foggy and was raining during the night and when this car was passing another car, it hit a bus head on. Sadly, they were all killed as their car caught on fire after going underneath the bus. The bus driver and some passengers suffered some minor injuries, but were ok. I had no idea of any problem until the morning, because I had been able to sleep pretty well on the bus. We ended up stopping at another terminal to grab some lunch since they didn't have food to give us and then about 6 hours late, we made it to our hostel. We got the hostel and found out that some people left their stuff in our room and we had to wait for them to come back. We went up to the roof and talked with this couple that is originally from South Africa, but had been living in London. After almost two hours of waiting, we got settled into our room and walked to the center to eat dinner and see La Plaza Independencia. The plaza was really cool and full of people as it was a national holiday. We walked around and looked at the different things people were selling and headed back to the hostel after watching this guy paint these incredible pictures with only spray paint. We got back, got everything ready for Thursday and went to bed.
Thursday morning, we got up early to eat "breakfast" which consisted of terrible coffee and stale, dry toast and then headed out to go biking through the vineyards. We walked to the bus stop and took it to Maipú, which is still in Grand Mendoza, but not in the actually city of Mendoza. We rented bikes for the day and headed off. We decided to bike all the way to the furthest winery first, so that way we would have less distance after the wine tastings. After about an hour and a half, we finally got to Carinae Bodega. They gave us a tour of the cellar and told us a little bit about how they make the wine and a little about the company. Then we were able to try 4 different wines. They were all very good and they explained each wine to us and what made it distinct. Then we headed across the street to the olive oil factory. It was really interesting, but pretty short. The tour lasted only about 15 minutes, but we got to see some of the olive trees and some of the old a new equipment. They only have a harvest period of April to July, so they only run the machines during those months, but they make thousands of liters of olive oil. Afterwards, we got to taste some of their products and headed to the next bodega. After a bit of a ride, we made it to Di Tomasso Bodega which is the oldest one in the area. There wasn't a tour, but the wine tasting was more thorough and we got to look around afterwards. We were hoping to grab lunch at this bodega, but it was very expensive, so we decided to wait. We rode up to the place that was supposed to have good lunch, but it had closed minutes before we got there, so we kept going and decided to grab food if we saw any. The problem with the bike tour is that everything is very spread out and there isn't really a path to ride on. You either have to ride on the road (which is usually fine) or it's very bumpy and difficult. There was one section of construction which was a bit of a pain to ride on. After the lunch place, we kept riding Historia y Sabores (history and flavors) which is a chocolate, liqueur place. We got to sample some chocolate and some of the marmalade that they make there. Not really a tour, but we got to look around again. After this we had one stop left. We biked past the bike rental place and head to La Bodega Rural. Because it was a holiday, the winery was closed, but they have a museum that is free. We looked around that for a bit and then headed back to the bike rental. In total, we biked about 15 miles. It was super long, but the weather was perfect and Mendoza was beautiful. We then took the bus back to Mendoza and ate Subway. This was the first we had really eaten all day and I had wanted to try Subway. It was good, but different from Subway in the US. After looking around a bit, we headed back to the hostel to pack and sleep.
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| Cellar in Carinae |
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| Vineyard |
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| Olive Oil Tasting |
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| Wine Tasting at Di Tomasso |
Friday morning we got up bright and early to meet our bus to take us to Villavicencio which is where they get their water that they bottle from. Our bus was an hour late as per usual and we drove about an hour out of Mendoza and up the mountains. It got to a point where it was so cloudy that we couldn't see, so we headed down a bit and they let us out to look around. Continuing down the mountain, we stopped at an old hotel that used to be very popular, but is now closed. We got to look around the gardens and the grounds. It was beautiful, but it was pretty cold on top of the mountain. We had one more stop after the hotel and that was nice, but it was cold and everything starts to look the same after a while. We then headed back to Mendoza and got off in the center. We found a sidewalk "museum" that we stopped to look at. There were dioramas on the street depicting Mendoza throughout the years. It was neat, but didn't take much time to go through like we had thought. We then headed into a few touristy shops and then walked over to an aquarium that we wanted to go to. It was cool, but small. We went across the street afterwards to the serpentario, which is essentially a bunch of snakes in cages. I was not a huge fan, but it was kind of neat. Because we had thought that all of this was going to take much longer, we had a little extra time to kill. We ended up just walking around the city and then headed to the bus station. We left Mendoza and got back to Buenos Aires around 10 a.m.
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| Hotel in Villavicencio |
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| Diorama in Mendoza- Museo Popular Callejero |
It was a really nice trip! A little rushed, but I'm very glad I went!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Week Six- First Week of the Semester
This week was the first week of the semester and I started my classes! I found out on Saturday that I had an appointment for my student visa on Tuesday, so I had planned to get everything ready on Monday. I went to the school to sign up for two of my classes and had no problems. Then I went to my first class of the week to find out that it doesn't start until next Monday. Still unclear as to why, but no big deal. I spent the rest of Monday running around Buenos Aires trying to get everything ready for my visa. After about 7 hours and many problems, I had everything all set.
My visa appointment was fine on Tuesday. It didn't take very long, but was a little confusing. I have to wait until April 4 to pick it up. I had my first classes on Tuesday. I had History of Latin America and Literature of Latin America. The history class has potential to be interesting, but the prof is really boring. I think I'm going to like my lit class though.
Wednesday is my free day during the week. Spent the day resting as I am fighting off a cold.
Thursday I had my first class with local students. I ended up leaving ten minutes in as it was not a photography class like I had thought. It was about cinematography and numbers and I had no idea what was going on. I went to my adviser to find out when Psychology was and decided to try that instead. Had History and Lit in the afternoon. Lots of reading and it takes so much longer when it's in Spanish.
Friday I had my actual first class with locals. Psychology went really well. The prof spoke really fast, but I was able to understand almost everything! I still have to get it cleared, but I will take care of that on Tuesday as we have two weeks to get our classes set.
Saturday I went to la Calle Florida (Florida St). It's basically a huge street that is pedestrians only. There are a bunch of shops and it was nice just to walk around for a bit as the weather was perfect today. Looked up some info on a possible trip for next weekend, because we have a four day weekend! They seem to have a lot of national holidays here.
My visa appointment was fine on Tuesday. It didn't take very long, but was a little confusing. I have to wait until April 4 to pick it up. I had my first classes on Tuesday. I had History of Latin America and Literature of Latin America. The history class has potential to be interesting, but the prof is really boring. I think I'm going to like my lit class though.
Wednesday is my free day during the week. Spent the day resting as I am fighting off a cold.
Thursday I had my first class with local students. I ended up leaving ten minutes in as it was not a photography class like I had thought. It was about cinematography and numbers and I had no idea what was going on. I went to my adviser to find out when Psychology was and decided to try that instead. Had History and Lit in the afternoon. Lots of reading and it takes so much longer when it's in Spanish.
Friday I had my actual first class with locals. Psychology went really well. The prof spoke really fast, but I was able to understand almost everything! I still have to get it cleared, but I will take care of that on Tuesday as we have two weeks to get our classes set.
Saturday I went to la Calle Florida (Florida St). It's basically a huge street that is pedestrians only. There are a bunch of shops and it was nice just to walk around for a bit as the weather was perfect today. Looked up some info on a possible trip for next weekend, because we have a four day weekend! They seem to have a lot of national holidays here.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Week Five- Bariloche
First off, Bariloche is the most beautiful, incredible place I´ve ever been to. If you ever get the chance. Go.
After a 22 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires, we arrived in Bariloche on Sunday around 11 a.m. The bus ride was not bad at all. We walked about ten minutes to our hostel and got settled in. We grabbed lunch at this nice little restaurant not too far from our hostel and the waitress talked with us for about 20 minutes. She was from Chile and told us some places we could check out if we decided to go to Chile. She was so nice! Sunday was pretty much just exploring the town. We found the cathedral by the lake and sat on a dock for a while. It was beautiful and so relaxing! We then found one of the chocolate shops named Mamuschka and the chocolate was incredible! After walking around some more we got the best ice cream that Bariloche has to offer at Juaju. After looking into some excursions for the week, we headed back to the hostel. We went to the supermarket on our way back to buy some food to make dinner. We got stuff for sandwiches and made them in the kitchen of our hostel. Considering we didn´t do anything big, it was a full day!
Monday my friends decided to go trekking in the mountains, but as my feet were giving me problems, I decided to pass and walked around the city. There is a big craft show in the town center everyday except for Sunday, so since we couldn´t go on Sunday, I decided to check it out. It was very cool. I really love the ferias everywhere. I kept walking through the city and ended walking past the chocolate museum. (Bariloche is very famous for its chocolate). It was on my list of things I wanted to check out, so I went inside. The factory wasn´t fully running today, because today and tomorrow are national holidays. Because of this, I was the only one in my tour, so I got a private guided tour of the museum. I was a little worried since the tour was completely in Spanish, but even though she spoke very fast, I still understood almost everything! It was really interesting about the history of chocolate and a little bit about how it´s made! Before my tour they gave me ¨hot chocolate¨ and it was incredible, but was almost like drinking a bar of chocolate. Awesome. After my tour, I walked around for about 2 more hours before heading back to the hostel.
Tuesday we went on an excursion to la Isla Victoria and el Bosque del Arrayanes just outside of Bariloche. We got to our pick up point at 1:00 after trying a different chocolate store (Abuela Goya- not as good as Mamuschka) and took a bus to our boat, Modesta Victoria. We had about an hour and a half ride to el Bosque del Arrayanes. The ride was really cool. We were able to go out on the deck and take pictures and whatnot. There are no words to describe how beautfiul Bariloche is. El Bosque del Arrayanes is the only forest in the entire world to have the Arrayanes tree. We had about 30 minutes to walk around the main path and enjoy the forest. After the forest, we boarded our boat for a 40 minute ride to la Isla Victoria. La Isla Victoria is part of the National Park Nahuel Huapi and because we are students in Argentina, we only had to pay $20 Pesos instead of $60! It was really pretty, but we didn´t have much time to explore by ourselves. We had a guided tour of part of the island and then had a little bit of free time to view the redwood trees on the island. After about an hour and a half on the island, we boarded our boat and headed back to the city. We went to dinner right next to our travel agency to try a popular fish dish here that´s called Trucha. It was very good and it was presented very nicely, fish head and all! That was a little bit of a surprise! Haha. After dinner, we got some ice cream and headed back to the hostel to talk and plan a little more.
Wednesday we got up nice and early to be picked up at 9 a.m. in front of our hostel to go to an estancia (ranch). Our ride ended up being 40 minutes late, but that´s typical in Argentina. The ride took about an hour and we arrived at the estancia. We were greeted with a small breakfast that consisted of croissants filled with dulce de leche (caramel) and coffee. After breakfast, we headed out to go horseback riding for two hours. It was absolutely incredible. We rode through the mountains and by the water and even through the water at one point! It was definitely the highlight of my trip. Incredible. After we got back from our ride, we were served an asado. An asado is basically just a bunch of grilled meat. Very good. It consisted of chorizo (sausage), chicken, beef, empanadas, salada and fruit. It was a ton of food for what we paid. All in all, it was an amazing day and for just over $50 US, it was a steal!
Thursday, we got to sleep in a bit and woke up just in time for breakfast. After breakfast and showers, we walked to the supermarket and bought stuff to make sandwiches and some fruit to have a picnic by the water. It was super relaxing and really nice. It was really cold and rained a little bit, but it was nice. At 2:30 we were picked up by a van to go to Cerro Leones. We arrived around 3 pm and were taken a ways up the mountain and went on a guided tour of the caverns there. They are called Las Cavernas del Viejo Volcan (Caverns of the old volcano). We saw three caverns that were once inhabited by the Mapuche tribe. The first two caverns were pretty cool and we got to see a drawing on one of the walls that is thousands of years old! The third cavern was the best. We literally crawled through a hole in the cave to go to the main "room" of the cave. It was really dark and scary, but totally cool and legit. I was not expecting to crawl through the tiniest opening ever in a cave today. It was awesome. After the last cavern, we went up the mountain to take pictures and enjoy the view. It was incredible. After the excursion, I bought some more chocolate and had my first submarino. A submarino is essentially hot chocolate, but way better. The give you hot milk and a bar of chocolate to melt in the milk. So good. After that we decided that we wanted to cook our own dinner in the hostel, so we went to the supermarket and bought stuff to make pasta and vegetables. We cooked everything our selves in the kitchen and it was really good and way cheaper. All in all, a really good day!
Friday was our last full day in Bariloche. We accidentally slept in a little bit later than we would have liked, but it was nice. After getting ready, we went out to lunch and then headed back to the chocolate museum. It was nice to see the factory and we got a different perspective of the history of chocolate and our guide was much more conversational than the one I had on Monday. We then met up with two other friends to get ice cream one last time. After enjoying our ice cream we walked to the town center to check out the Patagonia (That´s what the southern region of Argentina is called) Museum. It was interesting, but not as cool as the chocolate museum. After this we bought some chocolate to take back with us to Buenos Aires, stopped at the Feria one more time to buy some gifts and went to dinner at this place we found that had different types of food that had a little bit more flavor than Argentine food! It was so good and the waiter was awesome! Now my suitcases are all packed to the brim and I am ready for the 22 hour bus ride back to Buenos Aires tomorrow.
Saturday we got to the bus station around 10 for our 10:30 bus. We didn't end up leaving until about 11. It was pretty uneventful. As far as 22 hour bus rides go, it wasn't too bad. For me, traveling by bus is way better than traveling by plane. We got back to Buenos Aires around 9 a.m. on Sunday and headed home to get ready for the first day of classes tomorrow!
After a 22 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires, we arrived in Bariloche on Sunday around 11 a.m. The bus ride was not bad at all. We walked about ten minutes to our hostel and got settled in. We grabbed lunch at this nice little restaurant not too far from our hostel and the waitress talked with us for about 20 minutes. She was from Chile and told us some places we could check out if we decided to go to Chile. She was so nice! Sunday was pretty much just exploring the town. We found the cathedral by the lake and sat on a dock for a while. It was beautiful and so relaxing! We then found one of the chocolate shops named Mamuschka and the chocolate was incredible! After walking around some more we got the best ice cream that Bariloche has to offer at Juaju. After looking into some excursions for the week, we headed back to the hostel. We went to the supermarket on our way back to buy some food to make dinner. We got stuff for sandwiches and made them in the kitchen of our hostel. Considering we didn´t do anything big, it was a full day!
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| Best Chocolate Ever |
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| Ice Cream! |
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| Arrayanes Trees |
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| My Horse "Grandote" and I |
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| Las Cavernas |
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| Centro Civico (Civic Center) |
Saturday we got to the bus station around 10 for our 10:30 bus. We didn't end up leaving until about 11. It was pretty uneventful. As far as 22 hour bus rides go, it wasn't too bad. For me, traveling by bus is way better than traveling by plane. We got back to Buenos Aires around 9 a.m. on Sunday and headed home to get ready for the first day of classes tomorrow!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Week Four
Sunday: Went to a fería (street fair) in Recoleta (a barrio in Buenos Aires) with a few friends today. It was huge and there were so many people! It was really cool though. There were so many interesting booths. A lot of very talented people here. I definitely want to go back before I leave. So many unique things! Spending the night planning our trip that starts on Saturday! Ahh! It's coming up so fast!
Monday: Went to the bus station after class to buy tickets for Bariloche today! The trip is going to be around 22 hours, but it shouldn't be terrible. We booked a hostel for 3 nights today and will extend if we decide to stay in Bariloche until the end of the week.
Tuesday: Went out with some friends to celebrate my birthday, since I was sick last Thursday. It was a good time! We didn't stay out too late due to school in the morning!
Wednesday: Just a normal day of school. We reviewed for our final all day. I had my academic advising appointment at 4:20. It ended up being 5:10, but I got my classes figured out. I didn't actually sign up for them though. I have to sign up for them on Monday the 14th at 8 am and for my native classes, I have to get permission from the head of the department. I will be glad when everything is set in stone in 3 weeks! Right now I'm planning to take:
Friday: Had the oral portion of my final today. I'm so glad that this class is done! It wasn't terrible, but at 5 hours a day, it was really long. I went to the supermarket to pick up a few things for my vacation and then went to the post office to mail some things. I am pretty much all packed up and ready to go to Bariloche tomorrow!
On Saturday we are heading to Bariloche, Argentina! It's a 22 hour bus ride and we're leaving around 1 p.m. I'll see you all in a week! :)
Monday: Went to the bus station after class to buy tickets for Bariloche today! The trip is going to be around 22 hours, but it shouldn't be terrible. We booked a hostel for 3 nights today and will extend if we decide to stay in Bariloche until the end of the week.
Tuesday: Went out with some friends to celebrate my birthday, since I was sick last Thursday. It was a good time! We didn't stay out too late due to school in the morning!
Wednesday: Just a normal day of school. We reviewed for our final all day. I had my academic advising appointment at 4:20. It ended up being 5:10, but I got my classes figured out. I didn't actually sign up for them though. I have to sign up for them on Monday the 14th at 8 am and for my native classes, I have to get permission from the head of the department. I will be glad when everything is set in stone in 3 weeks! Right now I'm planning to take:
- Latin American Literature
- Latin American History
- Photography
- History of Media and Art
Friday: Had the oral portion of my final today. I'm so glad that this class is done! It wasn't terrible, but at 5 hours a day, it was really long. I went to the supermarket to pick up a few things for my vacation and then went to the post office to mail some things. I am pretty much all packed up and ready to go to Bariloche tomorrow!
On Saturday we are heading to Bariloche, Argentina! It's a 22 hour bus ride and we're leaving around 1 p.m. I'll see you all in a week! :)
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Week Three
This week was pretty low-key. Nothing terribly exciting. Haven't been feeling the greatest. I think it's a combo of some sort of stomach bug plus getting used to the food and stuff. The trains were out of service two times this week. One of them was a "strike" that lasted half a day. Apparently that's very common here, because there a ton of unions. On Thursday I went to a big used book fair in Plaza Italia and bought some books to read in Spanish. I had my orientation on Friday for my semester classes and it was a ton of information, but I'm excited to start taking normal classes. My intensive class is 5 hours a day and it's tough to sit there that long. Friday afternoon, I met with my friend Travis to plan our trip and we decided to go to Bariloche, Argentina with the rest of our group. It will be a little bit cheaper and will be a little more relaxing since most of the attractions are lakes and nature related. We're going to buy tickets on Monday! Didn't do much on Saturday as I was still not feeling really great. Hoping to go to a Feria (Street Fair) tomorrow with some friends.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Week Two!
Sunday-
Monday-
- We went to La Boca, Argentina which is famous for it's bright colored buildings. It was a beautiful day and was really great. I definitely want to go back. There were tons of people selling some really cool stuff on the streets.
- We also went to San Telmo to see the fería which is a giant flea market. We didn't stay for too long, because they were starting to pack up when we got there.
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| La Boca |
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| Me on Caminito en La Boca |
Monday-
- Had my first taste of the helado (ice cream) here today. It was so good. Best ice cream ever. It's more like Italian gelato than ice cream.
- Met with some friends today to try to plan a trip to Uruguay! We might be going this weekend!
- Just another normal day. Nothing too exciting.
- My friend Travis and I started planning our trip to Santiago de Chile y Mendoza, Argentina today. We're going to the travel agent tomorrow!
- Went with some friends to the bus station to purchase tickets for this weekend. We are going to Gualeguaychú, Argentina for Carnaval on Saturday!
- We also looked at some other prices for other trips.
- We had to wait what felt like forever for the train home! The public transportation is really good here, but sometimes you have to wait for a long time.
- Had my first exam today. I feel like I did pretty well. It was a little hard to focus, because I was soaking wet. I had to walk to school in a downpour today. Not fun. I also had to wait for the train for almost a half hour. Not sure why it took so long, but it was not fun. I'm trying to stay positive though! Everything is an experience!
- My friend Travis and I went to a travel agency today to talk to them about our potential trip to Santiago and Mendoza. We definitely want to do the packaged trip to Santiago, but we think we're going to do our own thing in Mendoza. It will be cheaper and more fun!
- Tonight I'm staying in as tomorrow will be a very long day, but I'm spending the night planning trips! I feel so grown up!
- Got up around 10 to meet up with some friends for lunch at 11. We went to Barrio Chino for lunch and then met up with the rest of our group. We walked to the subte in the pouring rain and took that to the bus station.
- Our bus left at 2 and we arrived in Gualeguaychú (Gwall-[long A]-gwhy-choo) around 5. We took the colectivo (bus) to downtown and just enjoyed the city for a while.
- We ate dinner around 8 (which is early here) and I had a parilla asado, which is a bunch of grilled beef. It was so good!
- After dinner we headed over to Carnaval!
- Carnaval is a giant celebration with elaborate floats and costumes and the one in Gualeguaychú is the biggest one in Argentina.
- We watched the parades from about 11 until 1:45 a.m. and then headed back to the bus station to catch our 3:15 a.m. bus home. When we left, there was still about 2 hours left of the parade, but we had to get home.
- We got back to the station and boarded our bus. We got back to Buenos Aires around 7:30 a.m. and I ended up having to take a taxi home, because it rained a ton yesterday and the trains weren't working. After a quick breakfast I took a long nap!
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| The floats were huge! |
This is a video I found on YouTube of this year's Carnaval in Gualeguaychú!
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