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Monday, August 10, 2009

Home

I'm currently in DC, house-sitting for a week. Got here on Sunday, after my original flight was canceled and they re-booked me via NY on American Airlines.

The last couple days of Buenos Aires were a blur and I have returned with a huge appreciation for chocolate, language fluency, and about 5 million other things.

Last Thursday, Emily - who lived in my dorm freshmen year, and is studying abroad in Buenos Aires for the semester, and I met up with Elliot at Cumoná, a well-known restaurant in this area. I got an empanada de Lomo and this stew called Locro. The empanada was amazing and filled with legit steak, but the locro stew was kind of weird. It was like beans with huge chunks of kind of pink meat. I didn’t eat very much of that, but apparently it’s a popular thing here.

Then, Lauren, Emily and I went to Puerto Madero. This is the up and coming wealthy neighborhood right on the water. There’s tons of construction going on, but there is also an ecological reserve there. It’s huge and is the home of many different kinds of birds, and also a lot of sausage stands. We passed one called the “Churimovil.” Haha. On the map, there were a lot of lakes, but there were dried out when we got there, although there was a great view of the water. There was also a child calling for his/her mother and we could not figure out where on earth the kid was. Until we were heading and realized that he was stuck in a tree.

That night, we went to Bar Milión, a gorgeous 3-story bar built in an old mansion. My pina colada wasn’t very good, but the ambiance was. Agustin and Lucas came to say goodbye! My favorite bar so far was Casa Bar. Delicious Daquiri de anana with Malibu.

Friday, James, Laura, Emily and I had lunch at Parilla 22 for James' last meal in BA. I also finally tried churros con chocolate, which turned out to be one of those things that I craved until I ate it. Then I met up with Darren, went home, and packed to leave on Saturday! Saturday I had one last lunch at Cumaná, with noquis, and then went to the airport with Marieke.

Wowee, what a summer.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

The Rodeo, Jardins, Evita

I forgot to document a couple of cool things that I did last week.

Monday was JFlo's last day so met up and dined in Chinatown, and the noodles here are rather odd, thick and kind of crunchy. Then, I walked around Belgrano, which used to be the capital.

The Rodeo:
Every year, there is a two week exhibition at La Rural in Palermo. They ship in tons of cows, sheep and horses to be auctioned off or for competitions. Being a horse-lover, I went and it was the strangest combination of things. There were huge gasoline-eating tractors on show outside and tons of animals inside. I went on the last day and it stank something horrible. I had to run in, take a picture and then run out! There was also a huge mall with cars for sale and some food stands.

Jardin Japones:
In the middle of the city, there are a couple of huge parks and gardens with clay paths and lots of trees. The Japonese Gardens are a fenced off little area filled with pretty ponds, and a small museum of Japanese Culture. There's huge goldfish and a sushi bar too. It cost $5 pesos to get in, but I noticed that one of the exit doors is always open and unguarded so people could probably just enter through there. It is a very aesthetically pleasing, though small area that the Japanese community in BA created for the city some years ago.

Evita Museum:
Even though the majority of wealthy Porteños, including my host family, do not like Peron, I went to the museum to check out how she is presented by people who do like her. It was a cool house-museum filled with movies and historical antedotes. There's a 50% student discount off the $12 peso entrance fee, fyi.

A Walking Tour: Architectural Bombness

I woke up, grabbed the guidebook and started walking. Not far along, I ran into these awesome recycling things in the street. They were the first I've seen in Buenos Aires. Most of the recycling is done through an inefficient system with Cartoneros.

Then, I went to this cool-looking Victorian House, and normally people can go in for free to look at 18th century bathrooms and stuff, but it’s been closed down due to Gripe A (Swine Flu). So, I took some pictures of the lovely architecture and continued on my way down Avenida Cordoba toTeatro Colon, another old building where opera shows are held. At least, I think its opera shows.
Next up on my tour of architectural wonders, I stopped in at McDonalds. I had heard that Mickey D’s tasted better in Argentina because of the high quality meat that the country’s known for, and somehow I hadn’t tried it yet, so I got a McFiesta from the $4.5 peso menu (equivalent of the dollar menu). It seemed like a regular burger to me...

McDonald’s also made me realize a huge cultural difference: in the US, the two main flavors of frozen yogurt in McDonalds are vanilla and chocolate. In BA, the flavors are dulce de leche and vainilla! Dulce de leche is the chocolate of Buenos Aires! I was wondering my chocolate was so expensive and why I didn’t see it that often because I thought everyone loved it, and now I know! The ad for fro-yo was Hace tu vide mas DULCE – make your life more sweet. : )

Then I walked down 9 de Julio, the widest street in the world with 16 lanes!! Crossing the street was kind of like a game because the cars don’t really stop for people or pay attention to the stop lights so when you get an opening, you have to run as fast as you can to the other side. And when there are 16 lanes, it’s def a challenge. When I safely reached the other side, I snapped a close-up picture of the obelisk, which was raised to celebrate Ar’s Independence day (Though I’m never a hundred percent sure here).

I had been hearing a lot about Calle Florida, a street in downtown Buenos Aires that is filled with shops so I followed my map there, and entered a street bulging with theaters and tons of clothing stores. The air was filled with yucky smoke smells and pollution. There was one section with a bunch of people selling jewelry and goods on top of blankets. One guy tried to sell me a head-scratcher via demonstration, and even though he ruined my hair, I’ll admit that it felt pretty good! That guy could prob use a lesson in marketing. When I finally emerged from that New Yorkish street, I sat down on a fountain and low and behold, I saw a Starbucks! That made me miss home a little.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Grrr, and awesomeness


Hanging out at a bar in Palermo

I had my first notable negative experience in Buenos Aires. On Friday night, I switched hostels from Sohostel, which was a nice cute place, to Palermo Soho Hostel, which turned out to be a nightmare. They put me in a tiny room that was converted from an old closet and I originally decided to bite the bullet and stay there for the rest of my days in Buenos Aires. But after the first night, I had to get out. I paid for eight days (big mistake! i recommend never paying for for than a few days at a time), and the owner said he would refund me the next morning. But then he disappeared and left a girl who was really unhelpful. Only today, after 4 days!!, was I able to retrieve part of my payment (minus 20 percent and some other stuff). They were shady and I did not like that hostel one bit.

But now all is well. That Saturday, I moved to a new host family in Recoleta. It's a really nice part of downtown Buenos Aires and also close to a lot of attractions and fun things. Thank goodness for my program director, Carina, because I don't know what I would have done without her help! On appreciation, I also really appreciate overdraft protection because I accidentally withdrew too much from my bank, but didn't have to pay any extra fee because my bank rocks.

Puma Urban Art Show:
On Saturday, Lauren (another girl who's staying here), and I went to watch my hiphop teachers performed in a HUGE show at la auditorio Buenos Aires. It was an event like nothing I've ever seen before. There were BMX bikers, life art being created with leaves and natural materials, and exhibits of skateboard art, graffiti, and more! Best of all, my teachers did great, and they said hi to me afterwards! That made me feel special. : ) Then we found a chinese restaurant and I got wonton soup!

Recoleta Fair:
On Sunday, I went to the huge street fair in Recoleta where they sold everything from leather to shoes to food to beer-bottles converted in clocks. I had a great time walking around and got a few souvenirs to boot! Then, I walked by the famous Recoleta Cemetary again. AND THEN!!!!! I finally saw Harry Potter!!! I thought the movie was pretty terrible, but I enjoyed it anyway because I love Harry Potter. They assign seats in the movie theater here, so you don't have to worry about getting there early to snag the seat you want.

PDA:
Afterwards, I met up with JFlo, and some other cool people from Harvard at a bar. I had a delicious pinapple daiquiri with Malibu and was just really happy to hang out and speak english for a bit. The world was so small because a couple of people and I had so many mutual friends, it was crazy! We also witnessed a couple hour-long displays of public affection - something quite common in BA. I think it's because kids live with their parents until they are very old so they can't show too much pda at home. Thus, the public areas suffice.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Bars, Planetariums, and Salsa!

We danced at the bar until 5:30am that night. It was awesome. My clothes carried the smell of smoke and alcohol long after we left. The next day we woke up around noon, and Agustin very kindly took us to Persicol, one of the best ice-cream shops in Buenos Aires. I had blueberry and irish cream, in a mini-cone.

Tango:
That night, I went to a giant tango lesson at Soho Tango. It was a giant class that wasn't really worth the 18 pesos in my opinion. I took the beginning level, and it was just walking around so I was like, why not try the advanced? haha, that was fun, all the guys were like come on and i learned hecka by struggling and prob looking pretty silly. Then we celebrated Monica's last night in our hostel room.

Galileo Galili Planetarium:
There's a giant concrete dome-shaped thing in the middle of the pretty botanical gardens of buenos aires. Inside is kind of like a half-science museum, half imax theater. Monica and I caught a show for kids where this guy dressed up in a space suite with a helmet lined with christmas lights. The seats tilt a lot so you can look up at the screen like it's the sky. We saw cool constellations and learned about planet earth - woot!

Then we walked past the zoo and saw a giraffe really close up. Then we walked past the botanical gardens and split a choripan - a hotdog with sausage inside! Then we walked all around Palermo, window-shopping until Monica had to leave. : (

Salsa:
To cheer myself up (after my friends returned to the states), I went to salsa night at La viruta, which was one of the funnest things I've done so far. I took the advanced class and got to dance with a lot of people who really knew what they were doing. After the lesson, these two guys put on a break-dancing show and i was like yes!! afterwards, I went up and introduced myself to them and they invited me to a practice! Then, there was a tango lesson, but I was tired so I left half way through to meet up with some Harvard people at a bar.

We chilled for a bit at jackie O's in Las Canitas, an area filled with bars. Then, we went to Chic again - a boliche and danced until 5am! that was good exercise. I really like tonic water with lemon. it's really delicious.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Hostel, San Telmo and Palermo

I just did like 5 million things!!

After celebrating the end of the program, and bidding farewell to my host family, Marcos drove Monica and I to a hostel in Palermo called SoHostel. We stayed there with Kirsten for 4 nights. It was a cute little place, even though the toilette didn't work very well and the kitchen area was always occupied by resident visitors who appeared to live there. they were nice people though, and we had a blast. Our first night there, Monica found this amazing Indian restaurant and we dined amidst a blanket of pillows for 4 hours. That's one cool thing here - you can hang out for as long as you want at almost any eatery. They tend to have small cubiertos, cover charges, but they never bring the check unless you as for it.

It's also very rare to find cafés that have coffee to go. People are expected to sit and sip their drinks, and it comes with water and usual a small treat - like crackers or cookies. Imagine how that would go over in a New York starbucks!!

San Telmo:
Home to several tango hotspots, San Telmo is a touristy part of town. We spent a day walking and shopping around the away and found some pretty cool vintage stores. I saw the skinniest house in the world! Best of all, we found this amazing restaurant called Burmana with gorgeous decor and an amazing gyro-like lunch special for 10 pesos. Yum!

Palermo Soho:
Trendy neighborhood nicknamed for its similarity to New York's Soho (not sure exactly how close it is though. I bought an amazing pair of crazy shoes from this shop called Puro. That night, Agustin and his friend, Lucas, picked us up and brought us out to a bar called Madagascar, but first we made a pit stop in Puerto Madero. It's where the boats dock in BA and was absolutely beautiful at night. I got a great pictures of the the Puente de la Mujer - the "woman bridge," - so named because it resembles a vagina. Nearby is the obelisk of plaza de mayo, which resembles a... : ) The bar turned into a raving dance party, which was pretty awesome.

Okay, I'm off to play, more later!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Contraband and Canoes

This is where I live! The window on the corner is my room!

Cenashow:
One of our activities last week was a cenashow, where people go to eat dinner and watch a Tango Show. It was a very classy event and I felt like a princess. I ate salmon, and saw the coolest (quite sexual) tango show. One lady danced a whole number with a blindfold on! I was like whoa!!!

Iguazu:
The Iguazu Waterfalls are beautiful. We walked along a trail to view them and at every corner there were more waterfalls. There was a huge storm the night before we arrived so the Falls were bursting! The parks are well-crafted because they give you opportunities to see the falls from above, below and the sides. So awesome. Unfortunately, I had hastily packed for the trip and forgot to bring pants. So, I wore the same sweatpants for the whole weekend, even though it was gorgeous 70 degree weather. But no worries, that didn't stop me from having tons of fun with Niha and Mateo and Aditya!

Contraband:
On our way to the waterfalls, I saw two mud-covered bread vans that popped up out of nowhere. I asked the taxi driver about them, thinking maybe it was a jungle-trekking adventure that we could go on, but he nonchalantly informed me that they were filled with onions and potatoes to be sold illegally in Argentina.

Canoeing:
Last Wednesday, the temperature was about 6 degrees Celsius. It was the coldest day we've had so far, and it also happened to be the day that the program decided to take us canoeing. Half the students opted out of the activity because of the chilly weather, but I joined the adventurous half who trekked out to Tigre to row along the Delta river (it's either called the Delta river or we rowed in the delta of the river, hehe.). It turned out to be really fun! There were some intense waves and it was def freezing, but luckily my friend Jordan had kindly lent me some warm clothes (because she lives right next to school), and I did have my REI down mittens with me! It also didn't hurt that the tour guides were extremely good looking and friendly locals of the Tigre area. : ) We went around some islands and saw the houses there too. When the tide is too high, the houses flood, and when it's too low, nobody can leave because the boats get stuck in the mud. We were also able to the see the roots of some huge trees because the tide was low and that was really cool because it's like a huge labyrinth of giant roots. We also stopped for tea and cake which was delicious, so delicious that the cats wanted some, but then the guides kicked them away.

End of the program:
I have finished my Spanish program at UDESA! There were a lot of presentations and exam-stuff to do, but now I am so happy to have free time for 2 weeks! We celebrated Thursday night by going to a Bar and then this guy got us into a boliche called Kika for free! I didn't stay long because the music was super loud, but a few friends and I chilled at a bar nearby.

The next night, I went out to Jack Flash, a bar in San Isidro. Allie's host siblings and I enjoyed some good drinks (one had chai tea and orange juice!) and dancing! We were out til 5am both nights, which is the norm here - when do people sleep??

Puerto de Frutos:
Tigre is also home to a huge market called Puerto de Frutos. They have everything from chairs to clothes to food. I got a shirt and some dance pants. I also met a man named Fer who wanted to sell me a very expensive boatride, and I didn't want to take the boatride but then he talked to me in Castellano (Spanish, here) for a long time anyway.

JFlo and LeRenzo
And I went out to Chinese food today! The food wasn't that great, but the conversation was! I also went out to Chinese food with my Argentine granny, but that food wasn't great either. I did make scallion pancakes for the fam though with harina integral - whole wheat flour!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Potlucks and Cowboys

Feliz 9 de Julio!
To celebrate, my host family and I hosted a potluck at the house, and all but one person from my program came to hang out for a bit. It was so cool to see everyone in a non-classroom setting and to hang out with some of the host siblings for a while. I made a orange cake with chocolate ganashe and a cream cheese frosting. It came out a little hard, so you have to eat it with milk or coffee...lol, but next time, I'm going to poke holes in it to pour in the frosting in, to create moisture, hehe. Can't wait. There was also chinese food, empanadas, apple crispt, delicious drinks, corn bread, milanesas, flan and so much more.

La Estancia:
Today, we went to an estancia, a ranch! We went to a blacksmith shop where this guy named Draghi used to make ornate belt buckles and tack out of silver and gold. Depending on someone's status, there's more metal and money attached to the gear. Then, we went to another museum, just opened in April, which showcased the work of Molina Campos. Lots of cartoon-like paintings with titles in BA slang.

Asado:
We ate asado - a very popular barbeque-like meal inside the ranch's dining hall. They served all types of meat, including a coagulated blood sausage...it was a black egg-shaped wonder, I couldn't quite get myself to have more than an itty bitty bite. The meal was followed by a performance of traditional BA dance with tango, milonga, and a cowboy dance competition. This tiny, young cowboy went on stage and did some pretty slick moves!

Gauchos:
Afterwards, the same cowboys that served us our meal competed in a game with horses. Each cowboy gallops really fast towards two small rings (size of a one inch binder ring), and tries to hook the ring with a foot-long point stick. It seems really hard, but the gauchos slipped the stick through the rings while galloping crazy fast. Afterwords, the cowboys gave away the rings they won and it's customary to kiss the cowboy who gives you a ring, and I got one!

Riding:
Next, I got to ride a beautiful, and extremely well-trained chestnut horse. He was ready to run, which I love, so we galloped across the open plain, while the gauchos yelled "despacio! slow!" Haha, but I wanted to go fast, and you know, it's hard to stop a horse who wants to run....right? Amazing.

Bars and Boliches:
After the estancia, I took a little nap and then went out with my friends to a bar and a boliche to celebrate Lisa's birthday (fellow student at UDESA). I had a delicious mellon ball with wine, and enjoyed the live band. One guy could get us into a boliche (dance club!) for free so we went, along with 2 new friends (whom we met at the bar) from Germany! We were out until 4:30am ish, and Allie's host brother very kindly took us all home.

I woke at 2pm today.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Museums

3 days, 3 museums. After the Carlos Gardel house, I went to the Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts), and today I went to Malba - which was my favorite by far, even though I am not much of a museum person. I saw one of Frieda Kahlo's self-portraits, which was way awesome.

Tomorrow we don't have class because it is Argentina's day of independence! I am hosting some people at my host parent's house and am going to bake a delicious cake! I'm thinking chocolate orange ganosh! Yum!

I also discovered this delicious bread treat called "Cremonas" and today I went to a huge supermarket called "Carrefour." It was like Costco. Yup, that big.

Monday, July 6, 2009

The Dancing Begins

This is my host family. : )

Hiphop:
Last Monday, I went to hiphop dance class and met two awesome dancers named Cesar and Tini. They taught the class and had a freestyle session at the end, where EVERYONE was involved and it was just so cool. Then, Cesar and his sister waited with me outside while my ride came. During our conversation, I learned that Cesar is studying dance therapy as a psychologist and I was like, "WHAT?!?!?! That's awesome!!!" because I study psych and love dance too!! I hope we become best friends. lol.

The next day, Tini texted me and invited me to her more advanced hiphop class and I had a blast again! I met a whole bunch of high schoolers from one of the Carolinas. Now, there are no dance classes because la gripe is scaring people away.

La Gripe:
The swine flu has hit Buenos Aires. Apparently, the government took all the tamiflu from the local hospitals so that they could keep track of everyone with the disease, but they only gave it to people in certain risks groups (old people, diabetics, etc), so a bunch of sick people were sent away without medicine. They then spread the disease, etc. Now that the elections are over, the government is more honest and saying that they're hecka cases, and now all the universities are closed, which is bomb because students get more time to study, but now us foreigners are the only people in session and we are in a huge classroom where we sit far apart. Needless to say, safety precautions are definitely being taken. (Don't worry, Mom!)

Tango:
I am in love. With my tango instructor. Our whole group got a private lesson at a milonga (where peeps dance) called "El Niño Bien." It was super funny because the instructor shipped in a bunch of male dancers because our group is mostly girls. I was a little scared to learn at first because I heard that tango was very different and hard to learn, but holy smokes, I had the best teacher out of the bunch (for a while, we switched it up too), and he taught me so much! He did this bomb move where he flicked my foot, and twisted my body so I ended up like a beautiful pretzel. AND THEN!!!! As we were all leaving, my teacher stopped me (only me!!), and said "you have potential." I just about melted. I, of course, was wearing the hottest outfit of tennis shoes and a granny sweater because I had thought that we were walking a lot to WATCH tango. He then said that I should buy tango shoes this week, and then he gave me his contact info. I felt so special and happy and I love tango.

Yogur:
I don't know why I did not know this but one serving of yogurt with live bacteria can turn 3 litres of milk into yogurt!! Maddie, did you know that?!?! It's like magic, and delicious too.

Submarino:
Chocolate submersed in hot milk. uh-oh......

4th of July in Colonia, Uruguay:
Some friends and I made a weekend trip to Uruguay for the 4th and 5th. It was a one hour ferry ride, and Colonia is the cutest, chillest town ever. Apparently, nothing ever happens there, but we were so lucky and ran into Colonia Jazz Weekend, and got to listen to a delightful concert for $3 US! The weather was like 80 degrees both days. This is winter? I like. We also went horse-back riding along the beach and I galloped as fast as a lightening bolt!~ We also went to a delicious creperie. Basically, I ate delicious French food in Uruguay to celebrate the independence of the United States of America. : )

My host dad:
My host mom was describing an animal to me, "It's like a small monkey with teeth." Just then, my host dad's face light up as he thought of the perfect way to explain it to me in english. With the biggest smile ever, he said, "A. Big. Rat" : ) Love it.

Carlos Gardel:
Famous guy who sang tango. Went to his house in Abestos with a huge mall today.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Me vs. The Chicken

JFlo and I went on an adventure to Olivos yesterday. There wasn't much open because of elections - most of the stores were closed, and they aren't allowed to sell alcohol, and everyone is required by law to vote. Most people are pretty active in politics, and I believe a new president has been elected! But, we did find an enormous Coto - a target-like supermarket. I got the last bunch of brocoli, and some delicious carrots. Then, I used it to cook my host family a delicious dinner of pad thai! Yum! I took some for lunch today. I asked Adriana, my host mom, if she had any chicken and she gave me a whole one. like, a whole one. with bones and everything. I did the obvious, which was to look up on you tube how to debone a chicken and then I did it! But golly, the chicken sure put up a fight and I now have a lot of respect for those who do this well. We had 8 hours of class because we had to make up for one last week when the professor was sick.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Bam! That's how fast time goes by here...

In comparison to other cities I've seen, Buenos Aires is huge. Like wow. On Wednesday and Thursday, my program went on two extremely long tours with a short and plump man named Alejandro. He was a seasoned tour guide who spoke with great energy. A mini-bus picked us all up after classes, and we went to La Boca, San Telmo, Recoleta, Palermo, the Microcenter and probably some other places. I had a slight problem staying awake during the first hour of each tour because we had just finished lunch and I was sleepy. : )

Attractions:
La Boca is where all the tourists go; It's like a street fair everyday with tango shows, and lots of delicious alfahores (yummy cookies with dulche de leche). All of the buildings are brightly colored and some have 3D figures coming off the side of them. *We also went to the oldest cafe in Buenos Aires, where I had the best hot chocolate ever. Hot Chocolate is just heavenly when made correctly. *There was also this famous cemetary where there's rows and rows of huge altars and mausoleums for families (mostly very wealthy ones). The coffins are right there, above ground, like nothing I've ever seen before. *A 6 million dollar flower sculpture that's a shiny gold color was donated to the city a while back. It open during the day and closes during the night, just like real flowers! *The art museum of a famous guy who did a lot of astrology and invented a universal language was also cool.

Chinatown:
I woke up Friday and my host sister was going to work near Chinatown, so I went too! Chinatown is 2 blocks here, and kind of expensive. I got all the ingredients necesary for pad thai, and then I dined at this neoThai restaurant, which was really wasn't very good. There's a $6 for eating in the restaurant and the pad thai had way too much tamarind and not enough sugar and salt = sour!!

Una fiesta:
My host sister invited me and some friends from the program to her friends birthday party last night and it was so much fun! I practiced my spanish, listened to music and danced! The schedule here is a bit different - parties start at 2 in the morning and go until about 6. So I took a nap before going and I'm really glad I did. It was packed and awesome.

Dish Covers:
In the US, are there saran wrap covers for plates, shaped like shower caps? Because they have them here and they are so useful!! It makes it way easier to get something that needs to stay covered, and then just cover it right back up, instead of having to push all the edges down again!

Adventure:
Today I rode a bike to the train station, and then took the train to Martinez, where I went to the equivalent of Newbury Street in Boston - lots of expensive and nice things. Fun adventure. I really like riding bikes. (My mom will probably tell me not to, don't worry, it's safe!)

Slow Cars:
So as I was riding my bike, I approached a car that was moving extrememly slowly. I was cautious...why was this car going so slowly near me? But as it passed me, it was actually two old ladies chatting in the front seat, both looking at each other and not at where the car was going. hahahahaha. That was funny.

Politics:
Tomorrow is election day in Buenos Aires. Right now, the president is a woman (the second one in BA!) I wonder who will be next!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Boating Clubs

Boating Clubs in Buenos Aires are similar to Country Clubs in the US. Fenced in and guarded from the surrounding community, most clubs tend to hug the "Rio de la Plata" river. There, boats await to be used by those who inhabit the lovely houses, hence the name Boating Clubs. Like in many parts of the world, these luxurious homes are rather close to less pleasant neighborhoods. This propinquity ensures that residents must know about the different lifestyles that exist. Does this knowledge spur people to take action? I would think so, but where does one find the progress that is being made?

There are little houses with guards inside around the neighborhood, to ensure safety. I think that's pretty nifty.

Went to my first grocery store today, just for kicks. I loved it, even though there was no peanut butter to be found amidst an entire row of jelly/jam!

Also went to downtown Buenos Aires on a bus tour with my program! That was awesome! More on that big adventure soon!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Ravioli

Yum Yum Yum, I love ravioli! My host parents bought delicious handmade ravioli with salsa today! It was so delicious, I had to rip myself away from the table!

Also, I am in the intermediate class at UDESA, and my professor of Argentine culture was way awesome. I can't believe I have only been here for two days! I do a lot of relaxing, and hanging out with new friends - the good things in life. Plus, I get to talk to my host family more everyday and they are just the nicest and most patient people ever and help me when I am stumbling over words. My Spanish vocab has probably increased 1,000 fold since I've been here.

Winter here is really like spring or fall in Cambridge, the sun has been shining and I hope it continues! Tomorrow we are going to downtown Buenos Aires!! Whoo-hoo!!

Monday, June 22, 2009

UDESA

Today was the orientation for the Spanish program that I am doing at the Universidad de San Andres! There are 2 boys and like 14 girls doing my program, which is fine because the actual students at the university (who are taking their final exams right now) seem to be mostly male. : )

In other news, my suitcases arrived from United today! yay! I unpacked into my nifty room - where there are two beds just for me!!! I also went on an adventure with Alli, a girl I met today along the Avenida de Peron. We had a little trouble meeting up, but that's okay because now I'm an expert at saying "I'm looking for this street, do you know where it is?" Pretty cool, huh? I also had my first microluna today, which is a yummy pastry, kind of like a croissant.

First real classes tomorrow!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Victoria

Hola de Buenos Aires! I finally made it! I'm so happy. I just waited in so many lines - I never want to be in another one again. Holy smokes, the line to check in at Dulles airport is insane, the trick is to enter from the other side, but I learned that the hard way.

The guy who picked me up was cool, and so is my host family! They are super friendly and it's bomb to get to use my Spanish. Although, half the time I have trouble thinking of the right words to say. I have my own cute little room, and the daughter, Miligros, let me borrow some clothes because my suitcases are stuck in Washington DC until tomorrow. It's about 55 degrees with pecs of sunlight - def not bad for winter! I'm chillin' in Victoria today, and am excited to start classes tomorrow!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Weddings

I have witnessed at least two wedding parties in the last 24 hours. I am hanging out at the Lansdowne Resort, in Leesburg, VA (http://www.lansdowneresort.com/). Why? Because my flight from Seattle was delayed, which made me miss my connection to Buenos Aires. : ( But not to worry because I got a good rest in last night in a lovely room, complements of United. Plus, the good company of Eva G, and the good food packed by my mom, has sustained me quite well! Even so, the horrendous lines and service makes me want to avoid this airline in the future. Sidenote: there was a raving party going on when I arrived at this Resort - for a second, I had the urge to become a "wedding crasher" for a night. hehe.