So, clearly I've really been on top of this blog. In my defense, I started school about two weeks ago, so I've been intensely committed to my studies. Among other things.
Three weeks ago I moved into my apartment. I live in a great area in Belgrano in a huge apartment with two roommates. I can't believe how incredibly lucky I got with this apartment and my roommate. Especially since it found it on Craigslist. (oops)
On March 9th, I started classes at Di Tella. The classes are 4 hours a week and I'm taking 4. I'm not used to 2 to 4 hour classes, so the first couple of weeks were pretty tiring, and I definitely survived on coffee. I decided to change my classes around in light of some new offerings I didn't know about before orientation. These are my new classes.
1. International Conflict and Security
2. Latin American in the International System
3. Argentine Foreign Policy
4. Origins and Evolution of the Peronist Movement in Argentina
So far I haven't had much trouble understanding my teachers when they lecture. The classes are interesting, but there is constantly a ton of reading. I guess I should have expected it, but it's hard to get back into the swing of things after being off for over two months. What's really nice is that a lot of the reading is in English. It's not that I can't read in Spanish, it just takes a lot longer. So, I'm pretty glad for the English readings.
I thing my favorite class is 4th one, about Peronism. We haven't actually started talking about Peronism, but the professor has basically taken the week to give us a general introduction to everything we need to know about Argentina. I should mention that the class is only for exchange students, so there are a lot of things about which we're pretty clueless. He explains stories in the newspaper, he talked about what all of the provinces are like and lets us in on our own bias. It's been really helpful.
So, this blog post is clearly not as interesting as the last one, probably because I've stopped touristing around Buenos Aires and had to grow up and start my life here. Which has been nice. Moving into my apartment was like coming home after a week long vacation.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Fitting In
I meant to post this weeks ago, but apparently it never got published. So, here it is.
On Tuesday I moved into my apartment in Belgrano. It's SO NICE to have a permanent place to stay and not have to share a room with 8 people and a bathroom with 20+. Belgrano is a quiet, leafy neighborhood on the north side of Buenos Aires. I share my apartment with two other people. The only roommate I've met so far has been Ingrid, and she's really, really nice. She showed me around Belgrano a bit and helped me settle into my new apartment.
On Friday I went to orientation at di Tella (the university I'm attending here). I changed some of the classes I'm taking and I'm really excited to see what they're like. The people at the school seem very helpful and they're even having a party for us next week. The only issue was that my study abroad advisor at UM never sent them the information for my health insurance. This is pretty typical of UM study abroad.
So, that's the summary of interesting things for this week. The rest is just some random thoughts I've had about my experience so far in Buenos Aires.
1. Walking in Buenos Aires is not for the unexperienced or the faint of heart. Especially when crossing the streets. I don't think I've ever lived in a place where you had to pay more attention when you were walking.
2. Oddly enough, it seems like what we would call a mullet is pretty fashionable here for guys. I don't know. I don't get it.
3. In Buenos Aires, you can get just about anything delivered. Today I had my groceries delivered for the first time and it was AWESOME.
4. When I come back from Argentina, I have no doubt that at least to some extent I will have adopted an argentine accent. I find that when I don't say certain words in the argentine accent here, people tend to not understand me. E.g. Olleros, Plaza de Mayo, Callao
5. I think the process of me acquiring a taste for Fernet is going to be a long one. But I will persevere.
6. Ideally I would like to take a colectivo (city bus) to school, but the system is ridiculously complicated. I'm determined to do it. I bought a "Guia T", the guide to the colectivos, but I feel like it just made me more confused. But I'm going to do this. It's going to happen.
7. I haven't felt the peso issues as much as I thought I would. I've become a pro at going into the bank and handing them a bunch of 100 peso notes and asking for small bills with coins. And playing dumb to get small coins at the subte station. And playing dumb when I need to buy something at a kiosco and I only have a 50 peso note. I got kinda thrown out of a Citi Bank last week but it was only half my fault.
On Tuesday I moved into my apartment in Belgrano. It's SO NICE to have a permanent place to stay and not have to share a room with 8 people and a bathroom with 20+. Belgrano is a quiet, leafy neighborhood on the north side of Buenos Aires. I share my apartment with two other people. The only roommate I've met so far has been Ingrid, and she's really, really nice. She showed me around Belgrano a bit and helped me settle into my new apartment.
On Friday I went to orientation at di Tella (the university I'm attending here). I changed some of the classes I'm taking and I'm really excited to see what they're like. The people at the school seem very helpful and they're even having a party for us next week. The only issue was that my study abroad advisor at UM never sent them the information for my health insurance. This is pretty typical of UM study abroad.
So, that's the summary of interesting things for this week. The rest is just some random thoughts I've had about my experience so far in Buenos Aires.
1. Walking in Buenos Aires is not for the unexperienced or the faint of heart. Especially when crossing the streets. I don't think I've ever lived in a place where you had to pay more attention when you were walking.
2. Oddly enough, it seems like what we would call a mullet is pretty fashionable here for guys. I don't know. I don't get it.
3. In Buenos Aires, you can get just about anything delivered. Today I had my groceries delivered for the first time and it was AWESOME.
4. When I come back from Argentina, I have no doubt that at least to some extent I will have adopted an argentine accent. I find that when I don't say certain words in the argentine accent here, people tend to not understand me. E.g. Olleros, Plaza de Mayo, Callao
5. I think the process of me acquiring a taste for Fernet is going to be a long one. But I will persevere.
6. Ideally I would like to take a colectivo (city bus) to school, but the system is ridiculously complicated. I'm determined to do it. I bought a "Guia T", the guide to the colectivos, but I feel like it just made me more confused. But I'm going to do this. It's going to happen.
7. I haven't felt the peso issues as much as I thought I would. I've become a pro at going into the bank and handing them a bunch of 100 peso notes and asking for small bills with coins. And playing dumb to get small coins at the subte station. And playing dumb when I need to buy something at a kiosco and I only have a 50 peso note. I got kinda thrown out of a Citi Bank last week but it was only half my fault.
Monday, February 28, 2011
The Art of Contradiction
So this week has been a complete whirlwind. At the beginning of the week, I feel like for the first time ever, I really understood the word foreign. I was in a new time and even though I speak the language (and the most common second language), I felt like a fish out of water. I didn't know how to do everything and when I tried to learn, it was with an obvious awkwardness that seemed to tell everyone that I didn't belong.
And it was ok. I survived. Somehow in a week I managed to overcome my initial fear and get a cell phone, meet people, feed myself (SO WELL) and find an apartment. I'm really glad that I had that feeling of anxiety and awkwardness. I feel like no study abroad experience would be complete without it. I'm also sure that this is not the last time I will feel it. I still have yet to start school.
I'm still staying at a hostel until I move into my apartment today. Initially I hated the hostel. The rooms were hot. I felt like an outsider because everyone at the hostel seemed to know each other. I couldn't find an apartment and I felt like I was going to be stuck here forever. But in the week that I've stayed here, I've come to love it. I've met some amazing people from all over the world. I danced salsa, merengue and samba (really badly) the other night and last night there were free empanadas and live music. We sat and watched the crazy brazilians from my dorm (WHO I LOVE) dance more than I thought was possible. I'm a little sad to be moving out, but at the same time, I am really excited to move into my great apartment. It will be nice not to have to share my room with 7 other people and my bathroom with who knows how many people. (20+?)
My apartment is great. I have my own room and bathroom and I share the HUGE apartment with two other people. My one roommate Ingrid, seems really sweet and she and I have gotten along really well so far. It's in a neighborhood called Belgrano on the north side of the city. It's a quiet, leafy neighborhood where it seems everyone is constantly having their dogs walked.
Friday
On Friday I went to Recoleta cemetary. This is a huge tourist draw because it's where Evita is buried along with tons of other famous argentines like former president Domingo Sarmiento. I loved the cemetary. There were so many really beautiful tombs and statues. And, of course, I had to see Evita's tomb. I feel like a lot of tourists expect her to have her own tomb with a big EVITA sign and some sort of crazy statue/lighting/eternal flame/random dove release. But I feel that in comparison with some other tombs in Recoleta, hers is relatively modest. She's in the "Familia Duarte" tomb, which I think is a really interesting reminder that she wasn't always THE Evita. For a long time, she was just Eva Duarte. I find it hard to get caught up in the cult of Evita, but I will say that seeing people come and pay homage to a person who was so loved in politics is an interesting study in cross cultural politics. I can't really think of an equivalent we have in the US.
Saturday
On Saturday I was going to go back to Recoleta to the market, but I decided I was pretty tired from being an intense American tourist. So I went to San Martin, a nice area not too far from where I'm staying. It's a pretty quiet neighborhood with a big park and some monuments. I also saw the San Martin Palace. All of the monuments and architecture here is so overwhelming. I feel like every time I try and summarize everything I've seen in a given neighborhood, I completely fall short.
Sunday
On Saturday night I met some guys who just arrived at the hostel from the US and we were all planning on going to the San Telmo market on Sunday, so we decided we should just go together. I liked the atmosphere of the market. It was touristy, but not overly so. We had a great time and got food at a restaurant right on the street of the market. San Telmo is the traditional tango area, and I was a little surprised that I wasn't able to see any tango there. I'm sure I will at some point in my stay. After all, I did JUST get here.
Monday
On Monday we went to La Boca. I'll admit that this isn't my favorite area. I feel like it's very geared toward tourists and just feels totally insincere. It's the neighborhood where, after WWII, a lot of spanish and Italian immigrants moved and built makeshift tenements out of corrugated metal and painted them with the leftover bits of paint from the ships. It looked cool, but it's definitely devolved into kitsch over the years as it's become a tourist spot. The one thing I did like was that in all of the restaurants you can sit outside and watch tango and gaucho dancing. The video above is of one of the performers, a little girl who was SO FIERCE. I was a little obsessed with her. All of the dancers were really incredible. It definitely made me want to take tango lessons at some point while I'm here.
At night we went to a Parrilla in Cañitas called Las Cholas (real name) and I had vino tinto and asado. As God intended. I also tried fernet for the first time. I definitely get how people think it tastes like "black licorice flavored listorine" (actual quote from wikipedia). But I didn't hate it. I mean, I could get used to it.
So that's about it for the last few days. All of my pictures can be viewed at this link:
https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=275666&id=519073612&l=7a389ff238
And it was ok. I survived. Somehow in a week I managed to overcome my initial fear and get a cell phone, meet people, feed myself (SO WELL) and find an apartment. I'm really glad that I had that feeling of anxiety and awkwardness. I feel like no study abroad experience would be complete without it. I'm also sure that this is not the last time I will feel it. I still have yet to start school.
I'm still staying at a hostel until I move into my apartment today. Initially I hated the hostel. The rooms were hot. I felt like an outsider because everyone at the hostel seemed to know each other. I couldn't find an apartment and I felt like I was going to be stuck here forever. But in the week that I've stayed here, I've come to love it. I've met some amazing people from all over the world. I danced salsa, merengue and samba (really badly) the other night and last night there were free empanadas and live music. We sat and watched the crazy brazilians from my dorm (WHO I LOVE) dance more than I thought was possible. I'm a little sad to be moving out, but at the same time, I am really excited to move into my great apartment. It will be nice not to have to share my room with 7 other people and my bathroom with who knows how many people. (20+?)
My apartment is great. I have my own room and bathroom and I share the HUGE apartment with two other people. My one roommate Ingrid, seems really sweet and she and I have gotten along really well so far. It's in a neighborhood called Belgrano on the north side of the city. It's a quiet, leafy neighborhood where it seems everyone is constantly having their dogs walked.
THE WEEK (or just last few days) IN REVIEW
Friday
On Friday I went to Recoleta cemetary. This is a huge tourist draw because it's where Evita is buried along with tons of other famous argentines like former president Domingo Sarmiento. I loved the cemetary. There were so many really beautiful tombs and statues. And, of course, I had to see Evita's tomb. I feel like a lot of tourists expect her to have her own tomb with a big EVITA sign and some sort of crazy statue/lighting/eternal flame/random dove release. But I feel that in comparison with some other tombs in Recoleta, hers is relatively modest. She's in the "Familia Duarte" tomb, which I think is a really interesting reminder that she wasn't always THE Evita. For a long time, she was just Eva Duarte. I find it hard to get caught up in the cult of Evita, but I will say that seeing people come and pay homage to a person who was so loved in politics is an interesting study in cross cultural politics. I can't really think of an equivalent we have in the US.
Saturday
On Saturday I was going to go back to Recoleta to the market, but I decided I was pretty tired from being an intense American tourist. So I went to San Martin, a nice area not too far from where I'm staying. It's a pretty quiet neighborhood with a big park and some monuments. I also saw the San Martin Palace. All of the monuments and architecture here is so overwhelming. I feel like every time I try and summarize everything I've seen in a given neighborhood, I completely fall short.
Sunday
On Saturday night I met some guys who just arrived at the hostel from the US and we were all planning on going to the San Telmo market on Sunday, so we decided we should just go together. I liked the atmosphere of the market. It was touristy, but not overly so. We had a great time and got food at a restaurant right on the street of the market. San Telmo is the traditional tango area, and I was a little surprised that I wasn't able to see any tango there. I'm sure I will at some point in my stay. After all, I did JUST get here.
Monday
On Monday we went to La Boca. I'll admit that this isn't my favorite area. I feel like it's very geared toward tourists and just feels totally insincere. It's the neighborhood where, after WWII, a lot of spanish and Italian immigrants moved and built makeshift tenements out of corrugated metal and painted them with the leftover bits of paint from the ships. It looked cool, but it's definitely devolved into kitsch over the years as it's become a tourist spot. The one thing I did like was that in all of the restaurants you can sit outside and watch tango and gaucho dancing. The video above is of one of the performers, a little girl who was SO FIERCE. I was a little obsessed with her. All of the dancers were really incredible. It definitely made me want to take tango lessons at some point while I'm here.
At night we went to a Parrilla in Cañitas called Las Cholas (real name) and I had vino tinto and asado. As God intended. I also tried fernet for the first time. I definitely get how people think it tastes like "black licorice flavored listorine" (actual quote from wikipedia). But I didn't hate it. I mean, I could get used to it.
So that's about it for the last few days. All of my pictures can be viewed at this link:
https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=275666&id=519073612&l=7a389ff238
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
I made it!
So I'm FINALLY in Buenos Aires. After months of LSAT and over 14 hours of travel, I'm here. Right now I'm staying in a hostel two blocks from the obelisco. (seen below) It's a really cool hostel and I'm meeting a lot of really interesting people. My only issue is that it is BLAZING hot here, because it's the middle of summer, and there is no A/C. I'm usually not one to complain, but with tens of people living here at any given time, it gets pretty hot.
The reason I'm still staying in a hostel is because I'm still homeless. (or apartmentless?) I kinda had one lined up but when I got here, the landlord informed me that he had already rented it out for the next two weeks. So I'm staying in this hostel and e-mailing every ad on Craigslist trying to find a place.
Other than that, today was great. I got my argentine phone hooked up and I went walking. Where I'm staying is really close to a lot of monuments and famous buildings so it's nice for walking. Today I walked from the Obelisco to the Plaza de Mayo and saw the Casa Rosada. It was surprising how close you can get. I wanted to see my girl, Cristina Fernandez, but apparently she was "working" or "busy" or something.
Then I walked down the Avenida de Mayo to the Congreso Nacional. On Ave. de Mayo, I stopped for lunch at a great place, but since it was raining I couldn't sit outside. Avenida de Mayo is basically Buenos Aires' attempt to copy the style of the Champs-Élysées so there are a lot of great outside restaurants. Oh well, another day.
Here are a couple of my pictures from today:
Avenida Corrientes from my hostel
La Casa Rosada. Being in the Plaza the Mayo was so surreal because there is so much history in all of the buildings and just in the plaza itself. I meant to get a picture of the offices of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, but it started raining too hard. I just wanted to go into their offices and shake their hands. I love those women.
The reason I'm still staying in a hostel is because I'm still homeless. (or apartmentless?) I kinda had one lined up but when I got here, the landlord informed me that he had already rented it out for the next two weeks. So I'm staying in this hostel and e-mailing every ad on Craigslist trying to find a place.
Other than that, today was great. I got my argentine phone hooked up and I went walking. Where I'm staying is really close to a lot of monuments and famous buildings so it's nice for walking. Today I walked from the Obelisco to the Plaza de Mayo and saw the Casa Rosada. It was surprising how close you can get. I wanted to see my girl, Cristina Fernandez, but apparently she was "working" or "busy" or something.
Then I walked down the Avenida de Mayo to the Congreso Nacional. On Ave. de Mayo, I stopped for lunch at a great place, but since it was raining I couldn't sit outside. Avenida de Mayo is basically Buenos Aires' attempt to copy the style of the Champs-Élysées so there are a lot of great outside restaurants. Oh well, another day.
Here are a couple of my pictures from today:
Avenida Corrientes from my hostel
La Casa Rosada. Being in the Plaza the Mayo was so surreal because there is so much history in all of the buildings and just in the plaza itself. I meant to get a picture of the offices of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, but it started raining too hard. I just wanted to go into their offices and shake their hands. I love those women.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
I'm (almost) on my way.
I just booked my flight to Buenos Aires. I will be leaving Miami February 21st and arriving sometime mid-day the 22nd. It's a miracle I've booked it so far in advance because booking flights is not my favorite thing to do. And by that I mean I avoid it like the plague. Needless to say I'm proud of myself.
I've never even eaten in an Argentine restaurant. But I'm taking everything as it comes, and hoping it will all work out. I'm an incessant planner, and this time I'm trying to break out of that. Basically, I'm ready for adventure.
For anyone who doesn't know, I'm about to study abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina for my spring semester at the Universidad Torcuato di Tella. I will be taking four International Studies classes (16 credits yo!) COMPLETELY taught in Spanish. If I've thrown myself into the deep end at any time in my life, it's now.
My class schedule is as follows
1. Argentine Foreign Policy
2. International Trade
3. Contemporary Problems in International Relations (Seminar... eek)
4. International Conflict
I'm establishing their correct name now because I expect to be complaining about them all semester. So now, if I reference "stupid seminar class" you'll know what I'm talking about. I'll qualify this by saying that in no way do I think these classes will actually be stupid. I just expect to need a platform on which to vent about how inadequate my spanish will undoubtably be. Well, at least for the first month or so.
Admittedly I know very little about where I'm going. I don't have a place to live, although this place was tempting:
I've never even eaten in an Argentine restaurant. But I'm taking everything as it comes, and hoping it will all work out. I'm an incessant planner, and this time I'm trying to break out of that. Basically, I'm ready for adventure.So this will be where I will hopefully recount all of my adventures in Buenos Aires.
Estoy lista, che.
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