So last night as we were walking back from class, there was a bicyclist who had had an accident lying in the middle of the road. People were rushing to help him, somebody was calling 911, and others were running into the street to stop oncoming traffic. I think he was probably going to be ok, but he wasn't wearing a helmet and he started spasming as we walked by, so I don't know.
Anyway, the point of telling this story was to say, first of all, that you should ALWAYS wear your helmet. End of story. Secondly, it got me thinking about taking advantage of life. Between that, the metro crash on the red line in DC, and spending the entire weekend cooped up writing papers, I've been thinking about how much there is to do and see in the world.
The major thing that studying abroad has taught me is how little I know. I feel like I'm constantly learning new things, searching things out, traveling. And I still know very little about almost anything. Take geography and politics, for example.
So, reaffirmation of an old goal: take advantage. Get out and see and learn as much as possible. And that can happen even back at home.
Philosophical musings aside, I've been trying to enjoy my last month or so in BsAs (unfortunately papers get in the way a little). Kelsey came to visit last week, so I took her to all the cool places I've discovered but we also went a couple of places I hadn't gotten a chance to visit yet, like the Congress building. (Oh and we went to a classical ballet, which was pretty amazing. Can't say I particularly understood the "plot" but those people are crazy good.) Funny how showing somebody around makes you get to know your own city. Pictures here, although she's got all the good ones of the two of us. And looks like Amanda's coming next week! woot!
At this point, I'm done with classes (finally!!! I feel like I have been in school forever) and just have a paper and an exam left before I'm finally done with junior year. So I'm starting to look forward to next fall, of course, but first it will be so nice to be home for a bit.
Maybe it's the stress, maybe it's the fact that I have been away a long time or that I get to go back soon, but I've been missing things from home:
free water at restaurants, a spice rack, doing my own laundry, knowing what things actually are when I look at the list of ingredients, not having to think beforehand about what I'm going to say when I walk into a store to ask for something, sidewalks not covered in dog poop, summer, the food, the people, humor I can understand immediately and participate in.
Things I'll miss from BsAs: the sheer amount of things to do, tango, mate, cheapness, the people, making fun of people in English and not having them understand me, ferias, the food, walking everywhere, the Argentine accent, the sun, the laid-back atmosphere, the abundance of bookstores, Governor Sanford (jk).
All in all, although I'm ready to be back to normality, to a system I understand and can work in, I wouldn't change my past year for the world. I don't think I can express (even to myself) the impact it's had on my life, so if you hear me blabbering on about it, please bear with me.
I just realized this is kind of a wrap-up entry and I still have two weeks left here... I'll probably post briefly again but in the meanwhile, thanks for following, anybody who actually still reads this :) and I can't wait to see you all! Maybe we can have mate and french bread.
All my love,
Jenelle
PS. I know I have been deficient on the postcard front, but I do have them, so if you would like one, send me your address :)
Friday, June 26, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Mate culture, Iguazu, and Jenelle's Rule Of Four
Hi everybody, sorry it's been a while since I updated. I would make excuses, but I feel like it's better to be out experiencing my life abroad than writing about it...
When I last wrote, I believe I was dying of midterms. Well that is basically all over and we've moved on to final papers, but I did get a little respite in between.
I've come up with a theory of living abroad, we'll call it Jenelle's Rule of Four: After almost exactly four months you will be done with the culture shock cycle and feel at home in your new city abroad. This generally occurs close to the time (in semester study abroad programs) that you're starting to get ready to head home. This has happened to me both semesters, and I'm pretty happy that I have a month left here to enjoy being adjusted.
Which brings me to my next point. I have finally figured out what I think of Buenos Aires/Argentina/Argentines. I like the people, I like the culture. I don't particularly like the city. It's enormous. It's dirty. You can't walk a block without stepping on a broken tile in the sidewalk, around dog poop, or under a drip (no idea where the water falls from. Don't want to know). The subte is a mix of occasional efficiency and rush hour conditions that make sardine cans look spacious.
But there are parts I like, too: it's also got trees and theaters and european facades. It's confusing and bustling and vibrant. And the people here are some of the friendliest I've ever met. I'm going to digress for a moment to tell a story.
Last week I was at my tango lesson, where my friend Alessandra and I are the only non-Argentines. It was one girl's birthday, so after class they brought out the cake they had made her and uncorked a bottle of champagne. After pouring, we all sang and toasted. And then the Argentines came around and clinked glasses with everybody. Individually. And then they sat around for half an hour and chatted and just generally had a group hangout session. I don't know how to explain it, but that for me epitomizes the culture here. They care about each other. They take the time to do the things that really matter. They sit and drink mate and play the guitar and relax because even though it's a city life is too important to rush away. They laugh.
It's one of those "had to be there" moments, but for me that is Argentina.
On a rather unrelated note, I went to the falls at Iguazu! I'd been wanting to go because I kept hearing great things and finally manged it last weekend. The falls are located on Argentina's border with Brazil and Paraguay and are absolutely breathtaking. We couldn't go to the Brazilian side because the visa to get to Brazil is expensive and difficult to get, but everybody says the Argentine side is better anyway. I took about fifty billion waterfall pictures from every angle, walked quite a bit, and took a boat under some of the little falls, so I was completely soaked. In other words, pretty much had a fantastic day. It was an extremely long bus ride, but definitely worth it. Pictures here.
And now my friend Kelsey's here visiting from Chile, so I'm getting to see parts of the city I hadn't gotten around to seeing before, which is really exciting. And hanging out with Kelsey's pretty cool, too. I'll put up those photos soon but in the meantime I updated another of my photo albums (mostly with pictures of a polo game I went to (the Argentines are really into-and good at-polo) which was a lot of fun, even though they didn't ask us to stomp the divots).
When I last wrote, I believe I was dying of midterms. Well that is basically all over and we've moved on to final papers, but I did get a little respite in between.
I've come up with a theory of living abroad, we'll call it Jenelle's Rule of Four: After almost exactly four months you will be done with the culture shock cycle and feel at home in your new city abroad. This generally occurs close to the time (in semester study abroad programs) that you're starting to get ready to head home. This has happened to me both semesters, and I'm pretty happy that I have a month left here to enjoy being adjusted.
Which brings me to my next point. I have finally figured out what I think of Buenos Aires/Argentina/Argentines. I like the people, I like the culture. I don't particularly like the city. It's enormous. It's dirty. You can't walk a block without stepping on a broken tile in the sidewalk, around dog poop, or under a drip (no idea where the water falls from. Don't want to know). The subte is a mix of occasional efficiency and rush hour conditions that make sardine cans look spacious.
But there are parts I like, too: it's also got trees and theaters and european facades. It's confusing and bustling and vibrant. And the people here are some of the friendliest I've ever met. I'm going to digress for a moment to tell a story.
Last week I was at my tango lesson, where my friend Alessandra and I are the only non-Argentines. It was one girl's birthday, so after class they brought out the cake they had made her and uncorked a bottle of champagne. After pouring, we all sang and toasted. And then the Argentines came around and clinked glasses with everybody. Individually. And then they sat around for half an hour and chatted and just generally had a group hangout session. I don't know how to explain it, but that for me epitomizes the culture here. They care about each other. They take the time to do the things that really matter. They sit and drink mate and play the guitar and relax because even though it's a city life is too important to rush away. They laugh.
It's one of those "had to be there" moments, but for me that is Argentina.
On a rather unrelated note, I went to the falls at Iguazu! I'd been wanting to go because I kept hearing great things and finally manged it last weekend. The falls are located on Argentina's border with Brazil and Paraguay and are absolutely breathtaking. We couldn't go to the Brazilian side because the visa to get to Brazil is expensive and difficult to get, but everybody says the Argentine side is better anyway. I took about fifty billion waterfall pictures from every angle, walked quite a bit, and took a boat under some of the little falls, so I was completely soaked. In other words, pretty much had a fantastic day. It was an extremely long bus ride, but definitely worth it. Pictures here.
And now my friend Kelsey's here visiting from Chile, so I'm getting to see parts of the city I hadn't gotten around to seeing before, which is really exciting. And hanging out with Kelsey's pretty cool, too. I'll put up those photos soon but in the meantime I updated another of my photo albums (mostly with pictures of a polo game I went to (the Argentines are really into-and good at-polo) which was a lot of fun, even though they didn't ask us to stomp the divots).
Thursday, May 7, 2009
uhhh... I'm out of creative titles. Or at least brainpower.
When I die, I'm pretty sure it will be a result of one of the following:
1. Secondhand smoke.
2. Smushed (aplastada, ecrasée, all three languages have such illustrative terms) into the street by a colectivo or a taxi in this city without stop signs.
3. In said colectivo or taxi when atrocious driving skill karma catches up with the drivers.
4. Sleep deprivation, stress, or the terrible diet of someone living off of toast until she has time to go to the grocery store during the midterm crunch.
Midterms are fun, eh? Thankfully, they are mostly over and haven't killed me yet, so I'm putting my money on the first three.
We're hitting the beginning of the end, and the requisite 3 months of culture shock are just about over. Thank goodness life's starting to feel a little more normal. Maybe when the Argentines ask the "so how do you like Buenos Aires" question (which they do allllll the time) I will actually have an answer.
Recent activities have been:
1. Finding a tango studio and taking classes (that's right, I am awesomely cool. Be jealous.) and going to a milonga to attempt to dance and stumbling upon an amazing live tango band.
2. Reading about five hundred million pages of political theory to take a 10-question multiple choice exam. Then going on facebook (which has severely limited my procrastination capabilites by changing its format) and seeing everybody counting down their last few days of school. And getting jealous.
3. Laughing at the Argentines who have broken out their wool sweaters, down vests, leather boots, and scarves. For 65 degree weather.
4. Trying to go cold turkey to cure my addiction to empanadas, dulce de leche, and alfajores. Relapsing.
5. Spending two hours in the visa office (arrive at 7:30 am) so they could make me pay 300 pesos and staple my picture to a very unofficial-looking paper with my address spelled wrong and tell me to come back to pick up my real, official visa in 20 days. At least it wasn't 11 hours like many people I have talked to.
Yup, that's pretty much it.
1. Secondhand smoke.
2. Smushed (aplastada, ecrasée, all three languages have such illustrative terms) into the street by a colectivo or a taxi in this city without stop signs.
3. In said colectivo or taxi when atrocious driving skill karma catches up with the drivers.
4. Sleep deprivation, stress, or the terrible diet of someone living off of toast until she has time to go to the grocery store during the midterm crunch.
Midterms are fun, eh? Thankfully, they are mostly over and haven't killed me yet, so I'm putting my money on the first three.
We're hitting the beginning of the end, and the requisite 3 months of culture shock are just about over. Thank goodness life's starting to feel a little more normal. Maybe when the Argentines ask the "so how do you like Buenos Aires" question (which they do allllll the time) I will actually have an answer.
Recent activities have been:
1. Finding a tango studio and taking classes (that's right, I am awesomely cool. Be jealous.) and going to a milonga to attempt to dance and stumbling upon an amazing live tango band.
2. Reading about five hundred million pages of political theory to take a 10-question multiple choice exam. Then going on facebook (which has severely limited my procrastination capabilites by changing its format) and seeing everybody counting down their last few days of school. And getting jealous.
3. Laughing at the Argentines who have broken out their wool sweaters, down vests, leather boots, and scarves. For 65 degree weather.
4. Trying to go cold turkey to cure my addiction to empanadas, dulce de leche, and alfajores. Relapsing.
5. Spending two hours in the visa office (arrive at 7:30 am) so they could make me pay 300 pesos and staple my picture to a very unofficial-looking paper with my address spelled wrong and tell me to come back to pick up my real, official visa in 20 days. At least it wasn't 11 hours like many people I have talked to.
Yup, that's pretty much it.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Dear Chile, on further reflection, I think your country is worth my $131.
Where to start... This is my problem when I haven't updated in a while.
Let's see. Well last week I went to Chile to visit Santiago and Vina del Mar (oh and Kelsey and Amanda and Dania too..). It was pretty awesome, so nice to be with people I know well and who know me. I also got free housing, which balanced out the money you have to pay the Chilean Treasury on entering. This is a reciprocity fee, and apparently it is caused by the fact that Chilean citizens have to pay to get into the US, so they charge us right back. Logical, but it's not my fault!
Oh well.
Anyway. Santiago is a nice capital city, smaller than Buenos Aires and covered in grass and trees. It's kind of a DC to Buenos Aires's New York, to give you some idea. It seemed cleaner to me, despite all the smog. Maybe the fact that I was just visiting gave me a more touristy view of it. We saw all the touristy stuff, La Moneda, La Chascona, La Plaza de Armas, and the Cerros, and then when Amanda come we basically walked through the entirety of the city.
Then when Kelsey went to Torres del Paine (honestly, you couldn't have put me in your suitcase?), Amanda and I went to Vina, where she lives in a palace next to the beach (You think I'm kidding. I'm only slightly exaggerating). The beach was beautiful, and we spent a day in Valparaiso, which is really really cool with all the crazy colored houses and staircases to nowhere. Otherwise, I mostly got to relax.
The impression I got in Chile was that the Chileans are really happy people. They're a very different population from the Portenos--for one, they aren't of European descent and so look more typically "South American". I don't know if they're more warm or open than the Portenos, but they certainly seem so when first meeting them. They're calling you "mi amor" or "querido" after the first minute. I think this is just something they say, the way old women call everybody "dear", but they definitely don't do that here in BsAs.
Then there's the Chilean form of Spanish, which you wouldn't think would be that different considering how close they are to Argentina. Think again. I didn't realize both how accustomed I'd become to the Porteno accent and also how much it had crept into my own speech until I opened my mouth in Chile. I also think it's funny how I've had both Chileans and Argentines tell me that their dialect of Spanish is the weirdest and most difficult. They've definitely got a competition thing going.
There're a lot of other minor differences, like they sell more fruits and veggies there, I think, and I found fresh spinach (!!) and yogurt in a tub rather than in a bag. (Short digression, I don't think I've explained this before, but all the dairy products here come in big bags. Milk, yogurt, ricotta cheese... it kinda weirds me out. Also, then you have to have a pitcher to put the bag in in your fridge. Seems rather inefficient to me).
Of course it all caught up to me the minute I got back, I've spent a pretty stressed week trying to catch up on my mountains of reading and finish my taxes. But that's ok, it was worth it.
I also got to go this week and get a form saying I don't have a criminal record in Argentina so that I can go get my visa in a couple of weeks. This seems pointless to me, since I have three months on a tourist visa every time I reenter the country, so after going to Chile I have till mid-July. But apparently UCA won't transfer our transcripts if we don't have a student visa, so... It was rather a fun time standing in lines, but was more efficient than I had been lead to believe. Fingerprints, what are your parent's names (Thomas Thomas? *incredulous giggle*), stamp stamp, you're done.
I had a moment the other day, while reading Borges' Fervor de Buenos Aires, of love for BsAs. Slowly, surely, it's coming. I don't know that you can live in a place for any length of time and not start to love it, at least in part. I may never live here again, I may not miss it like I miss Paris or Boulder or even DC, but there's always a fondness that comes with familiarity. There are parts I love and hate about the city, but I know how it works now. I can get from the airport without problems. When people mention intersections I kind of know where they are. I only really look at my Guia T when I'm going somewhere I haven't been before. I know what kind of empanadas I like and I've started craving dulce de leche. I say "vos" more readily than "tu". People ask me for directions like I might actually know something. In short, I've got a portena veneer.
For the rest, you'll have to see the pictures.
Let's see. Well last week I went to Chile to visit Santiago and Vina del Mar (oh and Kelsey and Amanda and Dania too..). It was pretty awesome, so nice to be with people I know well and who know me. I also got free housing, which balanced out the money you have to pay the Chilean Treasury on entering. This is a reciprocity fee, and apparently it is caused by the fact that Chilean citizens have to pay to get into the US, so they charge us right back. Logical, but it's not my fault!
Oh well.
Anyway. Santiago is a nice capital city, smaller than Buenos Aires and covered in grass and trees. It's kind of a DC to Buenos Aires's New York, to give you some idea. It seemed cleaner to me, despite all the smog. Maybe the fact that I was just visiting gave me a more touristy view of it. We saw all the touristy stuff, La Moneda, La Chascona, La Plaza de Armas, and the Cerros, and then when Amanda come we basically walked through the entirety of the city.
Then when Kelsey went to Torres del Paine (honestly, you couldn't have put me in your suitcase?), Amanda and I went to Vina, where she lives in a palace next to the beach (You think I'm kidding. I'm only slightly exaggerating). The beach was beautiful, and we spent a day in Valparaiso, which is really really cool with all the crazy colored houses and staircases to nowhere. Otherwise, I mostly got to relax.
The impression I got in Chile was that the Chileans are really happy people. They're a very different population from the Portenos--for one, they aren't of European descent and so look more typically "South American". I don't know if they're more warm or open than the Portenos, but they certainly seem so when first meeting them. They're calling you "mi amor" or "querido" after the first minute. I think this is just something they say, the way old women call everybody "dear", but they definitely don't do that here in BsAs.
Then there's the Chilean form of Spanish, which you wouldn't think would be that different considering how close they are to Argentina. Think again. I didn't realize both how accustomed I'd become to the Porteno accent and also how much it had crept into my own speech until I opened my mouth in Chile. I also think it's funny how I've had both Chileans and Argentines tell me that their dialect of Spanish is the weirdest and most difficult. They've definitely got a competition thing going.
There're a lot of other minor differences, like they sell more fruits and veggies there, I think, and I found fresh spinach (!!) and yogurt in a tub rather than in a bag. (Short digression, I don't think I've explained this before, but all the dairy products here come in big bags. Milk, yogurt, ricotta cheese... it kinda weirds me out. Also, then you have to have a pitcher to put the bag in in your fridge. Seems rather inefficient to me).
Of course it all caught up to me the minute I got back, I've spent a pretty stressed week trying to catch up on my mountains of reading and finish my taxes. But that's ok, it was worth it.
I also got to go this week and get a form saying I don't have a criminal record in Argentina so that I can go get my visa in a couple of weeks. This seems pointless to me, since I have three months on a tourist visa every time I reenter the country, so after going to Chile I have till mid-July. But apparently UCA won't transfer our transcripts if we don't have a student visa, so... It was rather a fun time standing in lines, but was more efficient than I had been lead to believe. Fingerprints, what are your parent's names (Thomas Thomas? *incredulous giggle*), stamp stamp, you're done.
I had a moment the other day, while reading Borges' Fervor de Buenos Aires, of love for BsAs. Slowly, surely, it's coming. I don't know that you can live in a place for any length of time and not start to love it, at least in part. I may never live here again, I may not miss it like I miss Paris or Boulder or even DC, but there's always a fondness that comes with familiarity. There are parts I love and hate about the city, but I know how it works now. I can get from the airport without problems. When people mention intersections I kind of know where they are. I only really look at my Guia T when I'm going somewhere I haven't been before. I know what kind of empanadas I like and I've started craving dulce de leche. I say "vos" more readily than "tu". People ask me for directions like I might actually know something. In short, I've got a portena veneer.
For the rest, you'll have to see the pictures.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Quilombo (chaos/mess)
So thankfully things are settling down a bit. I've been here two months, but it doesn't feel like it, because everything's been up in the air. (Of course now that everything's getting sorted out here and I'm starting the school routine, everybody at home has breaks or is planning their summer breaks...hmmm).
I did change my classes a little bit, instead of Argentine foreign policy I'm taking a class on politics in South America (Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, and Chile), which fits my schedule better and will be less intimidating. I would have liked to take more classes with actual Argentines, but their classes are all extremely boring (intro classes, and then the interesting ones we either can't take or are going to be way too hard). So instead I'm taking Italian and French through the public university here, classes open to anyone. I figure it'll be easier to meet people if we're struggling to communicate in a language not native to either of us. I also joined the gym, and am hoping to maybe play tennis, still... With all that (and the long commute) I'll be pretty busy. I did give myself Fridays off, though, and the Argentines have quite a few national holidays coming up, so I hopefully won't be too stressed. :)
Now it's time to comment on some of the random Argentine characteristics.
This is a land of cows. So beef is really cheap and really good. But cheese? No, we wouldn't want anything with flavor, heaven forbid (this also applies to other foods, and spicy food is hard to find). What a waste of perfectly good cheese-making materials. Also, you'd think you'd find roast beef as a sandwich meat. But no. It's all ham or salami. Prosciutto, occasionally. Although I did find turkey today, which basically made my day.
Argentina and the rest of the Spanish-speaking world have a bit of a disagreement going on vocabulary. Not just slang, everything. Like "pool": those of you who have taken Spanish will say, "piscina". Nope. "Pileta". "Skirt": "pollera" instead of "falda". "Peanut butter": "manteca de mani" replaces possibly one of my favorite Spanish things to say, "mantaquilla de cacahuate". And then add in the fact that "ll" is not pronounced "y" but "j" and you feel like you're speaking a different language.
Also, Dania's recent post on photocopying and printing has led me to comment on a similar phenomenon here (hers made me laugh out loud). While the Argentines deign you capable of operating the printer yourself, you must still bring your own paper and try to jump in line, stick in your paper, run back to your computer,push print, and sigh in relief before going back to your gchat conversation of the last 2 hours while waiting for the other students to print their fifty thousand pages of reading. And the photocopy line is a similar hassle--rather than paying for books, you get to stand in line (which has none of the orderliness of the line for the bus, where people stand in a nice straight single file line back from the bus stop), jump in and find your document on the computer database, get somebody to key in a password, and give them all your coveted change in exchange for a latin verb chart.
Finally, a note on gym membership: I have never actually signed up for a gym in the US, so I'm not exactly sure how it works, but I can imagine it's a bit different here. First, you go and sign up and pay. Then you have two things you have to do: a "welcome meeting" and a medical examination (I came to the gym to get healthy/in shape, guys) which consists of a height/weight measurement, a questionnaire, and an EKG. ?? Whatever. Oh and then you have to wait 2 days for the results of your exam, hike up to the 4th floor to get the paper that says you can climb stairs, go back down, give it to the people, and they'll finally give you your card. Efficient, eh?
I did change my classes a little bit, instead of Argentine foreign policy I'm taking a class on politics in South America (Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, and Chile), which fits my schedule better and will be less intimidating. I would have liked to take more classes with actual Argentines, but their classes are all extremely boring (intro classes, and then the interesting ones we either can't take or are going to be way too hard). So instead I'm taking Italian and French through the public university here, classes open to anyone. I figure it'll be easier to meet people if we're struggling to communicate in a language not native to either of us. I also joined the gym, and am hoping to maybe play tennis, still... With all that (and the long commute) I'll be pretty busy. I did give myself Fridays off, though, and the Argentines have quite a few national holidays coming up, so I hopefully won't be too stressed. :)
Now it's time to comment on some of the random Argentine characteristics.
This is a land of cows. So beef is really cheap and really good. But cheese? No, we wouldn't want anything with flavor, heaven forbid (this also applies to other foods, and spicy food is hard to find). What a waste of perfectly good cheese-making materials. Also, you'd think you'd find roast beef as a sandwich meat. But no. It's all ham or salami. Prosciutto, occasionally. Although I did find turkey today, which basically made my day.
Argentina and the rest of the Spanish-speaking world have a bit of a disagreement going on vocabulary. Not just slang, everything. Like "pool": those of you who have taken Spanish will say, "piscina". Nope. "Pileta". "Skirt": "pollera" instead of "falda". "Peanut butter": "manteca de mani" replaces possibly one of my favorite Spanish things to say, "mantaquilla de cacahuate". And then add in the fact that "ll" is not pronounced "y" but "j" and you feel like you're speaking a different language.
Also, Dania's recent post on photocopying and printing has led me to comment on a similar phenomenon here (hers made me laugh out loud). While the Argentines deign you capable of operating the printer yourself, you must still bring your own paper and try to jump in line, stick in your paper, run back to your computer,push print, and sigh in relief before going back to your gchat conversation of the last 2 hours while waiting for the other students to print their fifty thousand pages of reading. And the photocopy line is a similar hassle--rather than paying for books, you get to stand in line (which has none of the orderliness of the line for the bus, where people stand in a nice straight single file line back from the bus stop), jump in and find your document on the computer database, get somebody to key in a password, and give them all your coveted change in exchange for a latin verb chart.
Finally, a note on gym membership: I have never actually signed up for a gym in the US, so I'm not exactly sure how it works, but I can imagine it's a bit different here. First, you go and sign up and pay. Then you have two things you have to do: a "welcome meeting" and a medical examination (I came to the gym to get healthy/in shape, guys) which consists of a height/weight measurement, a questionnaire, and an EKG. ?? Whatever. Oh and then you have to wait 2 days for the results of your exam, hike up to the 4th floor to get the paper that says you can climb stairs, go back down, give it to the people, and they'll finally give you your card. Efficient, eh?
Monday, March 9, 2009
Vacation vacation vacation. And then I...what? Class?
So. Tomorrow, real life begins. It's been 3+ months since I had class, and a year since I've had any in Spanish (Besides my "intensive Spanish" class, that is). Try to restrain your jealousy, you'll get your laughs when I'm having finals in July.
In the couple of weeks since I last updated, we've had orientation and a week off. Orientation was a bunch of useless information for those of us who'd been here more than three days. I was really there for the food (free breakfast!), visa information, and registration. Well, the medialunas (a type of Argentine croissant) were tasty, but the visa information was basically: we'll get back to you. Look out for an email and copy your passport in the meantime. And registration was a nightmare. They basically set up tables and they let you walk around from place to place squinting at the one schedule of classes they had put up for each department and telling you you (as an international student) were not cleared to take any of the interesting classes. And I thought France was bad. The actual signing up part took place the next day and was a thousand times easier, except for the PELs classes (the international-oriented ones), where there were two men registering us and we were told to take a number. I was 169--you can imagine how happy I was to wait around.
(un)Happily registered for my classes: Argentina in Words, Peronism, Argentinian foreign policy, and Latin 1, I headed out to Bariloche with Harris and Alessandra for a week.
Bariloche is a town southwest of Buenos Aires, part of the mountainous lake district. It's absolutely gorgeous, what with the fresh air and all. Kind of reminds me of home, especially since it's a ski destination in winter. The first day we went on a tour/hike to the black glacier (black due to volcanic sediment), then in the following days we hiked, biked, kayaked, and generally played the outdoorsy type.
They also are famous for their chocolate. Mmmm.
Picture's worth a thousand words, right? Here ya go.
Also, here's another album of life in BA. I warn you, it's a lot of flowers.
Oh, and I turned 21. Thai food and dancing. I also like this people buying me things idea. I think I'll turn 21 more often. :)
In the couple of weeks since I last updated, we've had orientation and a week off. Orientation was a bunch of useless information for those of us who'd been here more than three days. I was really there for the food (free breakfast!), visa information, and registration. Well, the medialunas (a type of Argentine croissant) were tasty, but the visa information was basically: we'll get back to you. Look out for an email and copy your passport in the meantime. And registration was a nightmare. They basically set up tables and they let you walk around from place to place squinting at the one schedule of classes they had put up for each department and telling you you (as an international student) were not cleared to take any of the interesting classes. And I thought France was bad. The actual signing up part took place the next day and was a thousand times easier, except for the PELs classes (the international-oriented ones), where there were two men registering us and we were told to take a number. I was 169--you can imagine how happy I was to wait around.
(un)Happily registered for my classes: Argentina in Words, Peronism, Argentinian foreign policy, and Latin 1, I headed out to Bariloche with Harris and Alessandra for a week.
Bariloche is a town southwest of Buenos Aires, part of the mountainous lake district. It's absolutely gorgeous, what with the fresh air and all. Kind of reminds me of home, especially since it's a ski destination in winter. The first day we went on a tour/hike to the black glacier (black due to volcanic sediment), then in the following days we hiked, biked, kayaked, and generally played the outdoorsy type.
They also are famous for their chocolate. Mmmm.
Picture's worth a thousand words, right? Here ya go.
Also, here's another album of life in BA. I warn you, it's a lot of flowers.
Oh, and I turned 21. Thai food and dancing. I also like this people buying me things idea. I think I'll turn 21 more often. :)
Monday, February 23, 2009
Of blondes and buses
Dearest Erin,
I hope this satisfies your vicarious travel needs.
Love,
Jenelle
I haven't posted in a while because I haven't really felt like I've had that much noteworthy to say. I mean, I read people's blogs from Africa and I feel like what I'm doing is tame by comparison. Yes, I'm in South America, but I feel like the city here is extremely European. A city is a city is a city. It's new and exciting, but sometimes I feel like I've been away from home so long I don't truly appreciate the differences.
Buenos Aires is cosmopolitan. It even looks like Europe--a lot of blondes, everybody's last name is Italian or Jewish. Apparently there were slaves in Argentina, but most of the African population died a century or two ago of yellow fever, so you don't even see a lot of black people. It's hard to pick out tourists. In France everybody had this chic air about them, here they're a lot more laid-back and their style is more colorful and unique. They all wear awesome sandals. Oh and all the girls are stick-thin. Like anorexically. Apparently they have a worse problem with eating disorders than the US. We were talking about it in my French class (I'm taking a conversation class through the Alliance Francaise to keep up my French) and apparently employers are really discriminatory and just want thin young women.
Where I live: I'm renting a room in the apartment of this wonderful old couple (94 and 90). They're chipper and love to hear about what I've been doing, and tell me about the time they went to Rome in 1936 or about Argentine history.
As for what I've been doing, I've not really been doing a whole lot of stuff--my normal day is to get up around 10, eat breakfast, mess around until like noon, make a sandwich, head to the subte, get off and walk the 15 minutes to school (I walk right by the Casa Rosada every day, don't even give it a second glance, it's ridiculous), have my 4 hour Spanish class, get out, hang out for a while, come home and make dinner, mess around for another couple of hours, and go to bed. Sometimes I go see touristy things, like we went to the Japanese Garden a while ago. But Buenos Aires is not full of really famous things you have to see like European cities are... I hope to be doing more touristing when classes start and I have a routine. Right now the fact that class is 2-6 makes it so that I sleep in and waste my morning (especially since nothing's open anyway), and you can't do anything afterwards.
On weekends we often go out, and as I mentioned before, the schedule is completely different, so I feel like I sleep the day away. In short, I can't wait to have a schedule. The intensive language class is over and we have orientation next week, a week of vacation, and then classes start the 9th of March.
During the week of vacation, I think we're going to go to Bariloche, a beautiful city in the lake country/mountains. There's a lot of outdoorsy stuff to do, and it'll be wonderful to get out of Buenos Aires, even if it is a 20-hour bus ride away. (Also, I will probably be spending the night of my birthday on a bus back to BA--no worries, though, we'll celebrate the night before).
I guess that's all for now. Sorry I'm having trouble coming up with things to talk about, leave me comments about things you want to know!
Oh one more thing: the buses. They have no maps. You just use the Guia T, a kind of map of the city booklet, and the grids tell you which buses are there. Then you look at the number and it lists what streets it goes down. But where the stop is? haha why would we tell you that. How much it's going to be? ask the driver when you get on (anywhere from 1.10 to 1.50 maybe? I always pay 1.20). Where to get off? see above. Oh and by the way, if you don't have change (monedas) don't even bother. Nevermind that there is a drastic change shortage because it's worth more as metal than as coins so people sell them on the black market... sometimes I love Argentina (but now it's just become more entertaining than annoying).
Final note: I updated my pictures. Link's in the previous post.
I hope this satisfies your vicarious travel needs.
Love,
Jenelle
I haven't posted in a while because I haven't really felt like I've had that much noteworthy to say. I mean, I read people's blogs from Africa and I feel like what I'm doing is tame by comparison. Yes, I'm in South America, but I feel like the city here is extremely European. A city is a city is a city. It's new and exciting, but sometimes I feel like I've been away from home so long I don't truly appreciate the differences.
Buenos Aires is cosmopolitan. It even looks like Europe--a lot of blondes, everybody's last name is Italian or Jewish. Apparently there were slaves in Argentina, but most of the African population died a century or two ago of yellow fever, so you don't even see a lot of black people. It's hard to pick out tourists. In France everybody had this chic air about them, here they're a lot more laid-back and their style is more colorful and unique. They all wear awesome sandals. Oh and all the girls are stick-thin. Like anorexically. Apparently they have a worse problem with eating disorders than the US. We were talking about it in my French class (I'm taking a conversation class through the Alliance Francaise to keep up my French) and apparently employers are really discriminatory and just want thin young women.
Where I live: I'm renting a room in the apartment of this wonderful old couple (94 and 90). They're chipper and love to hear about what I've been doing, and tell me about the time they went to Rome in 1936 or about Argentine history.
As for what I've been doing, I've not really been doing a whole lot of stuff--my normal day is to get up around 10, eat breakfast, mess around until like noon, make a sandwich, head to the subte, get off and walk the 15 minutes to school (I walk right by the Casa Rosada every day, don't even give it a second glance, it's ridiculous), have my 4 hour Spanish class, get out, hang out for a while, come home and make dinner, mess around for another couple of hours, and go to bed. Sometimes I go see touristy things, like we went to the Japanese Garden a while ago. But Buenos Aires is not full of really famous things you have to see like European cities are... I hope to be doing more touristing when classes start and I have a routine. Right now the fact that class is 2-6 makes it so that I sleep in and waste my morning (especially since nothing's open anyway), and you can't do anything afterwards.
On weekends we often go out, and as I mentioned before, the schedule is completely different, so I feel like I sleep the day away. In short, I can't wait to have a schedule. The intensive language class is over and we have orientation next week, a week of vacation, and then classes start the 9th of March.
During the week of vacation, I think we're going to go to Bariloche, a beautiful city in the lake country/mountains. There's a lot of outdoorsy stuff to do, and it'll be wonderful to get out of Buenos Aires, even if it is a 20-hour bus ride away. (Also, I will probably be spending the night of my birthday on a bus back to BA--no worries, though, we'll celebrate the night before).
I guess that's all for now. Sorry I'm having trouble coming up with things to talk about, leave me comments about things you want to know!
Oh one more thing: the buses. They have no maps. You just use the Guia T, a kind of map of the city booklet, and the grids tell you which buses are there. Then you look at the number and it lists what streets it goes down. But where the stop is? haha why would we tell you that. How much it's going to be? ask the driver when you get on (anywhere from 1.10 to 1.50 maybe? I always pay 1.20). Where to get off? see above. Oh and by the way, if you don't have change (monedas) don't even bother. Nevermind that there is a drastic change shortage because it's worth more as metal than as coins so people sell them on the black market... sometimes I love Argentina (but now it's just become more entertaining than annoying).
Final note: I updated my pictures. Link's in the previous post.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
La Reina de la Plata
([The queen of the River Plata] as it is apparently affectionately known )
So. Buenos Aires.
...Is huge. 48 officially recognized "barrios" (quartiers, or loosely neighborhoods), a huge percentage- like 1/3-of the country's population, 6 subte (metro) lines, a couple hundred bus lines, thousands of empanada stores and kioskos (little convenience-type stores), and a park every few blocks.
And they still can't fix the holes/broken spots in the sidewalk, give me a map of the buses I can actually understand, put air conditioning on the subte, or deal with the chronic shortage of change (the bus takes nothing but coins, so people hoard them. Hence the signs in every store saying they don't have them).
Despite all that, this capital city has a charm all its own.
We've been doing a lot of sightseeing and getting to know our way around the city for the first week. A couple of trips to the Casa Rosada, a nerve-wracking bus ride watching the streets for when to push the button, and countless empanadas and helados (ice cream cones) later, I'm starting to get a feel for it. I have a feeling I'm going to wake up one day and realize how much I love it.
Other than sightseeing, I've been keeping busy with my intensive Spanish class (4 hours a day...ughhh), a weekly conversation class at the Alliance Francaise to keep up my French, and spending hours and hours sunbathing in parks.
Some tidbits:
Argentines don't do the early morning thing. Business opens at 10. You eat dinner at 10pm. Then, if you're going out that night, you head to a bar around midnight, head to the club after 2, and stay out dancing all night. It gets a little fatiguing, I'd imagine.
The president (la Presidenta) Cristina Kirchner, is the first elected woman president. She works in the Casa Rosada (their version of the White House--the walls are pink, originally because they made the paint with animal blood against the humidity or something, and now due to tradition) where the security is apparently minimal. I saw very few armed guards, the fence is only a few feet from the wall, and there's a subte stop right next to said fence. That said, Ms. Kirchner does not in fact live there, she commutes to work by helicopter every day.
I love the dollar/peso exchange rate (US$1= approx Ar$3.50), especially after France.
Miss everybody, hopefully I'll be updating more regularly when I have exciting things to talk about!
Pictures can be seen here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2137857&id=7412579&l=27f7b
So. Buenos Aires.
...Is huge. 48 officially recognized "barrios" (quartiers, or loosely neighborhoods), a huge percentage- like 1/3-of the country's population, 6 subte (metro) lines, a couple hundred bus lines, thousands of empanada stores and kioskos (little convenience-type stores), and a park every few blocks.
And they still can't fix the holes/broken spots in the sidewalk, give me a map of the buses I can actually understand, put air conditioning on the subte, or deal with the chronic shortage of change (the bus takes nothing but coins, so people hoard them. Hence the signs in every store saying they don't have them).
Despite all that, this capital city has a charm all its own.
We've been doing a lot of sightseeing and getting to know our way around the city for the first week. A couple of trips to the Casa Rosada, a nerve-wracking bus ride watching the streets for when to push the button, and countless empanadas and helados (ice cream cones) later, I'm starting to get a feel for it. I have a feeling I'm going to wake up one day and realize how much I love it.
Other than sightseeing, I've been keeping busy with my intensive Spanish class (4 hours a day...ughhh), a weekly conversation class at the Alliance Francaise to keep up my French, and spending hours and hours sunbathing in parks.
Some tidbits:
Argentines don't do the early morning thing. Business opens at 10. You eat dinner at 10pm. Then, if you're going out that night, you head to a bar around midnight, head to the club after 2, and stay out dancing all night. It gets a little fatiguing, I'd imagine.
The president (la Presidenta) Cristina Kirchner, is the first elected woman president. She works in the Casa Rosada (their version of the White House--the walls are pink, originally because they made the paint with animal blood against the humidity or something, and now due to tradition) where the security is apparently minimal. I saw very few armed guards, the fence is only a few feet from the wall, and there's a subte stop right next to said fence. That said, Ms. Kirchner does not in fact live there, she commutes to work by helicopter every day.
I love the dollar/peso exchange rate (US$1= approx Ar$3.50), especially after France.
Miss everybody, hopefully I'll be updating more regularly when I have exciting things to talk about!
Pictures can be seen here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2137857&id=7412579&l=27f7b
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Volume II, Chapter 1
So my flight for Argentina leaves in approximately 4 hours. I think I got all the panic out of my system last night, but I'm still a little nervous. And excited! This is going to be so very different from France, not least because it's halfway across the world. I've attempted to do my research, reading books on tangos and the dirty war in the 70's and watching Madonna sing (Evita, quite an enjoyable movie for those of you who haven't seen it). But I still feel like I know nothing about the country I'm going to. With Paris, I had been before and been learning about it for years (not to mention spending my summer speaking French). But this time, I'm really heading into the unknown with my rusty Spanish.
But anyway, I'll be there tomorrow, living in a hostel for a bit while I work out housing. And the intensive language program starts next week (supposedly, I haven't really heard from them, actually...).
I would put in some stuff about reverse culture shock and missing France and all, but I think it's not really anything that hasn't been said before. The weirdest thing was walking by strangers in restaurants, public transportation, etc., and hearing them speak English. I have to say, I also really miss the city, the food (breaddd) and the people I met there. I will hopefully be spending quite a bit of time there in the future.
I'll leave it there, as I can't really think of anything profound to share. One last thing though: word associations for Buenos Aires from the American perspective:
South America, steak, cows, pampas, tango, Evita, Juan Peron, gauchos, summer, mate
I'll let you know if that is actually what makes up BA.
But anyway, I'll be there tomorrow, living in a hostel for a bit while I work out housing. And the intensive language program starts next week (supposedly, I haven't really heard from them, actually...).
I would put in some stuff about reverse culture shock and missing France and all, but I think it's not really anything that hasn't been said before. The weirdest thing was walking by strangers in restaurants, public transportation, etc., and hearing them speak English. I have to say, I also really miss the city, the food (breaddd) and the people I met there. I will hopefully be spending quite a bit of time there in the future.
I'll leave it there, as I can't really think of anything profound to share. One last thing though: word associations for Buenos Aires from the American perspective:
South America, steak, cows, pampas, tango, Evita, Juan Peron, gauchos, summer, mate
I'll let you know if that is actually what makes up BA.
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