Tuesday 7/27
Second day of classes and a beautiful day because the sun was out and I didn't have to wear a jacket!!! AY AY AY! SO great! My classes start at 1 today and finish at 4. The first class is an Argentine Art class and is pretty interesting. My second class is Argentina: An Open Society, and was kind of boring, we'll see if I keep that one in the schedule. After I finished classes I cruised down Cabildo St., which is the business street in Belgrano ( where I live in Bs. As.) and while walking down the street I found a McDonald's and had to go in. I got a cajita feliz (Happy Meal) and got some weird looks. I don't know if it's accepted here for adults to eat children sized meals. oops! The Mcy D's here are crazy! It was so crowded and had 3 levels! Also another odd thing: the workers literally wear jean suits-- including McDonald's jeans.. who knew they existed! Best believe it. It was an experience in itself.
Monday 7/26
First day of classes! My first class was with Argentine students and naturally I didn't know where my class was. I asked the guy sitting at the reception desk but he didn't know either, so I tried to explore on my own, while receiving odd looks from the locals. I eventually found some other foreign students who were in my class and they were as confused as me, but we eventually found our class. We had to introduce ourselves and two of the local girls befriended us and showed us where we were supposed to get our homework, it was really nice! My second class was at 1 and I really like it. It's Latin American Cultural Studies and the teacher is just really funny and will only allow us to speak in Spanish. It seems like a very interesting class! I also had fish as an actual meal for the first time in my life and I have to say it was pretty good!
Sunday 7/25
This was a low key day because it was raining outside, but I went to church in the evening. I went with another friend to the church that we found in the Plaza de Mayo, so I can officially say I have been to mass in the oldest church in Argentina.
Saturday 7/24
This was our first excursion and it was to Tigre! Tigre is a little town situated near a river. We started out by taking the train to Tigre and once we were there we got in a boat and cruised around looking at all of the houses that line the river as well as how the people live there. After the boat cruise, we got out at the Puerto de Frutos which is a market which has lots of food and things for sale. I tried my first choripan here which is an Argentine classic. It is basically just a big sausage with bread, it tastes kind of like a hotdog. We were able to walk around and explore a bit before we left. After we left the Puerto de Frutos, we went to a restaurant along the river and got to try a submarina, which like hot chocolate but better! You are given hot milk and then a chocolate bar made especially for this drink and you submerge the chocolate bar in the chocolate and stir and wa la you have a delicious drink! This was a great treat today because it was freezing outside! We were also served brownies, ham and cheese sandwiches, as well as cookies with dulce de leche ( only in Argentina would you see this-- they some how manage to throw dulce de leche in EVERYTHING!)
The view of Tigre from the port.
Friday 723
Today I had a Visa appointment at 8 in the morning! ay ay ay! I also had a meeting with my academic advisor from the University of Belgrano (UB). I was able to choose my classes and everything went well with this. The rest of this day was pretty unproductive for me because I slept most of the day and just kind of lounged.
Thursday 7/22
This was the day that we went to explore the Plaza de Mayo! This is where the Casa Rosada(Pink House)-- which is Argentina's White House, is situated. This Plaza also houses many of the political branches and buildings. This is the place where the most important political and social changes have happened in Argentina! The day we went there was a protest going on. I'm not too sure what it was about, but apparently there is a group that holds a protest in front of the Casa Rosada every week. We walked around and found 2 churches, which were beautiful. The first one we went in was the first Jesuit church in Argentina. I also had the pleasure of feeding the birds with some bread in the center of the Plaza as well as taking in the politically charged messages of the people of Argentina through the graffiti. We also had a Tango class this day with other students from the ISA program at a Tango club. This class was very interesting to say the least. The Tango steps were easy to understand and it was actually pretty fun, but after the Tango we tried the Salsa, and this was a little more difficult. Nonetheless, I'm glad to say I've danced both of them, in an Argentina Tango club at that!
some of the protest that was going on
Wednesday 7/21
My roommate, Julie, and I decided we were going to make it a day to explore the city some more. We ended up taking the colectivo (bus) with hopes of ending up in Recoleta (another part of the city). I say with hopes here because the colectivos are very confusing to me. You pay only about 25 cents to ride a colectivo, but the only thing is that they don't make announcements of what each stop is, you just have to know. We use a Guia-T, which a book of all of the colectivos and where they stop, and even the locals carry these around, but I still found it a little difficult to understand. I let Julie do the navigating, seeing as I'm horrible with directions in the States, and low and behold we ended up in Recoleta. We strolled in a park, which we later realized was Plaza Recoleta and came across a beautiful church called the Basilica Nuestra Senora del Pilar and it is one of the oldest churches in Argentina. There was also another park across the street that we explored and it was full of crazy trees-- trees with huge roots. We then ate at a cafe where we caved and had a burger for the first time since being here. It was actually really good! Julie tried the hamgurguesa americana- and it was anything but an American hamburger! After this we met up with a couple friends and continued to explore Recoleta. We found yet again another park and sat here just taking in the sights and people watching. To go home we took the subte (subway) home. I really like the subte and it's easier to use than the colectivos, plus it's really cheap (about 25 cents for each way)! We also had a special guest come to our house: my host niece! Her name is Lisa and she is 7 and she ended up sleeping over at our house for the night, as her and my host mom were going to see a movie the next day. I think I can say that we are the best of friends now, haha! She's a funny kid and in a means to bond with her I asked her what her favorite singers were and what does she say? Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez of course, meaning we watched the music videos as I listened to her try and sing the words. It was great! I want her to visit again!
A park we came across in Recoleta
