Patience is a Virtue

Remember that old saying your mother used to have, "Patience is a virtue my dear." I used to always shrug that comment off, knowing as an American I do not have to have patience. I come from a bigger, better, yesterday society, in which things have an order, a rhyme, a reason to them. Well, HELLO CULTURE SHOCK!

Buenos Aires is sans-order, in practically everything. I recieve a package from my parents as an early Easter gift. Well, I can now see why not many people do the online delivery thing here. In order to recieve an international package, you first must recieve your slip in the mail stating you have a package waiting for you. You then must go to the Correo Argentino Internationale, which is the international post office. Upon arrival, you must take a number ( I will get back to the taking a number topic). Once your number is called, you must tell the desk clerk what you are there for, and present your slip (make sure you have your passport on you.) You then are given another number, and you must go to a room full of people. So full of people, people are sitting down on the floor and using walls as chairs because the 100 odd chairs are full of people. Well, the number that they give you is not a number that goes in order. It is the number of your package. Well, they call you in the order that they can even find you package. So you must sit around, maybe for 5 minutes or in my case 2 hours. It is hard to hear the numbers because a.) they are in spanish and b.) they are muffeled in the microphone. Once you are called, they give you your package, customs opens your package and inspects it, then you may leave the post office. Trust me this is a long process.

Now back to the number issue. In order to get anything done in this city, it is a chore, and you must take a number to ever get anywhere. If you want to order a sandwhich, take a number. If you want any help at a bank, take a number. If you want to buy stamps, take a number. I have never had to take so many numbers in my life, just to do everyday chores that I have taken for granted back home. I now know that next time my mother asks me to run to the store to buy something, I'm not going to say its a lot of work, because this place is ten times the amount of work to do a simple task!

On a positive note, I got to see El Fantisma de la Opera! Yeap, the Andrew LLoyd Webber rendition of The Phantom of the Opera was presented on stage at the Teatro Opera! It was spectacular. I know the entire musical by heart, and this musical was translated into Spanish, so it was a nice way for me to learn a few more Spanish words. In fact, I actually understood the words they were saying on stage, despite the whole language barrier! I was quite excited!

A Weekend at the Spa

So, I got on a bus and rode 8 hours north to Federacion in Entre Rios just to have a relaxing weekend at a spa! And it was probably one of the most interesting weekends of my life! Not to mention, TOTALLY fun! I met a girl named Amanda who´s dad is from Argentina but works at the Mayo clinic in Minnesota, so she goes to the Univ. of Minn. She´s super fun!
It started off with a subte ride to the bus station in Retiro. As we walked toward the station, we were double teamed by some STUPID people who tried to rob us. But we were WAY smarter than them, and we had lovked the important compartments in our backpacks, so they opened it up and couldn´t get anything good! HAHA! Success! I would like to say that it made me angry just the thought that they would do something liek that in the first place. I was seriously infuriated. However, we then looked for our bus, and no one could tell us where it would be, so we stressfully walked back and forth up and down the platforms until we spotted our companies bus with the name of our city posted out front! We thought we were home free, and would be there in 7 hours! Not So! Instead, we had horrible bus bathroom experiences......... UGHHHHHHHHH even thinking about it makes me woozy, we had no dinner, and we were super uncomfortable, because they WOULD NOT turn on the air conditioning. In addition, our bus driver had us stuck behind a caravan of slow moving vehicles the whole way there. Needless to say, we made it to our hotel by midnight, HUNGRY!
However, the hotel was fabulous. And the service was amazing (In fact, a little TOO amazing)! The reception man brought us a bottle of wine and some cold sandwiches he found in the kitchen, and then we cleared out the frigobar!
The next morning, we awoke, had breakfast at the hotel, and then we took the shuttle to the warm springs! I thought it´d be a great idea to choose to tan at the warm springs, because we wouldn´t freeze in the cold pool water when we wanted to cool off. However, these were not warm springs, they were VERY VERY HOT springs. In fact, so hot, that there were warning signs on some of them that warned not to stay in for more than 5 minutes......... I know, my thoughts exactly, Argentina has rules... I had no idea.
After dying in the heat, we decided to call a taxi and head back to our hotel for our day at the spa we had arranged. The taxi was infested with mosquitoes, so if I catch malaria, you all know who to blame.
We got to the spa, and let´s just say I was feeling alittle nervous. Earlier in the day, I had been super brave and had decided to invest in a little ¨depilacion.¨ Now, I was seriously rethinking my experience. And, I can´t go into detail, but I probably should have cancelled!! If anyone wants to know more, please facebook message me, hahaha. Anyhow, after the depilacion, I was in great need of a massage, unfortunately, the person was a man. And that made me feel super uncomfortable, especially after only minutes before, an old man had gone in for a massage with a lady, and they had quickly come right back out, and after he left, she laughingly explained to me that he had in mind a certain something that he would like massaged. I truly thought I would die on the spot. I was scared for my life!
I survived the massage, and shortly thereafter progressed to my hand and foot treatment, followed by a mani-pedi. I would like to point out to all americans everywhere, I was TOLD that it is very ugly to have different color nail polish on your hands than on your toenails. So, I now have a french manicure on my toes........ and it looks like my toenails are dead. But she refused to change her standards. In addition, my nails are so square, the edges can cut! They definitely have some different standards.
After the toes and fingernails, I went to my facial and body treatment, both of which were my favorite part of the day!
In all honesty, for what the exchange rate allowed us to pay, the day was fantastic! We got out of these for about 60 american dollars!!!!!!!!!
After the spa, we headed to our fancy reservation dinner. But it was a total flop, but in all actuality, I think we were too tired to care!
This morning at 6 am we awoke to head out and catch our bus back home.
This bus driver was very different from the last. He had a thing for taking up both lanes no matter what. He was also keen on passing when there was a hill and a double line. I wasn´t sure if we´d make it back alive! In addition, the bus was almost entirely empty, but this lady decided it would be fun to sit right next to us and play her cell phone ring tone (and it was one of those old timey annoying ones) over and over and over. Also, update on the bathroom situation, it was even worse! We ended up miserably trying to focus on something else for 7 hours!!! When we got off the bus, we RAN to the nearest restroom, which unfortunately wasn´t much better.
But in the end, it was a fantastic trip. I made a new friend. And I´m not sure if there´s a better way to get to know someone than to spend an intimate day at the spa, and talk for 14 hours straight driving through cattle land that looks unchanging!

Things I Have Learned in London thus far...

1. Public transportation is amazing and I love beginning each day with a walk to the tube station. Plus, the "tube voice" is always entertaining ("Please mind the gap between the train and the platform.").

2. Americans are way louder than any other nationality.

3. Sometimes getting lost is the best way to get your bearings in a new city.

4. People watching is one of my all time favorite activities.  Though, I need to learn not to stare.

5. I did not pack appropriately... or it could just be the anxiety of not having everyyyything I own close at hand.

6. Pictures are the BEST souvenirs.

7. Living in a foreign country has given me a renewed interest in international news and global concerns.

8. I actually love reading The Economist.

9. A long walk is way more enjoyable than a long shorter run- plus you can actually take in your surroundings.

10. Not taking the elevator (ever) has made a huge difference in my leg strength (no wonder Europeans are fit).

11. Even when I am not in a hurry, I love rushing up the left side of the escalator when leaving or entering the tube station- it makes me feel like I am on my way to somewhere important.

12. It's refreshing not watching T.V. every day.  But I do miss the morning news.

13. I also miss having my own coffee maker-- I have discovered that I am a coffee addict.

14. Flying from Florence to London on an Italian airline somehow cured my fear of flying.  Perhaps it was the language barrier?

15. Afternoon tea is the perfect 3:00PM pick-me-up :)

16. I love the Waitrose (London's small supermarket chain).  But, I miss the convenience of huge American grocery stores (neverrr thought I would say this).

17. I can see myself living in London after graduation.

18. My entire life, I have been a fast walker-- in London, I am just a average-paced walker... 

* More to come!

Planning a Trip

So my friend and I have been planning a trip to visit Igazu falls! This is the absolute reason I even came to Argentina, well besides the fact that I wanted to learn Spanish! Anywho, planning the trip has been an adventure. We were looking tickets up online, and thought that we found a really good price until we found out that the tickets were for Argetinians only. Then we found tickets for Americans. Oh boy do they stick it to the Americans with plane ticket prices, guess they figure all Americans are rich. So we went to a travel agent next door to IES to help us plan the trip. They offered an even higher price for two round trip plane tickets it was 2200 pesos. So we made our last trip to plan the trip. We went to the bus station. Granted a 18 hour bus ride is least on my list of things I want to do, but I'm on a student budget. If I want to go to Uraguay, I better save some money. So we got our tickets. Two round trip bus tickets cost us 630 pesos. I definately think we took the best route. And its on a fun double decker bus, so at least we will have a cool view of the country on our drive to the triple boarder area!

I went to Wal-Mart today. This was certainly more of a chore than going to Wal-Mart in the states. First off, my southern accent makes me portray Wal-Mart as some obscure name, in which cab drivers cannot decifer. So I have to try to tell them what I want with the little vocabulary I know. Then I arrive. It is about a 40 peso cab ride outside of the city. I arrive, and in order to get into Wal-mart, you have to go through metal detectors. Then there are things like you would see at an amusment park, the metal counter things ( I know totally descriptive). Once in the Wal-Mart layout is to the tee like that of America. The clothing selection is a lot more limited, as well as the make-up and jewlery. Besides that you have a huge food section, an electronics section, furniture and bedding, you know the same ole same ole one is used to at Wal-Mart. There are some differences though. There are not debit card machines at every register and the prices are times three what we would see at home. I went to buy a skirt and the price was $60, but I had to remember it was in pesos. The toys are outrageously priced. One Barbie brand barbie doll was $170ARS. It was insane. I don't see how the kids have any toys here when a lot of people only bring in about $1600 pesos a month and $800 goes towards rent. There is also a food court in the Wal-Marts here. Yeap, there is a Parilla (which is like a grill with steak and such), a mcdonalds, and some sort of other restuarant.

Venice in daylight

Last Saturday me and two friends decided to take a day trip to Venice since our first time seeing the city was at night during Carnavale...
We hopped on the 10:30 train to Venezia and arrived an hour and half later in front of the Grand Canal. We didn't have a game plan for this trip because we just wanted to retrace what we'd seen there before and just hang out in Venice. We hunted down the outdoor pizza stand from before which has the best pizza I've had so far! So good!
Then we walked all around Venice from the San Rialto bridge to San Romano square.
There were so many Americans there! For three students who go to school in a very small city were you HAVE to speak Italian to get around, this was mind blowing. We kept being surprised when we heard English in passing. Even vendors automatically spoke English to us and I know I got a little annoyed when they spoke English to me after I spoke in Italian to them. I just wanted to try!
Well, we learned something else about Venice too...no picnicking allowed! Ha ha in Venice if you want to sit and eat you must do so at a restaraunt or at an outside vendor. We were sitting down at the Duomo in San Romano square, drinking our 1 liter juice boxes when the police walked up and told us to stand up or find a bench somewhere. That was interesting..
So, we walked around Venice some more and found a cool little alleyway that ended with a canal and snuck onto the steps that lead down to the water. We liked our new pinicking spot, which was free of annoying American high schoolers on field trips. We just sat and watched the gondolas go by...
The pictures are of our secret alleyway and one of the bridges in Venice.

POLO!

So, I went to a Polo qualifier at the Palermo Polo fields. When we first arrived, I didn´t actually think we´d even be able to see a game, because there was absolutely no one there, and in addition, we could not find an entrance. After walking a country mile around the fields up and down the streets of Palermo, we spotted a ton of horse trailers, and an open gate. We walked right in, and people were picknicking about 3 feet from where the horses were stampeding up and down the field hitting a little ball that could make you brain dead if it hit you. There were children playing right where the horses could trample them. I was petrified not only for my sake, but also for everyone elses. I´m such a chicken evidently. Anyhow, we saw the stands begin to fill up on the other side of the field, so we made our way around and took our seats. The game was SO fast paced. Those horses scared me to death as they slammed into each other and raced at full speed at and around each other. I don´t think I would make a very good Polo player. However, we watched a game, then went and got sandwiches and ice cream, adn then came back to watch a second game. It had moved to a different field, and when we found it, I spotted my house mom and her daughter, so we joined them. It´s a really exciting game, but perhaps the most fun is afterwards. Everyone in the stands goes outside, and there´s free champagne, appetizers, cheese, and meat for everyone! It was a blast... until the mosquitos came out... story of my life. I won´t go into detail. Anyhow, I´d love to go back and I´m even thinking of spending a weekend soon out at a Polo ranch and taking lessons! How fun would that be.............

Zoo, Green Beer, and Protests... an Argentinian Concept

Jardin Zooilogical

First may I just say, Chelsea I love you. I live across from the cemetary. In fact I wake up to those creepy little bodies every morning! Guess I may be the weird one at heart, but it puts a smile on my face knowing that I am so near to Eva's final resting place... hmm... Oh well!

Due to Chelsea's visit to the Palermo Zoo, I had to go and check it out for myself. I was quite surprised by the lack of security in the zoo. In fact, I became quite paranoid at times when parents would let their children roam and one kid ended up IN THE FENCE with the 'cebras.' Yeah, guess thats the big sister in me screaming please don't let the poor dear get hurt. But apart from that, I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of animals slammed right down in the middle of Buenos Aires. Though, I felt bad for the poor polar bear who had more hair than me, and I know I was sweating!!!

That night, after the Zoo, my friend Jill and I went to grab a bite to eat at some Irish Pub. Come to find out this pub brews their own beer. Well that was a nice change from the normal Quilmes or Brahma, except for one thing, the alcohol content is wayyyyy higher. Lucky for me, I don't drink much beer because the taste is not that settling. But in Buenos Aires, it is cheaper to buy beer than water. And it being St. Patty's Day a few days before, the Argentinians were still celebrating, which meant free green beer for everyone! Can you pass up free? I attempted to eat Mexican food here..... it was not that great. Argentina has great beef, but the food is rather bland. And get ready for an overcooked steak. I swear some people in the Midwest would find this place an insult to good beef. But hey, when in a different culture, assimilate!

Though, I better enjoy the beef while I can because the political uproar here is getting worse and worse everyday. Basically what has happened is that the country switched its main export to soy because of the international rise of soy prices. Once the country did so and started making a profit off of this influx, the government decided it needed a cut. This cut was 50% of the total revenue from Soy export. This means that farmers are not too happy. This tax is on small farmers who do not rent their land as well as larger farmers who do. Thus, making the country an even poorer middle income country. Well, the farmers are so unhappy with the situation they have been placing protests all around the city. They block off streets with their trucks. I was walking to Ave. Corientes last week, and I had to walk another six blocks to bypass the demonstration and get to the bus stop. It was insane! But this is everyday life of Argentina. Apart from these demonstrations, the farmers are threatening not to sell or transport anymore meat around the country until a solution has been decided. In fact, there is so much uproar that the country has changed their elections from October to June! I can't wait to see what will happen!!!!

Recoleta- not for the weak stomached

Recoleta is a beautiful neighborhood that I passed each day on the 130 bus. This weekend I decided to visit. There was a fantastic art fair sprawling through the green hill on the way to the chapel and famous recoleta cemetery. I bought a handmade purse for my sister for her birthday. We visited the cemetery (more on that once I finish explaining the rest), we ate at a restaurant that belonged to ferrari, we toured the museo de bellas artes, we shared cheesecake at the cafe outside of museo de arte decorativo y oriental, and then we toured that museum as well. >We even walked all the way home from Recoleta, about a 5 mile hike through the city. It was basically a perfect day....... except for the cemetery. This part is not for the weak stomach. The cemetery is beautiful. Each person/family has its own little house/room that they are buried in. That´s all fine and dandy, but I already have some serious mental issues to deal with on the topic of death and cemetaries stemming from a childhood memory of walking through a civil war cemetary in the middle of the night as a child with my dad because he thought it was the safest option (our town´s downtown is pretty sketch). Needless to say, I´m still basically terrified of all things dead. I can picture it too well in my head, I think my imagination is a little too vivid. I WILL be cremated. I can´t stand the thought of anything else. Anyhow, back to recoleta. The issue with this cemetary is that these people didn´t want to be buried in the ground. Which is great. But in addition to this stipulation, the family wanted to be able to visit, and not just the grave, but the coffin. Almost all of the graves have doors that are glass, which may or may not have the glass in them now, and the families have keys to let them into the room where there ancestors forever lay in a coffin. This is very disturbing to me. I did not expect to see a billion coffins through windows into tiny rooms. What makes it even worse is that some of the coffins were sort of falling down, and I could just imagine one of them opening right up. At one point, my imagination took over, and I literally thought I was going to hyperventilate. The worst was the fact that over some of the coffins, they draped pretty cloths, like tablecloths. Unfortunately, coffins are not as perfectly sealed as people want to believe, and the acid/bad body juices/nasty air/ things that are eating the decomposing bodies, had left holes in the cloth around where the coffins were closed. I serously thought I was going to die during this visit. Needless to say, some people love to visit this place. I respect the way they treat their dead, but I would like to say that I want to have no part in it. Someone see to it that these wishes are carried out. You never know, with the way these bus drivers drive, my life might be shorter than I suspected. Anyhow, thank you for reading my morbid post. Know that you should visit this cemetary, I just have problems stemming from childhood that I will probably never grow out of. Visit, but be prepared! Ugh...

Piazza Ariostea

My new obsession, with the coming of springtime, has become Piazza Ariostea. This park is a green patch middle of Ferrara, which is mostly cobblestone and brick. Since the weather has suddenly gone from dull and dreary rain/sludge to bright sunshine and no clouds Piazza Ariostea calls at me from inside my classrooms. Right after class, everyday, me and couple Americans race to order Caprese panini and plop down in the grass with the rest of the young Italians and bask in the sun. Some days we're there until sundown "doing homework" and buying gelato across the street. We've really become regulars there and kind of have our own "turf" so-to-speak. We create names and stories for the people who pass by and occasionally make new friends.
At the end of May, Piazza Ariostea transforms into a race course for the annual Palio that is held here. I wish I was going to be there for it!!!
The pictures are of the statue of Ariostea ( some historical figure) and the patch of grass we call "ours."

Argentina's Economy

While abroad, you don’t expect the troubles of the United States to follow you, but I have begun to realize that the United States truly is the super power that all the government teachers tell us it is. The American dollar affects economies around the world, and Argentina is far from being excluded from this. In Argentina the unemployment rate is astronomically high. This leads to many beggars on the street as well as many homeless children. As I walk down the streets of Buenos Aires worrying about what store I will stop in next, or what I will eat for dinner, I absent mindedly pass by children who are clearly starving and people who use the concrete covered in secretions as a resting place for their tired head. As you eat dinner outside, you are approached by people attempting to sell their goods if they have any or who just plain out ask you for money. In fact on little girl approached my roommate, who had an extra empanada on her plate, and asked “Una empanada por favor.” It was a sad reminder of the economic crisis in Buenos Aires.

On top of the economic crisis, there is for some reason a shortage of change, or “monedas.” In the US we do not have this horrible problem. In fact some of us pay the extra couple of cents on the dollar in order to change these pesky dimes and nickels into ‘cold hard cash.’ It is the opposite here. The local ‘7/11’ would rather give you a 2 peso bill instead of give up their one peso coin. The reason these coins are so precious is because these are the only way one can take the bus. In fact, this is the only reason I have needed monedas. No matter how rich or how poor, people take the bus here. And again, no matter how rich you are, there is NO PAYING WITH BILLS ON THE BUS LINE. People who do not have monedas have broken out in screaming matches with the bus drivers in order to take the bus. One may say, just go to the bank. They are bound to give you change. Well good luck in this department! On a good day the bank will give you change. Sometimes one can ask for 10 pesos worth, and the bank will grant them this simple request. But the person behind them can ask for the same amount and only receive six pesos worth. What is the deal? Some break it down to the theory that the bus lines are in a conspiracy with the government to cause the people of Argentina even more turmoil by only taking change. The government says that people are hording large amounts of monedas and not allowing the flow of monedas to be evenly distributed around the country, especially in big cities like Buenos Aires. But the bottom line is, I have worked my butt off for countless hours trying to find banks that will change for MONEDAS!!!!

Gelato

Last Monday I got the opportunity to learn how gelato is made. I now know that I have found my life's passion and I will be living in a small city in Italy making gelato and getting tremendously large for the rest of my life. The gelatiai taught our group that gelato is basically a full meal with all the vitamins and nutrients you need...leave it to the Italians. This philiosophy is perfectly in sync with my dietary views on any kind of ice cream, so we got along really well. I asked the gelataio if I could have a job there and I think he thought I was kidding, until I hopped behind the counter with him and started scooping gelato for everyone.
I now have a plan where I'm going to visit Gelato Buduardo everyday until they really let me work there..then eventually they will pass down the business to me and I will live happily ever after, scooping gelato. I'm pretty sure my parents would KILL me if informed them of my deviation from the path that leads to law school...haha
The pictures are of the gelato in fruit with its flavor and me behind the counter.

Siena, Italy

I spent the first part of my midterm break in Siena, Italy- a small Medieval Tuscan town.  After flying into Florence on a Meridiana flight, I caught a €6.50 bus into the Piazza Gramsci, on top of Siena's main hill.  From there, I met up with Cameron Moss and Anna Jones, two other Wofford students who are studying abroad with IES in the Siena program.  This was my first trip to Italy and it lived up to (and beyond) my expectations...

After just 24 hours in the town, I had my bearings and a sense of the layout- which was a refreshing change from palatial London.  We cooked our dinners at their apartment, just of the Piazza del Campo (An amazing central location): fresh pasta, bruschetta, cheese, etc...  

I arrived late Wednesday afternoon and so we did the bulk of our exploring on Thursday and Friday.  On Thursday, I joined Anna's Black Plague Case Study in the afternoon.  We climbed up a church tower (not sure of the relevance, but I went along with it) and enjoyed a gorgeous view of Siena and the Tuscan countryside.  After her class, we walked along the medieval walls on the outskirts of the town (once used for protection against enemies). We ate at their apartment with their South African roommate, Rom, and then headed to The Tea Room to catch some live music.  Two middle-aged Italian men serenaded us as we enjoyed the BEST hot chocolate that I have ever tasted!

On Friday, we walked along the main road that leads outside of the city and went to a food co-op to gather supplies for a hearty Italian dinner (#3 of my trip).  Overall, it was a very low key and relaxing trip- just what the Doctor ordered!

Italian Friends

So, after last week's onslaught of presentations and midterms, I've been putting all of my energy into making new Italian friends and really learning the language. When I first applied to study abroad, everyone in the U.S. could only say wonderful things about the Italian people and their warmth...I think I might need clarify for the rest of you. Italy is semi-split culturally. In the south you have regions like Puglia (the heel), Calabria (the bottom), and Sicily. According to Northern Italians, this pretty much means that Southern Italians are basically African. A lot of Northerners don't view the Southerners as Italians and can be pretty stuck up. The Southerners view the Northerners as cold and distant. This said, I have to agree with the Southerners. All of the Italian friends I've made are Southern Italians studying here in the North, because the education is better. They are a lot friendlier and really make an effort to include me when we hang out. One of the good friends I've made has created his own social networking project to make money on a website (he totally belongs in SI, (internat'l SI students perhaps??)). He's studying economy here in Ferrara and needed money so him and his brother started creating social events for students in Ferrara and then made a website you can join to hear about the next event and see pics from the last one. It's really taken off and they've done a great job. The picture is of me and a couple of my new Southern Italian friends hanging out in la piazza in Ferrara.

If my parents only knew...

So. I really didn´t believe that BA was as dangerous as some said. But it is. Let me just begin to tell you SOME of the stories that have happened so far in less than 3 weeks. To start, two Wofford girls, the day they arrived, were attacked at 4pm on a rainy day, by a gang of 8 year olds with sharpened spoons and sticks. They chose to fight them off. One girl started kicking them in the heads, and the other girl chose to punch them. Please, pause for a moment and tell me this image is not too much for you to even imagine! I find myself laughing and horrified all at the same time! Secondly, one of my friends took a sketchy cab on accident, althought it was marked as safe, and he took her away from her house, and she jumped out of the cab because she was afraid. Third, two girls took a cab home, and the cab passed their apartment by a couple of doors, and they decided they would just walk the extra couple of feet, and because of this decision, they were robbed with a knife. Fourth, another friend was walking in midafternoon with another girl. A man pushed her into a corner and mugged her, but she screamed so loud, she startled him, and ran away! Fifth, my university, Universidad Torcuato di Tella, in Belgrano (super rich, safe, nice neghborhood where I live) was robbed in the middle of the night. Sixth, one of the UES students wen todwn toward the BOCA stadium, and was robbed at gunpoint in the middle of daylight. Ok. I´ll stop the stories here. Please pray for me. I might not make it home alive, or atleast I´ll not have all of my stuff. But whatever you do, DON´T TELL MY PARENTS!

Have you seen this animal?

Well, I hadn´t seen these animals before either. I didn´t even know they exist. In fact, I still can´t tell you that I´ve seen them in the wild, or where they live. I´m afraid to run across them out of their cages. This is a strange place. The pictures of these animals that I have included were taken at an estancia on our day trip to the country. I was looking for the horses, and I wandered into a barn, and instead, this is what I found. There were also a large variety of birds, which were in open cages... and I have a fear of birds, llamas, and pigs, so for me, this was a frightening experience when the rooster started getting cocky and decided to charge. But, I´m alive and well. It was a strange petting zoo experience though. I can´t really believe that you can see these strange things, just like we pet goats...... what a weird world to grow up in, or just DIFFERENT. I´m definitely planning a trip to the Palermo Zoo soon. It´s in the MIDDLE of the city!! Funny story, a friend was walking back alone in the middle of the night (when I say middle of the night I mean 6am......) when out of nowhere after a long night of fiesta, a giraffe head popped up next to her. At 6am, what would you be thinking in this situation? She thought she was hallucinating until someone told her that there was a zoo right by her house, and the giraffe was just curiously poking its head over the top of the wall. I´m pretty sure I would have died right on the spot it that had happened to me. Anyhow, on a different note, I went to ride bikes. Also, never a good idea (I broke my tailbone twice as a child). And not only was this a painful experience, but the first bike´s chain broke off in the middle of my leisure riding experience, and then I had to ride a pink kids bike, because I´m too short to ride anything else. My life is so humiliating. But, it´s a whole lot of fun! That´s all for now. Hope you could follow my flow of thought in this random post!

Glimpse.org Post... transportation in Buenos Aires

Where European culture and Latin American influence converge, Buenos Aires is a fashion district that prides itself in being advanced in both the fashion world as well as technologically for a country with such political and economic strains. It is a place where the new and old meet to create a city full of life. The bus system, usually a system seen as a form of transportation for the lower classes in the USA, is a system widely accepted by all Argentines. One must look out when crossing these streets. Even at crosswalks like the one to the right, traffic, especially buses, do not yield to pedestrians here. In fact, traffic here is the greatest risk to loss of life and limb here. This writer has come close to losing one or the other quite a few times in her short stay in Buenos Aires. People own cars, but taxis, as the one seen in the far distance to the left are just as common as the bus line. Even horse drawn carriages have a place in Buenos Aires. The transportation greatly resembles the people here. Just as I have met people of all sorts of walks of life the transportation system is full of contemporary as well as older forms of transportation. All of which head in and out of the city, in the most disorganized, organized fashion. A city that greatly resembles New York or London, takes on a whole new life through the absurdity that is transportation.

Week 2

So, I still love it here. I am worried because you know when everything is going well, and normally things are so bad that it seems like something must go wrong at any minute? That's me right now. I just KNOW that things will be bad soon! I'm sure there will be a bad post coming around the corner. But since there's not, let me fill you in. I went to Mar del Plata for the weekend. This is a bout a 4-5 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires on the beach. I, however, did not have to take a bus, because I was on my way to visit a family who is friends with a girl that I graduated from highschool with who now attends Converse. We've kept in touch, and she suggested that I contact this family. So, I did, and immediately they invited me over for the weekend. In addition, the father has 3 daughters, and one just happens to be married and have a two year old son, and live only a few blocks from me in the same neighborhood! DESTINY! She happened to be planning on visiting her family for the weekend, so I caught a ride with her and her little family. Her husband was the nicest, and her son was an absolute trip. Children always make me smile, and it was wonderful to see the interaction between mother and child. The son's name was Facundo, and his favorite word was "basta" which means "enough" then she would say "basta que" which means "enough what?" and he would say "ruido" which means noise. She would say "porque?" which means "why," and he would asnwer, "porque estoy tratando dormir" which means "because I'm trying to sleep." It was the cutest thing and would go on and on multiple times each day. When we arrived in Mar del Plata it was raining, but that didn't matter. They live ON the beach in the pent house of a condo building. And little did I know this was just ONE place they lived. We ordered in empanadas and had a feast with the three people that I rode over with, the older daughter who has two children, the mom/grandmother, and the younger daughter. Then we all fell asleep. When I awoke, I changed into my bathing suit for a day at the beach and then looked outside to discover that it was raining!! So instead, I changed, and by that time, I went with the younger daughter and her father to breakfast where I had churros with chocolate or dulce de leche inside. Then we wnt for a tour of the city in the rain. I love the city. It's the perfect size, and so quaint, with wonderful arquitecture, and HOUSES. Something I miss from home. We drove out to the pier, and I got to see tons of sea lions. I had no idea they had them here!! I almost got my leg taken off, because I got too close while taking a picture. It was the best!! I felt like a kid. Then we picked the rest of the family up and went to a nice retaurant on the beach. The rain stopped, and as soon as the sun came out, I headed with Florencia (the younger daughter) to the park to drink mate with her friends. Her group of friends are a complete trip. They really are like the group from Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. They are so much fun, tell funny stories, talk for hours, love to waste time together, are super girly, and laugh all the time! It was wonderful. I even liked the mate. Afterwards, we all went home, and Flor and I went to dinner with her parents at a really nice restaurant. However, our experience, other than the extremely attractive waiter, was not so nice. The older sister had a wedding to go to, so we had two extra kids, and two less parents to the mix. It was a complete disaster, but lots of fun nonetheless. Afterwards I went with Flor to meet up with some more of her friends and we played cards and games until early in the morning. Then, we went home, slept a bit, and headed out to the country. They have a huge farm, with dogs and cows, a lodge, an enormous house, a grill to feed a million, two pools, two jaccuzzis, and servants. It was fantastic. We grilled out all day with about 30 family members or more, and then we all went swimming. Afterwards, we headed home, showered, and then went out to eat and then for dessert. We went to sleep early so we could get up early and make it to the beach before I had to leave that afternoon. It was a wonderful day at the beach, and we picknicked! Then, sadly, I headed back to BA. Once in BA, some of my classes started up. Boy, what was I thinking with this honors program? It is SO hard. I can only hope to pass at this point! I sure hope my spanish improves fast enough to keep up! I'm the only foreign exchange student in the class. It's tough. In addition to class, I went back out to the country to a different farm mfor a day with intentions on riding horses, but we ended up grilling out, going to the pool, and riding bikes all over the land instead. It was still fun. That's really all for now. I'll fill yall in with more adventures soon.

Things to Know when Studying Abroad

Sarah Burns (another Wofford student) and I at the Camp

Though I have had a blast on this trip, not everything has been peaches and cream. In fact, there are many things I feel as if the study abroad office did not prepare me for, or I was misinformed about. The first thing being that people do wear flip flops in their summer here. If anyone ever studies abroad in Buenos Aires during the Spring Semester… PLEASE PACK REALLY COOL CLOTHES. The summers here are dreadfully hot, and do not expect to have AC. For the most part you will get drenched with rain for about an hour every day, and deal with scorching heat. Things also to remember to pack that may slip your mind is bug repellent, sun screen, aloe, sun screen, sun screen, and more sun screen. The program I am in, IES, is also very unorganized. When I arrived here some two short weeks ago, instead of having a room to myself as per the IES contract, my roommate and I were stuck in a room together until another person from another program moved out. But hopefully the bumpy ride has ceased.
More things to know about Buenos Aires…. The people here are not in the least politically correct. If you are of any black decent you will be called ‘negro,’ if you are Jewish you will be called ‘Russe,’ if you are a midget, plan on being called a midget, and if you are fat you will be called ‘gourdo/gourda.’ I feel as if someone needs to know this before coming here. Also, the largest size sold in the stores here is a size 16, which in most stores is cut like a size 8. There is a law that regulates the sizes for all stores, but alas, stores do not adhere by this law. I have noticed a lot of places here do not adhere by the law. If you are caught in possession of drugs, pass the cop a 100 peso bill and he will look the other way. People will constantly harass you for money because of the poor economy here. And NEVER take any flyers from people. The economy is so bad, that some people will have you look at something like a poem, and if you read it they will insist on you paying for the poem. Of course you don’t have to, but in order to avoid a scene and draw attention to the fact that you are American, most people pay these people to be quiet.
My language barrier is beginning to show signs of weakening me. Trying to speak in Spanish all day every day, when I have never taken a semester of Spanish is a difficult task. Though, knowing another romance language helps, it is nothing like knowing the language of your host country. Here Spanish is spoken very rapidly and the double “L” that I had learned to pronounce is completely different here. It is pronounced like a “J”. For instance, If I were to say ‘Me llamo’ the double “L” would be ‘Me ja-mo.’ This is another hard piece of information to soak in. And everyone here uses vos, instead of tu.
As far as people go here, it is a toss-up. I have been blessed to meet a bunch of really fun, really interesting people, but I can notice cultural barriers within the culture of the United States. Adding those barriers in with the already overwhelming barriers of Argentina makes for a very interesting trip.
Coke is much better here for some strange reason. And alcohol is much stronger. In fact, I learned real quick that you do NOT order a mixed drink here because it is ¾ alcohol and ¼ mixer. But alas, we must all live and learn.
We went to Rodizio Campo this past Thursday. It was so much fun. Though this is where the SUNSCREEN tip would come into play. We swam and laid in the sun, and had the most amazing Asado lunch. May I just say, that this lunch was every guy’s ultimate dream, and even the guys were refusing food by the end of it. This lunch began with an all you can eat salad bar that had ham, eggs, salad, potatoe salad, fruit salad, and everything else that can be formed with potatoes and served cold. Then came the meat. A couple men came around with meat on huge, long knives. They served table side each person who wanted each meat. These meats consisted of: pork, ribs, steak (carne), and chicken (pollo). The food was so overwhelming. On top of all this food was dessert, which was flan, meringue, cooked pears, baked apples, tiramisu, watermelon, honeydew, strawberries, plums, and of course dulce de leche. Let us just say most people were full into the night! This was a lot of fun, and I even got to catch up with a fellow SI member (Chelsea Smith).

First Week

First off, I am happy, safe, tanned, hot, and did I mention happy? IT´S BEEN BEAUTIFUL WEATHER IN THE 80´S EVERY DAY UNTIL TODAY WHEN IT STORMED EARLY, BUT IT ALREADY CLEARED UP AND IT´S IN THE 80´S AGAIN. My house mom is nutty just like Maria in Spain. She even cried at dinner the first night, just like Maria. She´s divorced like Maria, probably the same age, and she´s super sweet. She´s Buddhist and a vegetarian. She´s probably the only vegetarian in BA, since it´s known for all of its meats. But it doesn´t bother me, since aldina´s vegetarian too, and I just eat meat when I eat out instead of eating meat all the time at home too. She´s a good cook, and the food is really similar to the dishes in Spain, except minus all the fried food.She lived in the US in Ft. Lauderdale for 20 years, her daughter lives in Manhattan, but graduated with a degree in economics from UF some years ago. She´s actually coming to visit which should be fun. I´m currently in a internet place where you pay to use their coputers. I´m pretty scared to take my laptop out of my apartment, so I´m paying to use the computers here instead. I´m sure I´ll get more comfortable soon, but as for now, I´ll wait. I just bought some sweet earrings at one of the art fairs in belgrano, my neighborhood. I also picked up some postcards, so get ready, they´ll start coming your way. Since I´ve been here, I´ve taken ridiculously long walks, and I´m a bit sore. I´m happy though, because it means I can eat whatever I want and not have to worry about not getting enough exercise. I went shopping and didn´t buy and clothes... I thought that was impressive. but I´m holding out for handmade boots, and also they handmake designer jeans here too... it´s a HUGE city. I don´t really have a map still, so I end up wandering about a lot, and in addition, I take a lot of public transportation because it´s basically impossible to walk everywhere. At night I always take one of the radio taxis which are supposed to be safer and more reputable, and I always go in a group. I don´t walk by myself after 11, however, I think it´s a whole lot safer than they give it credit, atleast in my neighborhood. I´ve never felt scared. I have a small group of friends, and I´ve met other people, but the core of us have stuck together. Of course, unfortuanately we´re all Americans. There´s one girl I´m fairly close with, Isabel Gottlieb. She´s from Connecticut, and sees Meryl Streep at the grocery store on occasion. She went to boarding school and now she goes to Brown. She´s really smart, and although she´s not really my type of person, I´m sure that we will become better friends over time. Also, there´s another girl from Minnesota, Erika, and she goes to a tiny unversity like Wofford that even costs the same. She´s nice too, however, I´m not so sure about her at times... she sort of reminds me of some of the kids from Salamanca, RED FLAG!! But then there´s this guy that goes to Wabash, an all boys school in Indiana. He has a girl friend, but we get along great. He´s very accepting and happy and sarcastic, and we really click as friends so far. He´s from connecticut too. Then there´s Andrew, the random kid from Atlanta. We get along fairly well, and pick on each other like crazy. He´s more like a lot of my guy friends from home. He´s pretty cool. Then lastly, Blair. I don´t know her too well, but what I do know I like. She´s in a sorority at UT-Austin. She´s super nice, and she´s coming to dinner with me and Isabel in an hour or so. That whole group that I mentioned is already planning to go on a trip to Uraguay not this coming weekend, but the next. This past weekend I went out each night, until about 6 in the morning. One night just talking with friends and then last night to a club. Everyone is really nice. Much friendlier than in Spain. The guys are persistent, but it´s pretty funny. I have been all through out Palermo and Belgrano, and parts of downtown exploring. I had a huge sirloin steak for about seven USD. Not bad... and I´ve eaten pizza twice already, haha. I need to finish up this story, so I will end it with a couple of highly interesting stories of what all has gone wrong so far. To start with on Friday morning, I tried to plug in my computer with what I thought was the correct plug, and still think it is correct, but I was blown backwards with an explosion, and then all of the electricity for the whole apartment went out and I smelled smoke. At that same time, I was running late for orientation, and had to leave my poor house mom alone to figure it out. Then later that day I went to a friends apartment. I needed to use the restroom, and when I went to flush, the toilet died. It wouldn´t flush, and water was leaking out of all of the pipes, and i had no idea what to do... i´m not visiting there again. After that experience, I was told by Dory, my house mom, that she was fussed at by other apartment tenants because I forgot that you had to close the apartment elevator doors behind you... they don´t shut like in the US... but I didn´t think about that.Then, she told me that the large thing lined with a trashbag, was not a trashcan... but her laundry basket... and I´d been throwing my trash into it for two days... what else?? well, Friday night I returned from a bar, and my keys wouldn´t open the door. It was almost 6 at that point, and I couldn´t find my house mom´s number, so I had to wake her by banging on the door, and ringing the doorbell like a mad man. I was ready to give up and sleep on the doormat when she came to my rescue. It turned out that she had forgotten to tell me that the door had to be opened in a special way due to the fact that it sticks and was in need of wd40... and then I was so tired that I woke up the next morning with all of my lights on, and have no memories of even going to sleep... It´s been quite a weekend. I hope all is well there. I´ll write again soon!

Toscana

Last weekend my program took our group on a 3 day weekend to the Tuscan region of Italy. We left at the un-heard of hour of 7:30 AM on Friday morning and made our way to Pienza, which is a little further south of Siena and a three hour drive from Ferrara. The town was one of those classic Tuscan villages that centers around their duomo and has spectacular views of the rolling Tuscan hills and olive trees. A cool thing about this particular city was that we could see the house that Russell Crowe "lived" in when he played in the movie The Gladiator, which is one of my favorites. We also did a wine tasting in Montecino which was very cool.
We stayed in what was called an agroturismo, which is tiny houses all connected in the middle of the Tuscan hills, nowhere close to any city we may have heard of.
On Saturday, we went to Siena where two of my best Wofford friends are studying ad I got to see them!! They even came on one of our tours with us and afterwards I got to meet some of their friends as well. Siena was beautiful and I really enjoyed learning about the Palio, which is their annual horse race, the one Wofford tries to copy with our "Terrio".
Sunday, we visited Monterriggioni, which is a town/village so small that I could see the other side of the city and reach the opposite wall in about 2 minutes, walking. It was very quaint and cute and had some wonderful views. We also visited Pistoia and I enjoyed seeing the duomo in that city, because it had some beautiful art.
We returned in the evening and totally crashed. My host father saw me come in the door and said, "Che destruta!!" Translation: She is destroyed...hahaha
The pictures are of the huge barrells of wine (16,000 bottles worth in each) and me with some of the girls in front of the view from our agroturismo.

Amsterdam

If you have ever tried to coordinate travel plans with 8 people, then you know that it is not a simple task.  Somehow, through long debate and endless online scouring- my 7 best friends in London (and myself) decided when to go to Amsterdam, how to get there, and where to stay.  With all the stress of planning behind us (and an amazing find, which allowed us to stay at a Marriott rather than a hostel), we were ready to explore Amsterdam.  My main goals were to see the Van Gogh Museum, Rembrandt's House, and the flower market.  I was not expecting to find such a gorgeous and peaceful city.  Weather.com predicted rain for the entire weekend, but when we arrived we found it to be sunny and in the  low-60s (a.k.a. perfect weather for walking outside and enjoying a cup of tea along the canals).  The flower markets were in full swing, and I learned that Amsterdam sets the global prices for tulips and other flowers.  Everyone we encountered was more than willing to help us with directions or inquiries- and they all spoke perfect English.  

The picture on the left shows me and three of my friends (from the right: Andrea, Melanie, me, Felicia) enjoying fried dough balls.  They are sort of like beignets, but even better and more doughy (if that's a word).  The stand was right outside of our hotel, and for only 1 Euro, we couldn't resist.

We also tried traditional Dutch Pannoken (pancakes/crepes).... But onto more important things.  The Van Gogh museum had a special exhibit on Van Gogh's depiction of the night- which was a treat for me as an art history major.  They had compiled all of his works depicting the night sky or landscapes at dusk.  The exhibit culminated with "The Starry Night," which was on loan from the MoMA in New York.  It was amazing to see such a complete collection from his oeuvre, and it was way better than I had even imagined.  So, naturally I bought a poster as a souvenir and then had to carry it around with me all day as we continued our adventures (That's me with my loot on the right hand side of the picture overlooking the canal).  

I would love to go back to Amsterdam in the spring time and spend more time outside- the canals are gorgeous and the city makes you want to spend the entire day outdoors just soaking up the culture and clean environment (much cleaner than the U.S., I am sad to say).  

Carnavale!

Last Tuesday was Fat Tuesday or in Italy's case, Carnevale. Here in Italy, Carnevale is a two week event that culminates on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It's like Mardis Gras in New Orleans, except longer. You get a really good idea of what it is by the small part in the movie The Count of Monte Cristo, when Mercedes lets her son Albert go to Carnevale with his friends and he gets kidnapped by the Count's pirate friends.
I decided to be one of the masses flocking to Venice for this huge celebration and had a blast! Masks are a huge part of this celebration and everyone walks around with just a mask or a full-on costume. While I kept it tame with my face mask, there were plenty of others who looked like they'd just stepped out of Louis IX's palace in Versailles.
Our night began early, when we listened to the Beatles cover band playing for everyone in the main square, San Marco. We left and wound our way through the narrow streets and too many people to a corner pizzeria, which may have been the best pizza I've tasted yet. Our fun was dampened a little by some rain, but we found a cool place to celebrate under some archways. All in all, I would say that everyone needs to experience Carnevale at least once in their life. There is no real way to describe the night and I hope my pictures explain it much better than I ever could.
One is of my friend, Antonio's mask because it was way cooler than mine and the other picture of the huge crowd in Piazza di San Marco...it was dark.

I'm leaving on a jet plane... and arriving!

Ok, so the second floor with all the plants. That is my apartment. And I am across the road from La Recoleta, which is where all the famous people, including Eva Peron are buried. Thats right,I am across the road from Evita baby!!!! Look me and my roommate! (Ashley and Jordyn)

Guess what, the Wofford bubble is not as small as I once thought. I arrive at the Charlotte Airport and I meet a girl who is in the same IES program as I was. We started talking, and we found out we were both Juniors and we both attended Wofford. WEIRD! I may need to interject that I am updating this post as I stop in various places in the airport travel! Trust me, doing a minute to minute on this trip would consist of the world’s most boring “priceless” commercial. You know something like: Boarding an earlier flight- $50, buying a new t-shirt because you forgot one in your carry-on $12.99, waiting seven hours for a trip to Buenos Aires- Priceless. Yes, I know my humor is quite dry at times, but it is the honesty of those statements that makes this “priceless” moment so sad for me!

So waiting in an airport is definitely not something I would wish upon anyone. Haha! The weather was really bad in Charlotte, in which I was flying out of, so my family convinced me to change my plane ticket to an earlier flight from Charlotte to Atlanta. This resulted in me getting to sit in Atlanta airport for about seven hours. Yeah, this is a century if you do not have the money to shop at the overly priced shopping areas, and one can only eat so much fast food. It was nice to have a good meal before boarding the plane.