La Plata

Thursday, I finally went to some classes that I liked. First, I was supposed to go to a class called the history of the US, but I overslept, and the class wound up being cancelled anyway (it might happen this week, we’ll see). Then I went to an art history class, which I really liked, we’re learning about modernismo in Brazil in the 20s. I spent the rest of the day running errands and stuff. At night I went to the History of America I (for which I already know Tufts will give me credit, yay!!), which is a really funny class. The classroom is probably the size of a Carmichael single (aka not big at all) and isn’t square. It’s a bizarre five-sided room, where the chalkboard is on the slanted wall. The professor was very responsive to the foreigners in the class and very helpful. We taught him how to say our names, forget Geylin, he was completely stumped on that one. We’re learning about the introduction of religion in Argentina and the rest of South America. The prof asked if we were all Protestants, because we’re from the US. When he got to me, I explained that I was ½ Jewish ½ Catholic. Even though this isn’t that rare here, he was really surprised.

Friday, I went shopping. I went to a street which has a ton of leather stores, yet none had a bag big enough for me. All the bags were super tiny and the sales people swore they were large. Then, I found the bag I wanted in Polermo Soho, a small neighborhood on the border of/part of my neighborhood (there are a million Polermos, all part of actual Polermo, in which I live). Friday afternoon, I had an Argentine history lesson at COPA. I don’t think I did anything Friday night, generally by the time Friday comes around, all I can do is crash.

Saturday, I went to La Plata, the capital of the Buenos Aires province. It’s a small city about an hour away by bus. It was nice to get out of Buenos Aires and go to a super quiet, small city. I went to the natural history museum and saw the dinosaurs and stuffed animals (gross!). Then I went to the Cathedral which was fabulous because it’s a gothic, European cathedral, but you can go up one of the towers and be above the entire town with a fantastic view. After that, I went to the Disney world of Argentina, called La Republica de los Niños (the republic of the children). Evita built it for working class children to visit, and to brainwash them into becoming Peronistas. It was interesting and they had an international doll museum. The dolls for the US were American girls (Molly, Addy, Josefina, and Felicity), which was really funny.

Sunday, I finally went to Recoleta, which is where the huge cemetery is (Evita is buried there). Her tomb is really anticlimactic, but the rest of the cemetery is really interesting because its all above ground tombs, many of which are really opulently built/decorated. Some look like small churches with towers, statues all over them and all kinds of really expensive marble decorations. I also went to the national library, which is really hard to get into, both physically and figuratively. The building itself is really hard to enter because you have to walk up this humongous, long ramp and go around a corner and then the entrance is this small part (most of the building is 60 feet or so above the entrance and you have to take an elevator to get to it). Then to get in, you can only go to certain floors if you aren’t a resident (I think, I couldn’t really figure it out). I couldn’t’ figure out how you enter to just look at books, because I actually never saw any books inside. However, because the building is so high up, it has a fantastic view and you can actually see the river (my first time, except for the locks near La Boca). Buenos Aires isn’t really designed to view the river.

Monday, I didn’t really do much but go to a café with my friend. I also joined a gym. Its completely a no-frills gym but everyone is really nice. I think I’m the only yanqui there, at least this has been the norm so far (for my grand total of two visits). I used the treadmill, yay!, but I think I was the only female in there who actually worked out. The woman on the treadmill next to me was walking at the pace of a small child, while wearing a jacket and super trendy stretch pants.

Tuesday, I went to class at the UBA and left during the halfway break. The class was about Spanish theater and its influences on Argentine theater, but it was soooo boring and kind of difficult to understand the professors. I’ve also basically decided that I really don’t like literature, so I’m not taking any lit classes at the UBA (they’re all super difficult and the people there are super into literature, we’re talking obsessed with it). Then I went to a café to read for art history and my cell phone was stolen. A man dropped moneda (coins) on the floor, I though accidentally and when I was picking them up, he or the guy at the other table, I’m not sure, took my phone. So, now I have to go buy a phone, which hopefully I’ll get to tomorrow. After that, I went to Pilates and now I’m in a lot of pain because it was a work out.

I've already bought a new cell phone, which cost me about $25 US and is not at all flashy. It was the cheapest phone here, no one would want to steal it.