Ok, so I'm pretty sure my host my thinks I'm absolutely crazy. She can't understand how I can eat grapefruit without coating it in sugar first. Grapefruit is one of my favorite fruits and I eat it like an orange: I peal it and eat it section by section. Every time I take a grapefruit out of the fridge she makes a face and wrinkles her nose.
So, getting past the food....which is fabulous....I think I have empanadas for lunch every other day...when I'm out, they're just so cheap (and fantastic).
This weekend, I went to the 120th Argentine Rural Society's exhibition. A few blocks from where I live, in the middle of this huge city, there is an exhibition of cows, sheep, chickens, pigs, and more. It was great. There's so much tradition behind it. The Argentine Rural Society is made up of all the rich, city folk who own the huge amounts of land that surround the city. They bring their prize winning cattle to the city to display them for the city people. The president of the society is elected during the exhibition and the president of Argentina is expected to attend the innaguration ceremony....this year, Kirchner (pres of Arg) did not attend, which means there could be problems between the government and the people that control the beef.
After the Rural, I walked down my street to the huge bookstore that used to be a theater. They left everything set up, pretty much. You can tell where the stage is and the balconies are all still there. It was really cool, but really overwhelming and hard to pick a book to get.
Saturday night, I went and ate some of that beef. In true Argentine fashion, I had dinner at 10:30 and then went out. The people here go out at 2AM and return at 7AM (I haven't tried that yet).
Sunday, I wondered my neighborhood and went to a few markets. There are three really close to me. Then I did a lot of laundry. Last night, my host mom and I watched this ridiculous game show where each province sends a team to compete. The participants have to wear ridiculous fat suits for 1/2 the games and play musical chairs (where the floor moves). or go through an obstacle course, or they use the other team as targets in certain games. It was rather humerous and completely nuts.
I don't have classes yet this week, but I have a bunch of meetings and I have to sign up for classes later today. I'm going to try to post pictures on this blog, otherwise I might post some on FaceBook.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Buenos Aires first week
20 julio
first off- forget capital letters until i learn how to navigate this south american key board, sorry.
ok, so, i´m here and safe and extremely tired because of all the orientation activities and walking tours and stuff i have to do. buenos aires is huge!!! but i´m already learning how to navigate this crazy city with its 8 million buses (which cost around .25 us and run all the time).
tonight, my host mom made empanadas (yum yum)!!! she´s so adorable and afraid of killing me because of my allergies. she´s really nice and so far i´m really happy with my living situation.
the other kids in copa (the program i´m doing) are really nice. not much else to say...right now we´re constantly tired because we start each day at 10.30 and end at 10.30 ( a little earlier today). like today, we had a written exam in the morning. then tried to buy a cell phone a lunch (major disaster, imagen 90 americans trying to buy phones during the same 1 hour break). i´m going to get the sim card tomr., then we had a general academic orientation, then a 1.5 hour walking tour of la boca (the barrio near the river, where the boca juniors futbol team plays), then security orientation, then figuring out how to get home on the bus. all i can say is thank god i have a fantastic sense of direction and can get around on subways and buses. there are participants who have never taken city buses before. its a problem.
26 Julio
so, i´m sitting around the program office waiting to go to dinner, which won´t be for quite a while...we have to be there at 8.30. orientation is tiring. all we do is go to Spanish classes, meetings, and more meetings. its pretty much over though. the tutors are really nice, except they told us that next week, when we start/register for classes. its going to be all kinds of chaos because we can take classes at 4 different universities. i think i´m going to take a Argentine lit course, a history class, an art history class and the mandatory grammar class. i´m hoping to get tufts credit for all of them.
so, i tried to go shopping today and it was interesting. they have cute spandex capri pants to wear under skirts but i don´t think they would fit anyone from the us. the clothing here is really crazy. they don´t care that Argentines are on the short side, everything is cut for really tall, skinny people. its kind of amusing. although, i did try on some coats today (its winter here, about 16 Celsius, no idea what it is in Fahrenheit). they we´re cut pretty well, except the shape was horrible. i was like hello, i´m not a box.
other than that, my living situation is really great, my host mom is a grandma, her grandchildren are 7 and 17. the 7 year old is so adorable, he is just like every little boy here, loves futbol!!! i have my own room and she makes really good food. she´s somewhat afraid of killing me. its kind of amusing, i keep explaining that milk products will not kill me, just make me kind of sick. we live in the park district, which means that i am lucky to have the botanic gardens right across the street- there are very few parks here.
tonight, i am having dinner with the program director and a bunch of other participants.
first off- forget capital letters until i learn how to navigate this south american key board, sorry.
ok, so, i´m here and safe and extremely tired because of all the orientation activities and walking tours and stuff i have to do. buenos aires is huge!!! but i´m already learning how to navigate this crazy city with its 8 million buses (which cost around .25 us and run all the time).
tonight, my host mom made empanadas (yum yum)!!! she´s so adorable and afraid of killing me because of my allergies. she´s really nice and so far i´m really happy with my living situation.
the other kids in copa (the program i´m doing) are really nice. not much else to say...right now we´re constantly tired because we start each day at 10.30 and end at 10.30 ( a little earlier today). like today, we had a written exam in the morning. then tried to buy a cell phone a lunch (major disaster, imagen 90 americans trying to buy phones during the same 1 hour break). i´m going to get the sim card tomr., then we had a general academic orientation, then a 1.5 hour walking tour of la boca (the barrio near the river, where the boca juniors futbol team plays), then security orientation, then figuring out how to get home on the bus. all i can say is thank god i have a fantastic sense of direction and can get around on subways and buses. there are participants who have never taken city buses before. its a problem.
26 Julio
so, i´m sitting around the program office waiting to go to dinner, which won´t be for quite a while...we have to be there at 8.30. orientation is tiring. all we do is go to Spanish classes, meetings, and more meetings. its pretty much over though. the tutors are really nice, except they told us that next week, when we start/register for classes. its going to be all kinds of chaos because we can take classes at 4 different universities. i think i´m going to take a Argentine lit course, a history class, an art history class and the mandatory grammar class. i´m hoping to get tufts credit for all of them.
so, i tried to go shopping today and it was interesting. they have cute spandex capri pants to wear under skirts but i don´t think they would fit anyone from the us. the clothing here is really crazy. they don´t care that Argentines are on the short side, everything is cut for really tall, skinny people. its kind of amusing. although, i did try on some coats today (its winter here, about 16 Celsius, no idea what it is in Fahrenheit). they we´re cut pretty well, except the shape was horrible. i was like hello, i´m not a box.
other than that, my living situation is really great, my host mom is a grandma, her grandchildren are 7 and 17. the 7 year old is so adorable, he is just like every little boy here, loves futbol!!! i have my own room and she makes really good food. she´s somewhat afraid of killing me. its kind of amusing, i keep explaining that milk products will not kill me, just make me kind of sick. we live in the park district, which means that i am lucky to have the botanic gardens right across the street- there are very few parks here.
tonight, i am having dinner with the program director and a bunch of other participants.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
This is Me
Its almost 2 AM and my roommate and I can't sleep....so I thought, what the hell...no better time to start blogging. This blog is designed so you (presumably my friends) can keep up with my travels. I am Cute R.; not to be confused with Elegant R. (my partner in crime....crime? well if crime is watching Sex and the City all day long....then, yes, thats us).
So, when did my travels begin? I guess that would have to be when I went for my passport in August of 2004. That would be when the horrible picture was take....I wasn't allowed to smile, which means thats I had to stand there....looking sad and all. That was bad and then I couldn't pay for my passport because I had just openned a checking account that day (pre-college preparations...can you tell?) and my checks didn't have my address on them (just got one's that do, a year and a half later).
I didn't use the passport until almost a year after I got it. My first destination: Prizren, Kosovo. Yes, that's right, Kosovo was my first place abroad. Well, I guess you could consider my 45 minutes in London (leaving my friends at the airport with my stuff) my first city outside of the continental US. After a wonderful night in Heathrow, we set off for Milan, but never saw the city, just lots of fields from our changing airports bus ride, and then Skopje, Macedonia. We hung out in Skopje, had a wild night with 7 of us in one room for the night. Next morning, we set out for the bus station and took a 4 hour bus trip to Prizren. (more details to come in a later blog).
Next location of travels: Peru in January 2005. Machu Picchu, Cuzco, Aguas Calientes, and Lima with my friend and her mom. We stayed at her grandma's house in Miraflores, Lima. I worked at an orphanage for 3 days and took very touristy pictures.
Upcoming travels: A week in London in March! I figure that I got a suntan while traveling over winter break which means that I don't have to go anywhere sunny for spring break. Besides, I can't wait to go back to my first city outside the US and I can't wait to see my friend A, who is studying there.
This summer: Argentina!!! Study abroad is going to be great.
So, when did my travels begin? I guess that would have to be when I went for my passport in August of 2004. That would be when the horrible picture was take....I wasn't allowed to smile, which means thats I had to stand there....looking sad and all. That was bad and then I couldn't pay for my passport because I had just openned a checking account that day (pre-college preparations...can you tell?) and my checks didn't have my address on them (just got one's that do, a year and a half later).
I didn't use the passport until almost a year after I got it. My first destination: Prizren, Kosovo. Yes, that's right, Kosovo was my first place abroad. Well, I guess you could consider my 45 minutes in London (leaving my friends at the airport with my stuff) my first city outside of the continental US. After a wonderful night in Heathrow, we set off for Milan, but never saw the city, just lots of fields from our changing airports bus ride, and then Skopje, Macedonia. We hung out in Skopje, had a wild night with 7 of us in one room for the night. Next morning, we set out for the bus station and took a 4 hour bus trip to Prizren. (more details to come in a later blog).
Next location of travels: Peru in January 2005. Machu Picchu, Cuzco, Aguas Calientes, and Lima with my friend and her mom. We stayed at her grandma's house in Miraflores, Lima. I worked at an orphanage for 3 days and took very touristy pictures.
Upcoming travels: A week in London in March! I figure that I got a suntan while traveling over winter break which means that I don't have to go anywhere sunny for spring break. Besides, I can't wait to go back to my first city outside the US and I can't wait to see my friend A, who is studying there.
This summer: Argentina!!! Study abroad is going to be great.
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