Oh my! Its back to classes this week! On Sunday I had the realization that I've been in school since January w/ only 4 weeks off. Total! Including spring break! GAH! So needless to say I'm not super pumped that I'm back in school, but hey! I'm in Buenos Aires aren't I?!
Classes actually aren't so bad. My first class was at 10am, Political and Social Change in Latin America. The professor is very Fabio-like w/ the long hair and wearing an ascot! The class seemed interesting enough (if your ears could strain enough to hear our teachers whispered words) he takes a very historical approach to politics so I was a fan almost instantly. My second class on Monday was Argentine Economics. There are two professors for this class, one will teach on Mon. and the other on Wed. The Mon. teacher was very interesting and took me directly back to my Macro Econ Theory class. He seems really interesting but, the other teacher is pretty awful. I'm guessing she's and econ professor as well but she just has us go through these work sheets and then has us talk about them. But she doesn't really give us any substantial information or answer to the question.
My last class on Monday/Wed. is Argentine Cinema and its in Spanish. On the first day it seemed ok, I have some friends in this class as well so that will be good. On Wed. it was a bit more difficult. We had to read a portion of an article with a partner and then present to the class a synopsis of our section. I had a lot of difficulties with this but my partner helped me out a lot thankfully and the presentation was fine. But if I'm going to stay in this class I will have to prepare and read ahead so that I will know what's going on and will be able to speak in class. The majority of the grade in this class is from oral presentations. I think this class would really force me to improve my Spanish which is why I want to continue with it but, I have another week to decide.
My Tuesday/Thursday classes start at 4pm. That's right! Four in the afternoon!! It starts with my Spanish language class. I have a feeling it might be a little easy and I could maybe switch into the next level but we didn't really go over much the first day so I might know after today. Then I have The Latin American Role in a context of Economic Globalization. Its a pretty hard core class with a professor who is also a consulter for the World Bank and the UN. He is very critical of Argentina and very clearly told us that he thinks the Argentine people are where they are today because they didn't work for a better future. He's very much against populism and kinda give the impression that Argentina is just one big mess right now. Because this class is meant to be an upper level econ class he gave us a test to make sure all of the students have taken econ before and understand basic econ concepts. I think my past econ professors might have kicked me if they saw some of the things I couldn't remember but I don't think it will get me kicked out of the class. So needless to say I'm very excited for this class.
Other than school Brittany and I have been trying to find the right gym to join. We tried a yoga class on Monday and looked at some gyms last night. But we haven't decided where to go yet.
I don't have any classes on Friday so after I finish my visa paper work at 7:30am that day I'll have the rest of the day to explore. Then on Saturday I'm going on my first excursion to El Tigre, its a city on the Tigre river. It should be fun, apparently there are a bunch of markets and a boat ride on the river. Its only a day trip so we'll be back on Sunday to get ready for classes and perhaps do some more exploring.
That's all for now!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Recoleta
Hi all!
So to pick up where I left off on Friday, I went with my roommate, Brittany, and Maggie to the Recoleta district. It is a French style about it, from the architecture to the numerous bakeries that were in the area. It is a more ritzy area than Belgrano/Nunez (where I live & go to school) so it was fun to walk around. On Friday we ended up stumbling upon Plaza Intendente Alvear. It was a grassy plaza with some statues, a church, and the famous Recoleta Cemetery. We peeked inside the church on Friday, and of course I forgot my camera again, so I just looked around. We had to make our way back soon after finding that plaza because we had to sign up for classes at 5pm.
Brittany and I got home and signed up for classes. I will be taking a Spanish language course, Argentine Economy, Latin America in the Global Economy, Political and Social Change in Latin America, and (in spanish) Latin American Culture. I will only end up taking one of the last two classes mentioned. I'm not sure how I'll do in an all Spanish speaking class so I'm going to test it out and I have two weeks to decide which class I will drop.
Later that night I met back up with Maggie to have dinner with a friend from the University of Arkansas that has been studying abroad in South America for a while now. We ate in China town and he shared stories about his travels and study abroad experience in Buenos Aires, Chile, Ecuador, and Uruguay. Eventually we headed over to have coffee and flan for dessert and we ended up watching a ridiculous game show, much like Dancing with the Stars but much more risqué. We said chau at the bus stop and headed home.
On Saturday Brittany and I ended up going back to the same Plaza with some other girls from our study abroad group. We had a lot more time to see the church and then we wondered around in the Cemetery. And! I actually remembered to bring my camera so here are a few pictures from yesterday.
This is the Church. Iglesia de Nuestra Senora del Pilar
And here are a few shots from the cemetary.
And this is Eva Peron's tomb
After all that exploring we found a Brewery in the same area and got some food and I split a beer sampler with another girl...she drank the light beers and I worked on the dark ones. After a couple of hours there I was craving something sweet so we got some ice cream, which is huge here even if its winter! When we started to make our way back to the subway we got pretty lost and ended up at the wrong subway station and eventually just took a cab home.
I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do today. Perhaps go shoe shopping for some leather boots?! Or find a museum to hang out in to escape all the wind we've got outside.
Tomorrow I start classes. My first class is at 10 am and considering the buses can take a while I'll probably leave and hour early just to be on the safe side. But this will be all for today's blog, if you want to see all my pictures from Saturday click on this link to find my pictures on Photo Bucket
http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn100/amywallace11/Buenos%20Aires/Recoleta%20Cemetery/
Catch Ya Later!
Amy
So to pick up where I left off on Friday, I went with my roommate, Brittany, and Maggie to the Recoleta district. It is a French style about it, from the architecture to the numerous bakeries that were in the area. It is a more ritzy area than Belgrano/Nunez (where I live & go to school) so it was fun to walk around. On Friday we ended up stumbling upon Plaza Intendente Alvear. It was a grassy plaza with some statues, a church, and the famous Recoleta Cemetery. We peeked inside the church on Friday, and of course I forgot my camera again, so I just looked around. We had to make our way back soon after finding that plaza because we had to sign up for classes at 5pm.
Brittany and I got home and signed up for classes. I will be taking a Spanish language course, Argentine Economy, Latin America in the Global Economy, Political and Social Change in Latin America, and (in spanish) Latin American Culture. I will only end up taking one of the last two classes mentioned. I'm not sure how I'll do in an all Spanish speaking class so I'm going to test it out and I have two weeks to decide which class I will drop.
Later that night I met back up with Maggie to have dinner with a friend from the University of Arkansas that has been studying abroad in South America for a while now. We ate in China town and he shared stories about his travels and study abroad experience in Buenos Aires, Chile, Ecuador, and Uruguay. Eventually we headed over to have coffee and flan for dessert and we ended up watching a ridiculous game show, much like Dancing with the Stars but much more risqué. We said chau at the bus stop and headed home.
On Saturday Brittany and I ended up going back to the same Plaza with some other girls from our study abroad group. We had a lot more time to see the church and then we wondered around in the Cemetery. And! I actually remembered to bring my camera so here are a few pictures from yesterday.
This is the Church. Iglesia de Nuestra Senora del Pilar
And here are a few shots from the cemetary.
And this is Eva Peron's tomb
After all that exploring we found a Brewery in the same area and got some food and I split a beer sampler with another girl...she drank the light beers and I worked on the dark ones. After a couple of hours there I was craving something sweet so we got some ice cream, which is huge here even if its winter! When we started to make our way back to the subway we got pretty lost and ended up at the wrong subway station and eventually just took a cab home.
I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do today. Perhaps go shoe shopping for some leather boots?! Or find a museum to hang out in to escape all the wind we've got outside.
Tomorrow I start classes. My first class is at 10 am and considering the buses can take a while I'll probably leave and hour early just to be on the safe side. But this will be all for today's blog, if you want to see all my pictures from Saturday click on this link to find my pictures on Photo Bucket
http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn100/amywallace11/Buenos%20Aires/Recoleta%20Cemetery/
Catch Ya Later!
Amy
Friday, July 23, 2010
Sunny Days!
Alright, so I didn't experience much of Thursday seeing as I slept until 1pm that afternoon due to dancing the night before. But when I finally got up I got lunch with my roommate and then we had a tango class to go to that evening.
Today is a gorgeous day! So I'm not going to put too much detail into this. But I had to get up super early this morning in order to start the process of getting a student visa. I'm hoping to go do some more exploring and take some pictures today. We're also going to have dinner in China town tonight. So I'll fill you all in tonight or tomorrow some time!
Hasta luego!
Amy
Today is a gorgeous day! So I'm not going to put too much detail into this. But I had to get up super early this morning in order to start the process of getting a student visa. I'm hoping to go do some more exploring and take some pictures today. We're also going to have dinner in China town tonight. So I'll fill you all in tonight or tomorrow some time!
Hasta luego!
Amy
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wednesday - My first day to explore!
Hola Todos!
I decided to go ahead and just do a blog. I know, I know, I know! I said I'd just sent out e-mail updates, but I changed my mind.
Well Buenos Aires has its ups and downs like any big city but so far I've really enjoyed myself! My host mom, Adriana is amazing! She helped me get from place to place the first few days and has cooked some great dinners. She's very patient with my nonsensical Spanish but I've been surprised at how much I understand.
I've finally gotten through all my orientation sessions so today and the rest of the week is free for exploring. I'm really glad I'm doing this study abroad through the ISA organization because they help us with really important stuff like getting a visa and understanding how to be safe in the city.
Well today I took it easy and got up at 9 and ate breakfast at 10. I started getting bored at the apartment considering it was such a beautiful day outside. So I got in touch with a friend, Maggie, and we met up at the University. We ventured out to the Palermo District just to explore. We walked some and then realized we were hungry so we stepped into a pasta/empanada place to get a quick bite. We finally found some interesting stuff going on, the first being Exposition Rural. A Rural Expo complete with a cow competition and everything. Ok well we didn't go in but we did chuckle at the giant signs.
Across the street was the Zoo, which was crazy busy since it was such a nice day. So we skipped that and walked on to find what we thought was a park. It was completely gated so we walked around the block until we found an entrance. Once we got inside we realized there were hundreds of friendly cats inside. TONS of them!!
Eventually we found out that we were in the Botanical Gardens which was designed by a French guy and there were several fountains and statues that were of the Roman-Greco style. It was a perfectly sunny day to be walking around in a garden and I was so glad to be out doing something. After walking through the garden Maggie and I got some coffee to tie us over until dinner (which is at 8 or 9 at the earliest).
One thing I LOVE about eating out here is that you order your food and once you get it you can sit and chat forever. Its very different from the states, no pushing you out the door. Here you have to ask for the check when you are ready.
After some cafe con leche (basically a latte) We headed home on the subway to go eat dinner with our families.
Later that night my roommate and I headed out for a night on the town. We left the apartment at around 1am via taxi (1am being early for BsAs night life) and met up with some other people from my study abroad group. At first we just went out for drinks and then we made our way to a dance club. Oye! This place was insane. The guys here are very upfront with the women and if they like you they will stroll right up to you and tell you so and not just by dancing with you, but by turning you around and talking to you. But remember we were in a club, with loud music, so the talking was more like yelling. It was crazy and got kinda frustrating after awhile because we had to keep chasing off strange men. But eventually we headed home at 5am via taxi again and finally got to sleep at around 5:45 or 6. It was a crazy night, an experience to say the least.
Until another great adventure,
Amy
I decided to go ahead and just do a blog. I know, I know, I know! I said I'd just sent out e-mail updates, but I changed my mind.
Well Buenos Aires has its ups and downs like any big city but so far I've really enjoyed myself! My host mom, Adriana is amazing! She helped me get from place to place the first few days and has cooked some great dinners. She's very patient with my nonsensical Spanish but I've been surprised at how much I understand.
I've finally gotten through all my orientation sessions so today and the rest of the week is free for exploring. I'm really glad I'm doing this study abroad through the ISA organization because they help us with really important stuff like getting a visa and understanding how to be safe in the city.
Well today I took it easy and got up at 9 and ate breakfast at 10. I started getting bored at the apartment considering it was such a beautiful day outside. So I got in touch with a friend, Maggie, and we met up at the University. We ventured out to the Palermo District just to explore. We walked some and then realized we were hungry so we stepped into a pasta/empanada place to get a quick bite. We finally found some interesting stuff going on, the first being Exposition Rural. A Rural Expo complete with a cow competition and everything. Ok well we didn't go in but we did chuckle at the giant signs.
Across the street was the Zoo, which was crazy busy since it was such a nice day. So we skipped that and walked on to find what we thought was a park. It was completely gated so we walked around the block until we found an entrance. Once we got inside we realized there were hundreds of friendly cats inside. TONS of them!!
Eventually we found out that we were in the Botanical Gardens which was designed by a French guy and there were several fountains and statues that were of the Roman-Greco style. It was a perfectly sunny day to be walking around in a garden and I was so glad to be out doing something. After walking through the garden Maggie and I got some coffee to tie us over until dinner (which is at 8 or 9 at the earliest).
One thing I LOVE about eating out here is that you order your food and once you get it you can sit and chat forever. Its very different from the states, no pushing you out the door. Here you have to ask for the check when you are ready.
After some cafe con leche (basically a latte) We headed home on the subway to go eat dinner with our families.
Later that night my roommate and I headed out for a night on the town. We left the apartment at around 1am via taxi (1am being early for BsAs night life) and met up with some other people from my study abroad group. At first we just went out for drinks and then we made our way to a dance club. Oye! This place was insane. The guys here are very upfront with the women and if they like you they will stroll right up to you and tell you so and not just by dancing with you, but by turning you around and talking to you. But remember we were in a club, with loud music, so the talking was more like yelling. It was crazy and got kinda frustrating after awhile because we had to keep chasing off strange men. But eventually we headed home at 5am via taxi again and finally got to sleep at around 5:45 or 6. It was a crazy night, an experience to say the least.
Until another great adventure,
Amy
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