Its been too long!

Hi everyone! I'm so sorry I've taken this long to post again. Obviously things have picked up with school so I've been trying to stay on top of that. I'm going to just dive into what I did this weekend and then cover a few other things that I've done this month.

Saturday I went and explored the political center of Buenos Aires. The most recognizable building in that area is Casa Rosada (The Pink House). This building is pretty much equivalent to The White House. The president lived and worked in Casa Rosada until recently, the current president only works there. Oh, and yes! This building really is pink! Its pink because the two main political parties are red and white so the politically safe color is pink. When I got there I wasn't sure if I could go up to the building much less go inside, but after watching some very tourist looking people walk inside I figured I better check it out. So I walked in and found out I could go on a free tour of the place. This year being the Bicentennial year for Argentina there were some special exhibits recognizing important women, scientists, and so forth from Argentina. The inside was very nice, a bit European but probably not as elaborate. I even got to see the presidents' office, basically walked in & then out again, but I did get a snap shot of it.


Afterwards I headed over to the Metropolitan Cathedral which, from the outside, doesn't look like a church I've ever seen. According to Wikipedia it has a Neoclassical facade. The inside seemed like a typical cathedral, but without the stain glass. Also inside the church was General San Martin's Mausoleum.





Afterwards I went to El Cabildo de Buenos Aires which was one of the original government buildings. There wasn't too much inside but there were some cool views and it was a neat building.



Then I walked around Florida Street which is a pedestrian street that has shops and street vendors. Eventually I ran into some other girls that I go to school with and we shopped around. We kept walking by this street that had a big screen w/ tango music playing on the street and I kept wondering if it was apart of the month long Tango Festival. The other girls had to go home so I wondered back to the tango place and it ended up being an event for the festival. Outside there was a big tango lesson going on and inside there were two dance floors taped off in the middle of the room. I was just going to stand around and watch but then an older gentleman asked me to dance and even though I told him I couldn't and didn't know how to do the Tango he said eh and danced with me anyways. It was really funny & fun at the same time he tried teaching me a few steps but I still looked silly out there when all these other women had their tango heels on and were flicking their legs everywhere. But it was an experience I won't forget and I gained a huge appreciation for the music after then. The elder gentleman danced with me for at least 8 songs and then I had to pause to get some water.
When I got back from buying water a Tango music group had started a concert. I stayed and watched the whole thing and it was wonderful. It was a group called Cuarteto La Pua & for a few songs they had a singer, Black Rodriguez Mendez. The quartet was an all guitar group that played tango and milonga music. Afterwards I headed home and even though my feet were killing me from standing and walking around so much, it was a great day!


This was my dance partner:


Today I wasn't planning on doing much but I thought I might take some of my readings for class to a park and read. I headed toward Plaza del Congreso because my guide book said it was a good park. On the way I passed by the Obelisco in Plaza de la Republica and saw there was a gathering of people. Curious, I sat down and watched to figure out what they were doing. Eventually I realized there were a bunch of people dressed like Michael Jackson and even more people had armbands on that said MJ. After I walked around the plaza I saw signs that said Happy Birthday Michael! and Justice for MJ....I took a few seconds to roll my eyes and then tried to decide if I should stick around to see if there would be any imitation dancing or leave. Then they gathered together with this banner and posed for pictures, I had to snap one for myself.



Then I headed down to Plaza del Congreso and found a ton of families and kids and also took some pics of Monumento a los Dos Congresos that honors the congresses of 1810 in BsAs and 1816 in Tucuman that gained Argentine Independence. Behind that fountain/statue is Palacio Del Congreso and is actually modeled after the Capitol building in D.C. I didn't actually stay out there to read because the sun was falling fast. So instead I found a Starbucks and studied for my classes tomorrow. Cheating...I know!




As far as classes go I've already turned a paper in for my Political and Social Change class. I've really enjoyed that class so far and even though I may not like spending time reading but I actually really learning about their politics. Especially because we are starting to learn more about Populism this week. I also have a Spanish quiz tomorrow. But that's about all that's going on here. I'll post some highlight pictures after this post to catch everyone up to speed on this month.

Don't forget to browse through my pictures on Photobucket.

Love you all!
-Amy

A week's worth of blogs.

Wow! Its officially been a week since I last posted a blog. Its also officially been 3 weeks since I arrived in Buenos Aires! Now that I've pretty much figured out my class schedule and that stress has come and gone I'm realizing how much I really love being in Buenos Aires. While I try to convince myself that this new daily routine of living in an apartment, taking the collectivos (buses) and subways everywhere and attempting to speak Spanish is 'normal', its still hard to believe.

Alright, enough reflecting. Last Friday I had to go apply for my visa which was really easy because my study abroad program set everything up, we just had to show up, pay, and sign some stuff. While I was there doing that it started to rain so the day wasn't looking so good for sight seeing. Eventually my roommate and I found some other people that were bored at home and we decided to go to the Museo de Bellas Artes de Buenos Airs. At first we walked around the Argentine art from the 17th and 18th centuries. There was also some Pre-Colonization art that was really interesting, stone masks & carvings, and parts of woven fabrics. The 17th and 18th century art was very obviously influence by the Europeans, as most things are here in Buenos Aires. It was interesting but I still felt like there needed to be more. After that we looked around in the European section and ended up finding very uncharacteristic pieces by artists like Picasso and Manet, and there were several beautiful sculptures by Rodin. After going through the European section we found the newest expo by Antonio Berni. This expo is in honor of the Bicentennial celebration of the Revolución de Mayo. If you have time to look up some of Berni's stuff its very strange but neat at the same time. He uses different mediums and many times uses cloth or paper in his pieces. Below is a picture of one of his pieces that I couldn't take my eyes off of. It is entitled 'Nightmare of the unjust'



Saturday I went on a trip with my study abroad group to El Tigre. El Tigre is a city on the Rio Tigre and is just 30 km outside of Buenos Aires. When we got there we took a boat tour of the city and we saw how the only way to get around is via boat. Everyone was canoeing, kayaking, or rowing by us. It was a pretty neat town, and when we got off the boat tour we went to the Puerto de Frutas where there weren't just fruit but craftsmen that made leather products, furniture, and other typical Argentine items. We then took a bus to a restaurant that is on the water. Here we had submarinos, hot chocolate that you make by adding the chocolate to steamed milk, sandwiches and medialunas. After eating we went out to see the Rio de la Plata which is the largest estuary in the world. At this location we were able to look to our right and see Buenos Aires and then look to our left and see Uruguay. It was a gorgeous day so there were a ton of sailboats out on the water and locals were enjoying the view as well while drinking mate (ma-tEE, not mAte) tea.


This is the restaurant we went to.
And below is a picture of me stirring my submarino.

The view of the river and Buenos Aires in the background.

On Sunday I went again with my study abroad group to the Faria de Mataderos where there again were booths of people selling their crafts. More interesting though was the live music group and the people that were dancing. I'm not sure if this was just a dance there everyone knew or if they were demonstrating the dance.
Here is a pic of the people dancing.


And this is Pepe, the miniature horse.


Whew...still a few more things to talk about!
On Tuesday I didn't have class until 4pm so I went with Maggie to the Rural Exhibition. This was a huge event that was a mix between a state fair, with all the animals, a car exhibition, food vendors, and farm suppliers information. It was HUGE and there was so much to see. We saw all the cows, birds, and horses I would ever want to see. Then we went and sampled a bunch of food. I tried different cheeses, wines, beers, olive oils, honey, dulce de leche, and liquors made from dulce de leche.
Cows being judged.

The Toyota off-road exhibition.


After all that this week was about classes. I've finally decided that the film class in Spanish was a little bit too much for my level so I'm taking classes in English and I'm taking a higher level of Spanish language. I'm really excited about my Global Economics class, while the professor is a bit pompous, we had a really good discussion yesterday and I can continue my high hopes for that class. My other classes are good, but pretty easy. As my schedule stands right now I have 3 classes on Mon. Wed. and one class on Tues. Thurs. at 5:30. so I'll be able to go out and do stuff on Tues Thurs if I like.

This weekend I don't have anything planned but I've gotta find something to do today. Its too pretty of a day to pass up. Next weekend we have Monday off so I'm planning on traveling, I just don't know where to yet.

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Love you all! Leave a comment or send me an e-mail about what you are up to. I love hearing from everyone back home!

-Amy