Finally Getting All Caught Up!

Hello everyone! Sorry it took me such a long time to update my blog, but at least I am now, right? Just a heads up, this is going to be a loooong entry so just sit back, relax and let the reading commence!

So where to begin…I guess we will start with Monday, the 4^th!  On Monday my friend Fabri, who lives in Formosa, came to visit Buenos Aires and stayed with our friend Ulises until that Thursday. I didn’t have class until 3 in the afternoon that day so Fabri and Ulises took me out to lunch at a café near to my university.  It was so nice to see Fabri after not having seen him for 4 years! It was also really nice to finally meet the famous Ulises who I had heard so much about!  After lunch they walked me to school and later when I was done with classes the three of us went out to dinner. We went to the most amazing pizza place in the world (there are a lot of Italians in Argentina so pizza here is amazing) and they even had a dessert on the menu called the “Charlotte” so of course I had to try it! It was vanilla ice cream with peanuts on top and the whole thing was smothered in chocolate sauce. It was absolutely delicious and clearly the perfect dessert for me. 

The next night I was invited to dinner at Ulises’ apartment where we ate empañadas and listened to some music.  On Wednesday I was unfortunately not feeling too well and not only missed out on a trip to the zoo with Fabri, but also on tango lessons that I was supposed to have that night. So, sorry everyone, looks like I won’t be able to show you any moves. Thursday we had midterms at school, which went splendidly of course, and that night I left Buenos Aires to go to Formosa with Fabri! The bus ride took about 16 hours I think, but was surprisingly much more comfortable than an airplane ride and even the food was better too!

We finally arrived in Formosa at around noon on Friday and went straight to Fabri’s house.  The weather was perfect- sunny and warm- nothing compared to what I had left behind in Buenos Aires.  Fabri’s sister, brother-in-law and grandma arrived soon after we got to his house and joined us and Fabri’s parents for lunch.  Everyone was so sweet and made sure to speak very slowly and clearly for me so that I could understand what they were saying to me.  Of course, there were still many times that I could not understand them, but luckily I had Fabri to translate for me when that happened.  After lunch we got cleaned up a bit and then Fabri’s friend Enzo, who I have been dying to meet for so many years, came to join us.

After drinking some mate at Fabri’s house the boys decided to take me on a tour of Formosa which included a trip to the Formosa Museum where I saw a picture of Fabri’s grandpa who was the governor at one time.  Following the tour we returned home for dinner and Enzo taught me some cumbia moves (cumbia is a popular style of dancing here that I much prefer to the dancing that is done in the states).  Finally we called it a night and got some much needed sleep.  The next morning we headed over to the Gorleri’s farm, which was absolutely beautiful.  Activities there included riding horses, holding a baby sheep, learning a new way to eat grapefruit (“pomelo” in Spanish), eating traditional asado (Argentina’s version of barbeque) and learning how to drive stick shift!! Around evening time we headed back to the city and got cleaned up for dinner, which we would have at Fabri’s brother-in-law’s sister’s hotel. I had the most amazing gnocchi followed by a chocolate volcano dessert filled with dulce de leche (Argentina’s version of caramel- it is EVERYWHERE and I mean everywhere).

During dinner it started thunderstorming, which we thought would put a damper on our plans for the rest of the night, but luckily everything worked out and we ended up going out to a disco with Fabri’s friends until about 6 in the morning! It was absolute craziness, but I had such an amazing time with his friends and would like to give them a shout-out for being so kind to me and showing me such a good time! I loved meeting you all!

The next day, Sunday, I unfortunately had to get on the bus back to Buenos Aires and leave Formosa behind.  It was so hard saying goodbye, but I am just so grateful I was even lucky enough to go in the first place. Maybe someday I will be able to go back….

P.S. More to come soon! Sorry it took so long!

KHAKJDHKAB

Ah, sorry everyone! Live has been a bit of whirlwind as of late, but I promise to update my blog tonight or tomorrow! I definitely have a lot to share!

What a Weekend!

¡Buenas noches, amigos!

Ah, I cannot believe I have been in Argentina for over a week now! Time has definitely flown by this week with having class everyday and on top of that CEA, my study abroad program, has had so many activities planned for us! For instance, this weekend we took a trip to the Tigre Delta, which is the world’s 5^th largest delta in the world!  First we took a boat ride through the delta and then afterwards explored a local mercado (market). Some people bought handmade mates and other crafty such things, but my only purchase for the day was a churro dipped in chocolate….mmm, delicious.  It was a long day though and as soon as we got home and ate dinner we pretty much all went to bed.  Today my “Culture and Civilization of Argentina” class had a fieldtrip to the Feria de Mataderos (Slaughterhouse Fair).  Mataderos is the name of the neighborhood in which the fair is located and there used to be a large slaughterhouse located there, hence its name. Now they host a fair every Sunday in which local artisans set up booths and sell their work.  In addition to booths they also have live music, dancing, and even some stands in which you can buy asado, which is basically Argentine barbeque.  The fair is known for representing the gaucho culture, a.k.a. Argentine cowboy culture.  I bought a beautiful, real leather purse for only 100 pesos, which is the equivalence of 25 U.S. dollars! I also bought a mate which I got to watch them inscribe my name in! Overall, it was a wonderful day at the feria!

Stay tuned to my facebook for pictures from this weekend!

The First Week of School!

Hello family and friends! Sorry I haven't updated my blog this week, but school has been keeping me pretty busy.  I started classes this past Monday and my schedule is Mon-Thurs from 12-5:45 pm.  So tomorrow I don't have class, YAY! Anyways, my first class is from 12- 2:30 and is called "Culture and Civilization of Argentina." It is a really interesting class and we are doing a lot of cool field trips for it, too! For instance, we're going to a tango class next week (hopefully I don't embarrass myself too much haha). My other class is from 3:00 until 5:45 and it is called "International Marketing." In addition to our final exam for that class, we also have to come up with our own international marketing plan for a product, but since there are only 3 of us total in the class we get to work on it together. Today we are having class at a local Starbucks and are going to analyze their global market scheme and such- should be fun! This weekend is going to be crazy busy between trips to a leather factory, the Tigre Delta, and a local fair, but I am excited for the opportunity to take lots of pictures! In case I don't update my blog until next week, I hope everyone has a happy 4th! Miss you all!

Sunday at the Tracks

¡Hola amigos! Today we went to the Hipodromo de Palermo, which is a horse race track near our residencia.  I didn’t bet on any races, but unfortunately the people who did bet didn’t win anything. At least it was a nice day though because even though it was cold it was still really sunny.  While we were at the Hiprodromo they were also playing a local soccer game on the televisions inside because the game was a HUGE deal to people here (soccer is like religion to Argentines).  In fact, I got an email from the U.S. Embassy warning me not to go near the stadium where the game would be held because it was pretty much guaranteed that there would be riots.  This is because basically one of the teams, River Plate, needed to win today or they would drop to a lower division league and in the end they tied with the other team and thus dropped down a division.  The fans went crazy and were crying, hopping over the fence onto the field, and throwing things at the team that won.  Security ended up having to spray the fans with a giant water hose to get them to stop, but even that didn’t stop some of the crazier fans.  I haven’t heard anything yet, but there is a high chance that some fans were injured or killed in the riots.  There is even a high risk that some of the losing team’s players will be targeted.  So moral of the story: you don’t mess around when it comes to Argentina fútbol.

Residencia Elditas! My home for the next month!

The First Few Days!

Hello again everyone! Sorry for not writing anything new the past few days...things have just been crazy busy! So, where to start?...I guess I will begin with my airport experience.  I left Cincinnati at about 5:00 pm and had a layover in Atlanta where I met three other kids from my program! On the plane ride down to Buenos Aires I sat next to a man named Franc who was born in Slovenia, but now travels back and forth between San Francisco and Argentina. He was a very nice guy, but he basically told me his whole life story and while it was very interesting, it was also very hard to understand him because he didn’t annunciate anything he said. On top of that, I got really tired and wanted to go to sleep, but how do you tell an old man that you don’t want to listen about his life anymore? Eventually he let me go to sleep, but I probably only got about 10 minutes of sleep just because I could not get comfortable at all. At one point I actually pulled out the tray table in front of me and put my pillow on that! Needless to say it was pretty uncomfortable…Finally the morning came around though and Franc resumed his conversation with me in which he informed me that one of his ex-girlfriend’s last name was Voss and her family was apparently very rich.

Before I knew it though we had landed in Buenos Aires (we landed at 7:30 am, Buenos Aires time) and it was time to go through customs. I was really nervous since it was my first time going through customs, but everything luckily went very smoothly.  After that we collected our luggage (everything was there, thank goodness!) and we met with our program coordinator.  From there we went to the next terminal and waited for the rest of the CEA kids to arrive.  Finally around noon we were transported to our respective dorms and residencias (dorms) and were allowed to get settled in.  That night Elda, who runs the residencia I live in, made us empanadas (a very popular Argentina dish), homemade gnocchi, and for dessert we had bananas with dulce con leche on top.  It was a verrrrrry long day and I have never slept better than I did that night… 

The next day we had orientation and a bus tour of Buenos Aires.  The weather could not have been better that day; it was 60 and sunny, like a perfect fall day back home. During the bus tour we saw most of the city including Plaza de Mayo, the Obelisco, and we stopped at Boca, which is the Italian part of the city and it is full of tons of beautiful, colorful houses. Overall it was the perfect day in Buenos Aires! That night we went out to a local bar, but didn’t stay too long because it was a very cold night and we were all pretty tired.  Today we explored Palermo, the town my residencia is in, and just relaxed in the lounge. So all in all it has been a very busy, but very fun first few days! Sorry this entry is so lengthy, I will be sure to write entries more frequently so that they aren’t as long as this one! Also, I will be posting some pictures soon so keep an eye out for those!

Getting Things Started!

Hello everyone! This is my first time blogging, besides when I had to blog for a Spanish class (not fun), so forgive me if I'm not great at this. As it says in my "About me," I am studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina this summer and in fact, I leave this Wednesday! To say that I am a little bit nervous is a HUGE understatement seeing as it is the first time I have travelled outside of the U.S. besides a trip to Canada when I was 13.  I know I will have a great time while I am there, but until that point I will simply continue to be a bundle of nerves! For now all that I can hope for is that I don't get stuck next to some crazy person on the 12 hour flight down there and that I have no problems getting through customs! I'll be sure to keep you all updated and wish me luck!