Che Boludo

Bueno. This week went by super fast. We had more in depth and interesting orientations, including Argentine political history lessons, individual meetings with an academic advisor, and security briefing from the people at the U.S. embassy. On Tuesday my host brother came with two of my American friends and me to Palermo, which is a short subway ride from my barrio. We walked through the lovely botanical garden there and then visited the Jardin Japones, which I think is the biggest Japanese garden outside of Japan. After that we had a quick lunch at a cafe, where I ate a delicious brie and arugula pizza. Wednesday morning we visited the Universidad Torcuato di Tella, which is one of the most prestigious and expensive private colleges in Argentina. It was nice, but I decided not to take classes there because it is about a 50 min. subway ride / walk away and supposedly is set up very much like colleges in the U.S.

Yesterday all we had planned with the program was a short academic meeting with an advisor, so in the afternoon my friends Ed and Hanna (from Wisconsin) and I went back to Palermo to see the BA Zoo. But first we stopped for lunch at another of my guidebook-recommended restaurants. The Rio Alba was a nice parilla, but a little more expensive than we had anticipated. It is interesting that in Argentina there is a kind of cover charge for cubierto (silverware) and bread that gets added onto the bill at sit down restaurants. Also, you have to buy mineral water if you want water, they don't serve you tap water automatically or even if you ask. Anyway, Ed and I shared this huge rack of shortribs served on a sizzling minigrill. I have never eaten so much meat in my life, but it was delicious. Meat doesn't come with any kind of side here unless you order it, so it's always pretty much straight steak whenever you get it. On the way to the zoo we saw Barney wandering around charging people to take their picture with him (as you can see in the picture..which I did not pay for of course). The zoo was extremely interesting. First of all, you could get way closer to the animals and there was much less fencing in general than in the U.S. Also, feeding the animals was encouraged, with stands to buy general food and little holes in the fences to stick your hand through. The general scene was groups of children throwing food pellets and hitting animals in the head. They also had some interesting cages and set-ups for their "rainforest" building and other themes. There were random kangaroo-like things, cats, birds, and ferrets running around everywhere on the paths as well.

After the zoo I headed home to get ready for the big family dinner we were having. My host mother Claudia invited her other three children and their spouses over to get to know me and eat the summer sausage and wax cow filled with cheese I had brought them as a gift. Her mother was also here, as were the 1 and 4 year old kids of her youngest daughter. Needless to say, it was a lot of people, and I was a little nervous. I really had a great time though, and especially enjoyed trying to talk to the kids, because I was having a very hard time understanding the rapid fire conversation of the rest of the family and keep everyone's names straight. Everyone loved my food, and my host mom made a big show out of explaining it and cutting it up, which was funny. Everyone also wanted to see where I lived in an atlas and talk about various states they had seen in movies. We had crackers, meats, pate, and cheeses with some kind of Argentine beer for an appetizer, and then Claudia brought out homemade empanadas (little pastries filled with meat, onions, egg, etc) that we ate in the living room. On the outside they look exactly like little pasties (Mom).

This morning I successfully took a bus over to Puerto Madero, the fashionable new area along the Rio de la Plata where the Universidad Catolica Argentina is located. We had a little orientation and then signed up for classes manually, filling out forms, flipping through pages and pages of schedules and speaking with faculty advisors for two hours. It was kind of a mess and very stressful. The buildings are absolutely beautiful, very new and modern with outsides that look like brick warehouses along the water. I plan on taking at least 2 classes there, but I'll have to see how the shopping period goes. The education system here is completely different, in that students have to pick a major right when they enter college and then take pre-set classes pertaining to that major the whole time. There are no electives / the concept of liberal arts and literally all the times, days, and teachers are predetermined for them. That makes it a bit hard for international students to enroll. Also, if you take a fourth year poli sci course, for example, that means you'll be with students who've had three entire years of only poli sci, which is a bit intimidating. As much as I'd like to be fully integrated into regular classes with Argentine students, the classes set up specifically for foreigners are starting to look more and more appealing...

This afternoon I've just been resting and packing for my trip to Bariloche tomorrow. I did go for a run in the park I've gone to with Fran, which was really relaxing and interesting as always. I got lost coming home. I also picked up my laundry (at laundromats here you can't do your own laundry, you have to just drop it off and then you pick it up all clean, dry, and folded in these big bags). Very interesting (and nice I guess, if you're not OCD about color separation / not drying certain things, which I am to some extent). My Castellano (what they call Spanish here) is definitely still improving, although there were points during the week when it was just too much and I just had to go away from people and stop talking. I'm getting more used to the weird voseo commands (contame, accent on the a, not cuentame, for those of you who speak Spanish) and learning more slang words everyday (che boludo is a greeting like "hey stupid," but used with friends). Well, thanks for reading, chau.