Yesterday, I climbed a mountain.

HOLA FOLKS!

yesterday, Marina and I decided to do another hike to laguna de los tres, which the guide books described as a pretty lake at Mount Fitz Roy, so I expected , you know, a lake at the foot of mount fitz roy. WRONG !!! WE CLIMBED TO THE FRIGGEN TOP. Or as top as you can go without using ice picks and harnesses. It was four hours there, the last hour being completely vertical. I thought I was going to die, it was probably the hardest thing I have ever done in my whole life. but, it was worth it, when we got to the top, we were surrounded by snow and ice (yeah, thats how high we climbed, to ice, we were little dots at the top of the snowcovered mountains). people were crying on the way up it was so hard. but we kept on trekking and made it! once to the top, we admired the crazy cool mountain peak and frozen lake, ate our rice, lentil and hot dog concoction (we are roughin´it ), took some cool pics, put a rock on top of the rock pyramid that everyone adds to when they make it to the top, caught our breath and were on our way to the 4 hour descent and return to El Chalten. Marina and I were nottttt expecting any hike or climb of that level, and are pretty dang impressed with ourselves. As is everyone else that asks us if we made it or not. The people at the hiking equiptment store were like ´´¿en serio? ¿¿¿llegaron???¨ and the people that work at our hostel had to double check a few times because they didnt believe it either. when we FINALLY made it back to town (limping the last hour or so) we treated ourselves to la waffleria where we got hot chocolate and the best meal of our lives, waffles smothered in fruits and cinnamon and dulce etc etc.



so chea it was a long, fun, rewarding, somewhat miserable day.

today we are taking a break from hiking. times up! peace.

vale la pena

6 minutes left in the locoturio before im charged another $3 pesos so im making this short and sweet. ill elaborate when i ahve more time!

we left BsAs early saturday morning and flew to el calafate, we explored the town and el lago argentina beneath the mountains, it looked liek a picture from a water bottle. yesterday, saturday, we went to el parque nacional glacieres to see el perito moreno, a glacier here is a picture http://www.google.com.ar/imgres?q=glacier+perrito+moreno&um=1&hl=es&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:es-AR:official&biw=1360&bih=604&tbm=isch&tbnid=MRkO0Y0-7i9d2M:&imgrefurl=http://www.happytellus.com/perito-moreno-glacier/argentina/spanish&docid=HbekdcqsJflXlM&imgurl=http://www.happytellus.com/img/perito-moreno-glacier/perito-moreno-glacier_26.jpg&w=500&h=375&ei=b0i4TrmqLcfPgAelh9mlBA&zoom=1 . THAT looked liek a picture from a water bottle. we walked around the park through the marked paths ( it was breathtaking, literally, from lots and lots of stairs) and watched the immense body of ice. i say "watched" because it was like the glacier was alive, moving and making noise. we found one spot where we sat and watched ice break off, it was so cool and so loud. last night we took a 3 hour bus to el chalten, the hiking capitol of argentina. we found a $35 peso hostel (roughly 8 dollars a night) sitting in the tiny mountain town of el chalten.. we met some uruguayans, marina had a heated discussion with them about politics, of which i know/care nothing about so i kept my mouth shut most of the time. it was freeeezing last night, but today it was awesome. we woke up around 10 (the latest i plan to sleep for the rest of the trip), walked 100 yards from our hostel and started hiking. within 20 minutes we were frolicking through the trail singing sound of music, because thats what it looked like around us. huge green mountains with even bigger snowcapped ones behind it. so pretty. i felt like we walked through a bunch of different locations because we walked every type of terrain from gravel, to steep hills, to forests and fields. it was awesome. we ended our hike at laguna torre which is beneath some pretty awesome mountains, here is a link to a picture http://www.guiadecabanias.com/el-chalten/paseos-excursiones/laguna-torre.html .. when we got there we laid in the sun by the lake and rested for about an hour before returning on our hike back to el chalten. tomorrow we are doing an even longer hike, about 10 hours, to el fitz roy. goooogle dat.

ok times up! ill update later. peace peeeepz.

En Serio? Gettin' Saltay in Salta.

Since this past weekend was a long one, we didn’t have classes on Monday because it was a holiday (Feria); we took advantage of it and went on a trip. Seth, Shannon and Sam (The Nebraskans) and I went on an adventure to Jujuy and Salta, which are the most Northwestern provinces of Argentina, bordering Chile and Bolivia and are beautifully set amongst the Andes. Before embarking on the 24hour bus ride, we obviously wanted to drink heavily before in order to pass out on the bus, which we decided to skimp on and get the “semi-cama” option (the cheapest). So, we each got a liter of Quilmes in the bus terminal and before we knew it were on our way. The long bus-ride wasn’t too bad, we brought along three bottles of wine, string to make bracelets, and plenty of (awful) movies were shown.



24 hours later we were in the beautiful pueblo of San Salvador de Jujuy. We literally didn’t plan anything for the trip besides the fact we wanted to go to Jujuy, so we got off, found a hostel in our guide book and hoped there was room. Success! We were welcomed, got our own room with four bunks and a deal for some tours the next couple of days. We ventured out to explore Jujuy that night, went to one restaurant for some empanadas and beer and then onto another for an excessive amount of delicious food. When I say excessive, I mean WAY TOO MUCH FOOD. Sam and I feed off of our mutual food addictions and provoke each other to eat a lot. A lot. We stumbled back to the hostel after dinner, at 90 degree angles, moaning and groaning from discomfort all the way until we found our beds, passed out and got a good night’s sleep before our 7 AM departure for adventure. We woke up, had some breakfast and were on our way in our tour van, it was just us and four other older Argentines from Cordoba. First, we went to see el “cerro de siete colores” (the hill of seven colors) and seven colors did it have. It looked like one of those sand projects you make with all the different colors of sand on top of each other, ya knowww? After that we went to the Salinas grandes, which was awesome. We had to do a lot of driving up windy mountain roads where we thought we were going to die and fall off the cliff, but periodically got out for photo ops and then the mountains opened up into a huge flat plain of white. It was blinding and so weird looking with the mountains surrounding. And yes, I tasted the salt. I love salt. It was great.



After those adventures we headed back to Jujuy to the hostel and decided we wanted to cook dinner. We made basically eggplant parmesan; it was impressive and delicious, along with a lot of wine and a lot of beer. We ended up trying to talk to a group of highschoolers and dancing like fools amongst ourselves after we think their professor told them to stay away from us crazies and just generally were being American Idiots. It was fun.

We eventually passed out and woke up in time for our next big adventure. “we saw Arizona red on Sunday and Monday we were out to see Colorado green”. The tour man took us up more windy mountain roads through this time the plush green Andes. We got out and explored different lakes and spots and eventually ditched him when we found a little river. We basked on the rocks surrounding and in the river like lizards and swam and laid and swam. It was my favorite day in all of my time here in Argentina. Then we tried to hike around the mountains for a bit before realizing they were too steep and not too hikeable, so we found a restaurant, aka a family’s porch and had the most delicious empanadas, humita, and milenesa sandwiches in the fresh air. Best. Day. Ever. Especially since all I had been wanting to do was swim and that we did.

We caught a bus back to the hostel and decided we were done with Jujuy and caught another bus to Salta. Our stay in Salta was short-lived but certainly very fun. The hostel was awesome. And huge. And had a pool. And it served us dinner (WHO DOES THAT?!). We sat at dinner with a few Irish guys who were travelling for a year. They were cool and one had to me Matt Damon’s rugby playing friend. Maybe because Matt Damon always plays Irish people or something idk but it was weird. Then I was sitting at the table and saw my Norwegian friend Kine’s, who I go to school with in BsAs, boyfriend I had met a few times named Lars. He actually was in our room in the hostel. Small world. 15 liters of beer later we were quite the spectacle and making foreign friends from all over. We tried to stay up until the 6 AM breakfast but couldn’t make it. Its funny how we always manage to be quite the spectacle. I think its honestly because we don’t seem to give a hoot about what any other of the people think. And why should we? How many other times will we be where we are doing what we are doing? And when would we ever see these people again? I do not mean this in a cocky way at all, but people always seem to attract to us because we are so obviously having such a good, carefree fun time, and welcome all others to join, it’s the best way to meet a lot of people.

We woke up in time for breakfast but it was all gone, much to our dismay. We decided to explore a little bit of Salta before heading back to the BsAs. When I say little bit I mean we literally walked to the bus station bought our tickets, decided we were tired and had seen enough of the town, and hopped on the bus back to home. This time, we splurged for the “Cama” bus which was really like big comfy lazy boys, that served food. It was much more comfortable and I think I slept the entire time.
The trip was expensive but it was my favorite couple of days so far. I saw the most beautiful and diverse things I have ever seen and hung out with some awesome peeps.

Oh guess what, my lovely friend Katherine lent me her camera for the weekend since mine was stolen a few weeks back. I took literally hundreds of photos. And guess what. It was stolen from my backpack on the trip home. Just my luck. Now I’m down 2 cameras and won’t be able to buy one for myself for my big trip at the end. Bummer. But the trip was so awesome I am trying not to dwell on it and it was definitely worth it.

Today I saw an old man tearing down and ripping off all of the porn shop fliers posted all over bus stops, im talking like hundreds of them. It was cute and reassuring. The other day Katherine and I were on a run and we got catcalled at like normal “ah que linda, Hermosa, mi amor” etc. etc., but then they tacked on that we were really lucky we were together. That was threatening and not reassuring nor cute. This past weekend I went to Tigre(a cute little tourist town on the river) with Emma and Ansley. It was an hour train ride from BsAs, the trip there and back cost about a whopping .75 cents or something like that (big $penda$). When we got there we naturally set out for food and went to this cute rowing club for lunch. It was a beaaautiful day so we sat at a table in the grass and absked in the sunshine and drank some wine and ate some food. Then we caught a big catamaran boat that went down river for about an hour total and checked out the banks of tigre and all the cute river houses that you have to take a boat to get to. It was awesome. After the boat ride we walked around somemore, bought a dozen churros (filled with dulce de leche, of course, I had 6 I think) and headed towards the fair/market and shopped and browsed. I got a headband and a cool ring. Why do I have such an obsession with headbands? It’s a mystery but I just love ‘em. Oh we also went into the ever depressing casino looking for an atm. I think it was the first casino ive ever been in? and it did not spark an interest for gambling for me. Sunday, I went to mass with my roommate, Juliana, who is from Northern Argentina. I was expecting a huge ornately decorated cathedral but it was nothing special (the church itself). It had the bare minimum as far as paintings and color and stuff, it wasn’t very warm. I don’t think they are all like that here though, I have made it a point to find a cathedral and go to a mass there just to see some hard core latin American catholics. I could barely understand the priest though because the PA system was really muffled and he talked super fast, he lectured about how people shop too much for no reason. Monday I went to the National Post Office to pick up my package from my parents (finally! Only took a month). I got there at 1 expecting to be out of there in 20 minutes with a system similar to that of the USPS, boy was I wrong. First, I had to get in line to get a number. Then once I got the number, I had to wait an hour for my number to be called. Mind you, some cute old man gave me an earlier number that he had for some reason so I cut about an hour off there. Then, once called I had to give them my slip and then get another slip with another number and go to a room filled with atleast 200 people and wait for that number to be called. After about an hour it finally was called and I got to go to the back and wait in another line to pick up my package. I finally got out of the post office around 4:30 and proceeded to devour all of the reeses my parents packed, it was definitely worth it. I saw one computer in the whole place, it reminded me that I am in fact in a 2nd world country (I think that’s what this is? Haah) the lack of technology here never seizes to amaze me. This weekend I am going to Salta with Sam, Seth, and Shannon. My friends from Nebraska. Salta is in the North in the Andes mountains and is supposed to be beautiful (“lindisimo”) and HOT! Can’t wait!

spring in my step

OH! I almost forgot to mention. You know how I said that noone wears color here and it was semi depressing because of that? Well thank gawd spring is here. It was WEIRD. Yesterday (the first day of spring "feliz dia") was like a different world. there was color everywhere. and people were smiling. and wearing belly shirts and cool colorful genie pants that I intend to buy when I find the right pair and wear and get made fun of at home. and everyone was in the park, like everyone. It was just a happier, more colorful, warmer place, and I cant wait for it to keep goin'''' because today was like zap back to winter and dark depressing stuff because the weather is bipolar here too just like home. But tomorrow maybe it will be springy again! One can hope.

broken computer broken life

Hihihi. So, the UL UK game went well. We went to this "american sports pub" and I felt like I was in America. Seriously, when I heard random (the minority) speaking Spanish I was like huh? Everyone spoke English and there were tons of TVs playing Football (the American kind)! Except, they freaking wouldn't show the UL UK game. Needless to say, I was angry. They said they had to keep the TV that could show ESPNU on some Floyd Maywhether fight because one of the members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers was coming to watch it there. So I was mad, but also really excited to potentially see one of the RHCP up close and personal. I didn't but thats ok, because instead I met Larry O'Bannon. While I was wearing my UL shirt, we made friends because Louisvillians always do don't they? They next night we went and saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers in person. Best concert EVER! Even if I was super far away and could have used binoculars to see the stage. I didn't care. After a failed attempt at getting our way to el campo, which is like the floor, by a scary mean aggressive argentine, we settled with our balcony seats and certainly enjoyed it. I could have cried, but surprisingly didn't, at how exciting it was. We didn't have class yesterday because it was "feliz primavera" dia y la dia estudiantes, basically a day off for the city to celebrate being students and the first day of spring. Which was BEAUTIFUL! It was almost too hot, we wandered around our favorite park and found a huge concert of first a jazz-jam band type group then a reggae group- it was cool to see it all in Spanish. So all of my lack of work in the school department is about to kick my butt. I have a ton of work to do, including a take home exam that was assigned monday, due this monday, of 7 pages minimum about obscure Argentine historical things (obviously in Spanish) but get this-- SINGLE SPACED. killllmenowkthxbi. so yeah I have that as well as some other tests and papers due next weekend...funstufffff.. its times like these I miss cLuB mOnRoe! or for those of you that dont attend loyno, our prestigious (#5 in the country to be exact) library at Loyola. I also miss all my siiStAz at loyno. shout outs to you guys and goodluck at recruitment- as much as it sucks sometimes, i miss it. yep i MISS IT, and know you all will do superduper. oh also, my dinosaur computer decided to break again. i dont know how. im thinking the maid must have knocked it or something, but its falling apart, which contributed to my panic attack earlier (along with financial aid stuff, thats always a kicker). it won't shut and after dissecting it, hoping I could rig it John Gray status, i determined it is missing a key part that holds it together and is involved in the opening and shutting. So I will just have to keep it open until I can pass the problem along to my good ol' daddio.. (like you all care about my tech. problems, I was just posting it here in hopes that my dad would read this and prepare to fix stuff).. speaking of parents, HI! ID LIKE TO TALK TO YOU GUYS SOME TIME. I feel like our roles are reversed, aren't the parents the ones who are always trying to get ahold of the kids??? okeydokey. enough procrastinating-

Oh, and today I am going to watch the UL UK game with 4 UK fans (ew) at a greengo bar here, wish me luck..

productive worthlessness

so i have concluded that I will never need to do any homework here. ever. i received a 10 on my first paper (the grading scale is 1-10, 10 being the best) and the Argentines say that 10s are Rare, like noone ever gets them, and that an 8 is excellent. And on my first test i got a 7, in a class for regular argentine students. Sometimes i feel so worthless though because all the girls in my residence study all the time and I just dont. but it is because they go to public universities which evidently are far more difficult and demanding than the private ones like the one i go to. also, I think that the American universities or students there are far better at managing their time, who at my school will start studying for a test that they have two weeks ahead of time nonstop? noone. but we still do just as well, and manage to have a good time. AMURICA! so I am going to try to stop feeling so worthless and enjoy my free time while i have it, because i never have this much at Loyno. also, my camera was stolen last week. im devastated. donations welcome for a new one. TOMORROW WE ARE GOING TO SEE THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS. I may be dreaming.. It like my childhood will be coming alive in front of my eyes. I will definitely cry. for sure. I will let you know how it goes!

integration yallllllllllllll

oh, p.s. now that i finally finished the entire series of Californication, (that may have contributed to my lack of steady blogging), i have been hanging out in the common rooms of the dorm alot more trying to catch some spanish convos and meeting some new people. The residence now doesn't seem nearly as bad as I am making my presence known and making an effort to get to know some of the girls, try their authentic food, and in return cook them american breakfasts (nomnomnom). ANywho, the point of this post was to say that I got invited to go play field hockey with some of them on sunday, i am soooo excited..woohoo. that is all more l8a

just living

Hola Pals! Long time no talk, lo siento. Its finally getting warm here so I have been out and about exploring the city a lot more. As I was expecting, Buenos Aires has completely transformed for the better. It is still “winter” until September 21 , it was actually mildly cold since I’ve been here, but the lowest it dropped was probably into the 40s at night. It was always funny to see people bundled up in winter coats, hats, gloves and scarves on the average 50 degree days, it reminded me of a New Orleans winter. A few times when I would walk through the streets with my friends, we would be talking in Spanish (and we all have dark features, we don’t stand out as foreigners) and still be called “gringas” by random bypasses, I could never figure out how they pegged us so easily. Then I realized it was because we were wearing color. During the “winter” there were only seas of neutral colors, and anyone who knows me knows my closet does not consist of these- only the brightest colors. When I would go on a run in this weather I would get the dirtiest, most confused looks. I now realize that los portenos (portenos=BsAs citizens) are fair-weathered friends. Now, the streets and parks are packed with people at all times and I now can understand how everyone is so fit. The past weeks have consisted of lounging in and exploring parks and other barrios of the city. The other day we were invited by some local people in our university to play a “friendly game of futbal”, to drink some mate, and eat some biscuits. I felt like a real live portena! I was on the winning team and may have scored a few goals, but I won’t brag. I have been avoiding los boliches and we have been going to friends houses for dinner and drinks or just to hang out, it has been super awesome and I finally and am enjoying myself. I guess I am a fair-weathered gal as well. last weekend we even went to the house of one of our new friends Agus, it was a FREE STANDING HOUSE! In a neighborhood! It was the first free-standing building ive been in since being here I think. Excuse me, it wasn’t his house it was his pool house. The cutest little thing ever with a pool in the yard right in front of his families actual house. When it is officially warmer they promised we can go swim there whenever and have asadas (bbq’s). My friend Sam from Loyola has finally come and its good to know ive got a fellow loynoer here with me. My computers about to die but now that im actually doing stuff ill start blogging more! Ciao peepz

adventuring

This past weekend we had monday off and a few friends and I decided to take advantage of it. I had been feeling like I was indeed in a huge city, but not necessarily in South America,I was craving nature and adventure to say the least. We were trying to plan a last minute trip to Mendoza or some other far off place but it turned out to be too last minute and expensive, so we opted for an alternative (cheaper) escape from the city.

I was flipping through my guidebook of Argentina for close excursions from BsAs and stumbled upon the gaucho town of San Antonio de Areco (http://www.sanantoniodeareco.com/turismo/index.php). It was said to be the prettiest place in Las Pampas, which is basically a region full of plains which encompass buenos aires etc.. The plan was to visit an Estancia, which is basically a ranch, for a "dia del campo" and to then stay at a hostel.

Our bus left buenos aires bright and early Sunday morning at 7:30, and when I say bus I do not mean any bus i mean the omnibus, they are basically airplanes on land on account of how huge and comfortable they were, our return one was a double decker with semi camas, which are basically fully reclining lazy boys. I was looking forward to the familiar feeling of a road trip, where you are forced to just relax and enjoy the ride, like the days of the camper (RIP).

When we arrived in San Antonio we were sure we were mistaken. We got off at the bus "station" and followed directions to what looked like more nowhere to the center of "town". We were pleasantly surprised to find a nice plaza and town square- which reminded me alot of Paoli, Indiana's. Somehow we forgot to write down the address of the Hostel (oops) and wandered through town hoping to stumble upon some sign of life, however the only life to be found was dogs. It looked like a deserted town run by only dogs- no humans to be found. We eventually ran into a sweet old man who had no idea what hostel (this is when we began to worry a wee bit whether the hostel was an internet scam) we were talking about but just wanted to practice his English. Eventually he pointed us to the tourist center, where we found help and an address and were on our way!

We stopped at the hostel and were greeted by a boy our age who spoke with the most obscure accent I have ever heard. I'm sure all four of us (Ansley, Emma, Katherine and I) gave him the most scared blank stares in return to his rapid mumblings of Spanish. We eventually conveyed that we wanted to stay for the night but just wanted to drop off our stuff as we had a date with the gauchos and were on our way.

We caught a remise (step up from cab) to the estancia La Portenia (http://www.laporteniadeareco.com/). It was no cab, mind you, it was the friendliest man we had encountered so far who didn't hold back any information about the town- our own personal tourguide. We arrived at the estancia and were greeted by name by the woman of the estancia along with way too many empanadas, wine, cold cuts and cheese. We also ran into another group of extranjeros from the same program which was awesome and is funny considering there were plenty of other estancias and we were all trying to escape the city. Post welcoming meal (about 5 empanadas and a few glasses of wine later, its 11 AM) we were treated to a tour of the grounds. Which basically entailed the four of us being way too enthusiastic about anything and everything because we were so excited to just be out in fresh - non bum pee scented and car exhaust free- air. We hung around the back and took way too many ridiculous photos as we laughed and frolicked like joyous children. (I will upload the pictures later).

Post tour we got to go HORSEBACK RIDING!!! Yay, more nature stuff! We were lead by a gaucho and his huge horse. I'm pretty sure my horse and his horse were either in love or competitors because mine was all over his and liked to take the lead, causing me to be a wee bit nervous.

After the horseback ride we went and enjoyed our food comas and basked in the sun in a hammock- all four of us fit comfortably- it was impressive. I was almost asleep when the lunch bell rang and it was time for MORE food- an asada which is like a BBQ. We sat at a table in the sun with the other exchange students and enjoyed more wine, FREE WATER!, sides and salads of all kinds, and unlimited meat- delicious chicken, chorizo and some kind of steak/pork type thing. It was awesome but exhausting eating so much, my stomach was sore the next day and I'm positive it was because of so much food. We then snuck away on a horse drawn carriage ride around the property and when we got back it was time to dance and listen. The gauchos played some authentic songs and guitar and then proceeded to teach the group their traditional dances- i hung back due to extreme food coma.

Then it was time for MORE FOOD! Tea time! And I can't say no to any type of dessert so I stuffed myself yet again. Around 7 we requested a car back to town and headed for the hostel. We were greeted by a table full of 20-30 year olds who were enjoying Mate, the hierba tea type thing that is all the rage (and for good reason) here. They were so friendly and invited us to join and so we did. Three of the group were a band who was traveling for the weekend to play and for pleasure, and the other two their good friends, all from BsAs. We were planning on going out so we went and got some cervezas and continued relaxing and just hanging out in the hostel. The guys who ran the hostel then said they were building a bonfire, which was the happiest news I had heard in a long time, I was embarrassingly excited. So we spent the rest of the night by the campfire making friends and getting sleepy- it was silly to think that after that day full of traveling and eating and drinking wine we would even be able to make it out. The campfire put us to sleep and we were happy as clams.

We woke the next day and just hung out in the hostel for a while, playing crossword puzzles and continuing the banters with our new friends, until we decided we should go explore the city. We got lunch and then headed to the park on the river where our new friends band was playing. On the way back to the hostel we stopped and picked up some dried sausage and cheese from a little artisan shop and enjoyed it back at the hostel with a few more new friends and some horrible Argentine tv. It was an awesome afternoon full of nothing but time and whatever we wanted until we caught our returning bus to BsAs at 8:30.

This weekend was exactly what I needed, just a breath of fresh air. It was good and refreshing- and necessary- to get out of the city and to experience some true argentine campo charm. We will definitely be back to San Antonio de Areco.

SORRRRY!!

hi hi hi holaaa.
i know its been forever and i have heard many complaints since i know my life is so interesting and my blog is so popular..but i have been very busy with school and what not. and honestly not too much has been going on.. but i bet i would blog alot more if i felt people were actually reading it! so if you have anything to say, please comment and it will give me an incentive to write more! shpanx. anywho..the past few weeks have been a blur of boliches, exploring, no school motivation (surprise), fairs, food, wine and poverty (me being la pobrecita).

one thing i have noticed is a plethora of BABIES! of all types, dogs, cats and most importantly, humans, its driving me crazy i just want to go up and steal them all or just ask if i can babysit..but that would be creepy, right?

also, one other trend i cannot seem to understand is the Argentine Mullet. they are EVERYWHERE. let me break it down for you, its similar to the american traditional mullet, business in the front, party in the back, but if you are lucky the back is not only longer than the front but there is a significantly longer dread or two hanging down! so clean looking (sarcasm, can it be sensed via cyberspace?). if you are lucky ill snap some photos to put up here.

I have realized that I am a poor planner resulting in me being so poor here, its really getting annoying not having any means of income (ie. babysitting- for money purposes and to get my children fix, i swear i am NOT a pedophile people)..


This weekend we are going to San Antonia, which is el campo (country) in the Pampas and an hour or two away by train. It is GAUCHOLAND!!! (Argentine Cowboys), where we will ride horses, chill with some gauchos and who knows what else, I will keep you posted and keep the posts coming more frequently!

Ciao

catch up real quick

So I have been slacking on this blog business. First of all, its boring, I am not nearly deep or profound enough to have a blog but it's easier than telling the millions of people who are interested in my life what I've been up to.. I have been really busy exploring, being overwhelmed or being so tired from being so overwhelmed..SHORRY FOLKZ! But here is a quick recap to get you up to speed then I will start blogging regularly, swurr. The first few nights, after an entirely too long orientation or two, my roommate Katherine and I tried to meetup with some of the other international students. Did I mention that Buenos Aires is HUGE? We tried to meet up with them 2 nights in a row at various plazas or landmarks around the city..the first night we were supposed to meet them at plaza del mayo around 10 or so (here you eat dinner around 10 and go out around 12 or 1 or even later...resulting in all my tiredness) we ended up not being able to find the right subte or bus and walked all the way to el centro, which is like the downtown business part (i think?) We were on a very busy, well lit street which was very crowded when all of the sudden about 3 yards in front of me two men pushed down an older man, who started screaming "policia", as did the other people around me in between shrieks, and kicking him. They grabbed his wallet but in the process one of the man's GUN fell out.. I repeat, like 3 yards in front of me. needless to say I ran the opposite way until the bad guys took off. So that was our first night attempting to go out in Buenos Aires. We ended up getting to the plaza too late and missing the group (we didn't have phones yet). So that was a minor bummer. On the way home I actually saw another person get robbed. All in one night! But thankfully I haven't seen anything like that since then. The following night we tried again to meet up with the other international kids but once again got lost and were too late...so we went home, bought two 10 peso bottles of Malbec (thats about $2.50 USD) and it was probably the best wine I have ever had, not that I am a connoisseur (yet) or anything.. It is made in Mendoza, Argentina, where I plan to visit to pursue my goal of becoming that connoisseur. The following night we were finally able to meet up with people! We went to a bar called the Shamrock which turned out to have a disco/club in the basement. We danced in an international circle for a while, or I tried to dance..It was easy to find (the only reason we were able to find them obviously) and conveniently about 4 blocks from our residence.. We will visit again. The next day, Sunday, we went to La Feria Santelmo (http://www.feriadesantelmo.com/) check it out! It was really cool, it is every Sunday in el barrio de Santelmo, it lines a very long brick street full of vendors of crafts and other cool little knicknacks authentic to Argentina. I met a cool old dude from Peru who was selling hand carved flutes and trinkets, he was the cutest, most refreshing face I have seen so far in Argentina. This fair was the first taste of true Argentine culture I have experienced so far. I was beginning to question why I chose Buenos Aires because it is such a huge city, and I am much more keen to outdoor things than city life, but this fair gave me hope! I was beginning to get worried after only seeing so much pavement and city life. I cannot wait to get out and explore more of the indigenous native things. The following day my friend, Max from Germany, gave my roommate and I each a ticket to La Rural, the biggest livestock exhibition in da world yayayuhhh. I felt like I was at the KY state fair, except with little gaucho men (kinda like cowboys) in burray like hats prancing around. Once again it was awesome to see some natural things instead of just the city (do I sound like a hippie? uhoh. really though I never realized how much I appreciated the lushness of KY until coming here). That night (last night) we had plans to go to this "dubstep, indie, electro, house, rap, something something" show at this club which we got free tickets to somehow, with other international students. My roommate Katherine and I were on our way to meet up with our friend Emma from Vermont at her host family's house but on the way Katherine's heel broke.. so we told Emma to go on to the first bar to meet up with the rest of the foreigners before the boliche (club). Katherine and I hopped on a bus to head back to la residencia to get her a different pair of shoes but we ended up accidently getting off way to early in a not so safe neighborhood. Did I mention that both of our phones had just run out of credit/minutes? Lost again. When we got off a group of 4-5 homeless children ages 7-12 bombarded us and started cussing and getting too close for comfort. It was so sad to see/ scary. We walked and walked in the direction of home (we thought) and passed by a bar. When we looked through the window we randomly saw two of the girls we were supposed to meet earlier on! It was the most ironic, lucky thing ever. We had never even discussed going to meet at this bar or this neighborhood, so it was crazy to randomly run into them in the huge city. We ended up just staying there because they informed us we were right next to the club we were supposed to end up to. Katherine took the shoe incident like a champ. We met up with a few other exchange students at that bar and when i went to go for my wallet I realized it wasn't in my purse. I felt so stupid, I was sure one of the homeless children had stolen it, they are renown for their sneakiness in the theft department. I am usually so cautious and paranoid here I didn't know how it happened but I was so angry at myself. My friend Ansley lent me $200 pesos for the night ($50 USD) and was my guardian angel. We made our way to the club where the line looked as if it were a 3 hour wait..It looked like one of those fancy shmancy clubs you would see in LA with people dying to get in. Our German friend just snuck right in the front of the line and we followed, only waiting about 4 minutes..Meanwhile I am shaking in my boots because I hate confrontation and Argentine girls were cussing at us in Spanish.. I thought I was going to get beat up. But we made it in! It was packed. I evidently am not a fan of club etiquette and do not think I will return, unless with a bigger group of people, because the Argentine men are disgusting and grabbed my hair as I walked by shouting Gringa..I still do not understand how they can tell so fast that I am American! I thought I blended in! But yea they are way tpo aggressive and I am not a fan. Where is my bodyguard when I need one(Colyer)? We made the most of the creepy crowd and ended up staying until very late (or early) and had a good time! Initially they were playing dubstep electronic stuff then they moved to 90's-recent American rap that was popular in high school- it was quite entertaining. This morning I looked under my bed and guess what was there? MY WALLET! I am an idiot- but a happy one.

PHEW I think I finally caught up!

The remise dropped me off on the street corner, with all of my suitcases, at school and there was one other student there. His name is Thomas and he is from Germany. He had already been here for a month so he helped me get a taxi and go to my dorm. Thank goodness because I was so lost and literally would not have been able to make it. The city was complete chaos to me (and still is). I dropped my stuff off in my room and Thomas took me around town to some cool places and to get some food. I was pretty jetlagged (even though we are only an hour ahead here) and tired because I barely slept on the plane so I was home pretty early, and met my two roommates who had just arrived as well. One is Katherine, she is from California and the other Katia, from Nicaragua. We had to be up at the crack of dawn for orientation at 8:45. It was an entire day of me struggling to understand what was being said to me in a room full of other foreigners. There are people from everywhere in the world in my program, the majority being France. The US embassy representatives also came and spoke to us with the goal of scaring the crap out of us, they were successful, discussing what to do and not to do etc. etc. That night we went out for pizza with two other girls from the US who have been here for about a month, it was called Amelias pizza and was deliccccous. Pizza is like crack here, along with empanadas, its everywhere.

When I finally landed in Buenos Aires, the plane stopped and we unloaded into buses that drove us to the actual airport terminals, the planes don't connect to the terminals like most do in the US. We then had to wait in customs. forever. I was waiting in the line for about an hour and a half when I finally got to the agent, then he tells me I had to go to the back of the line and go pay some other unmarked booth the tax for coming from the US. Evidently I was the only American of all of the 4 flights that had just landed. After paying, I had to re-wait in the line to go through customs. After about 3 hours in total I was finally through and then went to claim my baggage. Then I had to go through another security line where they put all of my bags through a scanner thingy and I unconsciously took off my shoes and jacket before being screamed at that that wasn't necessary. not in america no mo. Finally I made it through and was released into the craziness that was the airport lobby terminal. I felt like I was in a jungle or something. People were everywhere running and screaming in this foreign language which, mind you, I cannot understand. The accents are so different and people talk so much more fast than the Spanish I have learned. I made my way to the ATM to try to get some money out so I could use the payphones and pay for a cab. But, things were not going my way that day so naturally, the ATM didn't work for me. Then I remembered I had a free trial phone card so I tried to use it and called the number of the university that htey had given me, turns out that the number had changed. At this point I am so exhausted, overwhelmed adn scared that I am on the verge of tears. I had to get to my school by 6 o'clock or I would be homeless for the night, and I was supposed to get in at noon that day but due to the delays and custom lines it was fast approaching 5 o'clock. I finally get through to a different USAL (my school is Universidad del Salvador) and they directed me to the international office. Someone got on the phone speaking entirely too fast especially with all of the noise going on around me in the busy airport. After them trying to relay the address to me like 8 times, I finally got it and scribbled it down (it was a new address too, it was really convenient being informed this when I was already in the airport in this foreign scary country). After getting the address I went to exchange money to pay for a taxi, I know you aren't supposed to exchange money in airports because you don't get as good of a rate but I just wanted to have some money on me. I asked the lady at the exchange counter- in butchered Spanish- the best way to get where I was going and she asked if I felt confident enough to take the bus..I pictured myself on the crowded "colectivo" (bus), with all of my overpacked suitcases and pillow and wanted to cry. So no, I didn't feel confident enough for the bus. Then she said that a taxi would rip me off so she recommended the remises which are like private cars or more safe taxis. I got one and paid a whopping $60 but I didn't care if I had to pay a zillion dollars I just wanted out of the airport as I was obviously the most vulnerable, pathetic, foreign person there. We drove by and through much of the city and I watched in awe. The most fascinating area was what I now think is called el barrio Boca which is like the ghetto. Houses on top of eachother - or shacks rather- made of garbage and random materials leaned against each other with people coming in an out of random holes etc..to be short, I'm not sure if I've ever seen such built up poor neighborhoods- not built up as in well developed but built up as in neverending shacks supporting oneanother on top of each other (literally, they looked dangerously tall).

Tengo freaking miedo. Im sitting at the gate in Santiago, Chile waiting for my third and final flight to Buenos Aires. Thankfully, my nightmares that ive been having for the past week didn’t come true (knock on wood- im not there yet). Besides the last minute frenzy at home misplacing my credit card and having to pump the tire that saba popped last week, all has gone pretty smoothly so far. I was able to get away with packing my unnecessarily large two suitcases- each were 51-52ish pounds but the nice delta ladies let me pass. But I was really stressed when my flight got delayed two hours. It was torture sitting in that airport and the flight to Atlanta knowing I would be cutting my next connecting flight close. Thankfully, I made a friend from Bardstown KY on the first plane who was flying to Santiago as well, to study abroad. So I wasn’t alone in my sprint from the one gate to the next, thank god, otherwise im sure I would have had a near panic attack. We even had time to stop and get food, thank gawd, otherwise who knows if my body would betray me again and I would have fainted. I was sure the whole time that the 10 hour flight would serve dinner but my bardstown friend was not near confident so we stopped anyway. I had two dinners, the food was better than I expected. I sat smack dab in the middle of the middle aisle, the plane was 7 seats wide and huge. They played horrible movies, the only one I recognized was one with Jenifer aniston but I slept through the whole thing thankfully. Then they played this show called American Pickers or something and they were in KY the whole time. Ironic. I felt special/sad/nostalgic. I sat next to a really nice Mexican woman who liked to talk a lot. About everything. Including her sexlife, especially after they started pouring the wine (by the way, Dad, they asked me how old I was when I asked for wine, I thought it didn’t matter on international flights? Or maybe it was just the mean asian gay man not wanting to serve me, nonetheless I took your advice, had a few glasses of wine as a 21 year old and fell asleep). I felt like an adult, it was weird. But she was a good seat companion. To my otherside was a relatively overweight man who left the light on the whole time and I was scared to even attempt to pass by him so I restrained myself from drinking my usual quantity of water, and only got up twice when my neighbors got up (I feel like poop now because of it). It didn’t even seem like 10 hours, I did get up atone point just to walk around because I was getting antsy and my back was killlllllllllllllllling me. Obviously, everything is in Spanish now, even on the last plane everyone was speaking Spanish, its gonna be cool/weird to get used to. I feel like I lost all of my Spanish since last semester and am sure I seem like the dumb, ignorant, American; but whatevs go USA. I’m a bit rusty in the Spanish department thanks to my lazyness and denial all summer but I need to quit being stubborn and at least try to start having some confidence in my speaking. I’ve already been mistaken for a Latina 3 times by different airport attendants when I asked them questions, they are surprised, coo. Now I’m sitting at the gate (I hope it’s the right one? The screen says so but no one is here and we were supposed to board 10 minutes ago according to my ticket…) I cant wait to get on this final plane and finally relax. Then all I have to do is find my way to school, somehow… sounds easier than I think it actually will be though, I’ll figure it out eventually, ill be less stressed since I don’t have a deadline or plane waitinf ro me. I wish I could just go to sleep after thisbut im sure I have lots of orientation stuff to do. Fun.
Ugh my flight got delayed 2.5 hours and the gates move twice, hope this one actually comes.