July 16-17: The last blog

I went to class at 9:30am (July 16), after not getting any sleep. I found out I got a 10 (out of 10) in my class! Our professor also made us chocotorta (only the best dessert EVER). YAY! After class, I went to the store with Nicole to buy mate and two giant containers of dulce de leche to bring home (to of course make chocotorta). I then took a nap from 12:30-6:30pm. I officially decided I'm an idiot for not getting facebook information for the people I met last night, but they live close to the club, so I thought maybe they'd be there again Friday night. We had rice soup and veggies for dinner. I packed and did some organizing, then went to a bar in Plaza Serrano for Nicole's 21st birthday. Around 3am I went to Club Araoz (boliche) again, in hopes of finding the guy I danced with on Thursday night for 3 hours and forgot to get his facebook info (STUPID STUPID STUPID). The taxi driver and I had a fabulous conversation in Spanish, again, about how cold it is outside and me not wearing a jacket. GUESS WHAT BUENOS AIRES, IT'S NOT THAT COLD. I'm kind of sick of instantly standing out as a tourist just because I'm not wrapped up in 5 jackets, scarves, gloves, and borderline snow gear. Anyway, either my 3 hour dance partner wasn't there or I never saw him (MUY TRISTE), but I ended up meeting a group of people from Columbia who were really nice. It's funny how the people from Columbia, Peru, etc, are SO NICE in comparison to some of the other Argentine creepers (this is just a ridiculous generalization, and obviously I've met MANY wonderful Argentine people, but I haven't yet met a creepy person from one of the other Central or South American countries). We hung out and danced until about 6am, then hung out at their apartment until 11am. One of the guys was SHOCKED when he found out I spoke English... guess my Spanish is getting really awesome and I'm really starting to blend in here! It was an awesome way to spend my final evening in Buenos Aires. Spending over 5 hours with someone who knows less than 10 words in English = a significant increase in my level of Spanish fluency. YAY! One of the guys took the subte all the way home with me to make sure I made it safe. After I got home at noon, I took a shower and finished packing (yeah, I'm definitely going to have to check two bags, one of which will probably be over 50 pounds... god damn you heavy dulce de leche in glass containers). I can't believe my one month here is over. NO QUIERO REGRESAR A LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS! NO QUIERO! What a sad sad day. Well this is obviously my last blog... time to finish packing and say my goodbyes. :( See you all in a couple days.

July 15 Day and Night

Got up early and went to class for my FINAL EXAM! It wasn't too horrible. There were definitely a couple I didn't know, but overall it went well. The oral part also wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, and we out out an half hour early. Me, Nicole, and Karen went to get empanadas and ice cream (I've decided since I've already gained at least 5 or 10 pounds here, I might as well eat as much of the fabulous ice cream as possible in my last 3 days). I went back to the school to buy an over the shoulder bag (my replacement for wanting to buy a new backpack) then I went to la calle florida to, of course, buy more stuff. AFTER 4 WEEKS OF SEARCHING, I FINALLY FOUND A SWEATSHIRT! NO WAY. I was fairly sure there wasn't such a thing as a sweatshirt here. I wore my new peacoat today (which is black, wool, and goes down to my knees) and I was surprised how few people looked at me as a tourist! I guess that coat was the key to looking Argentine. haha. I also bought a couple touristy things, another t-shirt (I swear, it's the last one... but they're SO cheap...), and a MATE CUP! I decided mate (the national drink of Argentina) is ridiculously awesome. I had it for the first time yesterday in class. One of my teachers, Vera (who is the best teacher EVER), brought in her mate cup and let everyone drink it for a couple hours in class! I decided I just had to buy a mate cup and yerba mate to bring home. Mate culture is a big thing here. Everyone passes it around, and it's a major part of Argentine culture. After I got home, I started packing (NOOOOOOOOO) which royally sucked. How can a month go by SO FREAKING FAST. Not fair. I've also gone on a ridiculous music downloading spree... it's not my fault the Spanish raeggaeton is impossible to get out of your head! :)We had potato torta (I think) for dinner. Later, I went to the bar with a bunch of friends. However, being a Thursday night, everyone was at Club Araoz (Lost), so Abby and I decided to go there instead. We danced from 3am until now (and it's 6:40am). I met some people from Brasil and Peru! I love boliches! I decided it's not worth sleeping yet, since I have class in 3 hours. All we're doing is getting our exam back and eating chocotorta though! YAY! Then I'll take a nap, finish packing, maybe see some more of the city (but I've basically done all the necessities of things to see and do in Buenos Aires), then go to a boliche one last night before I head home.

July 13-14

July 13- Went to class from 9:30-2:30pm, and then came home and finished my homework. Me, Jacob, and Lewis went to La Boca (the most dangerous, yet incredibly famous Buenos Aires barrio) to visit Boca Juniors Stadium and see all the beautifully colored houses. We were planning on going to a tango show there as well, but none of them were open. Lewis and I took a taxi about 15 minutes away to a different neighborhood and made reservations for a different tango show. We were there really early, so we rode the purple subte (one of the lines I hadn't ridden yet) then went to a bar and got a drink. This was the best drink I've had, ever. It was a mango milkshake with vodka. It really doesn't get any better than that, especially for only 20 pesos. We went to the dinner and tango show at 8:30pm. It cost just over $100 USD including tip, which included unlimited drinks (Lewis drank an entire bottle of wine) and we got to choose an appetizer, main entree, and desert from a list of options. I had a caesar salad, giant steak, and vanilla ice cream with raspberry sauce and kiwis. It was SUPER high class fancy awesomeness, but Lewis and I apparently didn't get the memo that we should probably dress up. We were probably the only people wearing jeans. The tango show started around 10:15pm and went on for at least an hour (see videos and photos on facebook soon). It was a really incredible show. We went back to the same bar following the show, due to incredible vodka milkshakes, and hung out for a while. We made it home around 1:30am then went to bed.

July 14- Today was my last day of class lecture. After class, I spent a couple hours walking up and down Cabildo (the main street in Belgrano) to find a black peacoat (the most ridiculously popular, cute, warm jacket here). I finally found one that was actually less than 500 pesos after about 2 hours of searching. I came home, took a shower, and studied for my final (which is tomorrow). We had delicious meat and rice for dinner.

July 12

Today was COLD. I went to class, then left right after to visit Puerto Madero. This barrio is the safest in all of Buenos Aires, and it's very beautiful (see facebook photos soon). I walked around the entire city for about 2 1/2 hours to see all the parks and ports. I tried to go to the ecological reserve on the river, but it was closed today so I might have to try to make it back there another day. There's nothing much in the way of fancy activities in Puerto Madero, but it was just a fun place to spend the afternoon, despite the intense cold and wind. I got back home around 6pm, then did my homework and spent quite a long time defrosting my hands and ears from the afternoon in the port. We had delicious pasta for dinner. The past few evenings my host family's grandchildren have been over and they are completely precious. I'm fairly sure their Spanish is better than my English. haha. But I'm very glad my Spanish has improved SIGNIFICANTLY. It's a shame I can't stay longer and actually become completely fluent. I'll just have to return someday. My host padre Luciano told me when I come back we're going to visit Ushuaia! But I have to come back in September because that's the best time to see the penguins! It was a good day today. Tomorrow is going to be quite action-packed!

July 11

So much for just a nap. I slept until about 12:30pm (which was only about 5 hours), then got up and went to get some ham and cheese empanadas for "breakfast". I did some homework, then watched part of the Spain vs. Netherlands world cup final game. Michael and I went to get food at a restaurant and finished watching the world cup final. I had a GIANT steak and a coke for 40 pesos (10 USD)... how amazing. I love the cheap and delicious steaks here, though I REALLLLLY miss mexican food. The first thing I'm eating when I get back is a giant plate of enchiladas and chips and salsa! And some peanut butter (you can only buy peanut butter here in chinatown). Spain won the world cup, and it's awesome how excited everyone gets when it's not even Argentina that's playing! I've decided I basically love soccer. After the game was over, we got an alfajor from Havanna, and I bought a couple boxes to bring home for everyone to try (they're dangerously delicious). I also got some raspberry and apple sorbet, then went home and finished my homework, and searched desperately online for the spanish raeggaeton songs that the boliches play... that I can't get out of my head. I also planned out what I'm going to do for my last week here (sad...). It's going to be a very busy week! I have so much to do still in Buenos Aires and a final on Thursday! Tonight we had asado for dinner (grilled meat, lots and lots of meat). Luciano surprised us with limon bols liquor after dinner. yummmmmy. Time to shower and get some sleep.

July 10 day and night

Since nobody wanted to go to the club on Friday night, I decided just to get a good night's rest (for once). I got up fairly early today and went to el Tigre, which is probably one of my absolutely favorite places I've visited. I took the train from near my house to Retiro, then another hour long train ride from Retiro to Tigre. I got there around 11:45am, then walked around to figure out where on earth things were in the city. I did an hour long Parana delta tour, which was way freaking awesome (keep your eyes peeled for a couple facebook videos). Tigre is a city on the Parana River, near the Delta. There are people that live "in" the delta, so the boat took us up all the small channels to see all the houses and motels. After the boat tour, I went to look at the amusement park, used the CLEAN bathrooms in the casino (god it was nice to finally have a very clean bathroom), and then took the Tren de la Costa. I just rode the train to the end, and then on the way back, I got off at THE BEACH. yes. the beach. how beautiful. It was really cool because the train basically followed the coast and I got to see a lot of parts of the outskirts of Tigre and some more indigenous neighborhoods. After I got back from the train, I went to the Puerto de Frutas, perhaps the most giant of all markets. This market went on for many many blocks, and I bought a couple more argentine CDs, since they are SO cheap here. I probably barely touched the tip of the market and was there for a good couple hours. I found a hamburger and hotdog stand near the parana river, and got a GIANT cheeseburger for just over 6 pesos. that's like...... REALLY CHEAP in USD. And this burger was comparable to the biggest burger you could get at red robin or something of the sort. FANTASTIC. I left Tigre around 5pm and made it back to the house around 7pm. I took a 2 hour nap, then we had chicken milanesa for dinner (one of my absolute favorite foods here). A big group of us went out tonight around 12:30am to a bar in Plaza Serrano (Macondo Bar). We hung out there for a little bit, then Karen and I decided to go to a nearby boliche called Tazz Soho. This boliche was WAY awesome. We got a drink when we got in, which was the best drink I've had here by far, and the club had 3 floors. The first floor was the bar, lounge, and pool tables. The second floor was basically the same, and then the third floor was a bar and dance floor. I ended up losing Karen at some point throughout the evening, but I was having a good time dancing and the dance floor was so crowded it was impossible to find her. The club kicked everyone out around 6am, then I tried to get a taxi home. Well apparently the taxis only go on very main roads at 6am, so I started walking towards a main road (which ever way that happened to be). I ran into some people from Buenos Aires who I recognized as being friends with one of the guys I danced with in the club. They started talking to me and I walked with them to the main road, and one of the guys also got me a taxi. How awesome of them. They were super super nice people and I'm really glad I ran into them. The taxi driver and I had a nice conversation on the way home. We talked about the weather, since he was shocked I was only wearing a t-shirt, and then about school, and the United States. He said I speak very good Spanish. YAY YAY YAY! What a fantastic evening. I love Buenos Aires. It's now 7:15am. Time for... a nap?

July 9

Today, I got up around 12:30pm and had some "breakfast". I took the bus to the Feria de Matederos (a giant market) and a bought a couple leather items for people. I walked around and looked at all the vendors, and had a GIANT... and I mean GIANT, piece of cake for 8 pesos. 8 PESOS! That's just over 2 USD... WOW WOW WOW. I took a picture of it, and some guy started laughing at me... and I literally had to explain to this guy in Spanish how freaking awesome a monster 8 peso cake is. A picture of my massive piece of cake will eventually show up on facebook. It was basically like one of those specialty giant chocolate caramel cakes you see in a really expensive restaurant... but bigger... and much cheaper. haha. and instead of caramel, it had dulce de leche. People here put dulce de leche on everything. Anyway, I asked someone for information on which bus would take me from the market to Plaza Italia. They told me bus 55 and where to catch it. Well, lucky me, I caught bus 55.... IN THE WRONG DIRECTION. So I get on this bus that takes me to the near freaking edge of town where I'm pretty sure we weren't even in the city anymore... great huh. So the bus reaches the end of it's route... and we definitely didn't pass Plaza Italia. Soooooo.... yeah.... I caught the bus going the other direction... and literally had to ride it for a good hour and a half to get back to Plaza Italia to take the subte home... I had no clue where I had ended up... thank god for having a nice bus driver (which seems to be quite rare) to tell me where I was going... but it was an adventure nonetheless. And I got to see many parts of town I had never seen! And all of this was about... ehhhh.... 4 pesos. YAY. 1 USD to ride the bus for an entire afternoon. I literally spent so much time on a bus I didn't even get lunch. So by the time dinner rolled around at 9pm, I think I ate a good 1/2 or 3/4 of a pizza. I still have yet to understand WHY there is a green olive on every slice of pizza... I was planning to go out to a boliche tonight, since we couldn't get into one last night... but nobody wants to go. GRRRR. And I'm definitely not going to one of those places alone. That's a recipe for disaster. Hopefully someone will change their mind in the next hour or so. For now, homework.

July 8

Got up and went to class. Took an exam on the subjunctive and command verb tenses. and got a 10! sweet! Then, I took a half a day off and took the subte to the Fundacion Instituto Leloir (Todd's friend Guille works there in a lab). I got there WAY earlier than I was expecting, so I just walked around the looked at the naval hospital and other buildings, it was a hospital/research type of area. I went to meet Guille around 12:15pm then we went and looked around his lab a bit. I went with him and his lab group to get food, and then we all watched a seminar. The guy who spoke did his powerpoint slides in English, and spoke in Spanish. I was surprised how much I could actually follow, even with out the slides. Science terms in Spanish are really quite similar to English, and some terms don't even change at all. After the seminar, we went back to the lab and talked for a couple hours about my research, grad school, the education system in Argentina vs. the states, and he also talked me through a couple research papers his students wrote and presented. I also got to hear about their current work and see some in situ hybridizations. After I left the lab, I went to a nearby science museum for an hour, then went home. After dinner, a few of us went to a bar in Plaza Serrano, then met up with some of the people we met at a house party the first night here. We tried to go to a couple boliches, but with July 9th being a holiday, the clubs were so packed we couldn't even get in at all. I was going to the bathroom and this girl slammed the door open and hit my head so hard, that now there's a giant lump. Yeah. How nice of her. Stupid drunk girls. Instead, we went over and hung out at their apartment until 6am (if you want the details about this fabulous experience, ask me haha). Had a ridiculous time trying to get a taxi home. It was quite a fun evening. I slept until about noon on the 9th... time to get ready for my day and visit some other part of town.

July 6-July 7

July 6- After what seemed like the longest day of class ever (not like 5 hours isn't long to begin with), I went to the Chacarita Cemetery. This place is quite similar to the Recoleta Cemetery (if you read about or saw my photos of that place). Chacarita had all the giant house-sized above-ground "gravestones" just like Recoleta, but here, you could go underground to see all the crypts and tombs. It was basically rows and rows of post office box looking tombs. Talk about WEIRD. And the place was empty. On the walk home, I got a 1/4 kilo of ice cream (... but the ice cream is just SO GOOD here... it's impossible to stop eating...) and took the subte to Pueyrredon. I went to the Museo de Bellas Artes (for not very long... so boring...) then ended up walking all the way to Plaza Italia (which I must say, is a much longer walk than I was expecting... it took a good couple hours... in the dark). I went through a beautiful park though, so I plan to go back there sometime in the daylight. I did my homework, and then we had empanadas for dinner.

July 7- Class was so much better today (we have a not so good prof Mon and Tues, then a really great prof Wed-Fri). After class, I took the bus to MALBA (museo de arte latinoamericano de buenos aires) and got in for free (Wed is free with student ID)... and I'm SO GLAD it was free... my god I hate museums... I just feel like it's necessary to visit the famous ones. This one was odd. Lots and lots of nude photos... Argentina is definitely a lot more... accepting... than the United States. Nude photos everywhere and playboy style magazines sitting out for everyone to see on the street corners. Weird. Anyway. Now, I am done with museums. After that, I went to nearby mall and bought a few CDs by Argentine artists and a book in spanish called "diccionario de la ciencia" or science dictionary. hahahaha. yes. I would, I know. :) I also had fabulous white chocolate ice cream and stood in awe of the giant crowd that literally formed in the middle of the mall to watch the Spain vs. Germany world cup semifinal. A TV store put a giant TV out near the entrance of their store and everyone just crammed around to watch it. WOW. I walked around some more near the area I walked around yesterday, took some photos of the Galileo Planetarium (it was closed by the time I got there), and FINALLY found the paseo de rosedal (which was also closed by the time I got there). But at least now I know where everything is near the 3 de febrero park so I can go there another day right after class. Did my homework... ripped CDs onto my computer... uploaded facebook videos... dinner... shower... bed.

p.s. In addition to putting up all my Iguazu photos on facebook, I've also uploaded two videos to from when I watched an Argentina World Cup game in the Plaza de San Martin, as well as 3 videos I took at Iguazu Falls (since the pictures don't nearly do justice). Enjoy!

July 1-July 5

July 1- We left around 6pm for the bus station. Our bus was from 7:40-11:30am ish. talk about a longggggg bus ride. it was nice though, because the buses here are "coche cama" .. which is basically like airplane first class. the seats turn into beds. we got dinner, breakfast, drinks, etc, which was quite awesome.

July 2- we arrived around 11:30am in Puerto Iguazu then went to our hostel. The hostel was really nice, with computers, pool, ping pong, etc. We ended up in a 6 person shared room with a bathroom, but it was HOT with no air conditioning (puerto iguazu is on the border of brasil, argentina, and paraguay... so it is like the rainforest, and very humid). We got settled, then went to get lunch and explore the (tiny) town of Puerto Iguazu. I personally really liked the town. It reminded me a lot of the small quaint towns in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, where the people are really friendly and you don't have to worry about being hit by a bus. We had dinner and watched the Uruguay vs. Ghana soccer game (YAY URUGUAY!). We walked to Tres Fronteras in the dark (with no clue where we were going), and eventually found it. This is where you can stand on the Argentina side, and see Brasil and Paraguay (the three countries are separated by a river, and at tres fronteras each country has a statue with their flag colors on it). We also went to a market... of olives. Not kidding. I've never seen so many olives in my entire life (see facebook photos). They eat olives on everything here, especially pizza (but they are the green ones, which I personally am not a fan of).

July 3- We got up early and went on a full day excursion to the Argentine side of IGUAZU FALLS. Going with a tour guide was basically pointless... he only slowed us down, but that's ok. Basically, this place was the most incredible, beautiful, fantastic place EVER. If you don't have facebook, now is the time to make one to look at my photos. It is impossible to describe the falls in words. While at the national park, we watched the Argentina vs. Germany game (where, as you might know, Argentina got slaughtered 4-0)... and I'm fairly certain people actually started crying. Yes. soccer is that important here. That afternoon, there was an optional excursion where you could go on a boat on the river and under one of the waterfalls. I opted not to do it, since it was basically paying 100 pesos to get wet... and I'm glad I didn't since apparently it wasn't really worth it. I, of course, spent my money more wisely in the gift shop (haha... hey... i bought shirts for my whole family)... anyway. what an incredible day. BEAUTIFUL park. I strongly encourage everybody to make it a point to visit this place someday. After we got back from the park, we went to Tres Fronteras again to see it in the daylight. So cool. We were basically standing on the border of the three countries (if I had more time, i could have traveled into paraguay, but the ferry didn't run on Sunday... and I tried to get my visa for Brasil friday when I got there but of course the consulate was closed AGAIN because of the soccer game). We went to the same restaurant we went to to watch the game on Friday. We got delicious beef, veggie, rice meals... and I had 3 daquiris... all of which cost less than 20 USD. how freaking awesome is that. Also, the waiter must have thought I was cute because he put a slice of peach in the shape of a heart on my peach daquiris. haha. In general, the people in Puerto Iguazu are more similar to the people I met in Costa Rica. It's a smaller town, the people are more indigenous... and everyone is SO NICE. I love it. so much fun.

July 4- We got up a little late, and hung around the hostel in the morning. We went into town, had some lunch, and packed up our stuff. We caught the bus around 3pm... yay for another 18 hour bus ride. I wish we would have had more time to either go into Paraguay, or see the Brasil side of the falls.

July 5- Our bus got back around 8:45 this morning... there was a lot of traffic coming into Buenos Aires. I was about 20 min late to class, but no biggie. I'm exhausted. Sleeping on buses is just not a viable alternative to a real bed. Today, I'm just going to unpack and catch up on some sleep.

YAY for a great trip. I took a bajillion photos... see facebook. and I'm really not kidding. If you don't have facebook, you need to make one to see these photos. :)

June 30 and July 1

Well. I got sick. FANTASTIC. Sore throat and stuffy nose... YUCK. Yesterday, I gave a presentation in class, then went to look at the medical school after class. I took a couple pictures, but it was a super sketchy part of town (which I didn't know before going there alone) so I got back on the subte and went home. Last night, our group did a tango lesson, which was a slight epic disaster. That dance, while some people can make it look pretty and elegant, is definitely not the dance for me... it's off beat and I kept tripping over myself because I was trying to dance on the beat but my partner was dancing tango how it's supposed to be danced... ugh. Never again haha. But at least I tried it. I braved the pharmacy in Spanish last night, which was an interesting experience... trying to get cold and throat medicine using a variety of Spanish words and charades. A group of us went to dinner (at like 10:30pm) and the waiters were laughing at our attempts to use Argentine gestures (for instance, there's a gesture to get your check, say "I don't know", say "f*** you", etc etc).

At least my throat feels better today... now it's just a stuffy nose, which isn't too horrible to deal with. I got a 9 on my test in Spanish today (they grade on a scale of 1-10 and 4 is passing). Now I'm packing because Michael and I are going to IGUAZU tonight!! We are leaving in a couple hours, and it's an 18 hour bus ride. At least they give us dinner, breakfast, wine, movies, etc etc etc. Hopefully I'll sleep a ton and feel better tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be 75-80 degrees F in Iguazu which will be very nice. Stay tuned for a blog when I get back about Iguazu and a ton of pictures on facebook!