All in 1 Day: The Obelisk, Political Banners, and My First Bus Ride

I walked a new way to school this morning, and saw some new things that I didn't know where so close. On the walk to school I passed two schools of UBA (explained later): Economic school and medical school. There were some students outside those buildings even though it is vacation time for them. There was also a park I passed where many dogs had been put. The owners seemed to have staked the leashes to the ground and left the dogs. It was interesting, and I forgot to ask about it at school. Overall, I think I like this walk better than the route I had been taking on previous days.

The most learning I did today was during my Spanish class in the morning. We went over the questionnaire we did for homework last night, and then spoke about each answer in Spanish. After the class, all of the students were given a scavenger hunt. The teachers gave us sheets with some information that we needed to collect from walking to the obelisk and talking to locals on the street. It was very cold and windy, so after going to the obelisk and standing there for a moment, a few of us decided we needed to find a cafe quickly. We found one really close to the main plaza where all of the students were starting the hunt. We sat down, ordered some drinks, and enjoyed the warm environment. Around noon, we needed to return back to the school, so we left and walked the 6 blocks back to La Salle.

Today, for the afternoon, there was an optional trip to a local university for students interested in registering for classes in that university. I had nothing better to do, and the next mandatory session didn't start till 4, so I decided I would just go to the school and explore while the other students registered. This ended up being a great decision.

As a group of about 20, we started walking to the bus stop to pick up the bus to take us to the school of Filosofia y Letras (FILO) in the Univerisdad de Buenos Aires (UBA). This was great since IES paid for all of us to go on the bus, and I was able to take the busses, colectivos, for the first time. The bus was interesting because it was very very crowded. People in the middle of the day must use a lot of public transportation for some reason. The bus ride was about 30 minutes I think, and we got off in a neighborhood called Caballito, literally "little horse". I asked some of the orientation leaders about the area, and they said it was mostly a residential area and that is was mainly middle class. It seemed nice, and as we walked from the main street to the school, we passed some old cobblestone streets that reminded me of Boston.

I was surprised when we got to the school since it looked very grungy from the outside. The other schools of UBA that I had seen on my walk to La Salle were grand buildings with fantastic architecture. This school was covered with posters and other stuff on the outside. Inside the front entrance, it looked much the same with big posters and banners hanging on every inch of wall space possible. The students are still on winter break, and start school in two more weeks. We walked up to the second floor to start. The school is shaped like a big "U" with the main staircase in the middle and three flanks of classroom hallways. While the other students met with the head of the program for exchange students, I wandered around the hallways of the school to see what I could find. I wasn't worried about taking out my camera since we were inside a school, so I was able to take some cool pictures of the political posters and murals on the walls of the school. I thought GW was political active, but this made GW look really apathetic. There are political propaganda posters everywhere in the classrooms, in the hallways, in grafiti on the walls, etc. All the different parties were represented with posters: Socialist, Peronist, Communist, etc. I ventured outside for a little and saw some of the surrounding blocks.

After a while, the group was done so we again started walking back to the bus stop. At this point it was raining in Buenos Aires. It was funny to see the locals miserable since it was sooo cold and raining, and us students just excited to be here. The bus ride home felt very long, and the bus was even more crowded this time around. I realized that it was 3.15 and I had not had lunch yet. When we got back to the school, I went with three new friends for a bite to eat at a close cafe. We enjoyed a long lunch and talked about a lot of things. It ends up that two girls that I ate with go to University of San Diego. I named the only girl I knew that goes there that went to my high school, and it was actually their best friend and one of the girl's roommate. We talked for a while about this mutual friend, since it is such a rare coincidence to actually name someone at a school that the person you are talking to knows.

We left there and I started walking home when I ran into some other IES students on the way. We talked for a little in the street, and then decided to go to another cafe for some drinks and to sit down. I told them about the little cafe next to my apartment that has good draft beer and wi-fi for their laptops. We walked the few blocks to the cafe and sat down. In a little while, another student that lives in the area came and joined us. We sat for a while and talked a lot, and it was nice.

I got back to my home to find that my mother and some of her friends were praying together in the living room. It was really interesting since my mother is a Buddhist. I sat in my room and listened to the hymns as I checked up on my American political news.

Dinner was also really nice. Some pasta and bits of bacon were a nice lighter meal since I had eaten a late lunch. Patricia and I sat alone, since Pepin is still sick and Santiago was with his fiance. Patricia is great to speak to, since she is always so eager to learn about my day. She speaks slower when Im around, and she helps me when I falter with Spanish. She knows a good amount of Enlgish I think, since when I get confused, she can usually either guess what I need to say or translate what I say into Spanish. It is perfect since she never speaks to me in English, but I know that in bad situations, she would understand me.

I am writing this early tonight since I am heading out to the bar in a little for some drink before bedtime. I don't think that I will go out till 6 in the morning like Argentines do in the weekends, but a few drinks at a local bar should be fun.

More to come later. For now, I am going to try and jazz up my blog so it is easier for others to read.

p.s. Check out the link to the right for pictures from my first week in Argentina including the pictures of the political banners I saw at the school today.

Chao!

UPDATE: Last night I met up with Jenny for a drink at a local bar. I had seen this really trendy bar on my way home a few nights ago that was really close to my house, and I wanted to check it out. We got to the bar, and it was surprisingly empty. We sat at a little bar table and ordered a local red wine, which was excellent. We noticed that the booths at the bar had a tap for beer built into the table. I definitely want to go back and sit in those booths.

We enjoyed the bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from the Andes in Mendoza, and it was great. We talked for a while, and it was very pleasant.

We left around 1.30am and I walked her home, since she lives very close and the streets were a little empty. After I dropped her off at her front door, I basically power walked home as fast as I could since I really needed to use the bathroom. I ran upstairs in my building and fuddled with the keys before I made it inside and in the restroom. After relieving myself, I got ready and went to bed very shortly. It was about 2am at this point, and I had had a great night.