Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Picture Updates
Check out the new album with random pics from Buenos Aires. And check the Iguazu trip picture album for some more pics I got from other people's cameras.
Friday, Sat, and Sunday - What a weekend!
Friday was a really busy day for me. After class in the morning, I booked my spring break to Brasil with the travel agent with a bunch of my friends. I am really excited to spend some time on a Brasilian beach! Anyways, after booking the tickets, we had to go to the Brazilian consulate to get tourist visas since we are American. Because we require Brazilians to get visas to visit the States, they do the same to us for equality. After that I had lunch with Kate and Elise.
After a long afternoon of errands and a great nap, it was already nighttime, and I was helping my host family get ready for a party at the apartment. My host father's birthday was a few weeks ago, but the entire family was coming in to celebrate now. I helped set up some tables and cups, and they were expecting around 40 people. It ended being a great time, both a learning experience for me and also a fun time. It amazes me how different this country is to the USA, but how similar people are. A family is a family, and it doesn't matter where they are from or what language they speak, they are still the same basic human build. During the course of the night, three groups formed: the men, the women, and all the little kids. I was able to sit with the men and try to understand the conversation and add my two sense in when I was able to speak. The conversation ranged from sports to the best butchers in BA to buy meat. My host family has a parrilla (classic Argentine grill) built into their house, similar to a fireplace grill. They had bought some chorizo and lomo, two Argentine cuts of meat and made little sandwiches with a baguette they had me run out and get fresh. The food was great, and it was complimented very nicely with some really nice red wine that kept flowing all night. After dinner the ice cream and cake were served, and the adults started pouring the champagne. Happy birthday song and another round of champagne followed before the night was over.
After the family party I left and met up with friends at Milion, our local favorite bar. Later in the night, we met up with another group of kids on our program at a club called La Francia. This club was all portenos, and the bouncer was confused how us Americans even heard of the place. It ended up being great inside. The music was fun, the place was rocking, and the beers were only 2 pesos (60 cents)! Amazing deal.
Saturday I slept in for a while and then spent the rest of the day relaxing, reading my book, watching videos online, and just hanging out in my house. After a nice lunch that I made myself I watched some US Open and even watched half of Rocky since it was on TV. I met up with a few friends for dinner at a local steakhouse, and enjoyed some great food and nice wine. We later did a little barhopping in Plaza Serrano, and then I ended up in a little neighborhood in Palermo called Las Canitas. I met up with Nell and a few of her friends, and spent the rest of my night there. We all shared a cab home after a fun night.
After two party nights up past 5am, I was exhausted and slept in very late Sunday morning. Later in the afternoon I met up with Nell and Nick and we went to a free music festival in Palermo that they had heard off. It ended up being a great free concert by a good reggae band. On my way back I met up with Kate, Alex, and Elise at an Italian restaurant near my house and had a long nice meal to end the weekend.
This weekend was a lot of fun and combined a lot of down-rest time with fun-party time. A great success!
After a long afternoon of errands and a great nap, it was already nighttime, and I was helping my host family get ready for a party at the apartment. My host father's birthday was a few weeks ago, but the entire family was coming in to celebrate now. I helped set up some tables and cups, and they were expecting around 40 people. It ended being a great time, both a learning experience for me and also a fun time. It amazes me how different this country is to the USA, but how similar people are. A family is a family, and it doesn't matter where they are from or what language they speak, they are still the same basic human build. During the course of the night, three groups formed: the men, the women, and all the little kids. I was able to sit with the men and try to understand the conversation and add my two sense in when I was able to speak. The conversation ranged from sports to the best butchers in BA to buy meat. My host family has a parrilla (classic Argentine grill) built into their house, similar to a fireplace grill. They had bought some chorizo and lomo, two Argentine cuts of meat and made little sandwiches with a baguette they had me run out and get fresh. The food was great, and it was complimented very nicely with some really nice red wine that kept flowing all night. After dinner the ice cream and cake were served, and the adults started pouring the champagne. Happy birthday song and another round of champagne followed before the night was over.
After the family party I left and met up with friends at Milion, our local favorite bar. Later in the night, we met up with another group of kids on our program at a club called La Francia. This club was all portenos, and the bouncer was confused how us Americans even heard of the place. It ended up being great inside. The music was fun, the place was rocking, and the beers were only 2 pesos (60 cents)! Amazing deal.
Saturday I slept in for a while and then spent the rest of the day relaxing, reading my book, watching videos online, and just hanging out in my house. After a nice lunch that I made myself I watched some US Open and even watched half of Rocky since it was on TV. I met up with a few friends for dinner at a local steakhouse, and enjoyed some great food and nice wine. We later did a little barhopping in Plaza Serrano, and then I ended up in a little neighborhood in Palermo called Las Canitas. I met up with Nell and a few of her friends, and spent the rest of my night there. We all shared a cab home after a fun night.
After two party nights up past 5am, I was exhausted and slept in very late Sunday morning. Later in the afternoon I met up with Nell and Nick and we went to a free music festival in Palermo that they had heard off. It ended up being a great free concert by a good reggae band. On my way back I met up with Kate, Alex, and Elise at an Italian restaurant near my house and had a long nice meal to end the weekend.
This weekend was a lot of fun and combined a lot of down-rest time with fun-party time. A great success!
Monday, September 3, 2007
Wed - Thurs = Relaxing and Reading
The end of last week went by without any giant happenings. I was able to finish my book, which was the first book I started in Buenos Aires. That is always a great feeling of success, but it always leaves me a void and I find myself looking for my next book very soon. I finished my book and started the next one within 24 hours. I have spent a lot of time reading my book, reading about the news in America, and browsing the internet.
Thursday I spent a long amount of time browsing different political blogs. Although I know they have a large influence and I read about them a lot, I had never really considered myself active or that knowledgeable. That all changed Thursday, when I did a lot of research and browsed many of the blogs that are more popular and get quoted regularly. After spending a few hours diving into the political blog world, I came out on the other side feeling more informed and definitely having formed preferences for certain cites. My interest in the presidential politics of 08 is getting bigger and bigger every day, even thought the election itself is over a year away. I am also finding myself more interested in the competitive house, senate, and governor races that are being held in November of 2008. It is going to be an interesting year, and unlike anything the American public has seen before.
Thursday I spent a long amount of time browsing different political blogs. Although I know they have a large influence and I read about them a lot, I had never really considered myself active or that knowledgeable. That all changed Thursday, when I did a lot of research and browsed many of the blogs that are more popular and get quoted regularly. After spending a few hours diving into the political blog world, I came out on the other side feeling more informed and definitely having formed preferences for certain cites. My interest in the presidential politics of 08 is getting bigger and bigger every day, even thought the election itself is over a year away. I am also finding myself more interested in the competitive house, senate, and governor races that are being held in November of 2008. It is going to be an interesting year, and unlike anything the American public has seen before.
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