Martes - Part 1 of Placement Exam and Trip to I.U.N.A

Today started off with a placement test for all students in the program. Everyone was given the same test, so it was quite difficult, and the results are going to be a factor into what Spanish class you are going to take. Tomorrow is the oral part of the exam. I thought the exam was fairly difficult, but I think I did a decent job of showing the knowledge that I already have, while also showing what I have left to learn and master, which is a significant amount.

After the test was over, around 10.30, Alex, Kate, and I went out to a cafe for a little break. I had a tea and some toast that was really needed since I did not have any breakfast. Afterwards, we all went to the travel agent to discuss some possibilities for trips around South America and Argentina while I am here. We looked into a few trips and spoke with the travel agent about different options.

Afterwards, we went to a bookstore that specializes in tourist info and travel guides and researched a little bit about the places we had looked into traveling to. I had to leave early since I was going to go with the IES Program to visit the art school in Buenos Aires, I.U.N.A, or Institute of the University of National Art. It took a while to get to the school on the bus, but after 40 minutes on a packed bus we finally arrived. We walked through the very artistic hallways and sat in a classroom while some women talked to us about the school. It is located in La Boca, a very cultural area of Buenos Aires, and the trip was nice. After the info session, the women addressed individual issues. I got on the bus home and felt a little tired. When I got home I needed to just relax and sit around my computer for a little bit. I did some research about the trips we had looked into and checked up on a lot of American political news.

I went and bought another international phone card and tested it, made some calls, and then sat at a cafe and planned out my semester over a cup of tea. I planned out which trips I would take on which days and with whom. I did a lot of planning for the future today. I got home and just vegged out in front of my computer for a while. I watched a lot of videos from The Daily Show and Colbert Report online, and felt up to date with the craziness of American politics.

Dinner was at 9:30pm and Patricia and I enjoyed some mini-meatballs over white rice and leftovers from last nights Roast Beef and roasted vegetables. We talked about my travel plans, my home in the US, and a few other topics. I learned a little about her family's background and what her family does.

After dinner I met up with Pete for a little. We hung out over one drink at a local bar. We had some good conversation, and were both really tired. I got home around 12.30am and now I am updating the blog before I go to bed. Today was definitely productive, but not that exciting. I have the oral exam tomorrow and then most of the day off in the afternoon. This week is going by very fast, and I am excited for classes to start and to get into a normal routine. Buenos Noches!

Lunes - Long Walks and Great Pictures

Today was all about the afternoon. After a quick class in the morning than another traveling activity to the Plaza de Mayo and the museum that is under the Casa Rosada, it was noon and I had no places to be the rest of the day. I eat lunch at a really nice cafe on the corner of the Plaza de Mayo with Elise, Kate, and Alex. We sat for a long time and enjoyed lunch. Our conversation went everywhere, including some crazy college party stories.

After lunch Kate, Alex, and I walked down to Puerto Madero to see the waterside neighborhood we had quickly driven by on our CitiTour on Saturday. We walked alongside UCA, a local university, and other buildings on the water. We came upon the Puente de la Mujer, or bridge of the woman. This elegant white bridge that connects the two sides of the water channels. It is meant to be a piece of art and was crafted to represent the sexy women who dance the tango. We walked on the bridge and I took some pretty cool pictures.

We headed back towards the downtown area and pasted the Communications Secretary's building which was very grand. From there we needed to stop and make copies of Kate's passport, since Kate and Alex had an appointment for their criminal check, a step we all need to take to get student visas. My appointment is for Wednesday. On the walk to the agency, we stopped at the Cafe Tortina, a famous cafe that was decorated very nicely. After a tea and some little cookies it was time to drop them off at the agency. After we found the place, I decided to take a walk down Av 25 de Mayo to the Congressional Building. I had wanted to go there for some time, and this seemed like a perfect afternoon to do so since I had no where else to be.

From where I was it was a good 15-20 minute walk down Av 25 de Mayo, but it was really nice. This area of the city I had not yet explored, so it was a new adventure for me. I finally reached the Palacio de Congresso and took lots of pictures. I walked around the entire building. It is strange for me to be able to get so close to such important pictures after living in DC. The subway station is directly underneath the Congress, and to me that seems very unsafe. The subway station in the Plaza de Mayo was also directly under the Casa Rosada. It is sad that in this terrorist age I must worry about subway stations being close to important government buildings.

After walking around the Congress and enjoying the area, I sat down for a little at a cafe so I could use the bathroom. I read the travel section of the local paper that Patricia had given me last night that was about skiing in the Mendoza mountains. This particular article was about dropping out of helicopter and skiing down uncharted snow. I left this area and decided to walk back down Ave 25 de Mayo until I hit Av 9 de Julio. I wanted to go see what I could about the Teatro Colon, the famous opera house in Buenos Aires. It is under construction now and closed, but they do have tours. I walked around this building and tried to look around. I realized that the big temple in BA was only a block away, so I decided I would go and check it out. I found the beautiful temple and walked up to the security guard outside. I asked him if I could go inside and look around. He asked where I was from. I told him I was from New Jersey, America, and wanted to check out the temple since I was Jewish and interested in coming to services. We said that the temple was only open for tourists to look Tuesdays and Thursdays, and that I would need to bring my passport to get in. I was very surprised, but he said it was for security purposes. I asked when Shabbat services were, and he told me, and reminded me even for services I needed to bring my passport to get in. I think I will go soon, it seems like an interesting place and I think it would be a great experience.

I left the temple and walked to the IES Center. I spoke a little with Sebastain about my weekend and then although I needed to make copies of my passport, I didn't have it on me. I left shortly thereafter and walked to the bus station. The line was ridiculously long, so I figured it would make more sense to walk. I didn't want to walk straight home, so I decided to take a long route down to the southern areas of Recoleta which I had heard were very beautiful. I walked down and passed a few embassies, a few of which I took pictures of since they were so nice looking at night with the lights. This area was known for housing the mansions of the very wealthy at the turn of the century, but most of the mansions have been turned into museums or hotels at this point. I walked along the streets and took in some of the amazing architecture. It was a nice walk home.

I got home and check some email and started uploading my pictures. Santiago came home and we talked for a while about his weekend and mine, and then showed him some of my photos that I had taken earlier in the day.

I spoke to Lauren on skype for a little while, which was great. When Patricia came home, she walked into the room and spoke for a quick moment to Lauren over the camera...it was a cute moment.

I am planning on studying a little tonight since tomorrow is the placement exam for IES Spanish classes. I am not worried about the test, but just want to review some grammar and vocab before I take the test.

Tonight I realized how much I enjoy eating dinner with my new mama. Patricia is so great to talk to about life and Buenos Aires. We somehow have these great conversations about fairly complex ideas and I am able to communicate. I feel no pressure when I talk with her, and I think that really helps my Spanish. I am off to study for my exam tomorrow.

Check out the link for my pictures on the right of the page....that link gets updated every day. I have lots of new pictures up from today. Enjoy!

Sunday - A day of recharging my battery

Not much to talk about for today. Sundays are quiet here in BA. Most people sleep and get stuff done around their house. Pretty much all shops are closed, and only some restaurants are open during the day. The biggest thing to do is go to one of the craft fairs in the city, the closest to me is the one in Recoleta. I had gone last week, and it was really nice.

Today I slept in really really late. I ended up not going to the soccer game, but will go another time. I was in bed until 4pm. I got out, showered, finally got my internet to work, updating this blog from the last few days, and headed out across the street for a bite to eat. I tried the pizza and it wasn't that bad. It hit the spot for what I needed. Kate joined me while I ate and then went to find internet. I decided to come home and take it easy. I have been online and reading/surfing the web. Getting ready for the week and resting up for an exciting time.

Although this week went really fast....I feel like I have been here a long time already. I know my way around this area of the city really well. My Spanish has certainly improved since last Sunday, but I am excited for how fast it will get better when classes start. As for now, it is 9pm, so I can expect to eat dinner sometime in the next hour and get a good night sleep.

I only have great adventures ahead of me.

Saturday - I got there on time in the morning!

I woke up on time and snoozed until I was running late. I took a really quick shower, and downed a few glasses of water to help wake myself up. I left and booked it to the IES Center. I made it to the IES Center walking from my house in 12 minutes, record time.

I got there exactly at 10:20am, and we actually started loading the bus at that point. I was very surprised, since nothing so far has started exactly on time until this point.

We got on the bus and found out we would be doing a bus tour of the city, and be getting off at three different locations. This sounded perfect, since the bus was comfortable and no one wanted to move in the morning. We drove first to the Plaza de Mayo. This Plaza is the center of the city, having the Pink House on one side, and a few other important places surrounding the square. This was the location of the famous Evita speeches from her balcony at the Pink House, and other events like the Women and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, the women who would protest the kidnappings of their sons in the square during the military leadership. From the square, there are two main streets leaving the area, and down each one respectively you can see in the distance the obelisk and the congressional building. It was a really cool place I definitely want to come back and explore for a much longer amount of time.

From there we drove down through different neighborhoods and saw Puerto Madero, the new up and coming rich trendy area, as well as some other sights. We passed the Plaza de San Martin that we had been to a few days before, and passed the Retiro Train Station. We drove along the parks in Recoleta, and all the way down to Palermo. We drove back to Recoleta, and got off in the Cemetery, a famous attraction that is only 4 blocks from my house. We walked around and saw some of the famous people’s graves, including Mercelo T. Alevear and Eva Peron.

From there we got back onto the buss and drove down into La Boca, and passed the stadium that I will hopefully be going to tomorrow, La Bombonera. We got off at the Caminita, the downtown waterside area that is the home of dancing tango in the streets. Although this is not the real Boca, it was a nice tourist attraction.

From there we went to the restaurant Carlitos, right next to the Boca Stadium and enjoyed a feast of food for lunch. They just kept coming with lots of different plates of all different foods and even dessert.

From there we took small vans to the IES Center, and then I decided it was a good time for a nap. I met up with Pete, another kid who lives only 2 blocks from me, and we decided to take the bus back instead of walking. We found a bakery that would give us change with coins, since you need coins to pay for the bus. We figured out the bus system, and for the 80 pesos flat fee, we got home quickly. Pete and I went home to both sleep, and decided we would meet up later for a drink before dinner.

I got home and went right to bed since I was still really tired from the night before. I slept from 4-7pm. It is a really weird feeling waking up from a nap when it is dark outside and dark in your apartment. Usually if I nap at all at home or school, it’s during the day and it is still light outside when you awake. Here, in the winter, it gets dark sooner, and I felt really confused when the alarm went off at 7pm and it was pitch black outside and in my apartment. I took a nice, long, hot shower to wake up. My internet is not working at the moment, and Santiago had warned me about this spotty service. I am writing about the last two days now, since I have not had a chance to with all of my activities. I just spoke to Lauren for a little, which was really good, and I really hope that she will be able to come and visit. I think she calling card expired, and since I can’t call the US, and my internet is down, I have no way of talking to her and letting her know that I am still waiting for her to call back.

I am going out to dinner with a few friends around 10pm, and we will see where the night takes us. Check back soon for the update about tonight’s adventures, as I am sure they will be fun and exciting, at least for me.

UPDATE: Kate, Alex, and I canceled our fancy steak house reservation, since it was really early for dinner and none of us were that hungry. By the time we figured out dinner plans, everyone else had as well, so the three of us met up for dinner around 10pm at this little modern nice looking restaurant a few blocks away, inbetween where Kate and I live and Alex lives.

After two bottles of wine for the table and a very slow but luxurious dinner, we checked our watch and it was 1:30am. In my entire life, I do not think I have ever eaten dinner until 1,30 in the morning. After dinner, Alex departed back home and went to bed. Kate and I started walking back to our neighborhood, and I thought we would head over to that cool trendy bar that I had gone a few nights ago with Jenny. I had found out the name of it was Deep Blue. As we are walking in that direction, all the sudden I hear my name being called on the street and we see Emily and Jenny walking towards us. We say hello and find out they were thinking of going to that bar as well. We walk together and finally get to Deep Blue. When we walk in and ask for a table for 4, we notice that there are three guys from our program already at the bar. Emily and Jenny had hung with them before, so we all went and sat together. We ordered a round of drinks and Jenny and I ordered a halfhour of a pool table. Jenny ended up winning cause I skratched on the 8 ball....she got lucky. Once our game was over we ordered the check and the three guys that were there before left. We paid walked out and found them trying to hail a cab. The screamed a name of a club they were going, so we got into the next cab and went there. The name they told us was more of a area than a club we found out, since it was a few different buildings within a compound. We walked to the biggest one with a ton of people waiting outside. There were two lines, and we chose the shorter one, and asked the girl in front of us where we were and what the difference in lines were. We talked to her for the entire wait on line, and even saw her inside after. For 20 pesos charge for me and 10 for the girls, we got in and all headed to the bathroom. The place was packed. It had a balcony that was empty and was most likely VIP. The dance floor was really busy and there were two stages on either end of the dance floor. Emily and Jenny waited on the line for the coat check and Kate and I didn't see them the rest of the night.

Kate and I headed to the bar, got a drink with our cover charge ticket, and then walked to the dance floor. I saw the stage had an opening, so I got on and pulled Kate up. We owned that stage for a good amount of time. The music was a mix of Reagatonn and Techno, and it was fun to dance to. A few songs later the stage was getting crowded, and Kate and I were dancing too close to the edge to be comfortable. We got off the stage and made our way to the middle of the floor in front of the DJ booth. We danced for a while longer there, and then saw there was an outside area and headed there for some fresh air. Once we got outside we realized that the club was right on the water. The outdoor tiki tent structure was right along the River and was beautiful. I think in the summer this club is going to be amazing outside. We danced for a while outside under the tent, and the music here was more salsa. By 4.45am Kate and I were both tired and ready to leave. We made our way outside and I texted Emily and Jenny to let them know. Once we got outside we found that the line to get in was enormous and really long. I don't know how they fit all those people in that club, but the line to get in was still large at 5am.

We got a cab back to Kate's place and I walked home. At this point I still did not know what the deal was for the Boca Juniors game on Sunday. I had spoken to Santiago about it earlier in the week, but since then I had made no definite plans. I had texted him earlier in the night and set my alarm for 10.30am to see what the deal was. My internet was still down and I was really frustrated. Since I have come to expect internet access in my room, when it doesn't work it really bothers me, since it is the only way to communicate with the US at this point.

My night was fun, and it was the most expensive night I have had so far. My night including a really nice dinner, two bottles of wine, three beers, half hour of pool, cabs, cover charges, etc. cost me around 110 pesos (only 30 dollars). If this is my most expensive night going out, I am definitely cool with that. It was a really fun night, and a good experience.

If you haven't noticed by now, this city knows how the party.....and party really hard.

The First Friday - and the start of the weekend

I was a little late to school in the morning, since I pressed off on my alarm instead of snooze by accident. We were supposed to have another field trip activity, but since it was raining, it got cancelled. We broke for lunch, and I ended up going home for something, and then needing to eat quickly on the walk back. I stopped at the Burger King a few blocks from my house. It was the biggest nicest and cleanest BK I have ever been in. The food was actually really good, since they use local beef for their burgers. Comparatively to other lunches I have eaten, it was actually really expensive.

Back at the school around 1.15pm, we had a chance to meet and listen to the teachers of the classes taught in Spanish through IES. After my advising meeting, I thought I should go and talk to all of them to see if I could comprehend what they were saying and if any of the classes sounded interesting. I stopped by most of the classrooms were the teachers were holding little briefings about their classes, and the most interesting and favorite teacher of mine was a woman teaching a class called Cultural Icons as Global Commodities. This class is about the tango dance in Argentina culture, movies, plays, and media. It is a very interactive class that studies the history of the dance, its place in the Argentine self identity, and how it is portrayed across the world in different forms of media. I am really excited to take this class since I think the topic is interesting, and my Spanish will get challenged, which in turn will help me learn much more.

After meeting with the professors, I walked to the IES Center since I was hoping to talk with the advisors. The other half of students had meetings with them, so it did not happen, but I bumped into Alex, Kate, and Elise on my walk there and we ended up just kinda hanging out for a little while at the IES Center. After a while Kate and I started the walk home, since we live so close to each other. We took our time and poked into a lot of different stores, and Kate finally bought a pair of boots that she had been looking at the entire time. We walked into some really interesting stores, the coolest of which was a leather jacket place. I tried on some of the coats and looked really good in them. I have always wanted a leather coat, but have never actually bought one. Im not sure how often I would wear it, but I think I would like to have one on hand if I wanted to wear it. The guy at the store didn’t have the color and style I like best in my size, but said that if I paid in cash, he would have in made for me in one week. I told him I would think about it and come back later. Not sure if I will do it, but for a really nice leather coat priced around 545 pesos (182 dollars) I definitely need to do some thinking.

I walked Kate home after a while and then went home to do some things. I then went to the closest locutorio, a phone booth internet store which are very popular here. I couldn’t get through to a lot of people, but I was able to talk to Blaire for a while. We actually talked for about 25 minutes only in Spanish, and the conversation was really good!

I left there when my 10 dollar card expired and I went to meet Nell for a drink. I walked the 15 minutes to her area, which is beautiful. It had a much different feel then my area, but I liked it a lot. On our walk from her apartment to a café we passed a few gorgeous mansions that used to be home for the rich and have been converted to museums or hotels.

After a few drinks and an afternoon snack for me, I went home again to check my email and have a little down time. Around 10:00pm, Kate, Elise, Nell and I all met up for dinner at the same little restaurant that Kate and I had drank the bottle of wine at the night before. The same guy greeted us at the door and sat us at the same table with the same waiter. He came over and we ordered the same bottle of wine. We ended up having a really nice meal, and although the place was relatively expensive, it was 12 dollars each for a nice meal and two bottles of expensive wine for the table.

We left the restaurant and decided to meet up with other GW students that are in Buenos Aires for the semester on another program that Nell knew from her trip in the summer. We had the address of the bar they had, so we got a cab and gave him the address. He was very interested in us, giving us tips of places to go and asking how we liked the city. On the way, we passed through and area with 4-way stop intersections, which obviously no one in this country stops at, and came to the quick stop to avoid another cab coming from the other road. It was a very awkward silence in the car after that. We got to the place that the GW kids were, and we got out of the cab. It cost 10 pesos (3 dollars) and took us from one end of the city to the other. The bar that Nell had the name of looked really empty from the street, and we decided to go to the one nextdoor because we could hear some live music coming from it. It ended up being Bar Seddon, a good bar that I had read about in my travel book. We got into the bar, and found a table somewhat close to the band and ordered some drinks. The band was awesome. The guys had a good sound and were playing mostly American covers with some latin improv on top of the music. The lead singer and guitarist loved me, since I was the only one in the bar singing along to Steve Miller Band, Led Zeppelin, and Eric Clapton. It ended up that Deepa and Nick, Nell’s friends we had hoped to meet, were in the basement of the bar downstairs. They came over and sat with us for a while. After a few drinks, Deepa and Nell left to go to a club two blocks away that they had heard really good things about. Nick, Kate, Elise and I wanted to stay for a few more songs.

The four of us left a little later and made our way to Club Museum. The cover was 25 pesos, and I didn’t get any drink tickets like the night before, we entered through the metal detector and walked into a giant hall with thousands of people dancing. The entire place had black walls and two levels of VIP balconies. It looked to be about ¾ as long as a football field, and a little less wide. It was really big. Althought it was a really big club and a lot of people were inside; it was not that hard to walk through the crowd to the opposite end towards the bathrooms. After reconvening in a few minutes, we headed to the bar. There were two lines, and of course I got on the wrong one. The system was made so that you paid someone at the register at the bar, they handed you a receipt, and you gave the receipt to the bartenders, who served you the drink.

I ordered two Quilmes, the local beer I have come to really enjoy, with the guy at the register and got a receipt. I handed it to the closest bartender I could find, and he gave me two wine-spritzer-esqe drinks. I tried to argue with him to get two beers, but I didn’t make any progress. I decided to suck it up and drink the fruity girly drinks for now.

The four of us started dancing and quickly found Nell and Deepa, along with a few other faces I recognized from GW in the middle of the dancefloor. Not sure how we found them, but it was pretty lucky I think. We danced for a long time, and I was having lots of fun. Around 4.30am I started to get a little tired, and realized that I had to be awake soon, since I needed to meet at the IES Center at 10:20am for a city tour the next day. We ended up leaving around 4.45am, and the four of us from dinner caught a cab back to Recoleta. We first stopped and dropped Nell and Elise off, since they live really close to each other, then we ended at Kate’s apartment.

I walked home and got back around 5am. By the time I fell asleep, I was determined to wake up on time and make it to the city tour by 10:20.