Keep On Keepin´ On

Sorry for quoting such a cliche lyric, but it just came to me, like most cliches things, which most people reject using, pop into one´s mind. However, it´s rather fitting for the situation.

So, what have I been doing lately. Well, for one thing, I speak pretty good spanish right now. As I was telling Dad the other day, I was hanging out with a friend in a park, and we were just talking, back and forth, about this and that. After a while, it just kind of hit me, that I was having a good conversation with someone, completely in spanish. It was a cool feeling to remember back in April and May, when having a conversation was incredibly stressful, and you kind of wanted to run the other way. Much like Adrian back in the States, I feel that I´m in the sponge stage. Instead of hearing a super long word, I can now pick out each sound, and that super long word turns out to be a sentence. At this point, seeing as I can hear the words, I can start to figure out words via context clues. However, sometimes, like Lindsay said, it´s very easy to just block out the words that you don´t understand, because you understand the general idea of what the person is saying. I need to start really training my ear to pick out the words and make sure I really listen, rather than just pull out the main idea. All in all, it´s very cool. I´m learning. I remember just being amazed watching Holly and Lindsay speak this foreign language after they came back from their studies abroad, and now, I´m part of the cool kids group. When we all get back, it´ll be the United Nations of Spanish Speakers. I speak like a Porteño, Holly like a Mexican, Lindsay like a Colombiana, Adrian is Colombia, and Juan Felipe rounding out the group with Salvadorean.

So, I´ll clue you all in on my plans now. Here´s how it goes down. Classes end the first week of December. Now, it would be possible for me to come home in early December, and start school back in Minneapolis in January. However, when thinking about this, I get sick. December will be the start of 4 glorious months of summer vacation with my friends. There is no way I could leave warm sunny Argentina at the start of summer, to return to cold, miserable Minneapolis at the start of a grueling winter. The mixture of reverse culture shock and change in lifestyle/temperature would put me over the edge. So...I´ll be staying in Argentina until around March or April. After classes end, I plan on getting a a job at a hotel as either a bellboy or a catering worker. Lots of English-speakers come down here, and hotels look for extremely handsome, well-versed native english speakers, so it looks like I have that job all wrapped up! It´ll be nice to make some tips in greenbacks. Haven´t seen any of those in a while.

Besides that, all is pretty well. Being down here, I see business ideas left and right. So many possibilites for tourism and so much new money available. I think it´d be interesting to come back here after graduating and seeing if I could get something set up. Like Dad said, after 4 months at a nice hotel, I very well could meet some successful local business people who are looking for business students. That, OR, get a job with a US company down here, and get paid in dollars. If you can make around US$30,000 a year, you´re living REALLY well off. Steak and wine every night of the week if you wanted.

Probably time I should wrap this up, but one thing, can SOMEONE please send me SOMETHING! I don´t even care if it´s just a random postcard. I´ve been here for seven months, and the only letters I´ve received came from my University´s Office of Transcripts. So, I pose a challenge to those who read my blog. Maybe you know me and are a friend, maybe you´re a fellow study abroad student, or maybe some blogger from England. Either way, I´d love to get some mail. If you write me, I´ll write back!!!

IES Buenos Aires
c/o Patrick Jones
Carlos Pellegrini 1069, Piso 13
C1009ABU, Buenos Aires
Argentina

I´ll try to write a little more often. Feels good to let ya´ll know what I´m up to. Two friends and coworkers from the Loring are coming down to my part of the world. Brett is currently in Peru, and is slowly making his way to Buenos Aires. Brittney is somewhere in Europe, but is meeting Brett in La Paz and joining him on his way to Buenos Aires. If either of you read this, prepare for greatness! Buenos Aires is absolutely amazing. You´re going to be here during, in all likelihood, the most beautiful time of the year.


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Life Is Great!!!

Hey ya'll,
Just to let you know, I'm unbelievably happy with my life in Buenos Aires right now. I'm living in a great apartment with two really fun young Mexican guys who are living in Buenos Aires and going to school. I barely speak English and it feels great. It's not like last semester where I was speaking more English than Spanish. Now it's 100% the opposite. My classes are all going great, and the professors are all very accomodating to the foreigners in class, which consists of me and four Germans, who I have become good friends with. I've met a lot of people through my school, the Universidad Museo Social Argentino, and we are hanging out a lot. It's part of a language exchange that the school does and I've become good friends with two of my language partners. All in all, life is going really well. I'm not writing as much as I was last semester because I'm having too much fun to sit down and write it all down. Just know that this semester is amazing and I'm enjoying every second. PLUS, Spring is on the way and every day is a bit warmer, with a bit more sun. Life is good!!

Your Argentine Connection,
Patrick


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

A Brief Hiatus

Hey everyone,
Well, Colombia was a great experience. I had a great time with the family for the first week in Bogota. Jimmy got there the second week and we really started tearing it up. Adrian's family is absolutely amazing and I had a great time. However, now I'm back in Buenos Aires and life is even better.

The first four months in BsAs were very fun, but it still like I was this new study-abroad student. However, after taking a month off and getting away from the city for awhile, it feels so much more like home to come back. I've moved out of rich, touristy, old-money Recoleta, and I'm currently living on the border of Palermo Viejo and Almagro. Both of these barrios have a really great vide, or as they say in BsAs, buena onda. I'm not surrounded my tons of clothes stores and expensive tourist restaurants anymore. I'm just living in a really Buenos Aires-ish barrio now, and I'm super happy. If you come here, you'll see what I mean.

I am also living with some new roommates. I had a good time with Sylvia and Carlos, but it was kinda like living with my grandma and her really old stay-at-home son. Either way, it was an experience and I have quite the stories to tell from those first four months. Now, however, I'm living with two young Mexicans who are living in the city. One of them is a chef and the other is in culinary school. We'are always cooking something good, hanging out with our friends, and just chilling. It's so nice to have my freedom back again. I can play music loud, I can cook my own meals, and I can invite my friends over for drinks....life is good.

My spanish has come along amazingly. It had to be the month of intense spanish in Colombia, but wow. I recently saw an Ecuadorian friend of mine whom I hadn't seen in a couple months because of school. When we were hanging out in May, my spanish was pretty miserable. However, two weeks ago, I went to her place to have drinks with her, and her Colombian friend. Well, Carolina was making drinks and her friend and I were just talking about my trip in Colombia. Midway through the conversation, Carolina comes out of the kitchen and basically yells, "Patrick, your spanish. It's amazing! I can't believe how much better is it." I never noticed it getting better, but it's those really slow changes that take someone you haven't seen in awhile to notice. Also, all the IES(my program) staff were thoroughly impressed by my increased level. Now, living with my roommates, taking all my classes at the spanish-speaking university, and living a mostly spanish-speaking lifestyle, I'm really confident I'll just keep getting better.

There you have it. A little update on what's going down in Buenos Aires. I'll post pictures soon. I'm pretty much the slowest picture poster ever.

With love from the 34th parallel south of the Equator,
Patrick

ps- I have a place for people to crash now if anyone is looking to come to BsAs? Everyone says that spring here, which is September through December, is AMAZING!


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

All Finished Up!

I know this post is coming about a week or so late, pero mejor ahora que nunca.

I've successfully completed my first semester in Buenos Aires and I'm extremely excited for the second. I wrote around 35 pages of essays and had to take some difficult exams, but I did very well. I also wrote, what I think, a really great research paper on the International Monetary Fund's influence on Haitian rice growers. Thanks Holly for giving me that idea. Classes were definitely tougher than expected and the last two weeks was probably my most antisocial period of the entire time here. I was consistently in the library researching or writing a paper. However, this semester is all over, and now I have a month long break which I will be utilizing while I'm in Colombia! Next post.

It has been quite the experience so far. I really didnt have the intention of making a large group of American friends while I was down here, but, against my expectations, I made a group of amazing friends. Everyone is experiencing the same culture shock and feelings, and I think that because of this, stronger relationships are formed much quicker. Everyone is leaving or has left, and it's kinda sad not having my crew and thinking that I might not see any of them again. This next semester, I'll be able to concentrate on hanging out with my Porteno friends and speaking spanish, because I won't need that 1st semester safety net. On that note, I can't imagine having to leave Buenos Aires right now. I feel like the first four months were a nice introduction period. I feel very comfortable living and functioning here. I know how to use the subte(subway) and the collectivos(city buses). People can reference barrios(neighborhoods) and I know where they are talking about, and how to get there using several different modes of transportation. Exactly as Holly and Lindsay (my sisters who've both done study abroads) said, staying for a year in the only way to go. If you really have the ganas(desire) to learn about the country and learn the language, staying for two semesters is the only way to go.


All in all, it has been a great learning experience, and I'm sure it's only going to get better as I start my second semester.

Te mando un abrazo
-Patrick


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Just a Rich College Kid

Being from the middle class of the United States, everyone has a chance to go to college, tech school, vocational school, etc, and go out there and make something of themselves. It might be expensive, but you just take out your loans, do your schooling, and one day, pay them off.

I can't help but feel like some rich college kid, just spending some time in Buenos Aires; partying, drinking, learning Spanish, etc. I'm currently staying with a friend who's house-sitting a nice house in the suburbs right now. I've been talking with the maid, which every middle class and higher family has, and just chatting. She was a teacher in Peru, but moved to Buenos Aires to be with her siblings, who moved here, and to find better work...she's currently a maid. Maids, on average, make about $6 pesos/hour here. That's around US $2/hour. I'm going to be spending a month in Colombia pretty soon, and I'm sure I'll be spending around US$1,500. That's an unbelievably large amount of money here...and I'm just going to Colombia to hang out and travel. When I'd talk with the maid at my homestay(I've moved out now), it was hard to talk about the stuff I was planning on doing, and the places I wanted to see. I'd talk about jet setting to Colombia, or spending a weekend in Mendoza in the wine country, and she would just happily listen and smile. I could financially afford all of them, but the 55 year old maid can't financially fathom spending ARG $300 for a bus ticket, which is CHEAP to Americans. She's helping support her family on US $2/hr, and I'm out blowing a week's worth of her salary in one night drinking with my friends...and not even batting an eye. It's saddening. I don't know if I should feel lucky being from the US and having the opportunity to do this, or sick because I'm doing things, at 21 years old, that the majority of this country can't even imagine.


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

And...

I'm alive! The surgery went really well today, and I'm already back at home writing this. A brief synopsis:

So, I got to the hospital and went through the obligatory paperwork. Finally got to my room, put on the ass-revealing hospital gown, and chilled with an IES worker who came along with me. After about an hour of waiting I was taken upstairs and the games began.

I was in the surgury waiting room watching some field hockey on TV when the anathesiologist came in. Really cool guy who's family is from Florida. We chatted for a bit and he asked what kind of anasthetic I wanted. I was debating if I wanted a local so I could watch what they were doing, but I chose to go with general anathestic, the full knock out punch and wow, it was fun.

I'm in the middle of the operating room, and there is a team of like 10 doctors. I felt honored to have so many people watching my hernia surgery. I continued to chat with the anathesiologist, and after he gave me the IV in the arm, he said I'd start to feel funny in a little bit. Sure enough, about 15 seconds later my body wanted to get a little groovy, yes, that's right, groovy. I was in a very relaxed state. I tried to resist it as long as possible, but as soon as the gas mask went out, I was done. Very relaxing little nap. I think I dreamt about Chilton, but I can't remember for sure.

The next thing I know, I open my eyes, and I see the doc pull a huge breathing tube of my throat. "All done" he says. I was still quite under the influence of the drugs, so I got wheeled down to my original room and relaxed. Sylvia, my host mom, was there to hang out when I arrived and stayed until Belen, the gorgeous IES assistant came to hang out and take me home. Which is where that leaves me right now, at home.

I can walk pretty normally, and the doctor told me that I don't need to use gauze or bandaids or anything after tomorrow. I guess they did some special type of cut that they sewed up from the inside. I'm looking forward to getting a look at it tomorrow. I also got some painkillers, so I'll let you know how those go. On an end note, with the hopes of getting my $6000 peso surgery money's worth, I stole soap, conditioner, and the bottle of water from my hospital room! That's how we do.

I've got some more to write on other topics, but I'm going to go watch some TV.

Besos


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Homestay Experience

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about my homestay experience.

When I signed up for IES, I told them that I wanted a homestay with a family and kids. I wanted siblings and hanging out. When I got here, I was somewhat disappointed with my situation. I would be living with a 73 year old women and her 45 year old son. I've had my ups and down here, but I've come to the realization...I couldn't have asked for a more fitting South American homestay experience. I'm living in the epitome of South America. An older women and her son living together. This is exactly what Buenos Aires, and South American in general, is all about.

In the ups and downs, we've had both. Sometimes we don't talk much during the day. I'm constantly coming and going throughout the day, and they're sometimes sleeping or sometimes watching TV. Other times however, we have great conversations. Tonight was a great example.

Carlos, Sylvia, Muki(nickname for Sylvia's daughter who came to eat with us) and I were eating dinner. As usual, I wasn't let down with the food content. Little spinach dumplings, mashed potatos, lentil soup, and some fried chicken.

Carlos saw me eat the piece of fried chicken skin and immediately jokingly called me out for being hypocritical. I don't, and never will, eat the pieces of fat on steak. Carlos loves them. He claimed that there was no difference between chicken skin fat and steak fat. A hearty discussion/fun argument ensued. Slyvia and I on one side saying that they are VERY different, and Carlos debating the entire time.

I'm coming to realize that I've had many great experiences in this current situation. Studying abroad is about experiencing new things, and I can say that this was DEFINITELY a unique experience. I had become so accustomed to having my personal freedom in Minneapolis that moving into a house where my meals are cooked and my room cleaned was quite a shock. I'm absorbing these last two weeks with the family and I can happily that I've learned a lot this semester.




ps- For you spanish speakers out there. In Argentina, I'm not sure about other spanish-speaking countries, they use the phrase "Algo + Adjective" a lot. "Ella esta algo loca!" "She is something crazy!" I've found myself using it in english writing/talking quite a bit now. It's like when Holly and Lindsay say something that has such backwards syntax, you know it has to be a direct spanish translation.


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Learning the Culture

A little something you take for granted when you live in your home country:

When you're having a conversation in your home country, you make references to pop culture all the time. You reference the latest news stories without even thinking about it. You reference important people and events in the history of your country all the time. It's part of your life and you weave it into conversation without even thinking about it.

However, when you're in a foreign country, you're at a complete disadvantage. Right now, I feel that my language ability is relatively high. I can understand a great deal of conversation and respond when I feel it necessary. I love conversation. Portenos love conversation. But, the thing that frustrates me is that when you're part of a large conversation, those previously mentioned references keep on popping up non-stop. I sucks being at such a loss when someone references a bombing in 1955 that you never knew existed or a politician in 1984 that everyone disliked.

Therefore, a bit of advice. When you go off to learn a new language...do your research. Learn about the big events and people in that country. Commit them to memory because they're bound to come up and you'll feel great when you can finally make that reference you've been longing for.


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Little Language Mix-Up!

This is a story for which everyone who has learned a foreign language can relate. False Cognates!


I don't like tomatoes in the United States. I've never liked them. Mom always forced me to try them, but everytime was the same. I didn't like them. I don't know what it is, but they just don't do it for me.

When I came to Buenos Aires, I told my host mom that I'm not a fan of tomatoes. Because of this, she never served me any when we had dinner. However, one night, Carlos cooked, and we had a salad with tomatoes. I was reluctant to eat them, but because I always finish my plate here, I ate them. To my surprise, they were great. There is something about tomatoes here that makes them amazing. They taste nothing like the tomatoes in the United States.

Well, on to the false cognates...words that look/sound similar, but don't mean the same thing at all. A good example is "actualmente," which doesn't mean "actually," but "currently." Another is...preservativo.

One would think this means preservative, like the things you put in food to make them last. Therefore, I told my host sister,

"I think the tomotoes are better in Argentina because they don't have preservativos in them."
"Pienso que los tomates estan mejor en Argentina porque no tienen preservativos."

Direct Translation:

"I think the tomatoes are better in Argentina because they don't have condoms in them."

That, my friends, is a false cognate.


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Ohh Cristina...

Remember that strike that I wrote about about two months ago. The farmer strike against the government. Well, it's still going. Here's the lowdown over the past few months.

In October when the soy farmers planted their crops, the government retention rate was 26%. This was only the base retention that the gov't charged, not including taxes and all that other fun stuff. When Nestor Krischner left office in December, he increased the retention to 33%. Nestor's wife Cristina took over presidency in December. The week before the soy harvest, she increased the renentino to 45%. This put the farmers over the edge, so they strikes. Rightfully so. Within the past seven months the rentention has nearly doubled.

The middle and upper classes have been strongly supporting the farmers. Why aren't you taxing big business like you are soy farmers. Well, the strike has been going on and off for 90 days now. The farmers stop it for a week to talk with the gov, nothing gets accomplished, and they start striking. This has been the situation for the past two months. It's a repeptive cycle.

However, just this week, Cristina pulled a good one out. The government really didn't say anything about what they were going to use all the retention money for. Everyone knows it would have been used to buy more votes in an election or magically dissapeared. This is the common feeling about all tax dollars. Well, Cristina gets on the podium and says along the lines of, "We've been plannning to use this money to rebuild hospitals and public schools. The farmers are horrible, money-hoarding bastards for not wanting to help fund schools and hospitals."

This REALLY fired up the people. So now, after three months of not telling anyone where the money was going, she pulls this out. "If you would have told us this three months ago, we wouldn't have had a problem" is the basic farming community response. "We're not stupid and we know exactly what you're trying to do to us." However, it's not working. The people are even more pissed at the government for trying to swing public opinion.

It's an definitely an interesting situation down here. It's refreshing to see people actually stand up for what they believe in. If they don't like something, they hit the streets and protest. In the States, everyone is too apathetic to do anything. Prices of tuition go up, "shucks, I guess we'll pay it." Gas prices going through the roof, "darn, I guess we'll just wait until prices go down." The US could take a page out of Argentina's social demonstration chapter.


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Argentine TV

In the United States, we have "Dancing With The Stars." In Argentina, they have "Dancing For A Dream." Not many differences between these two prime-time programs, except the Argentine version really loves thongs, 1/2 naked women and sparkles. I had the pleasure of watching it tonight with my mom when this gem of a dance couple performed!

It was like watching a porn with your 73 old grandma. She is completely cool with all of the nudity though. She even called that the girl was going to be naked once she started her routine. She always says "Siempre la cola!" which basically translates to "Always the ass!"




Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Motivation

It's 11:29PM and I'm currently listening to Radiohead's album "In Rainbows." A big thanks toAaron and Brett for getting me hooked on them. I must say it sounded much better on vinyl whilesmoking hookah though. I'm trying to find the motivation to write a short little paper for my Cultural Icons class. It's on Evita. Pretty cool cat. We start talking about "El Che" tomorrow, so that should be quite interesting. The professor is a 29 year old NYU Phd student and super intelligent. I really enjoy his class. Ok, off to write...I think.



I just found this quote while I was facebook-surfing and it was a breath of fresh air. Very very true if you're ever planning on learning a new language.

"The true work of improving things is in the little achievements of the day."

Much love from south of the Equator,
Patrick


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

It's Cold!

Don't let anyone fool you, Buenos Aires is NOT warm all year round. I came down here expecting winter temperatures to be somewhere around 55* and sunny the entire time. Nope, we're talking about 50*F right now, but it feels like about 35*. Why you ask? Well, it's because it's always humid here, and the humidity makes the cold seem much worse. We have windchill in the states, they have humidity coldness.

To restate, it's unbelievably cold here right now. This is also coming from someone who's rather experienced in the cold weather department. I've done 21 years in the the northern US. Also, I left my winter coat in the States, thinking someone would be coming down before winter, but that isn't happening. So, off to Avenida Corrientes to get my winter jacket.

Besos


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Avenida 9 de Julio

This is me standing smack-dab in the center of Avenida 9 de Julio. This is the famous avenue that Buenos Aires is known for. To quote Wikipedia.com:

Crossing the avenue at street level often requires a few minutes, as all intersections have traffic lights. Under normal walking speed, it takes pedestrians normally two to three green lights to cross it.

No lie. I need to cross this street everytime I go to the IES Center. If I'm not waiting by the sidewalk before the walk light turns "walk," I won't be able to make it across, and I walk FAST. It's a guarantee that I'll need to run the last 25 yards if I want to make it across in one "walk-light." My school is about six blocks from where this picture was taken. The Obelisco is right behind the photographer.







Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Mate in Plaza San Martin

My friend Mike and I had a fun day in Plaza San Martin recently. It's probably my favorite park in the city. The canopy created by the huge trees is great on hot days. We had a hard night partying on Thursday so we both agreed that Mate on Friday would do the trick. Plus, I had my internship at 2PM, and I knew a good strong Mate(Argentine/Uruguayan drink) would destroy any potential hangover.

We're having Mate and talking when this cute little dog comes over by us and starts chillin. We thought he must have had an owner, because he was wearing a little dog sweater(very Buenos Aires-ish), but no one came looking for him in the hour we were there, so we're not sure. You can see the my entire Mate set-up in the picture. It's an addicting substance that's super good for you.
Anyways, he was all about hanging out and relaxing, so I took these pics with him.

The people on the bench came to the Plaza as we were hanging out, and we couldn't help but notice how perfect they would have been for a McDonald's commercial. McDonald's is HUGELY popular here. They are everywhere, and they're so much nicer than in the states. Teenagers actually hang out at McDonalds on the weekends because they're so comfy.



Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The Cops

I had an interesting experience not to long ago. A friend from home was telling me about an incident that happened in MPLS and how my friends reported the incident to some cops that were making their rounds in the neighborhood. As she was telling me this, I wondered why they would trust the cops to help them. Then it clicked that I'm thinking about cops in the Argentine perspective.

The cops aren't trustworthy. They're sketchy guys who can be bought off very easily. I've been told that many are former military members during the Junta, and they revert to their "how it was during the dictatorship" ways quite quickly. During the demonstrations of the strike, the government-sponsored "Pro-Gov't" picketing group beat up many of the "Pro-Farmer" demonstrators, and the police just turned a blind eye.

Also, It isn't uncommon for the cops to sit with someone on the corner and catcall women as they walk by, or, my favorite...Two girls and I were walking home one night and we were all dressed up. The girls were wearing some pretty sexy outfits, and all of a sudden, we noticed a cop car driving alongside of us. The two officers were about 10 feet behind us, just creeping along checking out the girls the entire time.

These aren't the kind of men who I'd want to ask for help, in any situation. With the right amount of money, anyone can buy the upperhand in a disagreement, fight, etc.

Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Semana Santa

So I just finished my first big holiday weekend in Argentina, Semana Santa. My friend Hannah and I headed to Mar Del Plata, a huge beach resort city, along with a bunch of other IES students to get some sun before fall starts to set in. Semana Santa is to Argentina as Labor Day is to the States. It's the last big weekend of the summer.

Anyways, we left on Thursday afternoon and got to Mar Del Plata at about 9pm. The busride was about six hours and it was very pretty smooth. We had front row seats on the second level of the bus so we got to see the landscape and everything pretty well. There was one pretty intense accident while we were driving down. This little car lodged itself under the the truck part of a semi-trailer and they both burned up. We drove by afer the fire was put out, but it was very destructive.

The first night Hannah and I took it easy in preparation for the next day at the beach. The next day I walked about 45 minuted down the beach to meet some IES-ers and we enjoyed the sun and Quilmes all day. That night in the hostel we met some cool Canadian girls. They were from Montreal and are spending 6 months traveling around South America. With them we went to Sobremonte.

Sobremonte....probably the largest club I've ever been inside. It was the equivalent of four clubs put together and took up around three city blocks. I've never seen anything that big. We got to the club around 3:30AM, and it was just starting to get going. We danced until around 8AM when the club closed. The DJ did not let us down, very good techno/progressive all night. A cool guy named Ceasar invited us to an after party he was DJing. Hannah and I stayed until 10AM, and then had to go, we were just too tired. Rafael and Camille, the Canadians, stayed until 12:30pm. They're rockstars.

The next days followed in the same manner. Going to the beach, walking around the city, get some food, and then go to Sobremonte. My body is officially wore out. As a sign of thankfulness for what I put it through, I'm currently enjoying the full force of the summertime cold. It's almost an "I'm going to have to carry a hanky" cold. Thanks body!

Dinner time...I'll write more in a bit. Enjoy the video. I have more I'm going to post.







Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Placement Test & Internship

The weather has been perfect here for the past couple days now. So much has happened. On Thursday we had our Spanish placement test. I placed into Advanced II so I'm pretty excited about that. Right now, as for classes, I'll be taking Spanish, Latin America in a Globalizing World, Cultural Icons as Global Commodities(in Spanish), and then my business internship.

The internship is two hours of class per week and eight hours outside working with a company. Internships here are unheard of, so it's basically just acquaintances of the business professor. He's an entrepreneur and has a book on entrepreneurship published. He teaches business classes at quite a few local universities, but he says you can't survive just being a teacher he has some side projects. The company that I'm hoping to be placed with is a software outsourcing company. Lots of huge US companies have there software developed down here. He said it's one of the fastest growing companies in Argentina. I guess they follow the Google style of management so it's super laid back with a nap room, ping pong tables, etc. I told him I don't like computer tech stuff but he says that I'd be in the business side of the company. More info on the internship to come.


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The Second Week Begins

As I write this, I'm currently a beautiful shade of burgundy-magenta. My virgin Minneapolis skin has taken a liking to the Argentine sun, and it's definitly showing. However, I'll be happily tan in a couple days, and it'll be all good.

Traveling abroad is pretty cool. Living in a country that speaks a different language that your own is hard, but still pretty amazing. The IES program is going really well right now. I've made a ton, for lack of a better word, new friends since I've arrived. It's very similar to the first few weeks of college. Everyone is trying to make friends as fast as possible and everyone is super open and friendly. Little friendship circles are starting to develop, but everyone is always up for meeting new people. Case in point:

(forgive my tense jumping)

Sunday Afternoon
After dragging myself out of bed, having only went to sleep roughly 6 hours earlier(read previous techno post), I decided I should take advantage of the nice weather. It had been rather Seattle-ish here since I arrived. It was cloudy in the morning, and it would rain in the afternoon, and then out of nowhere the sun would burst out and it'd be 85 degrees at 4pm. It's amazingly hard to tell what's going to happen with the weather on any given day. However, I digress.

So, seeing as it is Sunday and everyone in Buenos Aires(todos los Portenos) takes advantage of their day of rest, I decided to go to a nearby park and study some flashcards. I've been meaning to work on my vocabulary, so what time is better than a nice Sunday afternoon. As I'm walking down my block, I run into some IES students hanging out outside of an apartment. I somewhat knew a few of them, but we'd never really spent any long amounts of time together. We chatted for awhile and they asked if I wanted to go to the market with them. There is a HUGE craft fair about 2 blocks from my apartment every Saturday and Sunday. Seeing as they have such a grand cattle population, leather goods are everywhere. You can buy handmade leather sandles for $30USD.

Anyways, I cordially pass on the invitation because I really wanted to get some studying in. However, as I'm walking away, I just about kick myself in the ass. How on Earth could I pass up an opportunity to meet some more of my fellow classmates, and instead, sit by myself in the park and look at vocabulary flashcards?!? I quickly run home and drop of my flashcards and catch up with them in the craft fair. We walk around for a bit, looking at all the neat little items that local vendors produce. As we're walking, we notice a hillside with a lot of people hanging out. Turns out, there's a folk guitarist just about to play. We all pop-a-squat on the hill and hangout, talk, laugh, and listen to music for an hour or so. Everyone, except for us, has their thermos of hot water and their Mate(super popular drink). On a sunday, it definitely gets it's workout.

As we disbanded, they invited me to the dinner they were going to have in Palermo Viejo, a very nice barrio of BaAs. So, that night, I went out to eat with 7 people that I had just met that day. We had an amazing dinner. Salmon, sirloin, filet mignon, salads, 2 bottles of wine, a couple beer, etc. After thoroughly stuffing our faces, we got the bill.....

$400 pesos!!!

With tip, that comes to $450 pesos, or....about $150USD. For less that $20 per person we had an AMAZING dinner in a very classy area of town. It's great.


So, that was an amazingly longwinded story. However, it really points out the greatness that is occuring right now. Super friendly people who are all about making friends hanging out in parks and listening to music, and then having a steak dinner for almost nothing.

Life is good.


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina

My First Night Out

What a week it's been! I've been super busy lately doing all my IES stuff and getting to know all my classmates. There are around 120 IES students all together and so far, I haven't really met anyone that I can't get along with. We're all in the same boat here. Some are in the dorms, some are in homestays. Either way, we're all new to the city and we're all super ready to explore and learn all about it. For the first two weeks we have orientation and spanish classes. These are just to teach us the customs and all the other differences with the Rioplantense spanish. These include the use of "Vos" instead of "Tu," the lack of political correctness, and the SHH sound of "LL."

On political corectness, there isn't any. If you're overweight, your nickname is gordo/a, if you're black it's negro/a, it you're skinny, flaco/a, have a big head, cabezon, etc. Nothing is off-limits. Seeing as I have quite the big schnoz, I'm sure my nickname will be somewhere in the nariz area.

Tonight is the first night that I'll actually be going out. I had drinks the other night and we got home at 2, quite early. It was a school night and we didn't want to be out too late. It's 9:37PM now and I'm about to take my pre-club nap. Tonight, we'll meet up aroud 12:30 and get to the nightclubs at around 1 or 1:30. We're all expecting to get home around 6-8AM, and this is quite normal. My host mom, Slyvia, who's probably around 65, played cards with her friends until 3AM on Tuesday! Everyone stays out super late and gets up at the same time as we do in the US. I'm starting to think that all the talk in the US about getting your sleep is a crock. They sleep less, smoke more, and everyone seems fine to me.

Cigarettes and espresso make Argentina go round!


I'll write tomorrow about how the night went.


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina