-Week one complete! The adventure is just beginning.
A quick observation before recount my adventures thus far:
People here look good. I mean they look really good. It's crazy how many attractive people there are in one area. Granted you might get a weird mullet or inappropriately placed "dred-head" every now and again, but for the most part, well done Argentina! Women take serious care of themselves, and men ( regardless of their creepiness) look good as well. Walking around in sweats and a t shirt is a no-no, and even going to the gym is a big deal. The gym ( which number at least 3 every other block) is just an extension of the fashion show. I cant tell you how much cleavage I saw while I was trying to get some miles in. Nike work out tops with a dangerously deep V neck along with the tightest of spandex capris is the accepted attire. I didn't know this. I wore a t shirt and my 5 year old dance capris. No hair, no make up. I looked a damn fool. The guys at the gym were all wearing their New York marathon muscle shirts that show off those six packs with precision. Outside of the gym, girls are wearing heels... no excuse me, girls are working those heels, despite the bumpy uneven roads and the excess dog poop that decorate the streets. I tip my hat to you ladies. I'm also super intimidated by you. Dowhatchado.
Back to me. It's strange when you leave one life behind to start another. There is such a mix of emotions. Fear, excitement, confusion, desire, hesitation, impatience are consuming me. I have been here 7 and a half days, and on one hand it's flown by. On the other hand, I feel so comfortable that it feels like I've been here for years. I guess I just have to make sure that I take everything in as it comes. I think learning how to really enjoy something will be an important lesson. Too often we experience things superficially. We have our fun and then realize what it actually meant to us once it already passed. Not that it's a bad thing, but I think that this trip is a good opportunity to dig a little deeper.
So to summarize my week. Expensive. Getting a life together is hella expensive, but whatever. That's life. I really like my Spanish teacher. She teaches us the important things, like the bombing of the Jewish center in 1994 and dirty Argentine slang. ( weed is porro). We had a quiz on Friday. Boo. Went out Friday, and I went out hard. Wine is cheap- two bottles for $5.75. :) The boliche (club) was fun, but they really could ease up on the strobe lights. If this is how all of them are, I may need to see a neurologist by the time I come home. Saturday was a nice little recovery day. I had lunch at a cute deli with a friend of a friend from the states. I went to China town and it's small but cute. I also found a place to get a Philly roll for 12 pesos! I got seriously lost on my way back, like 15 blocks the wrong direction, in the hot sun, on a recovery day. Ouch. But it was nice. I finally made it home, and my bed was my friend for the next four hours.
Today I went to the botanical gardens and the Japanese Gardens. It was a gorgeous Sunday. The Japanese gardens was like 8 pesos for entry. Not necessarily worth it, but it was still good. Finished my day with ice cream! Is it terrible that ice cream can improve my life like 50 points? Hello, my name is Solange.
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and even though I wish I was spending it with that wonderful boy, it's probably gonna be another Titanic and tissues day. Timing and I aren't very good friends. I hope he likes his present though :)
I might od on chocolate too. My life...
Things that made me LOL
-Babies in strollers, no wait toddlers in strollers, no wait 5 and 6 year old children in strollers! Kids are working the system.. I cant even be mad
- Eighty year old couple gettin it on the park bench. Seriously, they were a solid 75-82 years old. I'm not talking cute old couple holding hands. I mean I saw this guys hands do some crazy things under this woman's shirt. And intense making out. He even removed his hat. The snogging continued for a good amount of time. Like five minutes plus. It was like a car wreck. I was seriously uncomfortable and unhappy looking, but I looked. And once again, I can't even be mad.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Bringing out the thinking cap!
First day of class, friends. It wasn't too bad. I was placed in the intermediate 2 level, which is good because Lord knows my grammar is horrendous (thank you Eisenhower International School). The class moves at a bit of a slower pace than what's comfortable for me, but still important material. We'll see tomorrow if I want to venture in the "advanced" level. Maybe that's me just needing an ego boost, whatever. We only get a 30 minute lunch break, so I ventured to the caf. It is like any other caf you can imagine. Long lines. Iffy food. Jacked up prices. And foreigners. This time, I am the foreigner....I'll take it. So after too long of a wait ( this could be very easily avoided if they created a slightly more efficient system, but maybe that's my American talking) I received my greasy personal pizza, and CHOWED DOWN. Inhaled my food. Brings me back to high school days when the only option is to swallow (don't be dirty). It really wasn't bad, and I got to meet some new people.
I enjoy my class. Good people. I have to say though, first day of classes are always the best. They are disorganized and full of surprises, and no one is 100% sure if they're in the right place. Well, for a couple of my classmates, they weren't. We had one dude who barged in about 20 minutes after class started. He loudly introduced himself and in broken Spanish tried to ask if he was in "Luciana's classroom". No sir, its Liliana. After about 4 minutes of back-and-forth misunderstandings, the professor told him to go ask someone and come back. Never returned. Don't you love that excitement?! Slightly uncomfortable, but thoroughly entertaining for all spectators. Right after lunch, we lost another class mate who was in the complete wrong place at the wrong time. Some one was quite confused. I'm really surprised this didn't happen to me. But since it didn't, I can snicker at their mishaps and not feel bad about it (don't worry, I'm prepared for the karma).
After class, I ran some errands with a friend. When class ends at 3, and dinner at 9, killing time is essential. After cell-phoning, and banking and officing we decided now is the time to join a gym. On the way to the gym that advertised a student discount, we ran into a small gym just a few minutes away from my house. We asked for some information and the owner, who spoke great English, offered us a free trial of the class. Returning at 6:00, I got my ass kicked. It was a bunch of plyometric training, stuff that Solange's body hasn't seen in a fat minute. It was great though! The instructor was super charming, so yes, I bought a membership. I'm well on my way to becoming a real person in Buenos Aires.
To conclude:
Things that made me LOL
1 tiny lady dragging her dog along the block as he pooped in the street ( at least he wiped)
1 stray cat amongst 4 dogs ( sassy little puss. Sat there and stared as if she was bored. Take notes ladies)
1 incredibly large drive thru line at McDonalds (looked kinda like Taco Bell does around 1:30am)
1 lady walking and smoking ( I laughed because my first thought was "Clearly not a Tri Delta". She was tramp stamped too.)
I enjoy my class. Good people. I have to say though, first day of classes are always the best. They are disorganized and full of surprises, and no one is 100% sure if they're in the right place. Well, for a couple of my classmates, they weren't. We had one dude who barged in about 20 minutes after class started. He loudly introduced himself and in broken Spanish tried to ask if he was in "Luciana's classroom". No sir, its Liliana. After about 4 minutes of back-and-forth misunderstandings, the professor told him to go ask someone and come back. Never returned. Don't you love that excitement?! Slightly uncomfortable, but thoroughly entertaining for all spectators. Right after lunch, we lost another class mate who was in the complete wrong place at the wrong time. Some one was quite confused. I'm really surprised this didn't happen to me. But since it didn't, I can snicker at their mishaps and not feel bad about it (don't worry, I'm prepared for the karma).
After class, I ran some errands with a friend. When class ends at 3, and dinner at 9, killing time is essential. After cell-phoning, and banking and officing we decided now is the time to join a gym. On the way to the gym that advertised a student discount, we ran into a small gym just a few minutes away from my house. We asked for some information and the owner, who spoke great English, offered us a free trial of the class. Returning at 6:00, I got my ass kicked. It was a bunch of plyometric training, stuff that Solange's body hasn't seen in a fat minute. It was great though! The instructor was super charming, so yes, I bought a membership. I'm well on my way to becoming a real person in Buenos Aires.
To conclude:
Things that made me LOL
1 tiny lady dragging her dog along the block as he pooped in the street ( at least he wiped)
1 stray cat amongst 4 dogs ( sassy little puss. Sat there and stared as if she was bored. Take notes ladies)
1 incredibly large drive thru line at McDonalds (looked kinda like Taco Bell does around 1:30am)
1 lady walking and smoking ( I laughed because my first thought was "Clearly not a Tri Delta". She was tramp stamped too.)
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Yep, it's real (overwhelming)
Day dos!
Best news of the day: I HAVE CLOTHES! Luggage arrived around 7:00 today. All of my clothes are here, but for some reason they threw out my shampoo, conditioner, mouthwash, and shower gel. Strange.. Worse things have happened. Oh and my suitcase is missing a large chunk out of the corner, but again, I have clothes.
So the day went like this: Orientation at 10:00, which means 10:30. After that, empanadas! They were delicious, and I over did it. Who's surprised?? Then we had our city tour, which was fantastic. I don't know what it was about today. Maybe it's jet lag, maybe it was the missing luggage, maybe it was the two hour orientation about getting mugged at every corner and detailed descriptions of the aggressive Argentine man, but I was a little overwhelmed. I was pleasant, but mostly kept to myself and took in the city. There was so much to see. While everyone was posing and taking pictures together, I shot some pics but mainly just looked around. I probably seemed like an anti-social Annie but I'm just an observer before most things. I guess it's how I deal with culture shock. I have so much to see and do here! The overwhelming part: I'm gonna do it. Not all of it, but all that I can. Deep breath, exhale....whoa.
Okay so, another big part of this shin dig is immersion. I'm here to learn a culture. And not just the "Welcome to the Paris of South America" thing with big smiles, shiny buildings and souvenirs. I want the real authentic stuff. I need to meet some locals. It's next on my list. Tonight, everyone went out to the American bars and watched the Super Bowl. I was debating going with them. Maybe I should have... could have been a fantastic opportunity to meet kids my age, who are on the same crazy adventure as I am. But I didn't. Firstly, I had to arrange my stuff (doesn't it feel good to unpack and pretend like you have your life together?) Secondly, limited amount of friends (hey, it's day two. I'm working on it!) and no means to contact them ( cell phone search is first thing tomorrow morning). Thirdly, if I am looking for this legitimate authentic experience, a crowded American bar with American students watching American football might not be the best suit. Not knocking it because let's face it, girl loves her football. But I had a really good evening otherwise. Me and my host mother talked a whole bunch, and she gave me tips about the city and other places I should travel while in Argentina. It's not an ice cold Bud Light ( yes please?!), but it's pretty damn good.
So now that I have a closet full of clothes and a toothbrush to call my own, I'm feeling good. Chances are tomorrow will be good too!
Things that made me LOL:
4 black people ( the most so far! One dude wearing FUBU. Amen.)
1 girl wearing a romper ( and she almost made it look flattering! Kudos!)
1 intense public make out near Puerto Madero ( a chocolate milk river and rusty abandoned ship spells romance to me!)
1 70 year old woman tap dancing in the streets of San Telmo with a legit walkman, singing to herself and following people as they walked by ( And she was wearing a wind suit. Grandma, you win.)
Best news of the day: I HAVE CLOTHES! Luggage arrived around 7:00 today. All of my clothes are here, but for some reason they threw out my shampoo, conditioner, mouthwash, and shower gel. Strange.. Worse things have happened. Oh and my suitcase is missing a large chunk out of the corner, but again, I have clothes.
So the day went like this: Orientation at 10:00, which means 10:30. After that, empanadas! They were delicious, and I over did it. Who's surprised?? Then we had our city tour, which was fantastic. I don't know what it was about today. Maybe it's jet lag, maybe it was the missing luggage, maybe it was the two hour orientation about getting mugged at every corner and detailed descriptions of the aggressive Argentine man, but I was a little overwhelmed. I was pleasant, but mostly kept to myself and took in the city. There was so much to see. While everyone was posing and taking pictures together, I shot some pics but mainly just looked around. I probably seemed like an anti-social Annie but I'm just an observer before most things. I guess it's how I deal with culture shock. I have so much to see and do here! The overwhelming part: I'm gonna do it. Not all of it, but all that I can. Deep breath, exhale....whoa.
Okay so, another big part of this shin dig is immersion. I'm here to learn a culture. And not just the "Welcome to the Paris of South America" thing with big smiles, shiny buildings and souvenirs. I want the real authentic stuff. I need to meet some locals. It's next on my list. Tonight, everyone went out to the American bars and watched the Super Bowl. I was debating going with them. Maybe I should have... could have been a fantastic opportunity to meet kids my age, who are on the same crazy adventure as I am. But I didn't. Firstly, I had to arrange my stuff (doesn't it feel good to unpack and pretend like you have your life together?) Secondly, limited amount of friends (hey, it's day two. I'm working on it!) and no means to contact them ( cell phone search is first thing tomorrow morning). Thirdly, if I am looking for this legitimate authentic experience, a crowded American bar with American students watching American football might not be the best suit. Not knocking it because let's face it, girl loves her football. But I had a really good evening otherwise. Me and my host mother talked a whole bunch, and she gave me tips about the city and other places I should travel while in Argentina. It's not an ice cold Bud Light ( yes please?!), but it's pretty damn good.
So now that I have a closet full of clothes and a toothbrush to call my own, I'm feeling good. Chances are tomorrow will be good too!
Things that made me LOL:
4 black people ( the most so far! One dude wearing FUBU. Amen.)
1 girl wearing a romper ( and she almost made it look flattering! Kudos!)
1 intense public make out near Puerto Madero ( a chocolate milk river and rusty abandoned ship spells romance to me!)
1 70 year old woman tap dancing in the streets of San Telmo with a legit walkman, singing to herself and following people as they walked by ( And she was wearing a wind suit. Grandma, you win.)
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Yep, it's real
Disclaimer: This is my first attempt at blogging ever, don't make fun of me. I know the format is lame. I've been traveling. I'm working on it.
So here I am. I'm in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which is a whole hemisphere different to what I'm used to. It was crazy getting over here. Long story short, Blizzards suck, I can run fast in airports, and the captain of flight 997 is a darling for holding a plane 15 minutes for me. However, this also caused a little baggage mishap... such as not having any. So I'm here, in Buenos Aires Argentina, without a toothbrush, jammies and several other essentials. In the grand scheme of things, worse could happen. I think I love it so far. Is it dumb that it doesn't feel foreign yet? Here's the recount of the past 12 hours.
Got off the plane (the very last one because I sat in the very last row.. made good friends with the flight attendants though), went through several seemingly unnecessary customs windows and then sat in the airport with the "Dallas crew" for like 2 hours. Hurry up and wait is the airport game. good thing I'm easily entertained with people watching. Then we bused to the school for our host families to pick us up. My host mother is super sweet. Old lady wearing a floral chemise and a khaki tank and pants. Probably around 60. Got to the ment and unpacked my hand luggage ( there goes 5 minutes..) and then once again played the waiting game until orientation. Good thing about this round of the game is that there was a bed involved, so I passed out. Can't tell you how long I slept because I have no concept of time and I'm still without a cell phone. Orientation was quick and easy, but it's crazy how freshman I felt. I walked over there with my "mom" she dropped me off, and I'm left to face a room full of strange faces who all seem to know each other. I sucked it up, put that fake smile of confidence on my face, and looked around the room. Thank goodness I found a couple of the crew.
On the way home after orientation, I went in to a little shop to buy some water, and I met some girls on my program. Quite nice girls. We exchanged some info, and decided going out and making bad decisions should be out off until we at least knew the neighborhood.. We met up to go on a walk around 10:30. I got there a little early, so I walked up and down the street and probably looked like "one of those girls". Anyway, we met up and went to this cute part of town lined with bars and restaurants. We stopped at a cute bar, had a drink, and got out. Home by one. That's what's up.
Oh, and I only got lost like 3 times. Once in front of the girls. They dropped me off at my street, and I went the wrong way. They stopped and stared. As I hustled back, realizing the numbers were increasing rather than decreasing, they were laughing. " At least there's someone worse than me at getting lost" Yes, it was very embarrassing. I'm that girl. Whatever, it was day one.
Stay tuned for day two! City tour, and I'm sure at least 2 more embarrassing stories.
So here I am. I'm in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which is a whole hemisphere different to what I'm used to. It was crazy getting over here. Long story short, Blizzards suck, I can run fast in airports, and the captain of flight 997 is a darling for holding a plane 15 minutes for me. However, this also caused a little baggage mishap... such as not having any. So I'm here, in Buenos Aires Argentina, without a toothbrush, jammies and several other essentials. In the grand scheme of things, worse could happen. I think I love it so far. Is it dumb that it doesn't feel foreign yet? Here's the recount of the past 12 hours.
Got off the plane (the very last one because I sat in the very last row.. made good friends with the flight attendants though), went through several seemingly unnecessary customs windows and then sat in the airport with the "Dallas crew" for like 2 hours. Hurry up and wait is the airport game. good thing I'm easily entertained with people watching. Then we bused to the school for our host families to pick us up. My host mother is super sweet. Old lady wearing a floral chemise and a khaki tank and pants. Probably around 60. Got to the ment and unpacked my hand luggage ( there goes 5 minutes..) and then once again played the waiting game until orientation. Good thing about this round of the game is that there was a bed involved, so I passed out. Can't tell you how long I slept because I have no concept of time and I'm still without a cell phone. Orientation was quick and easy, but it's crazy how freshman I felt. I walked over there with my "mom" she dropped me off, and I'm left to face a room full of strange faces who all seem to know each other. I sucked it up, put that fake smile of confidence on my face, and looked around the room. Thank goodness I found a couple of the crew.
On the way home after orientation, I went in to a little shop to buy some water, and I met some girls on my program. Quite nice girls. We exchanged some info, and decided going out and making bad decisions should be out off until we at least knew the neighborhood.. We met up to go on a walk around 10:30. I got there a little early, so I walked up and down the street and probably looked like "one of those girls". Anyway, we met up and went to this cute part of town lined with bars and restaurants. We stopped at a cute bar, had a drink, and got out. Home by one. That's what's up.
Oh, and I only got lost like 3 times. Once in front of the girls. They dropped me off at my street, and I went the wrong way. They stopped and stared. As I hustled back, realizing the numbers were increasing rather than decreasing, they were laughing. " At least there's someone worse than me at getting lost" Yes, it was very embarrassing. I'm that girl. Whatever, it was day one.
Stay tuned for day two! City tour, and I'm sure at least 2 more embarrassing stories.
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