Home Sweet Home

Hello from the USofA!

So, both my suitcases were overweight by about 15-20 pounds each. Oh dear. There is a US$150 fee per overweight bag. Luckily, the customer service agent asisting me in Buenos Aires took pity on me. As I went to sign the recipt, instead of US$300 it only read US$150, he winked at me and told me to have a nice flight home, PHEW! The flight home was easy; there were no delays, no swine flue scares, no screaming children on the flight, and the cheese ravioli dinner was even good. I landed in Boston at Logan Airport without a hitch where I was greeted by my boyfriend Jason holding 2 dozen pink roses just for me :)

I've been home for almost 3 weeks now and the time really seems to be flying by. In the last 3 weeks I have been quite busy and very active. My first 2 weeks (July 8-20) were spent in Boston. My first few days were spent unpacking in my old apartment, saying hi to old friends and getting settled in Boston. Sunday, Jason and I took the ferry accross the Charles River to Charltown and toured the Tall Ships which were at anchor in ports around Boston taking a week long break from their Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge. Monday, I was excused from jury duty and attended game night with Jason and his boys at Jillians were we bowled and played pool. Tuesday, I went to Jason's New Hampshire property to play in the woods and on the lake. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I worked at Grace Lutheran Church and Needham Massachusetts Public Library doing community service work. I did, however, take a break from community service work to see the new Harry Potter movie which was great, although, as always not as wonderful as the books. Saturday and Sunday, Jason and I attended a fantastically fun graduation party for one of my sorority sisters in Newport, Rhode Island. Monday I finished up my community service and again attended game night, I bowled a 93 (a vast improvement from last weeks showing), yahoo! Since I'm 21, I had a couple drinks at Jillians, I'm officially a fan of the dirty martini.

Tuesday I almost missed my flight to DC but in a strange stroke of luck made it to Logan Ariport in 15 minutes via cab and arrived early in DC. I saw my dad for the first time since May and we took a flight together to West Palm Beach to stay with Grandma Hannah and Grandpa Milton for a week (July 21-27). We played tennis every day, my serve is coming along quite nicely and I was even able to play sets with Grandma Hannah and all her tennis gals which was a total blast. My Aunt Janet made the 2 hour treck from Melbourne, FL to West Palm Beach, FL twice to hang out with all of us which was also lovely.

Yesterday evening, I arrived HOME in Washington, DC. My mom picked us up at the airport with my puppy Lilly (who is actually not a puppy at all and is actually 13 years old). It is so nice to be home, I've missed this house and my room and of course my Mommy Carmen! I'll be spending a week here in DC (July 27-August 5) and then heading back to Boston.

I have had a wonderful study abroad experience, I loved Argentina and all the people I met there. I want to return someday soon to visit the wine country of Mendoza and the UNESCO Jesuit site in Cordoba. I know I will find my way back to the land of bife, malbec and tango it is just a matter of time. But now, for a little while, I am going to savor being home in the United States of America beacuse I really love it here too.

This concludes my semester abroad and this blog, thank you for reading!

Abrazos y besos,

Raquel

Twas the night before departure

Twas the night before departure and Raquel was packing packing packing! I can't believe I'm leaving Argentina in 25 hours. I've never been so excited in my life to return to the United States of America or so sad to leave a foreign country.

I was talking with my 3 close girl friends over a "goodbye lunch" this afternoon at one of our favorite cafés, Natural Deli. Natural Deli is an all organic restaurant and organic foods store in my neighborhood, an anomaly in Argentina. They have the most delicious scrambled eggs I've ever eaten that are served over a large slice of baguette toast and drizzled with basil pesto, yum. The girls and I were talking about the opinions that locals hold of "Americans". Opinions are mostly positive but a huge problem many people in South America have with citizens of the United States is that we refer to ourselves as Americans. I had never thought of this as wrong or offensive until arriving in Argentina, talking with locals and taking classes I've learned to watch my language.

My Geography of the Americas class here in Argentina showed me that the term America refers to North, Central, and South America; the term extends to 35 different countries, 35! America occupies the space from Canada to Belize, through Panama, islands off the shores of Florida and Guyana, in to Colombia and ends at the most southern tip of Argentina. With America being so vast, for citizens of the United States to refer to ourselves as American is perhaps globally patriotic in that we are referring to the entire land mass known as America but more just obnoxious. The television network TNT is broadcasting a new TV series called "Real American Cowboys" which will also be airing in Argentina. In the subway, I watched as someone scribbled over an advertisement for the show, he wrote in "North" making the advertisement read "Real North American Cowboys", he was offended and didn't want to be associated with the United States. When I think about it, I can see how people would perceive this as rude, we don't speak for all of the Americans in America, just the United States.

I realize this is nit-picky and that the United States of America is the only country in America that has "America" in its title, logically we are Americans, it is the name of our country. People in Argentina are called Argentines, what are people in the United States supposed to be called, United Statesians? No, we are Americans. Unfortunately, the rest of America hates this. Food for thought.

I'm gonna get back to stuffing suitcases. Homeward bound tomorrow, so excited. Cross your fingers that I don't have to pay overweight baggage fees. God Bless America (for clarification, I do mean the United States of America)!!

Love,

Raquel

Maybe not all men are dogs

Location: The neighborhood of San Telmo, the 500 block of Perú Street

Setting: Museum, a 4 story night club with neon lights and disco balls

Time: Wednesday's "after office" party around 1am, "early" because the club modestly closes at 3am

Music: Jump by Madonna off the "Confessions on a Dance Floor" album

Plot Line: Girls night out dancing!!!

The Story: I am dancing away to Madonna screaming at the very top of my lungs with my girls when a drunken idiot falls in to me and shoves me against the circle of my friends. I spin around and give him my very best death stare as if to say, "How dare you shove me when I'm dancing to the goddess!" Before I even get the chance, a well groomed older guy, late 20s early 30s steps in, takes the drunken idiot's arm, and says in beautiful Argentine Spanish, "Excuse me, you just bumped in to this girl. Please be careful, I think you owe her an apology." Of course this didn't go over well with the drunken idiot and he tried to start a fight. My protector hands my roommate Stef his drink and the two boys start arguing. After a few minutes and lots of hand gestures, the drunken idiot sincerely apologizes and the two men do the traditional Argentina face cheek bump hello/goodbye kiss. We hand the older man back his drink and I thank him in Spanish for dealing with the drunken idiot. He continues in Spanish and says to me, "I would really like to dance with you but you do have the liberty to say no." To which I responded, "You should know that I have a boyfriend in the United States." He responds, "No problem, I understand. Enjoy the rest of your time in Buenos Aires." We do the traditional Argentine face cheek bump and say goodbye.

Wow.

I didn't dance with a single boy all night and spent a wonderful evening dancing with the girls, we had so much fun. I've never had a man act such a gentleman in the club before! Tío Mikey, maybe not all men are dogs. Or, these two guys were working an angle and planned the shoving and ensuing argument as a ploy to get girls to dance with them, dear me I'm a suspicious being.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Love,

Raquel

Spice up your life!

Hola,

I don't have much time left in this crazy city. I've been trying to do things I haven't gotten around to doing. My friend Cat and I went on a Friday adventure to the Botanical Gardens and the Japanese Gardens last week, both were beautiful. Most recently, my roommate Stef came up with the idea for Restaurant Week BA. Starting this past Sunday and ending this coming Thursday we are going out to dinner at a different restaurant in a different neighborhood every night. Sunday was Mexican food at "La Fabrica del Taco," literally the Taco Factory. Argentines have something against spicy food so it was delicious to eat a taco smothered in picante green salsa. Monday was Moroccan food, probably some of the best lamb I've had in my short life. Tuesday was Spanish food, the tapas were really very awful. Tonight is Sushi, Wednesday will be Italian and Thursday will be French. It is so much fun to go out to dinner with all the friends I've made here and so weird to be saying goodbye as everyone leaves!

I'm almost done with finals, after an oral exam on Thursday I'm all done! Stef and I are heading out shopping to a housewares bazar, we've broken enough glasses and plates in our rented apartment that we need to buy replacements.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Love,

Raquel

GRIPE PORCINA aka SWINE FLEW at my University

I feel bad for the pigs so instead of Swine Flu I have been trying to use the official title, Influenza A (H1N1). During my break in class today, I ran in to a lady from the International Student Office who informed me that an acquaintance of mine, a female study abroad student from the US who attends my university, has contracted Influenza A (H1N1). She is doing fine and undergoing treatment, but I know someone who was Swine Flu, AAAHH!! I also just got home from class and upon checking my email received notification from the US Embassy that there are 800 confirmed cases of Influenza A (H1N1) in Argentina including 4 deaths. 

If it's not Dengue Fever, it's Swine Flu. At least it's too cold here now for the mosquitos to get me, although I did see one flying around in the elevator of my apartment building yesterday...I can't get over the fact that its June and on most days I'm walking around in a white wool coat wearing my favorite colorful plaid scarf and sometimes even my hot pink gloves. Brrr.

Even though the World Health Organization raised its worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6, meaning a global pandemic is underway, I'm really not too worried about this (I'm figuratively looking at you Grandma Hannah, don't worry!). I practice obsessive hand washing thanks to my Mommy Carmen and I'll be back in the US in less than 3 weeks. I have no flu-like symptoms to date and I intend to keep it that way. 

Best,

Raquel

Malba and the movies

Estimados Damas y Caballeros, esteemed ladies and gentleman:

¿Que pasa? I finally got out this week and had some fun!! Wednesday the modern art museum of Buenos Aires is free for students with Argentine student IDs. I LOVE my Universidad del Salvador student ID, it has gotten me discounts in Patagonia for entrance to Glacier National Park, in Puerto Iguazú for entrance to Iguazú National Park and free entrance to museums galore. Thanks USAL!

Malba is a smallish museum boasting 4 floors of very interesting artwork. Modern art isn't my favorite as I'm partial to older works in a more Degas, Monet or Renoir-like style. There were some famous artists represented in Malba like Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Fernando Botero and Antonio Berni. Unfortunately there were no cameras allowed inside the museum so I didn't get to take any pictures. My favorite piece was by Berni, one of the great names in Argentine art. Although I couldn't snap a picture of it, thanks to the worldwide web and google images the piece is below:

La Gran Tentación

The Great Temptation

A tour guide was talking to a group as I was admiring the picture. The piece of art is collage and paint mounted on 2 planks of wood about 15 feet wide and 20 feet tall. The piece is supposed to represent Berni's frustration with commercialism, note Cinderella in the top left with blue paint dripping down her face.

Thursday "Fantasmas de mis ex Novias" or "Ghost of Girlfirends Past" with Matthew McConaughey came out in Buenos Aires. My friend Cat and I went directly from class at 5pm to Abasto movie theatre to buy our movie tickets.  We waited in line for 1 hour to buy 4 tickets for to the 10:30pm showing. Movie ticket purchases work differently than in the states. You don't just buy tickets, arrive when you want and sit where you can, OH NO. When you buy tickets, you approach the ticket counter and pick out your exact seat on a computer screen, you are buying assigned seats like in a theatre, for example Row G, Seat 9 and that is where you sit. Everyone sits in their seat because if you sit in someone else's seat they ask you to move!

The movie was very fun and silly, a typical romantic comedy-in English with Spanish subtitles, yes! Afterwards we went to my favorite bar, El Living, and spent the night lounging in leather arm chairs and watching 70s music videos on the big projector screen. 

Hope everyone is doing well!

Live long and prosper,

Rocky

Cultural Differences

Hola todos,

I have been very busy the last few weeks, not becuase I have been doing anything particularly exciting but because I´m in the home stretch of my semester and FINALS have begun. So far I have written a 15-page paper (in Spanish) on ancient cultures and artifacts from northwestern Argentina and taken 3 in-class written essay exams (also in Spanish) in the History of Argentina, Geography, and the History of Art and Cultures in Ancient America and Argentina. All this work and studying doesn´t leave very much time for fun but on the plus side I have finished work for 2 of my 5 classes. Goodbye History of Argentina and History of Art and Cultures in Ancient America and Argentina!!

Now in my 4 months living in Buenos Aires, I have come to realize some interesting cultural differneces which are sometimes funny and sometimes astonishing.

COMMON COURTESY
Cat Calls: The women in Argentina ENJOY receiving cat calls and consider them compliments! Men often say "nice" things to you like "what lovely eyes you have", "you look beautiful today", "that shirt looks fabulous" etc. Women don´t respond but they do secretly smile and keep on walking. When women don´t get cat calls they are upset because it makes them feel that they are no longer young and beautiful enough to receive them.

Lost Items: In the USA I have returned to others and had returned to me various items like cell phones and wallets. In Argentina, I have had a broken digital camera stolen out of my suitcase by LAN airlines workers and I have had my wallet pick-pocketed out of my bag. Most recently, I misplaced my cell phone and when I called it a day later a crazy woman answered and has since been avoiding my phone calls and using my cell phone.

Tardiness: This typical Argentine charicteristic is most noticable in classes. Professors often arrive 10 minutes late, sometimes they arrive 40 minutes late, either way students are expected to wait! In the USA, if a professors arrives more than 15 minutes late class is cancelled.

TRANSPORTATION
Subway: In the US there is an unspoken rule that everyone on the subway gets off before people on the platform start boarding. In Buenos Aires as soon as the doors open everyone is on their own, get off if you can or get on quick!

Bus: When riding the public bus, men allow all the women in line to board first! Also, you will rarely see a man sitting down if there are women, especially older women, standing. Not the case in the USA.

Elevator: When getting on an elevator women are always allowed in first and when getting off an elevator women are always allowed out first, this sometimes but not always the case in the USA.

FOOD
Sick Food: In the USA when you are sick the absolute staple is some kind of chicken noodle soup/matzo ball soup. In Argentina not only is it rare to come across a chicken based broth it is rare to find clear soup. When people are sick they are given "bife de chorizo con hueso y pure de calabaza", 1/2 a T-bone steak with sweet orange squash puree. I miss Campbells!

I have another 2 in-class written exams, 1 more 15-page paper and 1 oral before I can be DONE with my semester. Hope this entry finds everyone happy and healthy.

Love to all from the southern hemisphere,

Raquel

My Argentine hairdresser and I have a SONG

Tony is my Argentine hairdresser. I will say that my friend Miranda found him first but I visit him weekly for a hair wash and relaxing scalp massage. The salon is called Thizo, it is located on the corner of Azcuénaga and Juncal about 8 blocks away from my apartment, it is very small, there are 3 hair stylists-all men, they enjoy playing techno music for their customers and serving sweet coffee during the day or wine in the afternoon. Tony never goes in to work before 2pm and usually takes a break in middle of the day to go to the gym. 

In recent weeks on the radio, at bars and clubs I have been hearing a song over and over. This past week while visiting Tony the song came on the iTunes playlist of the salon. I immediately exclaimed, "¿Quien es el cantante de este canción?" ("Who is the singer of this song?") and Tony said "David Bisbal". During our time together he not only played the song Ave Maria 3 times and told me how much he adores David Bisbal, but he also promised to bring me the CD when I see him again tomorrow so that I can download the whole CD to my computer.

Ave Maria by David Bisbal, fabulous. The chorus translated to English goes something like the following:

Ave Maria, when you are mine

If you love me, I will give you everything.

Ave Maria, when you are mine

To the same sky, I will take you.

And when I see you, I don't know what I feel.

And when I have you, I burn from within.

And more...and more with you I am falling in love.

You are what I want,

You are my treasure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EJNR-0N0vo

Enjoy the song! Watch out for his 10 flamenco influenced pirouettes, you can't help but smile.

¡Besitos!

Raquelita

A Trip of a Lifetime: Iguazú Waterfalls

Estimados Amigos:

¡Vale la pena que vayas a las Cataratas de Iguazú en la provinica de Misiones, Argentina! It is very worth the trip to visit the waterfalls of Iguazú in the province of Misiones, Argentina! 

Another Friday adventure, Stef, Miranda and I booked a trip to fly from el Aeroparque Jorge Newbery to Puerto Iguazú to visit the famous Iguazú waterfalls.  Argentines are so proud of their waterfalls that they refer to Niagara Falls as "the trickle". Now, I've never been to Niagara Falls so I can't judge but the 175 waterfalls spanning an area of 1.67 miles that make up the Iguazú Falls were truly spectacular. 

We took an early AM flight from Buenos Aires to Misiones and took a bus to our hostel. I walked in to the Hostel Inn in awe. We were met with an outdoor pool and poolside bar, a spacious indoor reception area with comfy couches, wooden tables set up for the hostel's bar/restaurant, 6 chandeliers hanging from the exposed beam ceiling, 2 pool tables and a ping pong table and 6 computers with free internet access. We had a three person private room with bath that had 20 foot ceilings and a tv. What luxury for US$12 per night ! 

The outdoor area of Hostel Inn

The indoor view of Hostel Inn while sitting at one of the restaurant tables.

We hit the ground running, booked our tours and outdoor adventures for the weekend and caught a public bus in to town to pick up a couple things. We got on the wrong bus coming back and got off on the outskirts of town, oops! We were attacked by ducks and chickens on a dirt road and ran to the bus stop for shelter. We managed to get back to the Hostel Inn just in time to grab a quick bite from the restaurant and take our first adventure tour. Phew.

Our first tour took us on a jungle exploration of the area surrounding Iguazú National Park in an open air truck. The land we toured is government controlled (by guards with huge machine guns) but if people want to brave the jungle, they can live on the land.  Its a hard life, dirt clay roads, little electricity, we passed people washing their clothes in the river and family farms of a few rows of corn, chickens, and 1 cow. 

We spent the afternoon repelling down the side of a cliff, going on a nature hike and doing a 800 meter zip line experience through the canopy of the trees. I saw a live tucan! We had a total blast and were totally exhausted by the time we got back to the hostel well after nightfall. Early to bed, early to rise.

Day 2 began at 6:30am, we entered Iguazú National Park at 8am. The waterfalls are so huge that the park created a train system that transports people from one end of the falls to the other. We took the train to the farthest point to visit Garganta del Diablo, Throat of the Devil, the biggest series of waterfalls in the park.  From the train station, its a 25 minute walk to the mirador, view point, along a suspended metal walkway over water. You can hear the roar of the waterfall from the start of the trail.

The metal walkway, that "cloud" is the mist coming off the waterfall

One of the panorama shots, the waterfall is HUGE!

Me in front of another side of the waterfall

After ogling at the Throat of the Devil we took the train to the other side of the waterfall to see the "Inferior Waterfalls". They are called Inferior simply because no waterfall making up this circuit is as large as the Throat of the Devil. This circuit is made up of many smaller waterfalls and although they are not as dramatically enormous I find them more beautiful.

The view from the top of the Inferior Waterfall circuit

We took a speedboat ride up the rapids and underneath the waterfalls and got SOAKING WET. Thank goodness they give you waterproof bags to put all your belongings in!

In the boat, before getting soaked

After getting all wet we took another boat over to a little island and laid out on the beach to dry off our clothes in the sun. Stef and I found a great little rock and sat down to relax and take in the view. 

Look at the rainbow!

On our hike out I fell, hard. I twisted my ankle pretty badly and smashed my knee on the way down.  I couldn't move for quite a few minutes so people were stepping over me on the trail. Stef helped me up and seated me on a rock. Unfortunately, we were deep in middle of the jungle and had a little more than a mile walk ahead of us including about 100 stairs to get back to the train. I limped out.

Back at the hostel I kept my legs elevated and covered my knee and ankle in ice packs. We had dinner at the restaurant in the hostel, it was Brazilian Asado night and there were Brazilian carnival dancers to go along with the meal that kept us all entertained and got the guests involved. I sat at the table taking pictures of everyone dancing and enjoying the music.

Day 3, Sunday, we headed home. GREAT TRIP!! Its been a week today since I twisted/sprained my ankle. It is very black, blue, green and yellow but I am now walking without limping and hope to stop wearing the ankle brace this week.

Hope everyone is doing well!!

Love,

Rocky

Friday Adventures, Mom and Poppy Visit and my 21st Birthday!

¿Como anda? 

Ok. I know it has been a little over three weeks since I wrote a blog entry but I have decided that for my last 7 weeks in la capital federal de la provincia de Buenos Aires en la gran nacíon de Argentina I am going to write an update at least once a week. You can hold me to that.

About a month in to the semester my friends Cat, Miranda and Stef and I all realized we don't have class on Fridays. We have since proclaimed that every Friday until the end of our time in Argentina we will go on Friday Adventures, meaning, we will go someplace new and do something we haven't done before every Friday.  Since my last update our Friday Adventures have included some interesting places all over the city. El Jardín Zoológico (the zoo) was one of my favorites, the sea lion show was fantastic.  We also went to a polo match, my first ever, on the national polo grounds on the outskirts of the city! The mens polo team of our university, La Universidad del Salvador (USAL), was playing in the final mens collegiate level polo match. We won in overtime, go team USAL! We also went out for Chinese food in the neighborhood of Palermo at a restaurant that Jason actually found online all they back in Boston, it was so nice to have ethnic food and break away from red wine and steak. We've since gone back to that restaurant twice, thanks Jason!

That brings us to Mom and Poppy's visit to Buenos Aires!!

They arrived on Thursday May 7 and we met for lunch at the Natural Deli, an all organic café near my apartment. Miranda's shares her May 7 birthday with Eva Perón so we had a little 21st birthday lunch for miss Miranda followed by our longgg español para extranjeros class. Thursday night I took the 'rents to El Desnivel my favorite parilla restaurant it was a huge hit, they loved the steak. To celebrate Mirandas birthday, went out for drinks at posh Le Bar renown for having the best cocktails in Buenos Aires, fact. My Friday Adventure with my parents was taking a double decker tour bus around the city and being very touristy. They gave me an early birthday present, a pink digital camera! I was taking pictures pictures all over the city, very exciting. Friday night a large group of us went to a tango lesson and milonga so Poppy could show off his dancing skills, we were all very impressed. The lesson and dance took place in swanky Club Europeo on the 21st floor of a skyscraper overlooking the famous Obelisco of Buenos Aires. Saturday we traveled to La Boca, a dangerous but touristy ghetto of Buenos Aires to visit an artist friend of my father's tango instructor back in the USA. Guillermo, the artist, was such a sweet and interesting man. We bought some artwork from him and spent an entire afternoon chatting, I'm supposed to take private tango lesson from he and his wife. Saturday night we went to a dinner and tango show performance that was absolutely out of this world.

Lunch in La Boca

Poppy and Guillermo in the art studio goofing around with an accordion 

Sunday, I turned 21!!

We had a wonderful day wandering around el Cementerio de Recoleta and visiting the open air crafts market. I took them to visit my favorite sausage man who makes the most delicious sausage and cheese baguette sandwiches and to the place where I buy fresh fruit salads drowned in freshly squeezed orange juice, yum! We started the evening with tequila and hors d'oeuvres at the hotel and then went out for dinner. The girls bought me the entire Twilight series in Spanish for my reading pleasure and language practice. Mom had cake and tea ready back at the hotel. Leave it to her to be in a foreign country, and set up a well executed lovely little celebration! Thanks Mama and Poppy! 

Eva Perón's grave in el Cementerio de Recoleta covered in flowers for her May 7 birthday.

Let them eat cake! Me posing with my assortment of birthday cakes :)

Monday we went tango shoe shopping and mom had to leave as I went to class. Poppy and I spent his last two days shopping and relaxing. We saw the new Star Trek movie which had me crying in the first 10 minutes, if you haven't seen it, go see it. We also had our last lunch back at El Desnivel because Poppy loved the steak so much. We parted ways on the corner of Avenida Santa Fe and Calle Callao as I headed to class and he headed to the airport. A wonderful visit!!

Thus concludes my very long winded update. I'll write again about my weekend trip to Iguazu Falls very soon.

Hope everyone is well. 

Lots of hugs and kisses,

Rocky

PS. Graduation congratulations to Tía John Ralls!!

Day Trip to Colonia, Uruguay

Hola todos,

After coming back from the US, I was in a little bit of a funk, I missed Boston and all the people there. To snap me out of it, cheer me up AND get 4 new stamps in my passport, Stef and I decided to plan a day trip to Uruguay.  Our good friend Miranda decided to join us.

The southwest coast of Uruguay is separated from the eastern coast of Argentina by Río de la Plata.  The water looks disgusting but the brown color is actually natural and is caused by sediments in the water. Ferry's run from Buenos Aires to Colonia, Uruguay and Montevideo, Uruguay daily.  It takes 50 minutes to get to Colonia and 3 hours to get to Montevideo. The three of us bought Buquebus ferry tickets to leave Buenos Aires for Colonia, Uruguay at 8:45am and return at 8:00pm. 

We arrived in Colonia on a "bright sunshiny day", exchanged some Argentine pesos for Uruguayan pesos (for reference, US$1 = Uruguay$25) and visited the tourist center for a map. Colonia is an old Spanish strong hold in the Río de la Plata region, the historic part of the town was actually a fort.  We wandered in to the historic district and never left.

The town was so quaint and absolutely adorable.  The main entrance in to the town takes you over an old draw bridge and through a massive stone gate. The streets were all cobblestone or gravel and there were tons of blooming flowers. Bogan villa, one of my favorites, was everywhere in hot pink, royal purple and flaming orange (see the picture below of me and Miranda under the tree). We hung out on the old peer watching sailboats go by and walked along the shoreline (picture above). We climbed to the top of the old white lighthouse built in 1845 and visited the ruins of the governor's old estate (picture below). After a spectacular lunch in an old mansion, we took a little siesta nap on a park bench on a cliff overlooking the water. There was just enough time to visit the basilica before we had to return to the dock for our ferry departure back to la capital federal. The basilica was still decorated for Easter.  In the US, churches are decorated with springtime flowers like tulips and lilies, the altar of the basilica in Uruguay was decorated with a hundred or so birds of paradise flowers.  I thought it was an interesting difference and absolutely beautiful.

             

Note:  Since my camera was broken and then stolen in Patagonia, all photos in this post were taken by Stefanie Bair.

Love to all,

Raquel

Easter in Boston, MA USA!

It has been quite some time since I wrote a blog entry! 

Semana Santa break in Argentina gave me some time off school and my wonderful boyfriend flew me back to the States to spend Easter with him and his family in Boston. 

My adventure started with an awesome taxi driver named Roberto who drove me the 45 minutes to Ezieza Airport on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. We talked the entire way. He is devoutly Catholic - crossed himself every single time we passed a church - but has many Jewish friends. Upon learning that I was half Catholic half Jewish, he broke out singing Hava Nagila. Don't laugh, I joined him. Roberto and I were driving down the highway for a good 5 minutes singing verse after verse.  For those of you who don't know Hava Nagila, this is the tune we were singing to with Hebrew lyrics. Oy vey! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFtv5qe5o3c&feature=related 

My flight was long and cold but I landed in Boston on Wednesday safely and surprisingly on time.  Jason met me at the airport with a my down jacket, Boston is much colder than Argentina! At his apartment, there was a beautiful bouquet of flowers waiting for me on his nightstand :)  He spent the afternoon in class and at crew practice.  I spent some time with sorority sisters and catching up with friends.  Jason made sure I ate at all my favorite places, Chipotle, Pho and I, Chicken Lou's, YUM!

Saturday was the much anticipated sprint race between Northeastern and Boston University for the Artlett Cup. Northeastern won!  I went back to the Northeastern boathouse with Jason's family; after a boat christening and a hearty diner breakfast, we went back in to the city to relax. Saturday night there was a white t-shirt party in honor of the victory over BU. I got to wear Jason's prize, a BU rowing shirt.  Belted with skinny jeans and heels my, my outfit was complete.

Sunday morning we woke up early to drive out to Needham, MA and attend Easter service at Grace Lutheran Church where Jason's mom is pastor. The service was lovely, I really enjoyed the singing. Easter brunch was served at the family home in Needham and the menu was absolutely delicious.   

Monday sent me back to BA.  I had a wonderful 5 days back in the USA.  It was really nice to see and spend time with so many people that I miss in Boston.  The rest of my week was spent getting back in to the BA swing and attending classes.  

Hope everyone is doing well!  I'll try not to be such a delinquent about updating my blog from now on.

Love,

Raquel

Party Time

Hola!

Thursday was Día del Veterano y de los Caídos en la Guerra de Malvinas aka no school in honor of the veterans and fallen soldiers of the Malvinas War.  If you want to anger an Argentinean refer to the Islas Malvinas as the Falkland Islands--they are very sensitive. In celebration of our day off Stef and I decided to have a party at our apartment Wednesday night.  We wrote letters to out neighbors above, below, and next to us introducing ourselves as US foreign exchange students and explained that we were having a party and not to be concerned if there was noise. We stocked the fridge with beer, wine and spirits. About 20 of our exchange student friends were invited of which about 15 could make it. The party started around midnight, we hung out playing cards and the all american game of beer pong.  Around 2am there was a knock on our door.  Our Argentine neighbors wanted to join the fiesta, the letter of introduction was taken as an invitation! The neighbors brought friends and then their friends brought friends and the party grew to 30.  Someone brought a guitar and was leading sing-a-longs in the kitchen.  It was fun, for a while.  Then people started getting drunk.  Men my age, especially Argentines, can be very rude and forward.  People started getting clumsy and dropping glass bottles.  The floor became filthy and began to resemble bar tar.  People were getting louder and more belligerent. 

A friend of mine had taken off her heels and borrowed a pair of flip flops.  She decided to leave around 6am and on her way out we stepped in to my room to swap out the shoes.  The door to my bedroom was closed, odd.  The lights were off, strange.  There were two Argentineans lying down on my bed making out!!

My friends said they saw the crazy Mexican side of me at 6am on Thursday morning.  I told everyone to get out of my apartment and the party was over in not so eloquent terms.  The Argentineans left, it can't be said for the entire group, but I have to say I was surprised and disappointed by how rude so many of them were, both males and females.  Some of my friends hung around to help clean up a bit, we stayed up talking and watched the sunrise on Thursday morning.  It was raining and the sky was gray but there was the most beautiful arco iris (rainbow) I have ever seen arching over the neighborhood.

Stef and I spent Thursday doing homework and cleaning.  She mopped the floors twice and our apartment is now sparkling.

Hope everyone had a fun weekend!

xoxo,

Raquel

My Madonna Cab Ride

There is a very interesting cab culture in Buenos Aires.  It is considered unladylike and even low class for a female to hale a cab off the street.  The more appropriate way to hire a cab is to call a RadioTaxi company, of which there are many.  You talk to an operator, tell them your address and cell phone number and when the cab is outside they buzz your apartment or call your cell phone.  RadioTaxis are very prompt, it takes 10 minutes or less for a cab to be at your front door.  

Stefanie and I were meeting some friends for dinner and called a RadioTaxi to the apartment to pick us up.  Our cab driver was totally awesome.  First of all, he drove a minivan. Then he asked us what kind of music we wanted to listen to.  He brought out a CD case and asked us if we had heard of this or that artist.  He insisted we listen to a male artist from Mexico because all the women say he has the sexiest voice around.  I wasn't impressed.  Then he started reading off artist names for us to choose from, and he said Madonna.  Of course I screamed ¡Madonna! He informed me that he had the best Madonna CD and I'm thinking, "Try me, my fabulous uncles have purchased for me every Madonna CD in existence, I have had extensive Madonna training" (thanks Mikey and John!).  He put in the Immaculate Collection, yes!  Stefanie isn't all that in to Madonna but the cab driver and I sang along to every single song with the windows down until we reached our destination. 

Classes this week were hectic.  I knew that all my classes would be in Spanish but actually sitting in a class where the professor is teaching you in Spanish is very different.  I look back at my notes when I'm home studying and it blows my mind that all my notes are in Spanish and I actually understand (for the most part) what is going on.   Crazy!

Yesterday evening, I consulted my handy-dandy Lonely Planet guidebook and found a cute little Italian restaurant to try.  I went out to dinner with 2 of my girl friends to Guido's Bar, what a dinning experience.  The food was absolutely delicious.  We didn't even order, the waiters just started bringing out dishes of the day created by chef Carlos done in a tapas to share kind of style.   One bottle of wine, three cold and three hot antipasti, risotto with carne, pasta with truffle sauce and three desserts later we began our walk home around 1am, three hours after we had arrived at the restaurant.  

As we were walking home we passed in front of a long line of Jasmine bushes, the blossoms smelled absolutely divine.  It is interesting that in Buenos Aires you can sometimes have the most wonderful smells of flowers, foods and perfumes and other times it smells like rotting garbage (discussed with Miranda Peterson).  Oh the city life.

The weather here is still wonderful, I was thinking it may have cooled down by now but the city is still hovering at a balmy 85F with lots of sunshine.  The sun is finally going behind some clouds, I'm going out for an afternoon jog.

Love,

Raquel

First Week of School

Hola todos,

Happy belated Saint Patrick's Day to all and a special happy 13th birthday to my Australian shepherd puppy Lilly.  Believe it or not, Saint Patrick's Day is a much bigger holiday in Argentina than one would have thought.  Apparently it became a popular trend a few years back to party at Irish pubs on the weekends instead of going to the normal techno blasting dance clubs.  As a result, a slew of pubs popped up all over the city and for whatever reason there is a high concentration of  pubs in the barrio of Retiro.  In celebration of the holiday, the city fenced off a 15 block section of the neighborhood for a huge block party open only to pedestrian traffic.  Then entire area was surrounded by scary looking riot police but inside the gates there were 40,000 people dressed in green, throwing beer and confetti, singing fútbol songs, getting in fights and having a general good time.  Lines to get in to the Irish pubs were hours in wait time so most people walked around the streets with open containers of beer, the police didn't mind at all.  It was a very fun time!!

Because it was so incredibly crowded, you can imagine that finding a bathroom would be difficult and waiting in line would take forever.  My friend Cat and I went on a mission.  I lead the way to a hotel located in the block party and explained to a security guard in Spanish that we were guests at the hotel, we were in.  The concierge apologized for the tightened security saying that a lot of women had been coming in asking to use the bathroom (ding ding!).  We continued with the small chat and eventually got in the elevator as if we were going to our room.  First up to the 5th floor then down to the basement, we used the staff bathroom and then walked out the front door of the hotel telling the concierge we would see him later. Mission accomplished.

Class this week was interesting.  I'm trying 9 classes and will drop 4 to take the minimum 5 required by the university.  Classes only meet once a week and of my 9 classes, I only had 3 this week.  Today the university is closed for a national worker's holiday so there is a big meeting of people at Plaza de Mayo, I'm watching it on the news from the comfort of my living room.

In honor of our day off of school, two of my Dutch friends threw a house warming party last night at their apartment in the barrio of Palermo Hollywood.  It was nice to see all the international kids and meet some locals.  Around 2am the party moved to a nearby dance club called Ink, 25 of us stayed out dancing under the disco balls and fog machines till 5am.

That's all the news from Buenos Aires for now.  I hope everyone reading this is happy and healthy.

Love,

Raquel

Back in Civilization

¡Che Boludo! I'm back in civilization after a week of traveling through the mountains and valleys of Patagonia. 

We left on Sunday and flew from Jorge Newbery, the local Buenos Aires airport, direct to El Calafate the capital of la provincia de Santa Cruz in Patagonia.  Airport security is non existant: no liquid restrictions, shoes and jackets remain on, if the metal detector beeps, so what?  We stayed at an adorable little hostel (my first hostel experience!) that had two bunkbeds for the four of us and a private bath.  We spent three days in El Calafate going on tours and walking around.  Highlights include a two hour horseback excursion through the Andes and then a ranch house dinner of hearty argentine steak, potatoes, squash, red wine and homemade rice pudding--delicious.  We also went on a guided nature hike in Glacier National Park and went to see Perito Moreno glacier.  Part of our tour included an up close boat excursion that brought us to the north face of the glacier, it is absolutely enormous, 50 square kilometers larger than the city of Buenos Aires and still growing.  

On Wednesday we took a bus from El Calafate to El Chaltén, a little mountain village in Glacier National Park.  There are no paved roads leading to El Chaltén, I'm talking a 4 hour bus ride through a desert valley on dirt roads, lets just say it was very bumpy.  El Chaltén is a town with about five streets and a population of 1,000 during the summer at 500 during the winter.  There is absolutely zero cell phone service in the area, frequent power outages, and slow to no internet depending on how hard the wind is blowing.  El Chaltén it is the national trekking capital of the world, people come for the mountains and the scenery.  I was definitely out of my comfort zone and in a backpacker's paradise.

We passed our time in El Chaltén hiking and eating scrumptious food.  All the water systems in Glacier National Park contain 100% drinkable water, it the most wonderful tasting water I've had in my life. We hiked to see a gorgeous waterfall on Wednesday but Thursday was our big hiking day.  We packed up our backpacks with fruit, salami and bread for lunch and embarked on an 8 hour 20+ mile hike to see Piedras Blanca (meaning white rocks). We had some great views of Fitz Roy mountain range (found on the Patagonia label brand) and had lunch on the piedras blancas overlooking a rushing river. The mountains were just beautiful, the day was so clear and the sky was so blue. "What are men compared to rocks and mountains?" as Elizabeth Bennet would say.  A storm blew in as we were coming down the mountain so things got very windy but everyone survived.

Friday was rainy and cold so I stayed in with a couple of the girls and recuperated from the hike.  There was so much wind it really sounded like the mountain was roaring.  Saturday we took our bumpy bus ride back to El Calafate and a plane back to Buenos Aires.  I was so happy to be back in the city and reunited with technology but there is something to be said for the quiet majestic beauty of mother nature.

Semester classes started on Monday so I'm just getting settled in.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy.

Love,

Rocky

I'm leaving for Patagonia TOMORROW

Yesterday I took the final exam for the curso intensivo de español, first a 2 hour written exam followed by a 10 minute one-on-one oral with a professor.  I won't know how I scored for a week or so but I think I did quite well.

Semester classes start on March 9 so I was all set to finalize my schedule and begin classes on Monday when Viviana, the international exchange student coordinator, passed out a list of start dates for every department.  I am taking classes in the history and geography department, social sciences department and language department.  Apparently, I don't have a single class until March 16.  I have been left with a week off and nothing to do...

I promised my sorority sister Eva that I would see penguins while in Argentina (she volunteers at the New England Aquarium every weekend and works with the penguins) and I've always wanted to go to Glacier Park so my friends Miranda, Cat and Stefanie and I decided to be spontaneous go to Patagonia.  In a matter of 3 hours, we booked a plane flight, reserved 2 hostels, and planned out our itinerary to go hiking and exploring and horseback riding.  This is the most spontaneous I have ever been in my life!  Tomorrow we are boarding a plane and flying south for the week :)

Last night mom and I went to a tango class.  As if it weren't enough that I'm dyslexic and still have issues between Left and Right the class was taught in Spanish, Izquierda y Derecha it is.  I have officially learned the basic 7 step combination of tango.  The dance hall rotated sets of tango music with salsa music so we spent quite a lot of time on the dance floor.  I've already bought a set of 4 tickets so that I can return and take more classes.  We had a wonderful time.

I didn't think I would ever say this but I'm getting sick of eating pastries for breakfast every day.  This morning Stefanie and I invited some of our girlfriends over and we cooked a HUGE american breakfast.    Bacon is very hard to find here but Mommy Carmen stumbled upon a carnecería (butcher shop) in out neighborhood that sells freshly sliced bacon, yes!  We scrambled 2 dozen eggs, toasted an entire loaf of bread, and cooked up a lot of bacon.  Breakfast was delicious.  

Mom is heading back to the US tonight but has assured me she will be back to visit with Poppy for my 21st birthday in May.  I can't wait.

I'll be in Patagonia from Sunday March 8 to Friday March 13 and be back in Buenos Aires on Saturday March 14.   Don't be superstitious about Friday March 13, in Argentina there is a saying:

El martes trece no te cases y no embarques.

Don't wed or start a trip on Tuesday the 13th.

So apparently be afraid of Tuesday the 13th not Friday, hmm.  I'll write an update all about Patagonia either from one of the hostels or when I'm back in Bs. As. 

Love,

Raquel

My New Apartment with Miss Stefanie

In the neighborhood of lower Recoleta, on Austria, in between French and Peña, there is a lovely apartment building where two girls are living blistfully in a 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 baths, kitchen, living room dining area, fully furnished Buenos Aires apartment.  Good riddance of the university residence hall Alfa Proyecto 2000, my forced tripple (although I liked my roommates!), and all those rules.  I will miss the daily maid service who came in to make my bed and clean the room Monday-Friday but it is so nice to have an apartment in the city with a balcony overlooking the chaos of the street below.  The student residence was in Barrio Norte, I will not miss...

1. Living in a very Jewish orthodox neighborhood where I get looks walking down the street for exposing my shoulders, arms and calves.  Its not my fault that all the women where ankle length skirts and at least 3/4 length blouses or that the men where full suits with wide brim hats every day!  Everything closes down Friday-Sunday for the sabbath, it became a real pain when I wanted a bottle of soda or a bag of twistos (Argentine cheeze-its) at 10pm on a Saturday and had to walk 10-15 blocks to find an open store.

2. The truck that woke me up every single morning.  You know how large trucks make a loud beeping sound when they back up (beep...beeep...beeep)?  This truck made a beeping sound that played Beethoven's Fur Elise.  Aside from the fact that Fur Elise is an extremely overplayed piano piece the rendition produced by the truck was even more terrible than usual.  I heard the "music" every day when the truck driver left for work in the morning and returned at night. It was dreadful.

3. The fluffy white yappy foo-foo dog who ran up and down Viamonte jumping up and down barking at all the big dogs in the balconies above.  Crazy dog.

Stefanie and I are enjoying our new apartment immensely.  Mom took us grocery shopping yesterday, what an experience!  The tea pot is boiling, time for breakfast.

I hope everyone is doing splendidly.

Love,

Rocky

Don't Cry for me Argentina...

So guess who saw EVA el Gran Musical Argentino yesterday? Yes, that would be me!  The school took all of the intensive spanish course students to see the show.  We got dressed up and went to an adorable old theatre called Teatro Lola on Corrientes, a busy crowded popular street downtown.  The musical was all in Spanish and funded by the la Provincia de Buenos Aires, says so on the program.  Since the government is footing the bill by way of tax payers dollars, the show is extremely censored.  The current administration and President Christina claim to be a Peronista government but they don't really support the workers.  President Christina has essentially created propaganda material to keep the image of Evita alive and attempts to create a similar adoration for herself.  The show was interesting, the dancing was great, it is definitely an experience to see a musical in Spanish.  Honestly, I like the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber version directed by Alan Parker and staring Madonna  loads better. Madonna does it better, obviously!  

After the show, a large group of my classmates and I tried a new bar (thanks lonely planet!) called El Living, literally meaning living room.  The walls were painted a deep red and decorated with pictures of crazy landscapes.  The bar had a small dance floor and the rest of the space was filled with rows of red and black leather armchairs.  We lounged and watched 90's music videos on a huge projector screen and danced whenever the DJ put on songs by artists like No Doubt or The Cardigans.  My new favorite bar.

My week was spent exercising my spanish brain and doing loads of homework.  We did manage to escape to the suburbs of the city to visit the towns of Tigre and San Isidrio.  An hour long boat tour in Tigre was very diverting, there were many rowing clubs and country clubs overlooking the water, simply beautiful.  I think my boyfriend Jason and his crew team should fly to Argentina for their spring break training trip instead of going to Tennessee, but thats just my opinion.  San Isidrio was a cute little town with some of the oldest most gorgeous houses I've ever seen.

Wednesday I spent the day at Migraciones trying to become a temporary Argentinean resident. Migraciones is like the DMV but 10X worse.  It is located off a big highway on the outskirts of the city.  The office has no air conditioning and takes up more than an entire city block. Hundreds of people are scattered about standing and sitting on the floor because there aren't enough chairs.  Everything is very disorganized and loud.  After turning in 5 different forms, signing another 4, shelling out 200 pesos, and getting finger printed yet again I was sent to a waiting room.  After a grand total of 5 hours and 45 minutes of waiting at Migracions, I am officially a legal resident in Argentina for the next 6 months.  Yahoo!

Mommy Carmen started spring break this week.  She is arriving in Buenos Aires tomorrow, I am so excited for her visit!

Look for an update about our adventures.

xoxo,

Rocky

The Argentine government fingerprinted me today...

The weather today was 92 and sunny with blue blue skies, gorgeous and very hot.  Life in Buenos Aires has been pretty hectic, so hectic that I had to buy myself a pretty yellow gerber daisy yesterday to calm down and remember to smell the flowers.  The University has finally given us some direction, lots and lots of direction.  I have been running around the city daily on all kinds of errands. 

Firstly intensive language classes started.  I attend class from 1:30pm to 5:30pm daily Monday through Friday and have homework nightly.  The Spanish classes get increasingly difficult by the day as do the assignments.  This past Saturday we had our first Trabajo Práctico, 1 of 4 graded assignments worth a large portion of our grade for the curso intensive de español.  We went on a field trip to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Fine Arts Museum) and were led through the galleries of Argentine artists by a guide.   The tour was all in Spanish and our assignment was to pick our two favorite pieces and take notes.  At home we had to do research and write an essay and a letter describing the pieces we chose, the art period, the style of the painter, a biography of the painter and our opinion of the piece.  We were assigned our second Trabajo Práctico yesterday.  We were each assigned a different province in Argentina and we have to travel to the province consulate in Buenos Aires and talk with consulate representatives to get information about our province.  On Friday I have to give an oral presentation about la provincia de La Rioja and its flora, fauna, terrain, history, food, culture, music, production, etc.  I am traveling to la Casa de La Rioja en Beunos Aires tomorrow morning before classes to gather all my information.

Now in addition to my intensive spanish class, I have to begin thinking about the real semester ahead.  The official start of spring classes is March 9.  There is a month long trial period of classes where students 'try on' 10 or more classes.  The minimum class requirement at Universidad del Salvador is 5 but during the first month students can attend and register for as many classes as they want.  We have a month to decide which classes to continue taking, on April 1 students send an email to the registrar with their final 5 courses for the semester. 

And finally, el Tramite de Residencia.  As a US citizen, I can legally stay in Argentina for 90 days with only my US passport.  Since I am here for 5 months, I have to apply for a 6 month residency with the Argentine government.  Before I can show up at Migraciones and apply for a Tramite de Residencia I have to get a Certificado de Antecendentes Penales en Argentina.  Today after I met with my advisor and before class, I went to el Registro de Reincidencias to get this certificate.  Before you go, you have to fill out an online form, you all know how I am with tecnology.  Well I encountered a problem, after I filled out the entire form with every minute detail of my life, I had to enter my passport number.  My passport number begins with a 0 and the form only accepts passport numbers that begin with a 1. What?! I showed up at the Registro with all my paperwork.  After filling out another "this is my life" form, paying 40 pesos, getting 10 official stamps and seals, and waiting for my number to be called, I was waved over to a desk by a very kindly looking old woman.  The first thing she said to me was that she loved my bag, I knew I was in.  I was wearing my "Gone With the Wind" screenprint shoulder bag and "Gone With the Wind" happened to be her favorite movie of all time.  We talked about old movies and discussed our favorite actors.  She fixed my passport number problem, yes!  We were getting along great and chatting when she pulled out a round red laser pad and scanned all 10 of my fingers for fingerprints, the Argentine government doesn't mess around!  I will be picking up my certificate tomorrow after class and guarding it with my life until I deliver it to Migraciones next week where I will encounter my second installment of Argentine government bureaucracy. 

More to come.

xoxo,

Rocky

The eagle has landed safely in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hola chicos! Que tal?

Welcome to my blog, the first and probably only blog I will ever create.   I am blogging for two reasons, one to keep everyone updated for the next 5 months while I frolic around the fabulous city of Buenos Aires attempting to emulate the porteños (the individuals lucky enough to be born in Buenos Aires) and two to keep a record of my adventures and experiences for Northeastern University and the Office of International Study Programs office.

I arrived in BA on the morning of Friday February 6, 2009 by way of a 9.5 hour direct flight from Atlanta.  After the 18 hour flight to India that Mom and I did over Christmas, 9.5 hours was a piece of cake.  Representatives from the Universidad del Salvador met me at the airport. Three other students and myself were piled in to a bus with all of our luggage and dropped off at Proyecto Alfa 2000 Residencia Universitaria and basically told to enjoy our weekend.

We definitely enjoyed our weekend.  

Friday was spent walking around the city and getting acclimated.  Saturday the school arranged for a guided tour bus to take us on a tour of the city.  We saw many of the main tourist draws the highlights of which were the following:

-The Plaza 9 de Julio, the 14 lane avenue with 7 lanes of traffic going in each direction complete with the enormous obelisco

-La Plaza de Mayo where la Casa Rosada (the Pink House, their version of the White House) stands containing Argentina's first democratically elected female president

-La Bombonera soccer stadium, home to Argentina's most famous local soccer team, Club Atlético Boca Juniors

-A colorful open air market in bohemian San Telmo with tango dancers on the street

-And my favorite, Cementerio de la Recoleta where Evita (Don't Cry for me Argentina!) has finally been put to rest. 

Saturday night some of my new girlfriends and I took a 15 peso (5 dollars US) cab over to San Telmo to eat at a local Parilla, literally meaning grill, restaurant.  I ordered "bife de lomo" a tenderloin cut of beef.  The waiter does not ask "How many ounces? How would you like that cooked?", the steak just appears and gets plopped on your plate from a large platter with a rather severe looking metal fork.  Of course the steak is perfect, medium, hot, juicy, tender-the best steak I have ever had.  The bottle of local San Telmo Malbec that we enjoyed was also fantastic.

The university is not providing us with much direction or information in regards to classes, tuition, books, the only thing I do know is that tomorrow is my oral exam to determine in what level of intensive Spanish class I will be placed.  I will take intensive Spanish 4 hours a day Monday-Friday until March 9 when semester classes start.  The 5 subjects in Spanish seem daunting but March 9 isn't for some weeks, I am going to focus on the material in front of me, brushing up on my spanish and learning to live with the porteños in Buenos Aires.

May the force be with you,

Rocky