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