Or home away from home, I really should say. But still, close enough!
I'm sorry it's been so long since I've last written!
In the last week, so many things have happened! I have a working Blackberry with an Argentina phone number, I've been going for walks with one or two of my friends around our barrio during the day and at night so we pretty much know where all the important stuff is, I also learned that some of my friends actually do live nearby, I've gone through two subte passes, I've ridden the colectivo, I've made purchases in stores in Spanish by myself, and I even made my first Argentine fashion purchase!
All and all, I'd say it'll be no time at all before I'm head over heels for this place.
So now for a recap:
As far as orientation goes, it's been pretty mindless. They split us into groups alphabetically, then gave us 2 evaluation Spanish tests, then reorganized us into two new random groups. We've sat through the same presentations twice, so that's obviously been beyond boring. We've finally started getting course lists though and Dr. Fox FINALLY emailed me that my course approvals went through...which is great except for just like I predicted hardly any of those are actually being offered this semester. SJU really needs to learn how to act when it comes to this paperwork kind of stuff but oh well. I'm not worried about it since I know my professors will be understanding and help me get new things approved even if it's a giant pain in the rear Dr. Fox and I don't always see eye-to-eye. Tomorrow we have our first university visit, and it's to the school that specializes in economics and happens to be in my barrio so that'll be cool I think. Registration here is a lot different than at home. First we're going on a tour to each of the four schools we can take classes at. Then, we get to pick between 3 and 5 classes at each school that we think we might want to take, and we have time to go sit in on them, read over the syllabuses, and decide if we actually think we can handle and enjoy the class. It's called the shopping period, and I know it's going to be stressful but it'll be really worth it and I'm sure I'll get some great classes out of it! I'm very excited for classes to start too, even though that's not for at least another two weeks. I just want to start making some Argentine friends!
A side note about Argentines: 99% of them are tall, skinny, and gorgeous. Ay dios mio.
Anyway, my home stay has been good so far! Cristina is an awesome cook. I've been introduced to so many new favorite foods...tortas, empenadas, chicken and mushrooms in a cream sauce over rice...y todo es delicioso! I could literally live off of just emepenadas for the rest of my life. No joke. They come in every flavor imaginable: vegetable, tomato/basil/cheese, tuna, chicken, ham/cheese, beef, pumpkin...and the list goes on. I turned my bed which was essentially me sleeping on top of just the mattress springs into a plush oasis by putting the mattress from the trundle bed on top of my other mattress. Score!
I'm still working out the kinks on finding somewhere to play tennis. Cristina's son, Santiago, played until he hurt his foot, so I'm going to give him a call to see what's up. Sometimes you have to join a club, sometimes you can just go play. Depends on where you go I guess. And it's possible that once I'm a student if any of the schools have courts that they use for their teams, I can have access to those too! We've been told we're allowed to join a sports team here, but depending on how much of a commitment it is I'll think about it. I don't want to devote all of my free time to playing tennis. I want to stay in shape but I also want to be able to travel and go sightseeing too on the weekends.
Wednesday night three of us decided to wander around our barrio to look for a place to hang out. After about a 20 minute walk that we were pretty sure was going to be unsuccessful, we found this tiny crack in the wall upstairs bar called Aldonza. It turned out to be a chill little place so we had a few glasses of Quilmes, the local light beer brewed in Argentina, while we sat and talked.
Thursday night I decided I was too tired from only getting 5 hours of sleep from the night before and still adjusting to everything new, but apparently I missed quite a sight. A friend of mine lived in BA for awhile in high school so she knows a local club promoter and got on his list at this place called Club 69. Club 69, for anyone who's never been to Buenos Aires before can pretty much can't really be described, but from what everyone said it's this crazy mecca filled with cross-dressers who dance provocatively on stage all night long. And by all night long I mean until 6am.
Welcome to night life in Argentina; no one sleeps here. EVER.
Friday night I manned up and went out again. We had a glass of wine at a place near us called Manhattan Club when we all first met up. Two things about Manhattan Club. First, it's not actually a club at all. It's essentially a glorified diner. Second, it embodies all that Argentine's think about how the US looks and is like, which is more than a little off-base. Manhattan Club's architecture includes a mini-replica of the Empire State Building on the roof and diner-style seating inside. That's it. Nothing on the menu is particularly Americanized. There's a few records and memorabilia hanging on the walls inside, but all and all it makes America look like a total drag.
After that, we decided to go to this half indoor, half outdoor club called Congo that was recommended in one of the guidebooks or on Lonely Planet or something. It was a cool place, but the crowd was mostly older. After that we moved on to Groove, our last stop for the night. This was my first real BA club experience and I have to say I don't know what I expected, but I'm pretty sure this wasn't it. They let the "American girls" cut the line but we still had to pay full entrance fee (which is bizarre since girls don't pay to get in anywhere here...ever). When we got inside, it was this two story kind of cramped space that was absolutely FILLED with people wall-to-wall. Some band was playing and everyone from Argentina was going wild over them, especially the guys. Everyone except us knew every word to every song. Admittedly, the band wasn't half bad. But once we made our way up to the stage we got stampeded by this group of guys rushing the stage. Ouch. And then some bitty spilled her drink all over my new shirt/the first fashion purchase I made in Argentina. And all over my hair, my jeans, my shoes...well I think you get the idea. I was a little less than thrilled. But we had our fun and decided to leave shortly thereafter at 4:30am which is very early to call it a night in Buenos Aires time.
Yesterday, we spent our first weekend tanning in La Plaza de Los Naciones Unidos. It was sunny without a cloud in the sky and 85 degrees! ¡Que lindo! The park was perfect, with a beautiful solar-powered metal flower to look at. After about 6 hours and getting some significant color, we headed to an outdoor market in Recoleta. They literally had EVERYTHING there from purses to clothes to shoes to jewelry to kids toys to food to entertainment and even more! It was a great little place and everything was locally made. I got an awesome hand carved leather bag for 60 pesos, orange juice from oranges that are only grown in argentina that honestly tasted like candy and didn't have any sugar in it-literally just hand squeezed orange juice-for 15 pesos, and candy coated figs (with candy coating like on candy apples) dipped in caramel corn for 10 pesos. Three great purchases, and all for less than $25 USD. The peso is about 4:1 on average, so it makes shopping here quite tempting. Also, obviously I'm shipping a crate of those oranges home at the end of my trip. I don't think I can live without them. The guy at the stand gave us each a piece of orange to eat before we bought the juice, and it was so good it was like I was in produce heaven. They're a very concentrated color of orange, so the juice is a lot darker than orange juice in the USA. But my hands were literally coated with all natural sugar courtesy of mother nature, I just couldn't get enough of it!
There were so many great things at the fair from local artisans, it's definitely a place I want to go back to before I come home to pick up things to bring back. I also get the feeling there are quite a few places like this, so we'll see what they have to offer too. But they had things there I would love to have at home like beautiful hand made jewelry, tea cups made in the local style for the tea they drink here called matee, beautiful mini paintings of local landmarks, cute toy gifts for little cousins, and this really neat thing one woman made called the "Tree of Life" which was very fragile mini tree sculptures made out of gold or silver wire with different colored itty bitty stained glass petals, each tree being a different color and representing a different virtue. They were so cool looking and the little prophecy thing that went with it is cute, they're just super delicate so it's probably going to take me the next 5 months to figure out how to pack that one.
After the market, we came home. We made 10:30 dinner reservations at a place rated very highly for it's beef since on the weekends our host mom's don't feed us, we have to fend for ourselves. I'm sure most of the time I'll be cooking at home since Cristina offered that I can use the kitchen whenever I'd like, especially on the weekends. But it being our first week here, we were craving some authentic Argentine beef. Since we were going out after dinner, we were more than a little over dressed for the restaurant we went to since it was a local beef gem, but we were in a group of 7 so it wasn't so embarrassing. The menu for this place was literally 15 pages long. They could make your every culinary wish come true. The 7 of us split a couple of bottles of red wine, two salads, the biggest platter of calamari I've ever seen, an order of eggplant, and then 6 of us ordered steaks and one of my friends ordered veal. It was one of the most savory meals I've ever eaten. My steak was so tender and cooked to perfection. I asked our mozo to cook my meat a little more well done since here, you have to order meat medium to have it come out medium well, and the norm is to order it medium-rojo or medium-rare. I essentially got two giant steaks out of the deal because of the way the cook butterflied the steak to cook it. Incredible. And the most mind-blowing part of dinner is that with tip it was 110 pesos a person. That's just about $30 a person for wine, calamari, salad, a side dish, and a WHOLE STEAK. I'm really starting to love Argentina :)
After we were sufficiently stuffed we went to a party hosted by kids that go to school with one of my friends, but are studying here in a different program. It was a weird feeling being at a party with all Americans in Argentina...I wasn't really a fan. But we weren't there too long and then we all went to go check out this club mecca known as Las Terazzas. It's 15 clubs that are all connected and it has everything from gay clubs to clubs that spray foam at you. Apparently it's something you have to see once in your life, and the thing to to is to stay there until the sun rises because it's right on the river and beautiful.
Unfortunately, my once in a lifetime experience was not last night because some of our guy friends, like all of us Americans, didn't know ahead of time that the club had a dress code. The girls were all fine, obviously, but guys aren't allowed to wear shorts out here so they wouldn't let two of the boys in. This was one of those situations where people's true colors really show, because half of our friends just said see ya and went into the club to enjoy themselves, while the rest of us knew how bummed we would feel if we got turned down and sent away so we went to join the boys and just went to hang out downtown in Palermo where there's a bunch of bars and music played in the street and whatnot. It worked out well because we were able to meet up with the rest of our friends who were in Palermo and we just picked a bar and sat there and talked for a few hours. It was fun, and we still got home pretty late, but not late enough to see a sunrise. But there's always next time!
Tomorrow, a few people from the program are going to this thing at a café after orientation called a Spanglish Exchange. It's like speed dating for languages. They pair up extranjeros learning Spanish and Argentines learning English and you talk to each other, 5 minutes in Spanish, 5 minutes in English about anything you want! And then you move onto the next person, and repeat. It's like an hour and a half long I think and you get a free drink at the café (my options are quite limited since I don't drink coffee) which is nice too, and it's only 30 pesos so that's about $8 USD. Nice, cheap fun! And hopefully a great way to meet some local twenty-somethings, too.
Now it's homework time. Yes, that's no typo. I have homework from orientation and I'm not even in class yet. But it's just to force us to get to know our neighborhoods and become comfortable asking for things in stores and what not. The assignment is just to go with our partner around our neighborhood and take creative pictures that fit into 10 categories that we were given. Then we have to find a store that sells CDs and save them on there. All and all a pretty fun homework assignment and something that's super easy, too!
I'm going to try and not wait so long before my next blog post so that it's not so long and no one has to frantically BBM and Facebook message me to make sure I'm alive ;)
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
So all big cities, not the same.
After spending more than a fair amount of time in NYC, to the point where I have a permanent mental map of Manhattan and the NYC subway system, and living just outside of Philadelphia for 9 months of the year, I mistakenly considered myself a city girl.
Oh boy was I wrong.
Today started out with my first real Argentine breakfast. Things are so different here! The yogurt comes in bags and and is only a little thicker than milk. The orange juice with pulp doesn't really have that much pulp in it, and it's pretty tart. And unlike in America where breakfasts and brunches are huge and filled with eggs and all different kinds of breakfast sausages and bacon and pancakes and waffles and well, you get the point, breakfast in Argentina is muy pequeño. Just some granola y yougur y fruta. But it's delicious nonetheless, and great fruit is in season here! Speaking of fruit, the names of the all fruit and vegetables and clothing items and just daily words are different in el español rioplatense. I need to make a point of learning them all so I can sound more like a local.
So after el desayuño, Cristina went with me to make sure I got to my first day of orientation in one piece. With her by my side, I was fearless walking around and taking the subte. Unfortunately, that was short-lived. Once orientation was over (which included a fantastic lunch outside that got my skin to be a pretty rosy sun-kissed color and a walk through some beautiful plazas) it was up to me to get myself home.
Fat chance.
I quickly realized that today was the first time in my whole life that I have ever traveled alone in a city. And once orientation was over it was starting to get dark out so my commute which includes a 10 minute walk to the subte station followed by a 25 minute subte ride and another 10 minute walk to the apartment suddenly seemed like it was 3 hours long. So after getting lost and more than a few tears, I made it home in once piece. It was a heck of a first day but live and learn. Turn right off the subte instead of left. I got it now.
Tomorrow is the second day of orientation. We have our first Spanish evaluation. Yikes!
I also have to find my own way again. But I've learned where to get a map, and a new Berry, and have written directions so really I have all my bases covered. Back to my old USA planning self, thank goodness.
Anyway, time to "aterrizar" before my second big day. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more familiar, even though according to the weather my sunshine is going to be traded for rain :(
Bummer! ¡Buenos Noches!
Oh boy was I wrong.
Today started out with my first real Argentine breakfast. Things are so different here! The yogurt comes in bags and and is only a little thicker than milk. The orange juice with pulp doesn't really have that much pulp in it, and it's pretty tart. And unlike in America where breakfasts and brunches are huge and filled with eggs and all different kinds of breakfast sausages and bacon and pancakes and waffles and well, you get the point, breakfast in Argentina is muy pequeño. Just some granola y yougur y fruta. But it's delicious nonetheless, and great fruit is in season here! Speaking of fruit, the names of the all fruit and vegetables and clothing items and just daily words are different in el español rioplatense. I need to make a point of learning them all so I can sound more like a local.
So after el desayuño, Cristina went with me to make sure I got to my first day of orientation in one piece. With her by my side, I was fearless walking around and taking the subte. Unfortunately, that was short-lived. Once orientation was over (which included a fantastic lunch outside that got my skin to be a pretty rosy sun-kissed color and a walk through some beautiful plazas) it was up to me to get myself home.
Fat chance.
I quickly realized that today was the first time in my whole life that I have ever traveled alone in a city. And once orientation was over it was starting to get dark out so my commute which includes a 10 minute walk to the subte station followed by a 25 minute subte ride and another 10 minute walk to the apartment suddenly seemed like it was 3 hours long. So after getting lost and more than a few tears, I made it home in once piece. It was a heck of a first day but live and learn. Turn right off the subte instead of left. I got it now.
Tomorrow is the second day of orientation. We have our first Spanish evaluation. Yikes!
I also have to find my own way again. But I've learned where to get a map, and a new Berry, and have written directions so really I have all my bases covered. Back to my old USA planning self, thank goodness.
Anyway, time to "aterrizar" before my second big day. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more familiar, even though according to the weather my sunshine is going to be traded for rain :(
Bummer! ¡Buenos Noches!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Once upon a time, I didn't know how to tell temperature in degrees Celsius.
Sadly, that's a true story.
And it's so hot in beautiful Buenos Aires, but I couldn't brag to you how great it actually is, since when I asked my taxi driver and my new Argentine mom, they both said "treinta grados" which to me means 30 there should be snow on the ground.
Side note: I heard it snowed 3 inches at home. HAHAHAHAHA SUCKERSSSSS
Alas, after a little internet research I've learned it's approximately 72 degrees here today and sunny. And the heat is the best kind of heat, with no humidity! My host mom agrees summer in the US is far too sticky, which she would know since come to find out, she lived in Houston, TX for 3 years.
Lucky for me, that also means for all of my Spanish mishaps, she speaks and understands English so we can communicate no matter what. Score!
Anyway, let me get back to starting at the beginning of my travel story.
The flight to get here was so long...and uncomfortable. It almost made the $5000 upgrade to business class seem worthwhile. But, 11 sleepless hours later, here I am in one piece.
We were told when we got to the airport we would have time to go through customs, get our luggage, and pick up a phone or maybe a calling card to get in touch with our families in the States. Whelp, they lied. It was absolute mayhem at baggage claim, and naturally my luggage was some of the last to come off of the plane. Then I had to show my passport to a million different people, including one lady who yelled at me in Spanish for not having signed my passport (oops) and one guy who made sure I knew 3 times that if I was staying for more than 4 months I needed a visa and why didn't I already have one. I reassured him that my visa paperwork would be filed by tomorrow afternoon, but I don't think he believed me. Then it was literally a mad dash with my two overweight suitcases (yup, I was right...Mom and Dad had to pay an extra $120 to get my luggage on the plane), large Longchamp bag, and backpack weighted down with every electronic device I own to find the people from IFSA who were meeting us there. Then they threw a prepaid taxi slip at us with our orientation packet, put us in cabs, and we were off.
My cabbie and I had a lovely conversation on the way to my new home. I honestly don't know where the Spanish I was speaking was coming from, but let me tell you, I did not miss a beat. I got a Buenos Aires geography lesson, learned about religion, smoking, drinking, the police, what other countries are safe to travel to and which ones aren't, his family, my neighborhood. We pretty much covered it all. IN SPANISH. I wouldn't keep saying that except for I'm still so impressed with myself.
The barrio my mom's apartment is in is called Belgrano. It's a cute little area that my taxi driver informed me is "seguro y tranquillo." In a little while she said she was going to show me around. It'll be nice to not be the one giving the tours for a change. My Argentina mom's name is Cristina. Her apartment is cute, small, but cozy. I have my own room and she and I share a bathroom. Cristina is about the same age as my parents, and they've all already met via Skype! I have two Argentine siblings. A 28 year old brother and a 30 year old sister. Ordinarily I'd just refer to them as Cristina's kids, but evidently they come for dinner twice a week so I have a feeling I'll be getting to know them and their significant others fairly well over the next five months.
Speaking of dinner, Cristina made lunch and it was so good I can't wait to see what's for dinner tonight! We had pollo and a patata y huevo salad with palitos de pan and for dessert there were fresh manzanas y duraznos! Om nom nom.
Im starting to settle into my new room, hopefully I'll have a picture up of it too. The apartment has a 5th floor balcony view of the neighborhood. I have a bed who's lack of comfort level needs to be remedied...I'm hoping there's a store that sells eggcrates and pillowtops somewhere in this city! I also have a TV, a desk with internet, and a wall of closet space, a heater, and an air conditioner. Everything a girl could want! Some of Cristina's previous students have left behind books and things from their trips, so I'll have to poke through those later.
I already have a shopping list going. Typical. But only for necessary things so far like hangers and face lotion and sticky tak to hang my mementos from home. Speaking of home, I'm going to need a second bed pillow and extra sticky tak since I have a loca mother that I love dearly. I opened my suitcase to find two of my very own homemade pillow cases and a series of 8x10 pictures of all of my favorite places at home <3
There really is no place like home, mom. Love you!
For right now I just have a little bit of unpacking left to do, and then I think it's time to go exploring!
¡Bienvenido a Buenos Aires!
And it's so hot in beautiful Buenos Aires, but I couldn't brag to you how great it actually is, since when I asked my taxi driver and my new Argentine mom, they both said "treinta grados" which to me means 30 there should be snow on the ground.
Side note: I heard it snowed 3 inches at home. HAHAHAHAHA SUCKERSSSSS
Alas, after a little internet research I've learned it's approximately 72 degrees here today and sunny. And the heat is the best kind of heat, with no humidity! My host mom agrees summer in the US is far too sticky, which she would know since come to find out, she lived in Houston, TX for 3 years.
Lucky for me, that also means for all of my Spanish mishaps, she speaks and understands English so we can communicate no matter what. Score!
Anyway, let me get back to starting at the beginning of my travel story.
The flight to get here was so long...and uncomfortable. It almost made the $5000 upgrade to business class seem worthwhile. But, 11 sleepless hours later, here I am in one piece.
We were told when we got to the airport we would have time to go through customs, get our luggage, and pick up a phone or maybe a calling card to get in touch with our families in the States. Whelp, they lied. It was absolute mayhem at baggage claim, and naturally my luggage was some of the last to come off of the plane. Then I had to show my passport to a million different people, including one lady who yelled at me in Spanish for not having signed my passport (oops) and one guy who made sure I knew 3 times that if I was staying for more than 4 months I needed a visa and why didn't I already have one. I reassured him that my visa paperwork would be filed by tomorrow afternoon, but I don't think he believed me. Then it was literally a mad dash with my two overweight suitcases (yup, I was right...Mom and Dad had to pay an extra $120 to get my luggage on the plane), large Longchamp bag, and backpack weighted down with every electronic device I own to find the people from IFSA who were meeting us there. Then they threw a prepaid taxi slip at us with our orientation packet, put us in cabs, and we were off.
My cabbie and I had a lovely conversation on the way to my new home. I honestly don't know where the Spanish I was speaking was coming from, but let me tell you, I did not miss a beat. I got a Buenos Aires geography lesson, learned about religion, smoking, drinking, the police, what other countries are safe to travel to and which ones aren't, his family, my neighborhood. We pretty much covered it all. IN SPANISH. I wouldn't keep saying that except for I'm still so impressed with myself.
The barrio my mom's apartment is in is called Belgrano. It's a cute little area that my taxi driver informed me is "seguro y tranquillo." In a little while she said she was going to show me around. It'll be nice to not be the one giving the tours for a change. My Argentina mom's name is Cristina. Her apartment is cute, small, but cozy. I have my own room and she and I share a bathroom. Cristina is about the same age as my parents, and they've all already met via Skype! I have two Argentine siblings. A 28 year old brother and a 30 year old sister. Ordinarily I'd just refer to them as Cristina's kids, but evidently they come for dinner twice a week so I have a feeling I'll be getting to know them and their significant others fairly well over the next five months.
Speaking of dinner, Cristina made lunch and it was so good I can't wait to see what's for dinner tonight! We had pollo and a patata y huevo salad with palitos de pan and for dessert there were fresh manzanas y duraznos! Om nom nom.
Im starting to settle into my new room, hopefully I'll have a picture up of it too. The apartment has a 5th floor balcony view of the neighborhood. I have a bed who's lack of comfort level needs to be remedied...I'm hoping there's a store that sells eggcrates and pillowtops somewhere in this city! I also have a TV, a desk with internet, and a wall of closet space, a heater, and an air conditioner. Everything a girl could want! Some of Cristina's previous students have left behind books and things from their trips, so I'll have to poke through those later.
I already have a shopping list going. Typical. But only for necessary things so far like hangers and face lotion and sticky tak to hang my mementos from home. Speaking of home, I'm going to need a second bed pillow and extra sticky tak since I have a loca mother that I love dearly. I opened my suitcase to find two of my very own homemade pillow cases and a series of 8x10 pictures of all of my favorite places at home <3
There really is no place like home, mom. Love you!
For right now I just have a little bit of unpacking left to do, and then I think it's time to go exploring!
¡Bienvenido a Buenos Aires!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Twenty-four hours from now I'll be sitting in JFK...
So here I am, blogging...which is weird for me since I've never kept a serious journal for any part of my life. More than anything it feels like I'm talking to myself, or setting up some pseudo online-dating profile. "I enjoy long walks on the beach, listening to music, staring at the stars..."
As if.
But seriously, as absolutely frigid and windy as it is in the 203 right now, I'm starting to think I'm actually going to miss it. I tried printing pictures to bring with me, because it tells you in all of those pre-departure guide books to bring trinkets from home and pictures of the people you care about. So three hours of fighting with my printer later, I ordered my prints online and I'm picking them up at Walgreen's tomorrow sometime after 8:52 but before noon. Technology 1, Lindsey 0.
Speaking of technology, I'm pretty sure my 7th Blackberry in 3 years just bit the dust. Talk about perfect timing. So I guess that's technology 2, Lindsey 0. I can't believe I'm going to be without my Berry for a good 48-72 hours. Sometimes I think a technological hiatus would do me some good; cancel out the cancer waves to my brain and lay off the carpel tunnel for a while. But being on a new continent in a new hemisphere with so few people there that I know that I can literally count them on one hand isn't exactly settling. I mean, I'm stoked, don't get me wrong. But it'd be nice to get off the plane and have a little reminder of home.
Oh well. By dinnertime tomorrow I'll be saying sayonara to my little Verizon bff until July.
Speaking of sayonara, I've come to thinking that there are very few things I'm actually going to miss about home. In no particular order they are:
-English
-The fam
-Ice rinks & the sports that go on inside them
-Glee
-The movies debuting on March 4th
Oh and shamrock shakes, but only because I had one today, and I'm figuring there's a good chance that there won't be any south of the border since I'm pretty sure there aren't a large percentage of Irish people in Argentina. But then again, who knows.
And that's really it. Otherwise I'm pretty much game for my bottled water to start coming in bags, not having to listen to the same twelve songs on repeat on the radio all day long (which reminds me I have to call tomorrow to suspend my XM), 2-year overpriced cell phone contracts, obesity, paying $300 for one textbook, and reality television.
Thank you in advance to anyone who's reading this to keep up with my life in sudamérica. I apologize in advance for two things: my sarcastic humor mostly because I think I'm hilarious, and anyone who knows my dad can vouch for the fact that that's a genetic trait, and the fact that more and more Spanish will be creeping it's way on here. I'm not at all an advocate for online translators, but for my strictly English-speaking familia, here's a link that you'll probably, most definitely find helpful:
http://www.spanishdict.com/
It's better than nothing. And if you're feeling ambitious or decide that it's so warm and sunny in Argentina that you just have to hop on a plane for a visit, this one might just be a touch more appropo:
http://www.livemocha.com/
Well, I guess that's it for now. Time to say goodbye and goodnight to America, and all things red, white, and blue and hello to sweet dreams about my future Porteños (that's what people from Buenos Aires are called; people from a port city, which is what Buenos Aires is) and all of my exciting South American adventures!! Hopefully I won't be having any more nightmares about having to sit in between two huge, smelly people for my 11 hour plane ride and I found out today that a first-class upgrade is not an option, irregardless of which pilots you know who fly for the airline, unless you're willing to pay a mere additional $5,000 plus a $250 seat change fee...but I'm thinking since that's already happened, there won't be any twilight repeats...too bad there's no guarantee my subconscious won't be turned into reality. But worst case scenario, it'll make for a funny arrival blog post!
Here's my address, for GoogleMapping and letter writing purposes:
Moldes 1552 5º B, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Now it's really time for bed. I have to rest up before my big day tomorrow. I need my strength to lift my two well-over-the-fifty-pound-weight-limit bags (thanks in advance, Mom and Dad, for paying what I'm sure will be a hefty-no pun intended-oversize baggage fee! You're the best!) , survive the longest plane flight I've ever taken to-date, and be hyped up and ready to get myself to orientation as soon as I step off the plane in BA!
So keep in touch, I'll still have email and facenovel and this blog and I'll get my new Argentine BBM pin out to everyone who needs it as soon as I'm connected!
¡Hasta luego, América! It's been real <3
As if.
But seriously, as absolutely frigid and windy as it is in the 203 right now, I'm starting to think I'm actually going to miss it. I tried printing pictures to bring with me, because it tells you in all of those pre-departure guide books to bring trinkets from home and pictures of the people you care about. So three hours of fighting with my printer later, I ordered my prints online and I'm picking them up at Walgreen's tomorrow sometime after 8:52 but before noon. Technology 1, Lindsey 0.
Speaking of technology, I'm pretty sure my 7th Blackberry in 3 years just bit the dust. Talk about perfect timing. So I guess that's technology 2, Lindsey 0. I can't believe I'm going to be without my Berry for a good 48-72 hours. Sometimes I think a technological hiatus would do me some good; cancel out the cancer waves to my brain and lay off the carpel tunnel for a while. But being on a new continent in a new hemisphere with so few people there that I know that I can literally count them on one hand isn't exactly settling. I mean, I'm stoked, don't get me wrong. But it'd be nice to get off the plane and have a little reminder of home.
Oh well. By dinnertime tomorrow I'll be saying sayonara to my little Verizon bff until July.
Speaking of sayonara, I've come to thinking that there are very few things I'm actually going to miss about home. In no particular order they are:
-English
-The fam
-Ice rinks & the sports that go on inside them
-Glee
-The movies debuting on March 4th
Oh and shamrock shakes, but only because I had one today, and I'm figuring there's a good chance that there won't be any south of the border since I'm pretty sure there aren't a large percentage of Irish people in Argentina. But then again, who knows.
And that's really it. Otherwise I'm pretty much game for my bottled water to start coming in bags, not having to listen to the same twelve songs on repeat on the radio all day long (which reminds me I have to call tomorrow to suspend my XM), 2-year overpriced cell phone contracts, obesity, paying $300 for one textbook, and reality television.
Thank you in advance to anyone who's reading this to keep up with my life in sudamérica. I apologize in advance for two things: my sarcastic humor mostly because I think I'm hilarious, and anyone who knows my dad can vouch for the fact that that's a genetic trait, and the fact that more and more Spanish will be creeping it's way on here. I'm not at all an advocate for online translators, but for my strictly English-speaking familia, here's a link that you'll probably, most definitely find helpful:
http://www.spanishdict.com/
It's better than nothing. And if you're feeling ambitious or decide that it's so warm and sunny in Argentina that you just have to hop on a plane for a visit, this one might just be a touch more appropo:
http://www.livemocha.com/
Well, I guess that's it for now. Time to say goodbye and goodnight to America, and all things red, white, and blue and hello to sweet dreams about my future Porteños (that's what people from Buenos Aires are called; people from a port city, which is what Buenos Aires is) and all of my exciting South American adventures!! Hopefully I won't be having any more nightmares about having to sit in between two huge, smelly people for my 11 hour plane ride and I found out today that a first-class upgrade is not an option, irregardless of which pilots you know who fly for the airline, unless you're willing to pay a mere additional $5,000 plus a $250 seat change fee...but I'm thinking since that's already happened, there won't be any twilight repeats...too bad there's no guarantee my subconscious won't be turned into reality. But worst case scenario, it'll make for a funny arrival blog post!
Here's my address, for GoogleMapping and letter writing purposes:
Moldes 1552 5º B, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Now it's really time for bed. I have to rest up before my big day tomorrow. I need my strength to lift my two well-over-the-fifty-pound-weight-limit bags (thanks in advance, Mom and Dad, for paying what I'm sure will be a hefty-no pun intended-oversize baggage fee! You're the best!) , survive the longest plane flight I've ever taken to-date, and be hyped up and ready to get myself to orientation as soon as I step off the plane in BA!
So keep in touch, I'll still have email and facenovel and this blog and I'll get my new Argentine BBM pin out to everyone who needs it as soon as I'm connected!
¡Hasta luego, América! It's been real <3
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