These are just some things I've been told along the way about studying abroad:
"Eat too much, spend too much, and learn how to make time stand still!" - MP
"Study abroad is like a W. Right now you're on the high. You'll hit a low. Something exciting will happen and you'll remember why you did this. Then near the end you'll be ready to go home again. But by the time it's actually over, you won't want to leave." - MG
"I like to see people reunited, I like to see people run into each other, I like the kissing and the crying , I like the impatience, the stories that the mouth can't tell fast enough, the ears that aren't big enough, the eyes that can't take in all of the change, I like the hugging, the bringing together, the end of missing someone." -JSF
Monday, May 16, 2011
For once it would be nice to wake up and pour some cereal without getting in a fight with the box of milk.
One would think, that after living in a place for three months, that a person would become accustomed to certain things about life in that place.
Clearly, that's the idea in a perfect world, because I will never EVER get used to opening milk boxes in Buenos Aires.
They look like this:
And at one end of the top, there's a little flap with perforated lines like this \ / that you're supposed to tear open to pour, but here's the thing... You can't tear it open because the container is too thick, so you only options are to take a scissors to it or hack at it with a knife. And no matter how careful you are, it will all of a sudden once it's open squirt out everywhere because it's literally filled right to the top. These containers of milk are honestly like the chicken and the egg mystery because I have no idea how they closed off the container if it's literally filled to 100% volume with milk. I imagine it to be a very messy and inefficient process, much like opening it is.
So, here I am, finished with breakfast and once again splattered with milk.
Continuing with the theme of this post, and seeing as how it's just past my halfway mark here, I figured it would be a good time to discuss some of the other things I have learned since I've been here as well.
+ On a faucet, the hot is still on the left and the cold is still on the right... The left is just labeled "C" because in Castellano, caliente means hot
+ The water in the toilets really does spin in the other direction South of the Border
+ It's an absolute necessity to locate the flusher before you use the bathroom or else you will be in there searching for about 17 minutes because it's never, ever in the same place and sometimes it's even a surprise like a cord hanging from the ceiling or a pusher so high up on the wall you can't reach it while you're sitting down
+ Elevators here are old school, so not only are you responsible for opening and closing the doors, you also can only go to one floor at a time. So if you live in my building and the numbers on the elevator look like this:
8
L (upside down seven)
6
1 (supposed to be a five)
4
3
2
1
PB (Planta Baja, aka ground floor, also labeled 0 in some instances)
SS (Subsuelo, or basement)
And you're like me and live on the quinto piso and often get confused when you look and see that there's no button 5, you spend a lot of time in the elevator waiting on the wrong floor.
+ The Guia T is literally the Bible in a map version of Buenos Aires and should never be left at home
+ Post offices are far and few between so scouting one out is a chore. They also don't sell stamps at certain ones, and they're packed from the time they open until the time they close so you have to plan your whole day around going there.
+ Cell phone service for everyone is a pre-paid, month-to-month system, there's no such thing as two-year-long contracts
+ La Cabrera is one of the best steak spots in town
+ Coffee and alfajores at Havana are a delicious but deadly combination
+ Forget beef, the best ice cream in the world is in Argentina. There's a competition between whether Freddo or Volta is the best, but the winner is obviously without a doubt Volta.
+ Taking up a minor in la lingüística has finally paid off since everyone here speaks using yeismo y voseo
+ Many men aspirate their s's so I'm often confused by taxi drivers, at FedEx, and at the deli counter
+ Shamrock, The Alamo, and Magdalena's should all just be named "The American Bars of Buenos Aires"
+ You can't leave Terrazas before sunrise, and if you do leave before then, you probably shouldn't have even bothered to go
+ If you go to Groove on any given night there's a chance you'll end up in the middle of a foam party
+ Congo is the place to meet a young professional businessman, so when you walk in with your twenty-something group of girl friends, you will get pounced on
+ Spicy food in Argentina exists exclusively at Indian restaurants and in the muy picante sauce at La Fabrica de Taco
+ La Fabrica de Taco has the most delicious daiquiris and margaritas you will ever drink in favors including but not limited to original, strawberry, raspberry, grape, passionfruit, kiwi, watermelon, cilantro, mango, and pineapple
+ 90% of women between the ages of 18 and 32 are a size 00 or 0 and their hair is down to their waist. They also wear heels all day every day despite the treacherous nature of Buenos Aires sidewalks.
+ In a given day you will probably walk close to 4 miles and sit, but most likely stand, on public transportation for at least 35 minutes
+ Hora pico (rush hour) lasts all day, yet no one ever seems to be in a rush
+ Children wear school uniforms that are either smocks that make them look like bakers or tiny lab cots that make them look like tiny mad scientists
+ The exchange rate is 4:1 in the favor of Americans, but the prices are so inflated most things are pretty equal in value (groceries, clothes, shoes), some things are a lot cheaper (manicures, public transportation, taxis), and other things are expensive for no reason (paper, pens, nail polish, makeup)
+ Gap sweatshirts with the GAP logo across the front are extremely popular
+ Lacoste is worn by just about everyone
+ Nike is extremely popular here and has a store on just about every block, the only downside of this is that the majority of people here wear those weird mary-jane like sneakers with the toe cut-outs on them
+ Breakfast is allusive here and it is essentially not a meal
+ Medialunas are a coffee pairing staple and it is easy to eat three or four at a time
+ Everyone here drinks mate 24/7/365 and that's the only way they survive their day
+ Hockey here is jockey and is for the most part played on grass and by girls
+ The drinking age here is 18, and if you are a girl you will never get asked for an ID
+ Radio taxis are about the only thing in Buenos Aires that are efficient and progressive
+ When you plan to go away, you will travel by a bus that takes 15-25 hours and you won't think twice about flying
+ At the Jesuit universities, there's a dress code, and naturally that's where I'm taking all of my classes
+ UBA is the Universidad de Buenos Aires, it's free, and it's home to more than 300,000 students (and no that's not a typo) so the class size ranges anywhere from 7 students to 450 students
+ Monedas are equivalent to gold
+ Feather accessories are all the rage, but my friends and I are the only ones with them in our hair
+ Empenadas...yum (favorites consist of caprese, tuna, and humita)
+ Tuna salad here does not come on a sandwich, it comes in a bowl of heavenly goodness and includes tuna, lettuce, tomato, hard boiled egg, olives, and rice
+ Everything here comes with olives, but 99.99% of the time they still have the pit in them so you either nearly break a tooth or you have to awkwardly spit the pits out at the dinner table
+ Beer comes by the liter, making 40 ounce bottles look like nothing
+ Coke is all the rage, and you can't get a Pepsi or Pepsi products if your life depended on it
+ Gatorade comes in glass bottles, making it unsafe to bring with you when you exercise
+ Water in a restaurant is not free, only comes from a bottle (even though the tap water is safe to drink) and may actually cost more than your meal
+ When you eat in a restaurant you get charged cubierto and still have to leave a 10% tip
+ You realize it actually is inefficient that the US is the only country in the world that doesn't use the metric system, and you had to learn the conversion factors all over again for Celsius, meters, kilos, and liters because you didn't pay attention in 7th grade science class
+ Everything from avocados to Fay Bans to earrings are available for purchase off the street
+ Eggs, milk, and yogurt are not refrigerated
+ Ziploc baggies, Tupperwear containers, and Saran wrap are impossible to come by, as food preservation does not exist
+ In the USA we have the White House, in Argentina, they have the Pink House or Casa Rosada
+ Americans (and by Americans I mean Juli and I) are the only people who go for a run on the sidewalk, or outside at all
+ Argentineans have their own vocabulary, and Porteños have one of their own, too
+ It is never safe to cross the street, so you always run across as if your life depends on it, you know... since it actually does
+ Applying to become a temporary resident takes the same amount of time as your trip does
+ The police are rarely ever the good guys
+ You can get anything your heart desires delivered to your house: ice cream, sushi, empenadas...
+ There is a store for everything and in order to get everything on your shopping list you must go to all of them; the salami and cheese store, the grocery store, the fruit and veggies store, the bakery, the paper goods store, the box store, the gift bag store, the school supplies store, the book store, the pharmacy, the hair products store, the beauty supply store, the perfume store...
+ Kioskos are everywhere and open 24 hours a day, but at night you have to order though the gated off door
+ I've lived here three months and finally found somewhere that sells Doritos, Pringles, M&M's and Snickers
+ There is a protest somewhere in the city just about every other day, and all the non-essential places you know, for instance, the bankers union and the public transportation union have no qualms about going on strike for an undetermined amount of time
+ It is possible to ask someone where the nearest ATM is and they give you directions to the casino because the person didn't know what a cajero was so you had to ask where the machines that give out money are
+ You will go into a café, a store, or a restaurant and order something, then the person taking your order will look back at you like you have three heads, then repeat it faster and with more emphasis as if that's not actually at all what you ordered the first time, and when you say "si" they look astonished at the fact that they got it right and that that's actually what you want
+ You have to take your laundry to the laundry mat, but for $7 a week you get 3 loads washed with perfume-less detergent, dried, and folded, and you only have to walk 1/2 a block to drop it off and pick it up (but you're convinced that somewhere in the city there's probably a delivery service for this, too)
+ A 3 lane road will be 6 cars/colectivos/motorcycles wide
+ There's exactly one Wal-Mart in the entire province
+ Easy makes Home Depot and Lowe's look wimpy
+ Women breast feed not only in public but also on public transportation
+ The Sube pass is the greatest invention of all time and if I were to ever get robbed it would be the one thing I would honestly be upset about losing
+ 50-65 degree weather is essentially winter in Buenos Aires and everyone in the city breaks out their down coats, scarves, gloves, and boots and looks at you like you're crazy when you're walking around in a dress or jeans and a t-shirt
+ If you walk down the street and men don't click at or call after you, you get worried and are convinced you look like Shrek
+ Super Panchos come with french fries on them and are like heaven on a hot dog bun
+ There's ham in/on/with everything, even if it doesn't say so on the menu
+ I still don't eat ham but I have expanded my pallet to enjoy mustard and coffee
+ You have to sell your soul for more than 3 ketchup packets at McDonald's, a large here is the size of a medium at home, you don't have the option for supersize, and the only sauce for McNuggets is BBQ
+ Everything is done backwards in Argentina, and once you think you've figured out the system, they change it to make it even more backwards
I think this is just about everything, but I'm sure by the time I leave, I'll have another list twice as long as this one with even more Porteño absurdities.
Clearly, that's the idea in a perfect world, because I will never EVER get used to opening milk boxes in Buenos Aires.
They look like this:
And at one end of the top, there's a little flap with perforated lines like this \ / that you're supposed to tear open to pour, but here's the thing... You can't tear it open because the container is too thick, so you only options are to take a scissors to it or hack at it with a knife. And no matter how careful you are, it will all of a sudden once it's open squirt out everywhere because it's literally filled right to the top. These containers of milk are honestly like the chicken and the egg mystery because I have no idea how they closed off the container if it's literally filled to 100% volume with milk. I imagine it to be a very messy and inefficient process, much like opening it is.
So, here I am, finished with breakfast and once again splattered with milk.
Continuing with the theme of this post, and seeing as how it's just past my halfway mark here, I figured it would be a good time to discuss some of the other things I have learned since I've been here as well.
+ On a faucet, the hot is still on the left and the cold is still on the right... The left is just labeled "C" because in Castellano, caliente means hot
+ The water in the toilets really does spin in the other direction South of the Border
+ It's an absolute necessity to locate the flusher before you use the bathroom or else you will be in there searching for about 17 minutes because it's never, ever in the same place and sometimes it's even a surprise like a cord hanging from the ceiling or a pusher so high up on the wall you can't reach it while you're sitting down
+ Elevators here are old school, so not only are you responsible for opening and closing the doors, you also can only go to one floor at a time. So if you live in my building and the numbers on the elevator look like this:
8
L (upside down seven)
6
1 (supposed to be a five)
4
3
2
1
PB (Planta Baja, aka ground floor, also labeled 0 in some instances)
SS (Subsuelo, or basement)
And you're like me and live on the quinto piso and often get confused when you look and see that there's no button 5, you spend a lot of time in the elevator waiting on the wrong floor.
+ The Guia T is literally the Bible in a map version of Buenos Aires and should never be left at home
+ Post offices are far and few between so scouting one out is a chore. They also don't sell stamps at certain ones, and they're packed from the time they open until the time they close so you have to plan your whole day around going there.
+ Cell phone service for everyone is a pre-paid, month-to-month system, there's no such thing as two-year-long contracts
+ La Cabrera is one of the best steak spots in town
+ Coffee and alfajores at Havana are a delicious but deadly combination
+ Forget beef, the best ice cream in the world is in Argentina. There's a competition between whether Freddo or Volta is the best, but the winner is obviously without a doubt Volta.
+ Taking up a minor in la lingüística has finally paid off since everyone here speaks using yeismo y voseo
+ Many men aspirate their s's so I'm often confused by taxi drivers, at FedEx, and at the deli counter
+ Shamrock, The Alamo, and Magdalena's should all just be named "The American Bars of Buenos Aires"
+ You can't leave Terrazas before sunrise, and if you do leave before then, you probably shouldn't have even bothered to go
+ If you go to Groove on any given night there's a chance you'll end up in the middle of a foam party
+ Congo is the place to meet a young professional businessman, so when you walk in with your twenty-something group of girl friends, you will get pounced on
+ Spicy food in Argentina exists exclusively at Indian restaurants and in the muy picante sauce at La Fabrica de Taco
+ La Fabrica de Taco has the most delicious daiquiris and margaritas you will ever drink in favors including but not limited to original, strawberry, raspberry, grape, passionfruit, kiwi, watermelon, cilantro, mango, and pineapple
+ 90% of women between the ages of 18 and 32 are a size 00 or 0 and their hair is down to their waist. They also wear heels all day every day despite the treacherous nature of Buenos Aires sidewalks.
+ In a given day you will probably walk close to 4 miles and sit, but most likely stand, on public transportation for at least 35 minutes
+ Hora pico (rush hour) lasts all day, yet no one ever seems to be in a rush
+ Children wear school uniforms that are either smocks that make them look like bakers or tiny lab cots that make them look like tiny mad scientists
+ The exchange rate is 4:1 in the favor of Americans, but the prices are so inflated most things are pretty equal in value (groceries, clothes, shoes), some things are a lot cheaper (manicures, public transportation, taxis), and other things are expensive for no reason (paper, pens, nail polish, makeup)
+ Gap sweatshirts with the GAP logo across the front are extremely popular
+ Lacoste is worn by just about everyone
+ Nike is extremely popular here and has a store on just about every block, the only downside of this is that the majority of people here wear those weird mary-jane like sneakers with the toe cut-outs on them
+ Breakfast is allusive here and it is essentially not a meal
+ Medialunas are a coffee pairing staple and it is easy to eat three or four at a time
+ Everyone here drinks mate 24/7/365 and that's the only way they survive their day
+ Hockey here is jockey and is for the most part played on grass and by girls
+ The drinking age here is 18, and if you are a girl you will never get asked for an ID
+ Radio taxis are about the only thing in Buenos Aires that are efficient and progressive
+ When you plan to go away, you will travel by a bus that takes 15-25 hours and you won't think twice about flying
+ At the Jesuit universities, there's a dress code, and naturally that's where I'm taking all of my classes
+ UBA is the Universidad de Buenos Aires, it's free, and it's home to more than 300,000 students (and no that's not a typo) so the class size ranges anywhere from 7 students to 450 students
+ Monedas are equivalent to gold
+ Feather accessories are all the rage, but my friends and I are the only ones with them in our hair
+ Empenadas...yum (favorites consist of caprese, tuna, and humita)
+ Tuna salad here does not come on a sandwich, it comes in a bowl of heavenly goodness and includes tuna, lettuce, tomato, hard boiled egg, olives, and rice
+ Everything here comes with olives, but 99.99% of the time they still have the pit in them so you either nearly break a tooth or you have to awkwardly spit the pits out at the dinner table
+ Beer comes by the liter, making 40 ounce bottles look like nothing
+ Coke is all the rage, and you can't get a Pepsi or Pepsi products if your life depended on it
+ Gatorade comes in glass bottles, making it unsafe to bring with you when you exercise
+ Water in a restaurant is not free, only comes from a bottle (even though the tap water is safe to drink) and may actually cost more than your meal
+ When you eat in a restaurant you get charged cubierto and still have to leave a 10% tip
+ You realize it actually is inefficient that the US is the only country in the world that doesn't use the metric system, and you had to learn the conversion factors all over again for Celsius, meters, kilos, and liters because you didn't pay attention in 7th grade science class
+ Everything from avocados to Fay Bans to earrings are available for purchase off the street
+ Eggs, milk, and yogurt are not refrigerated
+ Ziploc baggies, Tupperwear containers, and Saran wrap are impossible to come by, as food preservation does not exist
+ In the USA we have the White House, in Argentina, they have the Pink House or Casa Rosada
+ Americans (and by Americans I mean Juli and I) are the only people who go for a run on the sidewalk, or outside at all
+ Argentineans have their own vocabulary, and Porteños have one of their own, too
+ It is never safe to cross the street, so you always run across as if your life depends on it, you know... since it actually does
+ Applying to become a temporary resident takes the same amount of time as your trip does
+ The police are rarely ever the good guys
+ You can get anything your heart desires delivered to your house: ice cream, sushi, empenadas...
+ There is a store for everything and in order to get everything on your shopping list you must go to all of them; the salami and cheese store, the grocery store, the fruit and veggies store, the bakery, the paper goods store, the box store, the gift bag store, the school supplies store, the book store, the pharmacy, the hair products store, the beauty supply store, the perfume store...
+ Kioskos are everywhere and open 24 hours a day, but at night you have to order though the gated off door
+ I've lived here three months and finally found somewhere that sells Doritos, Pringles, M&M's and Snickers
+ There is a protest somewhere in the city just about every other day, and all the non-essential places you know, for instance, the bankers union and the public transportation union have no qualms about going on strike for an undetermined amount of time
+ It is possible to ask someone where the nearest ATM is and they give you directions to the casino because the person didn't know what a cajero was so you had to ask where the machines that give out money are
+ You will go into a café, a store, or a restaurant and order something, then the person taking your order will look back at you like you have three heads, then repeat it faster and with more emphasis as if that's not actually at all what you ordered the first time, and when you say "si" they look astonished at the fact that they got it right and that that's actually what you want
+ You have to take your laundry to the laundry mat, but for $7 a week you get 3 loads washed with perfume-less detergent, dried, and folded, and you only have to walk 1/2 a block to drop it off and pick it up (but you're convinced that somewhere in the city there's probably a delivery service for this, too)
+ A 3 lane road will be 6 cars/colectivos/motorcycles wide
+ There's exactly one Wal-Mart in the entire province
+ Easy makes Home Depot and Lowe's look wimpy
+ Women breast feed not only in public but also on public transportation
+ The Sube pass is the greatest invention of all time and if I were to ever get robbed it would be the one thing I would honestly be upset about losing
+ 50-65 degree weather is essentially winter in Buenos Aires and everyone in the city breaks out their down coats, scarves, gloves, and boots and looks at you like you're crazy when you're walking around in a dress or jeans and a t-shirt
+ If you walk down the street and men don't click at or call after you, you get worried and are convinced you look like Shrek
+ Super Panchos come with french fries on them and are like heaven on a hot dog bun
+ There's ham in/on/with everything, even if it doesn't say so on the menu
+ I still don't eat ham but I have expanded my pallet to enjoy mustard and coffee
+ You have to sell your soul for more than 3 ketchup packets at McDonald's, a large here is the size of a medium at home, you don't have the option for supersize, and the only sauce for McNuggets is BBQ
+ Everything is done backwards in Argentina, and once you think you've figured out the system, they change it to make it even more backwards
I think this is just about everything, but I'm sure by the time I leave, I'll have another list twice as long as this one with even more Porteño absurdities.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
I will never forget where I was the day the towers fell...and I will never forget where I was when Osama Bin Laden was pronounced dead. Talk about living through history.
It was all worth it. God Bless America.
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