To be continued...

To be continued this march as I take on another adventure working and going to graduate school in Buenos Aires...

Almost at the End...

At the casa rosada!




Noche de museos!

I can't believe it has been two weeks since I last updated! I have been so busy with the end of the year for school, finals and trying to do everything before my time in mi querido Buenos Aires runs out! (only 3 more weeks to go)

I will mostly update on the key things of the past two weeks:
I have been working like crazy for Susana, who is in need of translations for her upcoming thesis which she needs to turn in the day I leave. Because of that, I have been literally busting my butt off trying to get things done for her in time. She is a sweetheart and I adore her, but she also gives me tons of work and sometimes it's a little hard to keep up. Surprisingly, she offered me a position at the school she is a director of, for a year, where she will pay for an apartment for me and three friends and we would be payed very generously. As much as I love Buenos Aires and as tempting as it is, I can't know how things will play out, and I do not want to live here for an extended period of time again. The city is actually really dangerous, and the lifestyle here is very tiring. I kind of miss the US! (yes, I said it)

Besides that, I have also been working at the English institute, teaching underprivileged kids. It has been an amazing experience, but unfortunately the last class is this coming Monday. I will really miss all the great people I've met there.

About two weekends ago, I met up with McKenzie to tour a little bit of Buenos Aires, and hit up some spots I've been missing (regrettably my whole life). We met up for breakfast in San Telmo and later went to the San Telmo fair, which is absolutely huge and runs a while neighborhood wide. It was also the anniversary of the fair, so tons of people were dressed up in costumes celebrating and having fun. It was really great, and very funny. After we got our shopping done, we landed right at the Casa Rosada, which is the Argentine White House. We decided to get closer and see if by any chance they were doing tours, and we were so happy to find out that they were! So we toured that, and when we finished we headed over to the Rose Garden in central Palermo.
The Rose Garden was unlike anything else I have ever seen, it was so beautiful and kind of seemed out of place for a busy and dirty city like BA. But it was still awesome, and was made even more awesome by the fact that McKenzie and I decided to rent a rowboat! The day was perfect, and I definitely saw a lot more than I thought I would at the beginning of the day.

A lot of my time, regrettably, has been spent at Starbucks and parks the last couple of days. I have shared a lot of Starbucks time with PoLin, Heidi, Katie and Becca, and lovely park days with Rebecca!
Becca and I are also planning a trip to Mar Del Plata (beautiful beach just outside of BA) for the first weekend in December. It will be spectacular and definitely needed! It's so crazy that we will soon be home in Baltimore.

A week or so ago, the girls and I also attended the Noche de Museos (Night of Museums), which was made up of all museums in Buenos Aires open until about three or four AM and for that one night, they were all free. Although I only went to two (I was tired!), it was awesome to walk around the streets that late and see so many people out. Everyone was taking advantage and the thought of going to a museum late at night was actually pretty cool.

This past Monday night we attended La Bomba De Tiempo concert, where about 6 or 7 persons play different acoustic instruments and create awesome folkloric kind of dances. It was very lively and enjoyable.

Tomorrow is a very hectic day. In the morning I will be going to UP to sign up for finals, then come back home to make a delicious dessert for thanksgiving and then head over to Po's for some shopping for dinner. We will be making asado (bbq) instead of a turkey, since turkeys are really hard to find here, but of course, we will add our own little twist!
Tomorrow night I am going to spend the night at my grandparents' house, since Friday morning MY MOM ARRIVES IN BUENOS AIRES!!! I am so excited, and I can't wait to share the last three weeks of my trip with her! Much more to come once she gets here.

Hasta luego amigitos <3

Joint Blog

By the way, check out an amazing joint blog, created by four american girls abroad in Argentina (I'm one of them), as we take on the hilarity of cat calls in Buenos Aires!

www.quehermosasos.blogspot.com

Gauchitos

I'm finally back to update about the craziness which has taken place after Halloween.
I'm sorry I haven't updated, but my last week of school (yes I'm FINALLY finished!), was one from hell.

Let me just preface this entry, by mentioning that the school system in Argentina is WAY different than the one in the US. While lectures, homeworks and readings are all basically the same, the classes are not only 3 hours, but you must pass the class as a whole AND the mid-term in order to be able to take the final. If you fail the mid-term, then you fail the class, which means you can not take the final for a chance to raise your grade. This means, I had to make sure I not only showed up to at least 80% of classes, but that I studied my butt off for my mid-terms. It was a very tough week.
And this all happened the week after Halloween.

Mon-Thur: International Relations, Spanish, Society and Culture, History, Public Relations presentation, Public Relations mid-term and a Society and Culture presentation which included a 7-page outline. This was why I couldn't update.

Once it was all over, the girls and I decided to head off to San Antonio de Areco, for the yearly Gaucho Festival. The festival is made up of thousands of people from around the country, meeting up at an estancia or ranch, to celebrate the traditional culture of the Gauchos, aka south american cowboys. After eating a delicious choripan at a cute local restaurant, the Gauchos paraded in with their horses, traditional attire (white shirts, black pants, burettes), and lounged around all day, drinking beer and inviting ladies for a ride on their horses. Heidi, Katie, Amelia, Po and I all had our turns! It was a blast, and I definitely got my wish to ride a horse while in Argentina. They also threw tons of piropos our way, and wanted our numbers (which were obviously not provided). The bus ride was pleasant and cheap, and it was a very good day overall.

Also this past weekend, I visited Maru and Gaby at their country club home for Erin's birthday. The party was on Friday, and I was asked to chaperon all the kids on the bus from school to the country club. It was quite an experience, Argentine children are very loud and actually quite potty-mouthed. Let's just say the arrival brought me a sigh of relief. It was a beautiful day out and the party lasted until dusk, and later that night I slept over. It was very relaxing, I always enjoy my time out in the country.

I also want to mention that last week I began working as an English teacher, and it has been wonderful so far. The kids are attentive and willing to learn and honestly, I couldn't ask for more! They listen to what I have to say and seem genuinly interested in learning the English language. The classes go by fast, and I never run out of things to talk about them. They are so interested in learning about America!
The director of the program, Eugenia, recommended me for a job with one of her friends, translating a thesis she's working on. I met with Susan on Monday at a local coffee shop and she offered me the job, which I am excited for it will help me with my finances until I leave! It is definitely much needed!

Now that I am done with school, I will have to focus on helping Susana, but I also want to cross things off my bucket list in Argentina. My mom is actually heading over here in 2 weeks, so once she arrives I will most likely be with her most days. First thing I will be checking off: Puerto Madero as the girls and I will be seeing Social Network there on Friday!

Until the next one mis amigositos! <3

Halloween

lost!

lost!

pre-club lost!

angie!


What a crazy week! I know I say this every week, but this week it is actually true.

Last weekend was definitely a blast. On Friday night I went out with Heidi, Angie and Angie's friends to a club and it was quite fun. There are many stories of the night, and Heidi and I ended up being out till close to 6:30 am. It was one of my latest nights in a long time. Saturday we celebrated Po's birthday once again by singing some Karaoke and going to the club Lost afterwards. It was my first time ever karaoke-ing and I can honestly say it was a blast! We sang anywhere from "Like A Virgin" to "Never Going To Give You Up" by Rick Astley. I really enjoyed it, and to me, her birthday was a blast! (And we all looked fabulous!).

Unfortunately, following an amazing weekend, I got sick. Very sick. Much sicker than I've been in a long time. It started out as a sore throat and then turned into a runny nose, fever, nausea, basically the whole deal. And it has been this way for the past four days. Four days of being a house prisoner, since till today I could not get out of bed. Still though, I've had presentations, mid-terms and regular classes this week so I had to go. Luckily, Wednesday was a "feriado" or holiday because of the national census. Like in the U.S., Argentina only does a census every ten years, but unfortunately in order to do it, their system is to shut down the entire country, declare it a national holiday and force everyone to stay home. So basically, for the duration of the day, all hospitals, kiosks, restaurants, malls, parks, grocery stores, and even gas stations were closed. Nothing and no one was moving. It was one of the quietest days I've ever had in my life. At the same time, I was dying for some ibuprofen to relieve my fever, and you can imagine my frustration to not find a single pharmacy open. It was a day from hell. In addition, ex-Argentine president Nestor Kirchner passed away on the same day, so the news took up every single channel on TV, leaving me with nothing to watch but pictures and talks of the manifestations forming at Plaza De Mayo. I hope to never repeat a day like that again.

Today I actually got out of bed (despite the tsunami-like rain), and headed over to my grandparents' to get some money, and after I had an interview at a teaching center. I interviewed to volunteer in teaching underprivileged kids English, every Monday and Wednesday night. Luckily, I got the job! I am very excited to start THIS Monday. Woo!

Tonight, even though it is Halloween weekend, I will be staying in to make sure that I fully recover. Tomorrow though, I plan on taking my costume for a night out on the town with the girls. I can not believe that Halloween is already here, and that it is almost November. I will be arriving home in less than 7 weeks! It sounds so wild to me, time has gone by so fast. My mom is coming to visit on Thanksgiving, and I just can't believe that's right around the corner. I am so excited!

Colonia

I'm sorry to all my readers for taking so long in updating this week, but school work is really piling up on me! (and it doesn't help that I didn't take a minute out of my weekend to do it)

So I'll skip through my last week of classes since nothing major happened and I'll get to the good stuff. Friday I met up with Becca at the heart of the city and we walked along Florida Ave and settled into a McDonald's. After we order our delicious coffees, we sat to discuss some issues we had been having and made up, which was great! After our reconciliation we headed over to Florida Ave again and decided to do some street shopping, since I hadn't been after my robbery. I absolutely love el centro!
That night I invited Becca to sleep over, and the next day we headed to the feria in front of my house, right at Parque Centenario. The fair was good, and we found some amazing stuff! (Becca got a Louis!). I had taken Nano (my scottish terrier) with us, so after the feria we sat down at a cute cafe outside and had lunch. Nano made friends really quickly! Following lunch, I decided to take Becca to the Abasto shopping mall, which I was sure she had never been to. I was right. There is a type of dave & buster's place upstairs and we decided to hit up a few games. We had a blast being kids again! We even went on the ferris wheel! The day was concluded with a dinner at Plaza del Carmen.

Sunday was a beautiful day, made by the fact that I traveled to Uruguay! About 3 days before, I decided to go to Colonia, Uruguay but I didn't want to do it alone, so I asked my friend McKenzie who I had only seen a couple of times in BA to come with me. We ended up leaving around 8am to go to the port and our boat left at 9. The ride was pleasant and calming, and once we arrived in Colonia, we saw how beautiful it really is! Pictures do not do it justice. The whole historical district of colonia is very narrow and stretched, but to get through it all walking is about an hour. It's very tiny but so beautiful! The water stretches on for miles and it is very colonial and calm. It was a perfect day. I came home exhausted.

Monday was miss PoLin's BIRTHDAY!! We celebrated by going to an awesome thai restaurant in palermo and it was so great to see all the girls after so long! Katie, Heidi, Amelia, Po and I had a lovely dinner and even lovelier drinks! I love girl nights! Her birthday will be followed by some karaoke and boliche this weekend!
Before PoLin's birthday dinner, I met up with Kait! Kait is a girl I met at goucher (back in the day), and she studied abroad in the spring of last year. When I arrived in July, she was still here and we attempted to see each other but it was a bit difficult. She came back now for a week and invited me out for some coffee in the old opera house turned book store! It was absolutely gorgeous and seeing Kait was amazing! She has such an amazing connection to Argentina, and I'm so glad she can see all its beauty. She also has a fabulous argentine man, so who could blame her for wanting to come back?

The past week in school has been awful, since midterms have taken over and will take over next week as well. This week I had Relaciones Internacionales and Sociedad y Cultura. Next week: Relaciones Publicas y Historia de Civilizacion y Cultura. Que bueno no? So, mis amores, this is what I blame for not being able to update. Until the end of next week will also be very hectic, so I'm sorry if I can not update for a while, once again. I promise as soon as all this crazyness is over, I will come back!
Until then, mucho amor <3

Lemon Pie!

Another week has come and gone, and we're winding down to the last two months of my trip. Crazy!
Before I continue, I just want to once again make a shot out to mi novio Mickey =) He has stood and stuck by me throughout my entire trip and so he is amazing for that!

I won't share much about my week sitting in classes, so I'll just skip over to Thursday. Thursday like any other day, I went to classes and later joined Heidi for a shopping trip in once in preparation for her up-coming Cordona Oktoberfest vacation! I finally learned the craziness that is that area, and how much shopping can be done there! After we were done, we were surprised by Katie and PoLin! It was wonderful to FINALLY be able to catch up, and I told PoLin about the amazing shopping and so we decided to take a trip during the weekend.

Friday I met up with my uncle Gabriel, and we had lunch at the very cute restaurant Anamora, two blocks away from Tribunales. It was nice to just sit and talk, and make plans for next weekend since my girls are leaving me for a trip to Puerto Madryn. After that I headed over to Belgrano to visit my grandparents and pick up some much needed money for the weekend. I walked around Cabildo Ave and headed off to meet PoLin for dinner to discuss our girly weekend since Heidi and Katie would be gone.

Saturday, I met PoLin at Once once again and we shopped till we dropped. Literally. Once has some of the cheapest clothes in the entire world, and it was really nice to be able to get some Argentine style clothing. While everything is very unorganized and kind of sketchy, it's definitely an adventure. I very much enjoyed it and I know Po found some good stuff! That night, we had an AMAZING parillada where we had an all-you-can-eat meat dinner. Yum. Nothing is better than Argentine asado. The following day was another girly day at the salon, and later at Sugar bar where we met up with Amelia (yay!). Amelia also goes to GW, like Po, and is from California. She will be staying in Buenos Aires for a year, and she is absolutely the nicest girl. I am so glad I got to hangout with her this weekend!

Today, since it was a national holiday, we did not have classes, and instead Po, Amelia and I met up at the Belgrano Train Station and headed over to San Isidro outside of the city, for some clean air and a picnic! It was a beautiful 70ish degrees outside and we enjoyed it at a local park. And we didn't get up once. We headed back on the train around 6pm, and headed straight home. We were exhausted.

Tomorrow, I also don't have school and I plan on studying my culo off for my very-soon-i'm-freaking-out midterms. They start next week and go until Oct. 28th. Classes end Nov. 10th. Finals start Dec. 1st. Everything is piling up and I need to get it done!
Next weekend since the girls will be gone (including Amelia), I plan on not only catching up on work, but also seeing my family who I have not seen in a while. Monday is Po's birthday so I have to be ready to celebrate! (Wait till you see her in the dress we picked up from Once). Will definitely be updating next weekend after the 18th.
Muchisimos besos!