Two Months!

As of last Tuesday, the Tuesday that just past, because today is Friday, I've officially been in Argentina for two whole months! Wow! I sometimes feel a lot like I don't belong, but there are times when I fit right in, too, and it's been an interesting time. One of the hardest things to get used (I mean there are probably a lot, but this is what I'm thinking about right now) is that people here are a lot colder than I'm used to. Like temperature-wise. Like, it was 75 today, and everyone had their jackets on. I'm so confused. And this is like a warm fall kind of, so it makes even less sense to me. Also, we were watching the news tonight, and there was a full 15 minute segment about mosquitoes. Like, I know they're annoying, but how is this news?? But it's going well.

Many things have happened since the last time I updated you, so this will just be a post of me going through my magical journal and seeing if anything interesting happened.

Starting about three weeks ago: my host family celebrated Passover! I did not know they were Jewish, but they're at least Jewish enough to celebrate this holiday, with interesting food and family time. I will tell you about the food in the food section later. My host mom's son took a lot of pictures with his good digital camera, because I don't think he has a phone? But that's okay, no judgement here. Mostly I spent the night entertaining the one-year-old, who I love. She is my favorite. And she also like actually likes and trusts me now? And she always wants to feed me her tomatoes, because Matilde never gives me any because she thinks I don't like them, which is not true, but I can't make her understand but it's fine, but the baby feels bad that I don't have any tomatoes apparently. She's very considerate. But also, they just gave her a whole plate of tomatoes for dinner one night, and I was very confused, because if I were a baby, I would not be a fan of this arrangement, but she just stabbed them with her fork and shoved too many in her mouth at once. So I guess it's fine.

That same week, I went on my first real trip! Some other people from my group and I took a bus to Mendoza, Argentina, so that was really cool! Our bus was supposed to leave at 5pm, so we got to the bus station at a reasonable time of like 4pm. But our bus didn't leave until 7pm. No. It arrived at 7pm, so we probably left at like 7:30. But we had some fun bonding activities, such as buying beer and drinking it? And buying wine and putting it in water bottles to smuggle it onto the bus? So that was fun! And then it took like 2 hours to go what should have taken half an hour, and we were all starving, (I told Emily, my seatmate, that I was hungry probably like 18 times in two hours, I'm sorry Emily), and they were making us watch weird, terrifying movies, like The Last Witch Hunter and Jorge Curioso so it was a bad time. And I didn't really sleep that much, because buses are hard to sleep on. And the drive that was supposed to take 14 hours took 18 hours, but when you add in all the waiting it was like 21 hours, but you know what? We all made it there and didn't die. So that's good.

We stayed in a hostel that wasn't super great, but it was very cheap, and also it had a turtle mural on the outside wall, and also we had some very VERY good asado (which is like barbecue, basically just meat, yes, Dad, you can call your grilling asado if you want.) So it wasn't all that bad! The shower was a little cold. A little is probably an under exaggeration.

On the Friday when we were there, we decided to go for a hike! So we got up early that morning so we could get to the bus station to take a bus up the mountain to another mountain path where we could eventually reach a waterfall! I think the bus ride was very interesting itself, and was full of good mountain scenery. It was like an hour and a half, and then they just dropped us off at the mountain trail and said, "Yo we'll be back in like 10 hours, try not to get lost" and then left.

It was really nice to walk through the mountains and stuff and feel like I was actually doing adventuring, but also, this mountain hike I think was literally the hardest physical thing I've ever tried to force my body to do. I, the small infant from Minnesota/Iowa, apparently do not do well at high altitudes. After like two hours-ish of hiking, I had to tell the rest of the group that I couldn't do it anymore. Like, that's not even a lie. I would know if I were lying to myself because I would feel bad about it, but I was not lying. I could not go any further up that mountain. And I was disappointed, but I really did try my best. I took my time on my way back down, because the rest of the group still had about 5 hours of hiking to do, so I was in no hurry, and I wanted to catch my breath, and make sure my legs weren't permanently damaged.

As a reward for you still reading what is inevitably going to be a kind of long blog post, I will now share some pictures of the scenery that I took on my way down:

 Wow here are some good mountains! (I'm experimenting with where I can put words and text I guess? I kind of like the aesthetic of this. It's nice and not so many words all the time. Why do I talk so much?)

Above is one of the streams that I had to cross both up and down the mountain path. I was not a fan, because in traditional Minnesotan fashion, I was unprepared in the clothing department. I wore shorts on this hike, because I was hot when we left the hostel, but that was a poor decision. Good job me. So walking through cold running stream water was not a fun time, and my feet probably caught hypothermia.

This (above) is the nicer part of the path. By that I mean we didn't walk directly through trees. But it was still full of rocks and danger, but it was nice and pretty. To the right is a great view of a mountain, along with the first sign of fall that I have really seen my whole time in this lovely country. Quite scenic.







Also, I have some ponderous, contemplative videos I recorded of myself coming down the mountain. One is kind of long (like 5 minutes) and the other is a short follow up video to the other one. I kinda want to put them here? But I'm not sure if anyone wants to watch me ramble about weirdness for five minutes. We'll see. I'll think about it, and you can try and convince me.

At the bottom of the mountain, I found a hut to eat lunch in, which was good, but scary. It was made of stone and had graffiti all over it, and I called it home, because it kept the wind off me, when the wind blew only from one specific angle, so it was good. Yeah, good.

The rest of the trip was spent hanging out with our friends, and partying at the hostel with the hostel "peeps" as is the vernacular. They were very nice, if not clean, and as I mentioned above, they made us some good meat. So it was all worth it. The other people in my group went on a wine tour, but as I am not a fan of wine, I didn't really want to spend a bunch of money on tasting things that are like drinking the elixir of death itself, so I stayed home and probably napped and hung out. There were also many journeys to find milkshakes in Mendoza, brought on specifically (as I understand it) by the weirdest fast food chain I've seen called Kingo's which advertised 30 peso milkshakes, but failed to provide. So we had to settle for more expensive milkshakes, and also it was raining, which was good? But overall we had a fun time!!

The bus ride home was less eventful, although it still took a very long time. I did not get home in time for my class, which was actually okay with me, because I had not written my essay for class. Remember the last post in which I mention avoiding writing an essay by instead updating my blog? Yeah, it was that essay. That I still hadn't done. It's fine. This school doesn't really count, does it? I don't think so.

The last couple of weeks have been pretty uneventful, apparently, according to myself, who keeps my own journal? I've been sick for a while with a nice cold. I went to four pharmacies the other day to find some sort of Kleenex and I failed in my quest. I was the saddest. Also, I hurt my knee doing something (I keep saying it was the hiking, but I'm not actually sure, but we'll keep going with the hiking idea.) I think it's mostly getting better, except when I have to climb stairs. It only vaguely hurts now. (Also, unrelated, people here have made fun of my for how I say "vague" and I'm not even sure how I'm saying it weird. It must be that Minnesota accent coming out now.)

And I've played with a baby a lot, because we are friends. My translation professor thinks I am cool because I speak English and actually come to class, which is nice. I think he only knows my name and no one else's. I'm basically the teacher's pet and I don't actually have to be good at school because he knows I don't know Spanish as my native language. So that's good.

Tomorrow I'm going to a polo match again, so that will hopefully be fun! Matilde warned me to wear sunscreen and bug spray because of all the sun and mosquitoes that will apparently accompany me everywhere I go. And I think that's all the exciting news! Wow! So many things! I hope I didn't forget anything. The next trip I'll probably be taking is to the giant waterfall called Iguazu, so I will be sure to tell you all about that adventure when it happens! Bye forever!!

PS: Fooooooddddd?????:

• Two new kinds of wine, both red, both terrible
• Matzá - unleavened bread for Passover
• New torta with fish, cheese and egg
• Literally raw fish in a cream sauce - the worst
• Quiche of fish? (Why was there so much fish??)
• Matzá balls in chicken broth (still not a fan, good thing I'm not Jewish)
• Knish - kind of like empanadas but specifically Jewish, they have potatoes and onions, at least the ones we had here!
• A new pizza flavor with beef slices, bacon and olives (we gave all the olives to Benji because is the fiend who likes them)
• A drink called Suizo, that was apparently supposed to be like a mocha, but it still tasted too much like coffee for me
• Mente chocolate - a different drink that was cold and delicious and had no coffee!

PSS: Here is a picture of Xander in Mendoza, hanging out on the window sill, listening to some chill guitar music played in the open air

Okay also PSSS: Sorry I never do this and I know this is so long, but I'm putting this at the end so you can skip it if you want. But here are the videos of me rambling like a fool. The first one is long, beware!

Ha okay sorry, apparently the file is too big for Google to handle? So I lied. Maybe I'll send the videos to you if you specifically ask me. Sorry fiends. I tried. 

How To: Rain

Hello friends! It's been a while, but here I am, back in traditional Jen style, writing a blog post when I should actually be writing an essay. Don't worry about it.

So, it's been raining here for like three days straight, which is a fun time. It's hard to do things while it's raining in a city where most of the transportation involves walking. Like, you can take a bus or the subway, or the train, but it's a little hard to get to the specific point where you need to be when everything is on a schedule and fixed route.

I'm not like a huge fan of rain, mostly because I have to walk in it, and then everything I own gets wet. I finally remembered to bring my umbrella on Sunday when we went out to brunch, but previous encounters with rain have been less fortunate.

Walking here in this city in general is an experience, ranging from interesting to downright dangerous. (Usually not that dangerous, don't worry.) But when you add in the element of rain, I feel like it gets to a whole new level of chaos. All of a sudden, the traffic "laws" that were barely followed in the first place are completely neglected. It's like rain makes it impossible to see out of windshields or something. Pedestrians wander aimlessly through crosswalks, even when there are cars coming, people jump out in the middle of the street to avoid puddles or holes in the sidewalks, and children fight each other with their overly large umbrellas.

Also, there aren't super good drains here, so like water pools quickly and easily. The streets where people actually drive are usually okay, but by any curb, or any slight dip in the road, there can be nearly five inches of water. And like, cars aren't really that considerate, so if you're standing by a curb, patiently waiting to cross the street, like a good pedestrian, cars will zoom right past you and spray the water all over your nice legs. And then you will be cold and ANGRY.

I kind of always didn't believe that cars spraying water at people was a thing that actually happened. You see it in movies, where the scene is super sad, and some person has just been broken up with by their one true love, and it's before the part where the other person realizes that they've made some huge mistake and they have to rush back to their ex-lover before they realize they're too good for the other person, and so the one person is just standing on the corner of the street in the rain, because of course, if it's a sad scene there's gotta be rain, and in order to distract from the heteronormativity of the scene (because there have been thousands of these scenes in movies before this one, obviously, and the producers have to make sure their love scene stands out from the crowd) a car will pass by screeching its tires and inevitably add insult to injury by splashing gallons of sad rainwater upon the unsuspecting distraught abandoned person. And are you just so upset by the loss of your true love that you can's see a car zooming past you? I mean, to be fair, it's usually dark in these scenes, and also you're probably already soaking wet from the heavy downpour, but really though. You should be able to avoid this problem altogether.

But now I feel more sympathy, because it's hard to know whether or not a car will actually hit the puddle that is directly in front of you, or if it will glide gently past into the rainy abyss. It's all a mystery.

One of my favorite things about walking in the rain is counting how many little old ladies have gone out of their house without their umbrellas, and instead just tie a plastic bag around their head like a makeshift shower cap. I mean, I guess if the thing they're worried about is their hair, getting wet, they've solved that problem! I've seen like five or six of these ladies, and all their jackets are soaking wet, but their hair is perfect and fabulous, so I guess they know what they're doing.

One of the weird things about rain and living in an apartment is that it sounds a lot different from rain landing on a house. In my house, the easiest way to know if it's raining is to go into the hallway or bathroom and LISTEN FOR THE RAIN ON THE SKYLIGHT YES WE HAVE SKYLIGHTS THEY ARE COOL AND YOU'RE JEALOUS. But here, I'm on the fifth floor of an eleven floor building. But my window in my room goes to the outside, so I can hear the rain. But it just sounds like someone is inconsistently pouring a bucket of water down a metal slide. And sometimes it sounds like hail. It so hard to tell how much it's actually raining. Unless you stick your head out the window, which I could do here, because there are no screens. It seems kind of dangerous. Someone could fall out of one of those things.

I hope it stops raining soon, because I'm getting tired of all these puddles, and having to watch out for people who aren't paying attention to where they're walking because the rain has covered their glasses in tiny little drops of moisture, and now they can't see (usually that's me it's fine). And also, I'm leaving on Wednesday to go on a trip, and I really want it to be nice weather! But also the trip is like 14 hours away by bus, so there is a possibility that the weather there is not the same as it is here. But also also, with all this rain and humidity, my clothes that my host mom washes for me are not drying, and if they don't dry, I won't have anything to pack for my trip, and therefore will not have anything to wear, which could probably ruin the experience more than a little bad weather. Who knows.

PS: Foods? I don't even know what I eat anymore. I'm sorry.

• Unidentified food from a sketchy grocery store - they looked like onion rings, but were definitely not onion rings?
• Dulce de leche with brownies ice cream
• Mashed potatoes + "goulash" - does it count if I've had these things separately before, but this time they're mixed together? And have weird vegetables? It's like a hot dish. Don't worry
• A waffle with cheese - surprisingly good, despite my distrust of cheese in general
• A chocolate candy shaped like a turtle filled with what tasted like a new and interesting form of the cream in those delicious Cadbury Creme Eggs that I miss super a lot, especially because it's almost Easter
• Remember how I'm going to spend all of Easter riding a bus home from Mendoza? What a good way to celebrate
• Bon-bons - I probably have had something like this before, but I'm going to count it because they were very weird and I don't remember anything else that I've eaten in the last two weeks

PSS: Here is a picture of Xander sharing a tiny chair with my host mom's granddaughter's doll, whose name is Bebé. (Which means Baby for anyone who couldn't figure that out). Bebé is even worse at looking at the camera than Xander is!

One Month!

Guys, as of today, I've been here for a whole month! Wow, that feels like so long and so short. It's weird. Some things I've gotten really good at, like riding public transportation (for the most part) or walking around the city without looking like a tourist. But other things I feel like I still am bad at. Like Spanish. Sometimes people will say things to me, and I'll seem like I've never heard anyone in the world speak any language before in my life. Like, the elevator is the worst place, because people will assume I speak Spanish and will just talk to me and I'll be like, "5th floor?" And they'll be like, "Who are you?" in a Darth Vader-y voice. So it's been a weird time, but mostly okay.

Last week, I said that I might get tacos, but alas, that didn't happen. Instead, though, we went on an adventure to find pizza! I've had pizza while I've been here, but it's definitely not the same as United Statesian pizza, but we found a place that even has pepperoni, which is honestly a miracle. It's like something I know I miss, food, I mean, but until you retaste something that you haven't eaten in a long time, you don't really understand how much you've missed it. (Am I even homesick, or just homesick for food?)

And today we had "hamburgers" (it's been so long since I've had them, I apparently can't spell hamburger???) and they were okay. But like, not the hamburgers I have at home. So, Dad, my only request is when I get home, we have hamburgers, like immediately. All the other important food can wait. It doesn't even matter that might flight gets in at 9:40 am Minnesota time. It's fine.

Anyway, in other news, last weekend, we went to some fairs, which were basically like craft fairs, but larger and more permanent. I bought a small orange turtle to add to my collection of turtles, and also as a nice comfort item for here, because I didn't bring any turtles with me, apart from turtles I can wear. I haven't decided on a name yet, despite some average suggestions from some of my friends.

I also got these strawberry candies, which were very good, and cost like 10 cents a piece, and I ate them all and didn't share with anyone, like the good person I am. I think they were homemade and everything, so that makes them even more delicious!

The less good part of that day was all my friend people were like gone on a trip to the far south, and so there weren't a whole lot of people to hang out with? Like everyone is nice and stuff, but I don't know them as well, and because of who I am as a person, it's sometimes hard to figure out how to fit in to social groups where I'm not already accepted as one of the main members. So that was a little tricky, but I survived. And some of us went to get ice cream after we were done wandering around the fair, so that was a yummy time. However, I don't always understand regular person conversation. Again, unknown if it's just because of who I am, or if I am somehow weirdly unknowledgeable about small talk conversation in general, but it is hard for me. Like, all these people were just talking about hair. What can there possibly be to say about your hair that could last for a half hour conversation?!?! And then someone asked me about my hair? And how I got it to look so naturally blonde? Like, I HAVE NEVER DYED MY HAIR IN MY LIFE THIS IS JUST HOW BLONDE IT IS I'M SORRY. So I kind of left after I had finished my ice cream, and took the subway home all by myself.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. I did classes, which were good. I didn't have my translation class, because it's on Friday, and Friday was a holiday this week, so that was sad. But we had homework for class, and we were supposed to translate this thing from English into Spanish, which I did, but it vaguely sounded like someone had taken something already in Spanish, averagely translated back into English, and then told us to put it back in Spanish. Some of the grammar was super weird, and I was like, no one would write this. But I guess we'll see when we discuss it on next Friday.

The holiday was the 24th of March, which is a memorial sort of holiday to remember the first day of the last military dictatorship of 1976. So there were lots of marches and stuff apparently (but I couldn't find any to go to) and activities and stuff. Because it's important to remember all the people who "disappeared" during these years.

So because it was a holiday, we went out to party! or not party and just hang out and drink. And also we wanted to watch the "soccer" game, because we couldn't get tickets to it, like the nerds we are. So we started off at this one chicken place that I wanted to try. I had some Nuggets, which is what they're actually called. And I tried some beers, and they were not good. But then my friends suggested that I try a different drink that was supposed to be fruity. So I purchased my first drink. It was underwhelming; they didn't even card me, and they just made it. But I think someone somewhere has a picture of me floating around with my first drink ever.

But it was still kind of gross. Like, who even likes alcohol? It tastes like the worst cough medicine. I don't understand. But apparently the goal is to make me like it by the time I'm done here. Unclear if that will actually happen or not. But they can always try.

Today I tried to go do homework at the university, but this guy stopped me when I got there and said the library was closed because it's a long weekend. And I asked if I could just sit on the chairs and stuff and do work in the upstairs lobby that's always open, and he said no? Like, what is the point of the university being open if no one can go in? This guy is just paid to keep the door open and tell people to go away?? So instead I went to Starbucks to study.

Not that I frequent Starbucks often in the US, but it seems like there are less choices here for things to get. I don't like coffee, so it's probably my fault for limiting my options. But there was something called Strawberry Yogurt, and I ordered that and was like, "please be a smoothie please be a smoothie" and lucky for me it was! So I did homework there for a while, and was generally distracted by the extreme PDA of other cafe patrons.

And then I went to a polo match! For anyone who doesn't know what that is, it's where people ride horses around a giant field with like croquet mallets and try to get a small ball into a goal. It was a really interesting time. I feel kind of bad for the horses, though, cause sometimes they get hit by things, but it seems like they do okay. Except for the one horse that was apparently done with getting hit by things and rolled his rider off his back and crushed him with his body. That was a scary time. They have high-speed ambulances for any crushing that occurs though, and the guy seemed to be okay.

Next weekend we get to go to Uruguay! We get to take a ferry across the river that usually fakes people out because it looks like an ocean, but it's actually a river. And we'll just hang out in Uruguay for the day and then come home! I'm pretty excited for that, and I get to get another stamp in my passport, which will be a good time. Hopefully I'll have the chance to go to at least Chile while I'm here.

Also, today while I was at Starbucks, they asked me for my name, and based on previous encounters of people asking for my name, I said, Jen, with a J, but in Spanish. And when I got my smoothie, it said Jan. So, I mean, closer than previous attempts, which have ended with either Yen or Llen, both of which are pronounced with a J sound here in Buenos Aires. I'm thinking maybe I should adopt one of those. I don't mind. It gives me the cool name I've always wanted!

I think that's all the exciting news I have! Only four more months here, I will try and keep you all updated as much as possible! Don't die!

PS: FoOdS?!?!?!

• Strawberry candies
• American Cookie Ice Cream - Oreos with dulce de leche mixed in
• Campari con naranja - this was the alcohol that I ordered
• Nuggets??
• Chocolate and Vanilla striped cookies filled with quince fruit (which according to Wikipedia looks like a pear, but according to me tastes like raspberries)
• Chocolate chip mousse - I count this because it's definitely different from the mousse I've had in the US, but still good, but also very filling and I couldn't finish it all so my host mom said she would save it for me for the next day but the next day someone had eaten it probably my host mom's son who lives here and is weird but I'm not mad it's fine

PSS: Here is Xander who deals with panicking by making himself into a burrito and listening to Coldplay:

Xander is never a metaphor for me in these blog posts. Never. 

Observations

Hello friends! For this post I'm just going to be giving some general observations about things here in this lovely country. I'm literally just going to look through my special journal that I bought specifically for this trip, and if there's something interesting that I haven't shared with you that seems important, I'll type it here! We'll see how it goes! Maybe if I remember something else important that'll go here too. It's endless possibilities.

So, starting with last weekend, we took a trip to Luján, which is a nice place in the province of Buenos Aires. The way it works here is that there are neighborhoods inside cities, so I live in Belgrano, in Buenos Aires, the city, and the city of Buenos Aires is in the province of Buenos Aires. All of which are contained in the large country of Argentina. So in Luján, we first stopped at a basilica, which was really cool. Apparently pictures aren't showing up for anyone? So if you want to see a picture of the basilica, you'll have to check out my facebook page. Sorry for the inconvenience.

The basilica is called Basílica Nuestra Senora (there should be a squiggle over that n? Apparently I can do all other accents except that one? No one knows) de Luján. Which translates to Basilica of Our Lady of Luján. The story is that people were traveling around Argentina, like you know, old people do, to get to new places and settle, and they were bringing this image of the virgin Mary with them, and at one point they stopped at the place where the basilica would be built, and their horses were being nerds and wouldn't move. So the people tested all the luggage they had, and they figured out that the horses would only move when the image of Mary was on the ground so they were like IT'S A MIRACLE WE MUST BUILD A CHURCH HERE AND DEDICATE IT TO MARY. And so they did, and now that image is still in the church and it's pretty cool.

And after that we went to a ranch place, where they had horses and cows that you could milk and drink the milk immediately after milking it, which I did not do because I'm not about dying. And they gave us food, which was interesting, and I didn't really like it that much. Everyone's like, Argentina is known for their beef, the best beef in the world? (I don't know I might have made that world part up, it's fine). But so far I have yet to be impressed. One of the things I most miss about being home is flavors. Like, they had this barbecue--called asado here--and they just put the meat on the fire and let it cook, and then it's done. And so it just only tastes like the meat, which sometimes tastes like nothing. So I don't know. There's nothing spicy here, really. There's just like, vegetables, or bland meat. I don't know. I'm figuring it out.

And after lunch at this ranch place, they had someone to sing songs for us, but it was so loud and the worst, and so I left to escape and sit on a stump in the forest, like the cool kids do. And then a very nice person from my program came and found me and we wandered through the woods to find horses! And we got many mosquito bites which was not a good time, but we eventually found horses to look at and some to pet. And then it was time to go, so we had like a two and a half hour bus ride home through the traffic of Buenos Aires.

Going back to previous statements about the structure of cities here, it's interesting to learn about the school systems in Buenos Aires. Since I've been here, which is about three weeks (wow that simultaneously feels like forever and zero days), there have been teacher's strikes for almost the entire time. School was supposed to start on March 6, but many kids missed a week and a half of school because the government refuses to give more money to education. But now, the city of Buenos Aires has school, because their government is different than the government of the province of Buenos Aires. So kids in the province still don't have school because their government is like, Yeah, teachers don't need more money, it's fine. I don't really understand why the city gets to be governed by someone completely differently than the rest of the province, but that's apparently how it works.

I know I've already mentioned the food here, but let me go on a little more of a rant about it. So, mostly they eat vegetables. Remember that post I wrote over a year ago where I tried to be a vegetarian and lasted for like four hours, because I didn't eat in those four hours? So basically now I'm like a real vegetarian four three or four days out of the week. It's a weird time. I'm not cut out to be a vegetarian! I know it's good for me, probably, but I just want like, pizza or something or chicken or a potato. I don't know. And it's weird, because I never really expected there to be a language barrier with food, but there kind of is. Like, on my first day, my host mom gave me a salad with tomatoes, which was good, because I like raw tomatoes, but there were so many, and I couldn't eat them all, and she thinks that if I don't finish something, it means I don't like it, but I'm having a hard time explaining to her that sometimes I'm just not hungry for a whole tomato for dinner! Or like, globe squash, that's not really something I eat at home, so if I don't finish it all, it's not that I don't like it, it's just that I'm not used to it and maybe only give me a small portion of it, who knows. Or just because I don't want to eat 60 tomatoes for dinner doesn't mean you have to make pizza without the tomato sauce! BLAH. So that's been an interesting obstacle that I didn't foresee.

Something else strange is the weather. My host mom always tells me that it's going to be cold today, and that I should wear a sweatshirt or jacket and then I look at the weather on my phone and it's like 70 degrees! I'm wondering what people wear when it's actually cold, like 50, which is as cold as it really gets here. Like parkas? I didn't bring a parka, and they told us that even if we're not cold, we should still dress like we fit in, which means wearing warmer clothes. So I'm not really sure. I have a jacket? Maybe that counts for something.

Classes have also been going well. I feel less prepared for them than I would were I in the US, but I think that will change once we all get settled into our real classes and routine. On Thursday, I had a literature class, and we were supposed to buy the book for it, and I tried, but I went to the wrong place, so the guy there gave me an architecture workbook instead of the literature book? And then said I couldn't return it. So that was frustrating, but it was like 45 pesos, which is $3. But still. So I was unprepared for class, and I felt bad, and like I was disappointing the professor, but also this culture is way less preoccupied with perfection in schools than the US? So I just told her I got the wrong book and she was like, Oh can you share with someone for today? So it wasn't the worst, and I didn't die.

There have also been news about like protests in the street? And people just standing around protesting the government, in general blocking traffic. I understand the need to protest bad things, but I am vaguely worried for the safety of these people. Like, on a regular day, if there is any sort of delay in someone driving their car forward, ALL of the cars behind them will begin honking continuously. And motorcyclists will speed through anything that is in their way, with their tires squealing. Someone is going to get hit by a car, I can just see it in the future.

Also, the other day when I was walking home from school, I saw a stop light that had fallen over! That was exciting, and all of the car drivers were super mad, because it was blocking a road. There were police that were directing traffic, which was good, because people are generally less willing to do bad things when there are police, although not altogether completely unwilling. But the next day I walked by and they had put up a new stop light already, and it looked kind of temporary, but in general it worked, so that was good.

Yesterday, I got to play with my host mom's granddaughter who is like 1 and a half. She is super cute, and also, if I ever think understanding adult people speaking Spanish is hard, I should just remember that I understand nothing of toddler Spanish. She made me draw a duck for her like seven times. And she always wants to share her food with me, because she is worried that I'm not eating enough, or something I guess. And also she only likes to chew grapes and not swallow them, so she always just spits them out after chomping on them.

It's so interesting to think about toddlers and language. Like, I knew in my head that people grow up as babies speaking different languages, but I never really experienced it until now. It's so cool that people can learn different languages, and learn to speak differently and be weird and stuff, I don't know what I'm say, I'm just very excited about language acquisition. Also, talking to her forces me to use the Castellano grammar that they use here, because she won't understand if I use other Spanish. Like, they say vos instead of tú, which means you. And there's a little bit of different grammar associated with that, and most adults will understand what I'm saying if I mess up and use the wrong one, but a tiny child will not. So I have to practice all the time so she doesn't just stare at me and say, Pato! every second of the day.

I think that might be everything exciting I have to say. I have to spend the rest of the day doing homework, because we're doing something tomorrow. And also I might eat tacos today. That is the goal. Tacos and homework. What a good time.

PS: Foods

• Pumpkin - I don't count pumpkin pie (which I have had before) as this, because this was weird
• Chorizo - a kind of sausage, not the worst
• Chinchulín - intestines of meat, kind of the worst
• Flan
• Asado - it's basically steak, but apparently different
• Eggplant pizza - I think my host mom might have told me the wrong vegetable, because it didn't really seem like eggplant, which is gross-ish but it's fine
• Pan frito - fry bread, which I actually had in New Mexico, but this is different, but still very good
• Dulce de leche - just straight up ate it, like a fiend. It's basically caramel that's a little less thick. Eating it reminds me of a certain roommate I have who just eats Nutella straight out of the jar
• A strawberry dessert, unclear what it's called - this was from when we went to the Israeli restaurant, and I forgot to write it down before. It tasted like sunscreen, but wasn't bad
• Budín de banana - basically banana bread, a little different texture, literally called Banana Pudding

PSS: Here is Xander with my journal; he's jealous that he doesn't get to write in it

How To: Universidad

So it was the first full week of classes! That was a cool time, for the most part. The way classes work here is that you don't technically have to attend for the first two weeks, although you probably should, because if you don't, you're going to miss a bunch of important stuff, and then fail. But if you want to, you could probably just not show up. So that means what people do is just try and take as many classes as possible to test them out and see which ones are the best/easiest, I guess.

On Monday, I went to a class called Narratives of the Monstrous in Latin America. It was so good, and we're going to read a lot of things, and also the professor is basically my favorite Spanish professor back at United Statesian school. She would love this class so much, I just know. We spent the first and second day watching a famous Argentinian movie about, kind of, revenge I guess. I can't remember what it's called, but it has a bunch of little stories in it, and a lot of people die. In the first story, a guy gets everyone he knows onto a plane, and then seals them in there, and then crashes the plane onto his parents, because he blames everyone for all his problems. And that's only the first story Imagine how it goes from there!

Then on Tuesday I tried a class with local students called Contemporary Social and Political Movements. There is a 0% chance that I am going back to that at this point, I think. It was okay, and the professor was nice, and so were the students, but also, I was dying. I think the worst part was when the professor told the girl in front of me to take my notebook and write stuff down for me. I just don't really want to take a class with a professor who's not about trying to let me learn stuff on my own. Like, maybe if I asked for help, but it feels weird that she just had this girl take my stuff from me.

Also on Tuesday, I got to go to SOCIOLINGUISTICS the best thing ever! Have I ever mentioned that I really like linguistics on this blog here? Probably not. I really like linguistics. That will be a great class, I super hope/know! Then I had a boring history class that I might drop depending on whether or not I email my favorite Spanish professor to get approval for not dying. And also there's an Argentine Literature class on Tuesdays and Thursdays that I'm now taking instead of the deathly class, because reading is a good time.

Then, today, Friday, I'm supposed to have my literary translation class with local students, and I got up "early" and walked all the way to school, only to wait. Now, as far as I can tell, typical Latin American culture is more relaxed with regards to time than the culture I'm used to. So I was prepared to wait for the professor to show up, as I've done with all of my other classes. However, after almost an hour of waiting, I was slightly annoyed. And then the scheduling lady came in and told us that the professor forgot that class started this week, and thus was not coming, and so we were free to go! That fiend!

But this nice lady and like six other students invited me to go get coffee with them at a cafe, so I accepted and we walked a couple blocks and I had orange juice that was warm and everyone was nice, and I couldn't really follow the conversation, but it was nice to be included.

And then I went back to school to try and do homework, which I only read like a page, so we all know what I'll be doing tomorrow. I kind of have forgotten how much work having actual classes is, since I haven't taken any actual classes in SIXTY YEARS. It's fine.

So school has been an interesting experience! The university is just basically one building that's like 20 stories tall, and they have a cool elevator (actually 4) that goes to only four floors, probably so it's not stopping all the time, and you can see the ground fly away from you as you go up to the 17th floor, where they put all the international students, probably so we're out of the way.

There are also some people from my program in most of my classes, so that will be nice if we have to do projects or study together or something, but I also want to meet people outside of the program so we can have more friends! Friends......

Also today we had a mate workshop, which was good. We learned how to prepare mate, which is a traditional drink here in Argentina, and also in some other close by countries. It's like a tea, but with 9000% more caffeine, and also it tastes horrible. But I tried it, so be proud of me. Actually, I tried it before at Spanish camp, but like, 13-year-old me had good instincts about what not to like. If anyone wants to know how to prepare mate when I get home, I am now a proficient preparer of mate, and also I have a mate cup, that will probably be underutilized, so you can borrow it. Also, you drink mate out of a "gourd" with a metal straw and it is very hot and you could probably burn your tongue. It's fine.

In other news, I might actually being going out tonight, like a fiend. Who knows? It's very late, but apparently that's how the night life is here. So if I die, let this post serve as my last words. Actually probably not. There's nothing very witty here today. I'll try and update you about how going to bars goes.

PS: Foods - Okay, it's been a long time, so forgive me if I forget something important.

• Lentils
• Shawarma - We went to an Israeli restaurant: this is like chicken and vegetables and beans and rice and hummus and salsa on a special kind of flat bread
• Globe squash
• Torta - in this case, eggs mixed with TERRIFYING VEGETABLES
• Mate - I'm putting it on here and you can't stop me
• Medialunas - basically crescents, but more crunchy and less buttery
• A kind of meat, I don't remember what they called it, but somewhere between a chicken patty and a small steak
• Alfajores - cookies with sweet stuff inside, and probably coconut
• Dulce de leche inside a waffle (literally so good)

Okay, also, I forgot something about the mate. So, mate looks like the word "mate" as in like, two animals get together to make babies, but that is NOT how it's pronounced. It's pronounced like pot-eh? but like with an m. I realized that this is not obvious as I tried to title this post "How To: Mate" and was like, "wait FRICK no that is INCORRECT". So just so you know. I am sorry for the inappropriateness of this paragraph. 

PSS: I have shown you all the exciting places in my room, so here is a picture of Xander and me being awesome! (He's not very good at looking at the camera.)

How To: Pedestrianism

Okay so today I am going to write about this giant city that I am living in from the point of view of a lovely little pedestrian. Which is me. I am a pedestrian, along with--as I can gather--the vast majority of the population here in Buenos Aires. This fact would seem to lead you to believe that there are lots of perfect places to walk and in general not worry about being struck by fast-moving vehicles. THIS IS NOT TRUE.

Let me elaborate. There are traffic laws here, apparently, somewhere, in some sort of legislature, but you might as well call them guidelines. Like, the only place where you can really expect cars to be following the rules is at traffic lights, and even then, you're still putting your life in someone else's hands. Like, it says you can cross safely, but no one told the car turning right that you were crossing, and obviously they have the right-of-way, because they are a giant car that could kill you. So basically you better pay attention.

Otherwise, there are hardly any stop signs at smaller intersections, and you can expect that no one will stop at those. The only road signs there are are to direct you not to park somewhere or to tell you where you could end up should you continue following the road you are on. And sometimes (which as a pedestrian who doesn't know this city well yet is incredibly annoying) there are no street signs! Like, trying to get home, maybe there will be a sign that says my street name, and about 80% of the time there won't be. It's basically one big guessing game. So that's fun.

One thing I do appreciate about this city is its public transportation. You can basically get anywhere you want to go for between 6 and 7 pesos a trip which is between 40 and 45 cents in US dollars. So that's a good time. And it gets cheaper the more trips you take, which is also a good thing, I think. We took the subway today, which is fun, because I've never used a subway before! I'm pretty sure I'll be an expert at navigating things when I'm done here. At least that's the hope.

Back to scarier things, another important thing to note when being a pedestrian is that you also don't have to obey the traffic signs. If it says don't walk and there are no cars coming, you better be walking, you snerb! Otherwise the local people will definitely know that you don't know what you're doing, and the most dangerous thing to do as a pedestrian (surprise, I know, is not to get hit by a car) is to look like a tourist! Because then you're an easy target for people to rob you.

Also, you're not allowed to help anyone, because it could be just a ploy to rob you. So be careful if you're wandering around Buenos Aires, and all of a sudden someone drops all their bags, because they could just be the distraction for you, and you could be getting robbed if you stop to help! That's what we learned about pedestrianism from our orientation class.

Okay actually going back to two paragraphs ago, you can obey the traffic signs ONLY when you're trying to cross a giant road. Now, maybe you think giant roads are like, three lanes, four lanes, like a high way, but no. In fact, they are TEN lanes wide, but have crosswalks through them?? And if you cross without the signal because it looks like there are no cars coming (like we may or may not have done today, no one will tell you for sure) it turns out that the reason no cars were coming was because the light a little farther down was red, but lights can change, and suddenly you're only halfway through the intersection and cars are racing at you like literally accelerating even though they can see you because they are in charge of the roads here, so you better run you fools! Also, these roads are like, only one way streets, so that means once you finally cross, you have to cross another same size road going the opposite direction.

I'm honestly surprised that I haven't seen anyone get hit by a car.

Also, it seems like maybe in a city where all of your people mostly walk everywhere, you would want to keep nice sidewalks and stuff so the people don't have to walk in the road and die all the time. But no, I was walking home from the subway today, and apparently all of the sidewalks that had been fine just yesterday were torn up and crushed into holes and rubble overnight? What the heck? So there were just people wandering in the streets and walking through the car lane that was vaguely reserved for pedestrians, and all the car people were mad that they couldn't actively hit people who were in their lane, because there were more police officers hanging around, and also some barricades, although I've seen those be more effective in keeping people away from firework launches than keeping cars off of makeshift sidewalks.

So, in general, it has been a pleasant experience, and no one I know has died or even been injured from cars, but there is still plenty of time for that, I suppose. The basic rule of navigating sidewalks and other public transportation in Buenos Aires is that there are no rules. Or maybe, for something more concise, DON'T DIE. (I feel like that's how a lot of my blog posts end. I'm fine with it. It's good advice.)

PS: The food list!

• Avocado
• Quinoa
• Something that is basically a large empanada?? but I don't remember what it's called! It starts with a 't'
• A drink with the brand name Paso de los toros I think, that was basically grapefruit flavored pop
• Eggplant (probably the weirdest vegetable I've tried)

PSS: Here is a picture of Xander my bunny friend on my fan, keeping cool in this heat!

A New Adventure - How To Argentina

Hello friends!!! It's been a while, but now I have actual news to tell all of you! As of yesterday at 9:30 am (6:30 am Central Standard Time) I landed in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In a stunning change of weather, it's around 90 degrees here, while back in Minnesota it's only like 20. So this is not a good thing. I am dying. But not really, it's just very hot.

The flights were good. I have only flown a couple times before, and those times I was pretty nervous, but this time, I don't know, I felt way more excited I guess? And I started to really enjoy the taking off and landing parts. So that was cool. Also, I had a window seat on the first flight, and it was really nice to look out and see the giant snow clouds over Minnesota, and also almost every where else until Tennessee. I was weirdly in awe of the clouds, like, how do they even exist? They looked like giant snow piles that I wanted to jump in, but I could not. Unfortunately. Because clouds are made of water and if you jump through them you probably die. So that was a sad realization that I already knew.

The second flight was waaaaay longer, and way more Spanish-y. Almost everyone in the airport spoke Spanish and I was vaguely intimidated. And also everyone on the plane spoke Spanish except for the people who didn't, but mostly it was Spanish. So that was a good introduction to the rest of reality for the next five months.

Also on this flight, I experienced many emotions. It was a weird time. First, I was excited because we were taking off and apparently I like that now. Then, after like 20 minutes in the air, I felt like this was the worst decision I ever made, and I started crying, and it was a good thing the lights were off UNTIL THEY TURNED THEM BACK ON and I had to behave like a real human and talk to people about weird dinner and stuff when all I really wanted to do was built a sound proof cube around my body and scream into the void. But it's fine. And then I ate dinner, which was a salad with chicken, which was weird. And I become annoyed by the guy in front of me playing Sudoku on his in flight screen, and how he was SO SLOW and also put a 2 in a column where there was already clearly a 2, but I didn't want to say anything because that would have seemed creepy. And then I discovered that my TV thing had Brooklyn 99 so I watched multiple episodes of that, while eating and vaguely listening to Spanish conversations, and trying to ignore the snoring. Then I tried to sleep, pretty unsuccessfully, but the most comfortable position was with my head pushed up against the seat in front of me, but when ever I was almost really asleep I would drop the pillow and wake up and then be mad. And then after about four hours of that, they served breakfast. And then it was time to land! It looked like we were landing in the middle of a forest, which was weird, but we didn't hit any trees.

In the airport, I stood in line for immigrations for like 45 minutes, and it was super hot, and also I was still wearing appropriate Minnesota weather clothing, so it was the worst. But I found some other students who are in my program, and we talked and complained about the heat and in general made the entire process more bearable. And we found our luggage together, and we went to customs together and we saw some dogs, and then we found our airport transportation! And then we waited like 2 more hours to actually leave. So I have spent enough time in airports for a while.

We took a small bus to the university, and our host families picked us up there. I took a taxi for the first time in my life, which was a weird time. And then I took a well-deserved nap in the very warm room that I can call mine for the next five months. And then this other student and I walked to the ISA office so we could have a short orientation. And we only got a little lost, both there and on the way home, so that is a good thing!

Today, we did more orientation stuff and also took a tour of the city, which was cool! I got to see a giant cemetery where all the rich people are buried and that included Eva Peron's mausoleum. So that was cool, because I've learned about her! And we saw the Casa Rosada, which means Pink House, which is basically like the White House of Argentina. And we toured some other tourist-y places, and I got very sunburned, which is an accomplishment for February 26th. We took a lot of public transportation so we would all learn how to use it, and it wasn't the worst, except for the fact that it's still 90 degrees today. I have to use it tomorrow by myself/without real Argentine people to show us what to do because it's a holiday and we have nothing planned except exploration! Hopefully that will be fun!

And then I walked home by myself, which was an interesting time, because I got lost. Not like, really lost, just like, wow I walked a block too far, and then turned back and got to the right block, and then walked down a road that was unfamiliar, and then found the street I was supposed to be on, but turned the wrong way, and had to cross to the other side, and then realized I was on the wrong side of the street anyway, and had to cross again because I remembered that I always have to walk past the Buddhist temple in order to get home, and then I finally did. So, you know, not that lost.

We have an orientation at school on Wednesday, which I'm looking forward to. We get to sign up for meetings with academic advisers who will help us choose classes, which I am also really excited for, because I am a nerd!! Everyone else is like, "Let's party and drink and cry" and I'm like, "CLASSES!!!!!" So, I'm working on finding a balance between not being a super hard-core-like party-er and then also trying to do fun, exciting culture things without always being in my room by myself reading and doing works.

So I think that's all the most exciting news I have, because I've only been here for like 36 hours. But it weirdly feels a lot longer than that? So who knows. I will try and keep you updated on more exciting happenings.

PS: Also, I would like to keep track of the new foods I try, so I am going to put a list here, and will hopefully be added on addition blog posts.

• Tuna and potato mix
• Spinach cooked into an over-hard fried egg
• Empanadas - corn, ham & cheese, and beef
• A weird dulce (sweet) carmel handed to me on the street by a vendor giving free samples
• Juice-tea, I don't know what it's actually called, but it tasted like sour apple candy, but without the sour
• Guarana, a drink flavored with Brazilian fruit, fizzy like pop

PSS: Here is a picture of my bed with a stuffed animal bunny friend on it. Good job being a traveler, Xander!