Life as a Porteña

Well, you'll be happy to know that I have survived midterms. Yay! Time for vacation yet? Haha before I get into my upcoming travels, I've opted to fill you in on a few things I've done lately (and some relatively old experiences that I mistakenly forgot to share antes!).

Ok so I don't know how many weeks ago this was (possibly close to a month? Yes, I know I am terrible at updating this thing..), but one of our excursions with ISA is Día de Campo. Actually, as I look at my calendar now, we went the Saturday before I went to Uruguay. Wow, that feels like such a long time ago, but I'll save the whole schpeal about how my time FLIES here for later :-) ANYWAY, what I was going to say... the day started off with a trip to Lujan, a city about 45 minutes or so outside of Buenos Aires. We didn't stop here for long, but we were able to see the huge cathedral (it was beautiful, look above!) and walk around for about an hour. As cool as the cathedral was, it's only entertaining for so long, so being the Porteños that we are (that's what natives from Buenos Aires are called- yes I like to refer to myself as a native given the quantity of people that like to stop and ask me for directions when I'm walking around town haha. Do I really look like I'm from here? The answer to that is no.), we parked ourselves at a sweet cafe and sipped on tea and had medialunas. Classic Argentine style. Claro!

We got back on the bus, drove another hour, and we arrived at the estancia we were visiting called La Mimosa. I don't really know how to describe where we went, but estancias are like cowboy/farm life in South America. It was very calm and refreshing (clean air? I forgot what that felt like). We were greeted with DELICIOUS empanadas and juice, as the workers (many of them live at the estancia as well as work), and they then started dancing and singing. Gaucho style might I add. It was cool. We then had free time to roam around and hop on a horse if we wanted to. Well, considering I'm pretty much an expert after trotting down mountainous sand dunes in Chile, I figured why not hop on the horse and take a little stroll. How hard could it really be? I guess I was getting a make up for having the slow horse in Chile because I picked the horse that just wanted to RUN. So I got on the horse, and the seat was a little different, and there also really wasn't anything to hold onto like before. NBD, I have good balance, right? No. We walked for all of 5 seconds and then it was off to the races. I'm not kidding when I dare say that we got into a canter at one point. The horse decided to run towards the fence where everyone was standing, watching, or waiting in line. We were running so fast that some people thought I was going to hop the fence. Although that would have been SWEET, I'm happy we pulled to a dead stop 2 inches before the fence. Because I was in the midst of a heart attack slash laughing really hard because this would only happen in South America, I decided to get off the horse before potentially falling off.

Who knew you could get such a thrill at an estancia? Well, after that we went and toured the estancia. And by tour, I mean we just walked around exploring all the different areas of the estancia. There was the main house (obviously where the people live), I believe there were a few barns for the animals, there was another building which was the dining hall, an area where the grill was (when I say grill, I mean a huge firepit where they cook everything; a grill like at home probably doesn't exist in their vocabulary), different sections for the animals, and tons of pretty trees and plants. Here's a few pictures... :-)

After relaxing, walking around, taking pictures and doing the whole tourist thing, we went into the dining hall to eat. I have to say that I don't think I have ever, EVER eaten so much food in one sitting before. It was great! I obviously took advantage of the free re-fills on the soda because that doesn't exist anywhere else down here :-( We started the meal off with some more yummy empanadas, then salad and bread (which is always a mala idea). Here comes the fun part. Please look at this picture of the awfully disgusting blood sausage that I mistakenly tried. Yea, funny story. So we're all sitting around the table and our waiter is bringing around a plate of blood sausages. Me, being oblivious to any sort of food different from the same foods I usually eat, decides to try this wonderful delight (actually it was after some thorough convincing done by others- no one knew what it was, and the one person that did wouldn't tell me). So I decided to be brave and try it. Didn't really know what to think at first, it was just weird. Then the more I ate it, I thought, wow this is pretty terrible, why am I still eating this thing?? Still didn't know what it was. Kept asking, and no one would tell me. So I decided to ask our waiter. Well, he told me and I wish I could have seen the look on my face because I was thoroughly grossed out. But not only did he tell me what it was, he then continued to explain how they make it (I won't go into details because it's disgusting). He was saying all of this in Spanish, and a few others at the table didn't really catch what he had said. Lucky them because I was unable to eat for the next few minutes.

I didn't let that stop me when they brought around a huge tray of delicious looking grilled chicken. Then came the meat, some more bread, sausage (which apparently I have acquired a liking for?), ice cream, and a wonderful dessert. Oh everything was so good! To the left is a picture of me being mannerly and stuffing my face. Haha, I do happen to have good table manners (well outside my own home that is haha), but I had to take a picture of me eating a very typical Argentine dish. Argentina is somewhat famous for this sauce called chimichurri. It is a typical, kind of spicy but not really, sauce that you put on sausage to give it some zip. There really isn't that much kick to it, but it's very tasty, as you can see :-)

We concluded the afternoon with some singing and guitar performances as well as a ton of dancing. After eating for what seemed like 8 hours, we went back outside to watch some horse races. Please look at the picture to the left of my next boyfriend(s). How adorable is that!!! Haha anyway, horse races down here aren't like those at home. Running around a track in a circle... no such thing. What they do is they get a running start, and the have this stick in their one hand, and they stand up on the horse at the last second and try to put their stick through a tiny ring that is hanging from a pole. If the ring stays on their stick, they give it to the woman of their choosing, along with a kiss. Que plato! Oh and ps- the crazy white horse that I was riding early (I should really say galloping with..) was taking part in these races. No wonder he liked to run?? Here are más fotos... enjoy!



So a little bit about my daily routine (just because I know you are all SO interested)... Monday - Thursday I have class from 1-4. I swipe my card everyday to get counted present (although it hasn't been working all week and I am super mad that I now have to go and yell at someone...in Spanish...ha that should be interesting) . Anyway, even though some days it's hard to sit in class (1- all of the classes are lined with windows and there is a gorgeous view of the city to look at! and 2- still feeling like I'm on vacation!), my classes are really cool and I'm learning a ton of Spanish! Sometimes I get a little lost in my history class because my teacher is kind of hard to follow, but nonetheless I really enjoy the fact that all of my classes are taught in Spanish. Props to Bri for snagging the picture above. This was standing inside my university during the time of the World Cup. It says that classes and exams won't be canceled for the World Cup. It says that the student decides whether or not they miss school for the games. Haha can you imagine this sign hanging at TCNJ? No! Anyway, back to what I was saying.. I sometimes try to get up in the morning and go to the gym, but that usually doesn't happen. My day doesn't start usually until at least 9 or 10 in the morning. I am SUCH a morning person at home, but because I am usually still eating dinner until 11:30 every night, I consequently cannot get up early. Ever. Yes, you read that correctly. We don't eat until at least 10, normally. We also like to wine and dine and talk about Christina's Argentine novio during dinner (this topic usually keeps us going for awhile haha). And also enjoy the wonderfully delicious food that Ivonne ALWAYS cooks. So, so bueno! We had midterms this week, and they were a piece of cake. Well, I say that now because I haven't gotten any of my grades back yet, but I'm pretty sure that I did well on all of them. Pues, espero que sí.

Last night I went to this place called Spanglish. I'm sure you can make the connection yourself, but por las dudas I'll explain it anyway! It's basically like this speed dating thing where native Argentines come and obviously us foreigners. You sit at tables for about 10 minutes with about 5 or 6 different people throughout the night and you talk in Spanish for 5 minutes and then you switch to English for the other 5. Once the time is up, you switch and start talking with the next person. It was super cool! Last night was my first time there, and I definitely plan on going back because it was a lot of fun and great practice! Last Saturday, Buenos Aires had this bell concert called El concierto de las campanas. There's a picture of it above! All of the bells in the city were going off at the same time! When I say bells I am referring to those in Churches and such. It was super cool, and there were tons of people watching! They also had a huge fireworks show at the end of it! Happy 4th of July on September 11th?

We were early for the bell concert so we (naturally) spent our time goofing around and taking pictures (look to the left). The road was closed so we had to take advantage of this. Duh! El obelisco is in the background!! We also walked up and down Calle Florida (the main shopping destination in BA). Below are some more pictures! After the bell concert, I went to Church! My friend Kelsey was nice enough to invite me to come and it was awesome! It was a non-denominational Church, and it had a vibe similar to my Church at home. It was pretty modern, and I had fun singing in Spanish!!! The message was also in Spanish! Actually, everything was in Spanish because I am in Argentina and they speak Spanish here haha. Although I was confused a little at times, I was able to follow it for the most part. I really enjoyed it, and I definitely plan on going back soon! We were the only extranjeros there :-)

Overall, I've spent the rest of my time getting to know the city more. I am basically going to be gone every weekend (because of traveling) from here on out, and so I've been trying to take advantage of my time! Next weekend, I have my next excursion with ISA! We are headed to Rosario, Argentina. I don't really know much about it, but I do know that it is supposedly a pretty cool city a few hours outside of Buenos Aires! The next weekend (the first of October, wow!) I am trying to visit Córdoba (a city also in Argentina, but about a 12 hour bus ride away). Córdoba, I've heard, is a really cool city, BUT they are also hosting Oktoberfest!!! So we'll see what happens, because that would obviously be a ton of fun!! Part of my loan money came in the other day (gracias a Dios!!), and so I am no longer a poor foreigner stranded in a foreign country haha! And now that I do have money, BOLIVIA HERE I COME!! Booked my flight ticket and we are set. October 6th!! I am gone for a week to visit the largest salt lake in the world, and also hit up Sucre and La Paz. We fly back October 14th, just to hop on a bus (literally an hour after we get back) to go see Iguazu Falls with ISA. I'm really looking forward to that trip!! The weekend after that, Christina and I are going to see the glaciers! And by see I mean I have every intention of trying to CLIMB them because I think that would be just awesome. I'm hoping to have my last weekend in BA, but who knows what can happen in South America. :-)