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1. I've mentioned this before, but for some reason I just can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that the entire Argentine culture abides by this. GET A WATCH AND LEARN HOW TO BE ON TIME. Ay Dios, it absolutely amazes me that I have yet to meet an Argentine capable of arriving on time and being prompt. I really don't see this as a difficult concept, but wow it's like it doesn't even exist here. It makes me laugh now that I'm used to the way things operate, but I kid you not when I say I lose at least 10 or 15 minutes of class time every day because my professors are always late. I can't wait to go home, and show up to class/work 15 minutes early every day and not be judged for it haha.
2. What will life be like when attendance actually counts in my classes? I can't tell you how many people's cards I've swiped just so that they're counted present!
3. What will life be like when I don't have to watch where I'm walking to avoid dog poop? Have I not mentioned this before? Oh right, Buenos Aires has a tiny problem with this... it's actually kind of gross, but what can you do?
4. United States = a wonderful world where breakfast is appreciated! My beloved, favorite meal of the day has been absent in my life for quite some time! Although I have somewhat made up for it by caking on dulce de leche on my two pieces of toast every morning, I am anxiously awaiting scrambled eggs, homefries, bacon, pancakes, porkroll, french toast, and yea you get my point. You can't even get breakfast at McDonald's here!
5. If I was at home I would probably miss the breakfast boat every morning because I wake up so late. With that being said, I only have two more months of eating dinner after 10. Although I have gotten used to it and don't mind, I will be happy to wine and dine at 5 rather than at my bedtime again.
6. My wonderful coche! Most people walk here or use public transportation! Duh, it's a city, but still that's very different for me. However, pretty sure I wouldn't want to drive here. Have I talked about how Argentines are crazy, road-ragers!!?? There is no such thing as a driving lane here. Nor is there the whole yield to pedestrian thing. To make things even weirder, their traffic lights turn yellow before they turn green. But before that happens, people are usually off to the races anyhow.
7. What will life be like when everyone and their MOTHER isn't smoking? It's disgusting.
8. It will be funny to note how no one cares about soccer at home compared to here. Go Phillies!!!
9. My host mom goes to work around 12 or 1 pm every day and gets home around 9-9:30 pm. So much for a 9-5 job?
10. I'm not going to enjoy having to tip 20% at home. It is a custom to tip 10% here, sometimes even less.
11. I'm enjoying having kettle corn popcorn in the movie theatres here. I think AMC should step up their game and get on Argentina's level with this one...
12. Stick deoderant is a RARE commodity here.
13. Peanut butter is rare, but luckily it exists here, for over 6 dollars a pop. Shoot man.
14. Children live with their parents until they're like 30 and this is completely normal (I hope my wonderful sister sees this!)
15. People drink bottled anything (ie: soda, water) with a straw. They do this because they think the lid is super dirty from being made in a factory. My argument here is that by the time you stick your dirty hands in the bottle to get the straw out to take a sip, you're kind of defeating the purpose. So why not just save yourself the trouble? Besides, my Mom mom always tells me that you'll eat about a spoonful of dirt before you die anyway :-)
16. There's no such thing as free refills here. This is a costly one for me. Considering I could easily drink 5 or 6 drinks at one meal. I have some friends that can drink more (shout out to my favorite clownie!). They also don't do the whole tap water thing here. Water is just as expensive as soda is. So naturally I think, why not just drink soda when it is the same price as water?
17. We eat pizza with a fork and knife here. What? Yes, it's rude to eat pizza with your hands.
18. Hot chocolate (with the exception of Starbucks here) is brought to you in the form of hot, steemed milk and a dark chocolate candy bar that you dip into it. Strange, but delicious nonetheless (although it heavily lacks the sugary aspect).
19. I don't know why I let this slip to the bottom of my list because this is important. Argentines don't sleep.
20. Argentines actually look presentable for their classes everyday. What a bummer. I hope this trend never comes to TCNJ before I leave :-)
21. For some strange reason, oldies American music is quite the hit down here. I can't tell you how many times I've heard Stevie Wonder, Macy Gray, Queen, Earth Wind and Fire, & etc. on the radio and such. Let's get with the times people.
22. It is a TREK every time it rains. No matter how near or far.
23. Every time you try to pay with a 100 peso bill (equivalent to approx. $25) people will ask you if you have anything más chico (anything smaller). Maybe if the atm gave me anything else I would. And also, what's the big fuss about giving me back around $10. Imagine someone buying something for $10, paying with a 20, and the cashier asking them if they had anything smaller to pay with.
24. It's super expensive to live here (in relation to their average income), and for this I have become accustomed to "saving" energy while at home, meaning I am always turning off the lights and appliances when they are not in use. Hence, I have gotten really good (expert status actually) at walking around in the dark.
25. You can find either an ice cream place, a bakery, or a kiosko (filled with candy and other junk food) on just about every corner of a main street.
26. I don't have this problem in my homestay (luckily), but I did run into this when I went to Mendoza. Apparently central heating (or whatever you call heating that heats the entire house from one unit) is somewhat nonexistent here. For further details reference back to my story about the propane death heater story haha.
27. There is awesome graffiti everywhere down here!
28. It's going to be weird not being stared at like a FOREIGNER when I go home. Yes, people make it a point one way or another to let you know that they know that you aren't from here. I won't even get into how FORWARD men are down here.
29. My grades are not letter based. They're number based, except a 4 is equivalent to a C. That makes a ton of sense....not.
30. Argentina has a ton of random pointless holidays such as Student day, which is tomorrow. Translation: this is awesome, and I randomly don't have to go to school about once every 2 or 3 weeks :-)
31. You can't buy anything with a credit card without your original copy of your passport. Well, that's annoying. I've also tried other forms of photo id (such as my license), and places just don't accept anything else. Even for a purchase with a value of $1.
32. I've had experiences where you can't flush toilet paper down the toilet. Who ever thought this was a good idea?
33. All of the people are extremely nice and helpful down here. I haven't run into a grumpy South American yet!
34. No one is in a rush down here (pues, except those driving) like at home. You should see how SLOW people walk on the sidewalk.
35. The mail system is AWFUL. I've already spent close to $40 mailing postcards, and half of them got lost in the mail. Go figure.
36. This one's interesting. You can't "go over your minutes" here on your cell phone plan. Once you're out of credit, you're out of luck because your phone won't send anything to anyone.
37. You can pick out foreigners by the type of shoes they wear.
Well, that's all I can think of at the moment, but I am positive there is more to add to the list. It's super interesting to sit back and think about all of these things as I write this. I never would have guessed that Argentina would be SO different from the US, but here we are! Hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about South America because I am loving it!!! :-)
so, i think im going to do a list thing about argentina too haha seems to be the theme lately.
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