Monday, November 22, 2010

It is All Coming to a Close

So with only one week left in Mendoza I am feeling the mixed feelings of excitement to go home, and resentment for leaving this beautiful country. For my last two weeks of the program I am going with three girl friends on a whirlwind tour of the entireity of Patagonia, we are going to make the lovely 36 hour bus ride from Mendoza to Rio Gallegos and then the short hop over to Calafate. Due to our lack in funds we have limited ourselves to mate and peaches for food throughout the trip....maybe some bread and onions as well. After a few days in Calafate and the surrounding towns we are going to make our way back up to El Bolson and Bariloche. We will travel until the 10th, and naturally I leave the 11th so this week is also my deadline for packing up everything I own, which is going to be an adventure in and of itself.




Other plans for this week, we have our Thanksgiving dinner this week, though there won´t be any Turkey, or my family´s tradition of lasagna I am still excited for the great food and the last opportunity to see everyone in our program before heading back to the states. Following our feast, we have planned our final debut at Casa 3 for the final Fiesta Americana. If I haven´t told you about these insanely ridiculous parties, the basic idea is, at the beggining of the semester Dan one of my friends from the program approached one of the local bar/clubs and asked if we could use the space to have a party, we would be in control of the music and we would bring in a crapton of business. Well we did, there were over 300 people at the first party, wayy too many for the space capacity of the club but it was an incredible business deal for the place, they actually ran out of beer at one point I believe. So after that the owners hired us Americanos to plan a huge party every month and we have delivered every month. So as our final fade to black party I am sure it is going to be insane.



Ross is going to celebrate his birthday today as well so we are going to begin with our usual happy hour at Antares, and then migrate to his favorite peruvian restaurant for some fantastically delicious cheap cuisine. All good things in my opinion, I would like to go to all of the cafe-restaurants that I haven´t been to yet, but I don´t think that is realistic or financially smart.



Of course, I will spend at least one day just sitting in the Plaza reading as it has been my daily routine since coming to the beautiful city, and I need to say goodbye to all of my artisan friends that I have come to make over the course of the semester. Yesterday we even kept up the tradition of Sunday futbol in Parque San Martin with the locals which was followed by a trip for some excellent empanadas and gallons of water since it was brutally hot yesterday.



To think of all of the fantastic things I have done here, the great routines and traditions our program has had, it is sad to think it is almost over. I am SO not ready to return to the real world of work and studies and speaking in English.... (maybe i am ready for that last one) But it is going to be a rough transition, I am excited to see all of the people I have missed but it is going to be hard leaving behind everything I have made a part of my life here in Mendoza. The people, the places, the foods, everything that I now feel is a natural part of my life I will have to leave behind. It is hard having friends in the program who live on the opposite end of the country back in the U.S. I guess it will just make a better excuse for having to travel more.



I will definitely be coming home a travel junkie, I can already predict it, I have already started planning my next trip, to the Philippines in the spring, doing service work of course but still it will get me out of the country for a little while. I am just excited to make traveling a real part of my life





(sorry for any spelling errors, my computer is still broken and this one does not have spell check).

San Rafael

I meant to write this immediately after I got back but naturally I forgot, so here goes to the best of my memory (which seems to be fleeting me as of late):

We all woke up at the crack of dawn to meet in Plaza Independencia, and literally it was the crack of dawn we caught the first trole of the day, which is practically unheard of, the sun wasn't up nor were any of Mendoza's inhabitants. However, you did see the scattering couples and groups coming back from their nights at various boliche's still in their short skirts and carrying their heels.

We board the bus and settle into our mid morning slumbers and enjoy the four hour drive to the beautiful city of San Rafael.  We pull in finally to this beautiful wooded area and we all unload and choose which cabana we wanted to stay in, the cabanas were BEAUTIFUL!!! I seriously could just imagine living in one of them for an extended period of time, with a full kitchen and full bathroom and beds everywhere, it was just perfect.

That first day the day plan was to go to the Dique at Valle Grande which is basically a huge damn which has created this beautiful sky blue lake near to these beaches. It was an incredible day and so beautiful we took a ferry across the lake and then all jumped into the ice cold water. We stayed in long enough for our bodies to go numb so the water became slightly bearable and then progressively we all got out and laid out upon the beach to soak up those equatorial rays.

After a lovely day of chillage on the beach we began to make our way back to the bus to head back to the cabanas. We were all pretty much exhausted from the long day of doing nothing so some people took short naps before dinner and others attempted to get the sand out of their hair. I decided a nap was the way to go. Dinner was pretty good but nothing too special, however, the dinner conversation was great our table just got into a huge discusion about politics and the healthcare bill and all this crazy nonsense- it felt nice to actually think for the first time in months, it felt refreshing.

After dinner we all went our separate ways I joined a group sitting on one of the balconies playing some tunes on the guitar and drinking probably some of the worst wine I have ever tasted in my life. It was nice and a beautiful evening, you could see the stars so clearly from where we were out in the countryside. I just wanted to sleep outside under the sky, however the massive amounts of mosquitos disuaded me from doing that.

The next morning we were up and out ready to go on our trek, this was my first experience actually trekking since coming to Argentina, which may be slightly pathetic but it isn´t something I found myself dyingg to do. The sun was out and blazing and there was a bit of a Zonda so it was crazy windy which just made hiking up sand dunes all the more fun. I´ve got to say though hiking up those hills of sand really does point out just how out of shape one is.... maybe should start working on that before rugby season starts up again. Regardless it was great fun and I ended up being one of the first ones to get back to the end so wooohoo for me! I don´t know if i will ever get all of the sand out of my sneakers though, there was one point that we were literally just up to our ankles going down a sand dune. The view from the top was absolutely incredible and there was a little spot also that we stopped at that used to be a raging river, but sadly is now nothing more than a sad looking stream.

When we got back to the camp site the weather began to turn on us, the Zonda was picking up speed and eventually in the afternoon it began pouring (naturally the one time we are out in Mendoza actually doing outdoor activities it rains). So we decided to head back home early just to cut some time out of our traveling.

All in all it was a beautiful trip and I would much like to go to San Rafael again some day if I have the time.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Some Helpful Hints

It is hard to believe that it is already November, it feels like just yesterday that we were arriving in Buenos Aires fresh-faced and doe-eyed scared out of our minds with no idea what was ahead of us. I figure this post should be more of a list of suggestions, interesting tid bits and warnings for anyone who plans on going to Argentina for study abroad.


First of all the country is beautiful, especially Mendoza, with the integration of urban city life and beautiful parks and plazas and the mountains, rivers and lakes it is literally a mix of every type of terrain you would ever want to see.

The people are not only strikingly beautiful but incredibly kind, most of them want to get to know you and learn the language even if you are a complete stranger.

For ladies: the men here are incredibly forward and most often don´t hesitate to approach you even if simply to say that you are beautiful. If you do come be prepared for the biropos which are the excessive cat calls that you will receive whilst walking down the street. Occasionally men will even slow down in their cars to whistle or call you princess.

The sidewalks are not handicap or shoe friendly, I have completely destroyed the majority of the soles of the shoes that I came here with because I assumed that the sidewalks would all be evenly paved and shoe-friendly.

Weather, during the summer time it is hot during the day, and freezing at night, the winter is cold during the day and even colder at night, it´s a desert so it only makes sense to have absurd weather. It hardly ever rains and it is beautiful and sunny almost 6 out of every 7 days of the week. Apart from the occassional Zonda (warm wind storm) it is almost always pleasant to be outside.

Any food that you think you are going to miss, you will peanut butter is like gold for any American student studying here, some locals will tell you they have peanut butter...they are lying the only thing they have is a disgusting paste that may have been peanut butter a few centuries ago.

Do not overpack, and this I am talking from experience, the first thing my host family said is that of the 9 host students they have had I brought more junk with me than they had ever seen. Granted I am grateful I did, but it is just a pain to have all of it.

Most of the things that many guide books will tell you not to bring i.e. shorts, sandals, sleeveless dresses, don´t listen to them, the style of clothing here is very similar to that of the U.S. they have their hipsters, scene kids, thugs, prepsters, casual dressers, hippies pretty much everything, your style will probably match that of any number of argentine trends.

You will lose a lot of things, whether it is from going out or just forgetting things, you will lose things, so try not to bring too many valuables or keepsakes.

Bring more money than the program tells you to, even though the exchange rate is great here, it is deceiving, you will end up rationalizing a lot of purchases especially at the plaza where the hand crafted things by the artisans are an alluring choice for any self-gifts.

You will most likely spend more money on transportation and cell phone minutes than you will on anything else during your stay in this country, it is a pain but if you don´t live close to everything you will end up using the buses a lot and taxis at night.

Be prepared to eat a lot of meat, they do have vegetarian options sometimes but often times they will assume you still eat chicken (its apparently not considered real meat here). Also a lot of fried foods, and overly salted foods. Don´t get me wrong it is incredibly delicious, just don´t expect to lose weight by coming here, the empanadas and panchos will surely prevent that from happening.
 
Take advantage of every opportunity to travel, my personal favorite is Cordoba where at some point in my life I may end up living, it is a great city and has some beautiful things to do in the smaller villas right outside of the center.
 
Be open to meeting new people, some of the best people, and greatest friends I have made here are most of the artisans in Plaza Independencia, you just have to be open to talking to new people and having conversations, it is the best way to practice your spanish and you get to meet some pretty great people along the way.
 
If you can try to speak spanish within the program, our group is terrible at it and I include myself as well, it is refreshing to talk in English but you will improve so much faster if you talk in spanish.
 
-For mailing things, they are going to tell you that you can´t receive food or clothing, that is a lie, I am almost positive everyone who was sent either receieved them on time and in one piece it is just super expensive
 
Don´t rely on the possibility that every family is going to have internet, or wi-fi most of them do not and if they do it is not always dependable, if you want to buy a portable USB modem you should they are good to have anyways, the ones that they will sell to you in the program don´t always work
 
Things to bring with you:
-gum, the gum here is terrible
-camera
-warm clothes but layers!!
-pictures of your family
-spanish-english dictionary
-movies (you will want to watch them since it takes hours to download any online)
-good walking shoes
-camping equipment if you have it, you don´t need it you can rent it from here for cheap
-good going out clothes (for evenings everyone pretty much dresses up in club wear)
-any food you think  you are going to miss a lot
-sunglasses
-money belt or something that can hide your money under your clothes for going out purposes and traveling
-bring copies of all importan documentation and any information or numbers you might need i.e. credit cards, bank accounts, health insurance
-don´t worry about bringing a phone with you, most families will give you one or you can buy one for relatively cheap, most phones from the u.s. won´t work here unless you want to spend 5 US dollars a minute
-Bring any medications you think you might need for the semester, they are sometimes hard to find here
 
 
I think that is all I can think of for now, just a few things I wish I had known before coming to this incredible country that I am going to hate to leave in less than two months.....

FINAL EXAMS

Although we have about a month and a half left of the program the maddness of final exams has ensued!!!! The first of which is my sociological modern history class, which I am more than happy to be done with since it was practically the bane of my existence. With my overwhelming lack of motivation to study and to organize my life and thus keep up with important dates it was only natural that I would assume that my final would be next Monday rather than this past Monday. So in a frantic rush to read all of the 40 readings (most of which were more than 20 pages long) in one weekend our group of extranjero´s decided it would be a fantastic idea to split up the readings into four parts like we had done for the parcial. We proceeded to write up outlines for each reading and share them with the group so that we would know and understand the basic themes of each reading. This would have been a great idea if our procturing professor was going to ask us simply about the primary themes and ideas of the readings, on a general scale.




I suppose you can tell from my tone that I am less than thrilled with the idea of this exam... so on dooms day I arrive to the facultad building early so I can frantically look over the summaries and outlines we had typed up in the hopes that magically everything would just stick in my head. We waited as the first group to go in took a good hour to do what should have been a thirty minute oral exam, so needless to say we were kind of freaking out. Prior to our exam our professor told us we were going to have to take the oral in pairs rather than our group of four, so that is what we prepared for, but alas it is Argentina and they don´t necessarily like to follow through with what they say initially. When the time came for us to go our professor throws us quite the curve ball and tells us we will all be taking the exam together as a group of four. I should have been thrilled that I would have the support of all of my peers but instead I was terrified because the change was so last minute and unexpected (anyone in my family knows how well I deal with change...).



We sit down in our circle of desks and she begins asking us each to choose one reading from the 40 to summarize in detail, it was around this time that my mind pretty much went blank, I could remember not a single thing nor could I remember which titles corresponded with what readings. Double Damn so upon my turn I do as best as I can with what I can remember, and my professor just proceeds on to the next person. Granted it was the most bullshit I have ever said in my life, but it got me through. The second part consisted of our professor choosing a reading for us to summarize. She asks me to explain the major ideas of the reading about Argentine film and culture; which of course I didn´t read because it was completely inconsistent with the majority of the readings we were assigned. To make matters even worse when I asked her who the author of the piece was she just frowned and shook her head and muttered under her breath that SHE was the author and then some other things which went along the lines of stupid ignorant American...



I was dumbfounded and just began muttering a slew of random facts that I could think of about film and how it could possibly be relevant to Argentine culture, not knowing any of the titles or directors of any of the films. Peter (who was assigned to read the lecture) hung his head in shame as I miserably stumbled along my ridiculous summary.



Even though the exam was a filthy mess and I kind of looked like a giant ass we all passed, which is honestly the only thing that matters, I truly don´t plan on ever going to see what my grade was for the exam, I passed and that is truly all that matters.