Aventura en Tigre

And again I have another awesome reason to be so glad I chose the study abroad program I chose. Last week we were told that there were 14 spots for an "Urban biking" day in Tigre (the natural Venice of Argentina!). I don't have class on Fridays (or Thursdays :) so Niall and I decided to go!

This is the train station Retiro:

This is a park we stopped at to drink mate (the Argentine social drink, their version of tea), eat alphajores (these layered cookie things people are obsessed with) and learn a little about the city we've lived in for 2.5 months now. It was beautiful and absolutely pleasant.

When I complain or realize how dirty BA is with dog poop and trash on the streets, I need to remember all the beautiful places in Argentina I have been to, and really what a beautiful país it is.

We seriously could not have been luckier with the weather today! It was crazy beautiful! This paseo reminded me of South Pas a bit...

Me and my best friend in Argentina with the city in the background!

We also kayaked through the water city of Tigre which was majestically beautiful. I wish I was at the point in my life to retire and just buy a house on the river and kayak myself to town whenever I choose. We are definitely going to come back to Tigre to walk around more and chill there for more time.

Interesting note on Machismo:

When we were mounting our kayaks, the directors of the group we were with told us that we should have at least one varón (man) in each kayak. That was impossible because there was a vast majority of women. Then I got to thinking, why is that a rule? I asked and the director said "Es mejor" (its better.) And then I continued asking and he just laughed and said that they are a machista society. Punto. The end. He did chuckle at my continued questioning, but just stated the fact as it is.

Yesterday in my UBA class my teacher used the verb "femenizar" (i guess it means to feminize) as a verb meaning "to lessen in social status" or "to become inferior". This professor usually is very respectful and awesome--so this usage surprised me!

Argentina may have its down falls, but its sure beautiful!

Kidneys

Riñones have become a pretty big part of my life in the past couple of years. What they do, what they stop doing, what diet is better for them, how important they are.

My Grandpa (maternal grandfather) essentially died from kidney failure. His heart couldn't handle dialysis anymore after 8 months and so the doctors did their last dialysis and in less that 5 days he left this life. (Dialysis is a magical fascinating thing that sucks your blood out of your body and puts it through a machine that acts like a kidney and filters the icky stuff out of your blood, and then it gives your blood back = pretty intense process!) Let me also add a random fact--that my grandpa was just randomly born with one normal sized kidney and one smaller one.

My Grandma (maternal grandmother) had cancerous matter in one of her kidneys so that one got taken right out about 3 years ago and the other one has been "the kidney-that-could" since then. Its finally ready to take a break and is asking for that magical and yet straining machine to do its job for it. So, most likely my Gramsey-goo will be starting dialysis soon.

My Papa (paternal grandfather) is having part of his kidney removed on Tuesday because of some sketchy tumor. (Prayers!)

So all of this makes me think about kidneys and how important they are. They take the pee out of your blood. What a hard job and what an incredibly necessary job.

Click here to read some great info about kidneys!

I've also looked up tips on keeping your kidney's healthy and found a couple hard to pronounce vitamins that we should all take, but I think that just general health is advised.

Good thing I'm going on an "Urban Biking and Kayaking" day tomorrow on a nearby island called El Tigre.

Not so blogworthy...

Nothing "blog worthy" has happened in the last couple of days.

They have mainly been filled with procrastination on stumbleupon.com and the devil, facebook.com. I think its a problem that I have class so few times a week that the majority of my time is spent deciding what to do, which book to start reading, which cafe to go to...and my time gets eaten up.

Hopefully next week will be more productive. I'm currently writing a "reseña" or theatre review for Esperando a Godot for my seminar on Beckett. First thing I'll be turning in to a real class at a real Argentine University...hopefully Niall catches all my grammatical errors.

Friday we're going on a "Urban Biking and Kayaking" adventure in El Tigre, a small island less than an hour away from B.A. Hopefully the bike seats are comfortable and the weather cooperates.

I'll work on being more exciting this week as well, so I can have more exciting blog posts.

Glee Audition

I decided to audition for Glee (an amazing TV show about a high school musical theatre loving club) via the internet.

This show is really awesome (at least the music is...) and would be an amazing thing to get cast.

PLEASE GIVE ME SOME GOLD STARS! All you have to do is go to this site whenever you have free time, and click the button. You can do it whenever you have an extra moment in your internet browsing schedule because there is no limit to how many gold stars you can give me!

Check it out! Click here: GOLD STARS! (I updated the link...hopefully it works now!)

Esperando a Godot y 2nd Apple Momentitos

Finalmente I feel like I have a set schedule! Two of my classes are at UBA--the public (yes that means free to Argentines, but not to spoiled Americans THANKS MOM AND DAD) university that takes me one hour to get to by bus and by subte. The building I go to 3 times a week is covered by posters, graffiti, advertisements--you name it. It looks like that was the theme for the decor because literally there isn't a square inch of wall not covered. It gives me the sense that the students really own they're school and that its a location for not only traditional learning, but passionately questioning current life and politics as well. I'm gonna try to casually take a picture tomorrow to show you!

Interesting theatre experience! In one of my UBA seminario about the works of Samuel Beckett, we're first discussing Waiting for Godot--his most popular play. I saw a production recently, per the profesora's request, that didn't follow all the traditions of this well-known script. The play has 5, arguably 6 male characters that are usually portrayed in similar costumes, with similar mannerisms, etc. This production (TEATRO ANFITRION, DIRIGIDA POR BERTA GOLDENBERG) chose to cast multiple actors to play the 2 principal characters and also women to occupy the majority of the roles. The night I went an inspector from the "Beckett Estate" (who knows what that means?) to judge the loyalty of the production. The text was completely respected--but I'm guessing and my professor (one of the most respected Beckett scholars in Latinoamerica if not in the world) things that because of the unusual casting they decided to shut the production down.

Its really great to be able to do so much of what I love all at once: travel, see plays, study theatre, art class, and hang out with great people. I loved being witness to this interesting theatre occurrence as well!

It may seem that I'm just the perfect traveller with no problems who never misses home. Not the case. Here are things I will say when I get home (*** this list is NOTHING compared to the one that my friend Freesia should write when she gets home from Uganda this summer. See freesiastravelsabroad.blogspot.com )

• There is toilet paper in every stall? What's a toilet seat cover?
• YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR THE WATER??!!!
• All the taxis are legit? Not only the ones that say Radio Taxi?
• I don't have to go to 5 different bookstores and fotocopiadoras every day to find my readings for class? I can really just buy this one textbook?
• Clothes come in more than "one size fits all"?
• You have EVERYTHING on the menu? Really? I can order anything I want?!!!
• What's a taco? And what are those delicious brown mushy things next to them?
• I also just plain miss the easiness of using cash in los EEUU. Here if you have a 100 peso bill (=to más o menos U$S 27) you have to beg to get change--even at restaurants, in taxis and at the supermarket. NO ONE ever has change. Don't even ask about monedas (coins for the colectivos).

I'm happy to welcome these crazy differences to keep reminding me that I'm not home and that I'm in the one and only Argentina!

Colonia, Uruguay

The topic of my last real post (IFSA=Awesome) was totally appropriate. This weekend was filled with free meals, spans of beautiful property owned by Mario (our program director), and free wine--all shared lovingly and generously.

We woke up at the crack of dawn to get on the Buquebus--which deceivingly is not a bus, but a ferry that takes you from BA to Uruguay in 3 hours. We of course didn't score seats on the ferry that takes only 1 hour--just like CIMI! The 3 hours passed quickly with the awesome views of BA from afar, mimosas, and card games.

Once we arrived to Mario's house we were absolutely speechless. I had a moment of panic and I couldn't stop saying "why do I deserve this?" " why do we get all this special treatment?" I still really do not understand.

This is where we casually ate Argentine BBQ on a Friday afternoon and also a possibility for the location of my wedding:

After we sat by the pool, pondered the beauty of the lemon tree fields, we strolled to the playa that was not far and very secluded and private. The day couldn't have been filled with more beauty and poetry inspiring moments.

Our time at Mario's villa was soon over, and we went to the center of the city, Colonia del Sacramento. It was filled with charm and beautifully preserved nooks that reminded me of San Gabriel mission area and parts of Mexico. We were sleepy from our day of tomando sol, but we trekked through the city tour and then ate dinner before having deep conversations under the incredible starry starry night.

The next day we explored what we had seen at night, in the day light and just tried to relax. Here we are sipping Café y Té on the side of the Rio de la Plata (the river in between Argentina and Uruguay).

Oh right, classes started and I have tons and tons of reading to do. That obviously is second rate to eating chorizo sandwiches by the pool of Uruguay. Hopefully my academic motivation kicks in soon.

Por fin las fotos de Mendoza!

Here was my favorite picture of the weekend. So much love in such a beautiful place!

Here's our raft--we're wearing bathing suits, then wet suits, then those blue shirts, then the life vests, boots, and helmets. Extreme gear for extreme sports! Our Argentine friend Romina is in the front with Sylvie!
This is when Sylvie fell out of the raft. We were playing a "game" where we had to shift our weight from the different sides of the raft to stay aloft in the mini waterfall. So "fun".
Look at our backdrop. Gorgeous.
The group. We were so lucky that we got to fit in all our activities in one weekend.
I'm glad this weekend is going to be more of a break, since my mind has been so filled with class picking. So happy that's over. Get ready for the pictures from Uruguay on Sunday!

IFSA=Awesome

The program that I'm on is called IFSA-Butler, or Institution for Study Abroad at Butler University in Indiana. They have programs all over the world and is the most popular one in Buenos Aires, that Barnard also recommends. Rightfully so. The directors are AMAZING.

Daniel is the Assistant Director and he is so nice and helpful! He made sure I was in the right group so I could choose the Theatre Spanish class that we are required to take to keep our language skills up.

Patricio is a theatre buff and is always recommending theatre to me. I love him.

Darío is my academic advisor and has read all my frantic emails about which classes I want to take, how hard they will be and gave me real reviews of all the professors that I was thinking about taking classes with, because he went to UBA and knows everything!

Mario is the head. He chatted with us everyday during orientation from everything to host families, Argentine food to walking in the parks at night and which taxi company to call. This weekend we're going to chill at his house in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. This trip is included in our program fees--and I'm stoked.

The IFSA office is like our second home. These men know us ALL by name (there are 150 of us), as they did the first day of orientation, and always offer their help for any "dudas" we might have. I would highly recommend this program to anyone thinking about going abroad! IFSA Buenos Aires!

I think I finally decided which classes I'm taking:

Castellano -Teatro (the mandatory spanish refresher course)

Seminario del teatro de Samuel Beckett (seminar on beckett--famous playwright!)

Historía del Teatro Universal (hard UBA class, totally worth it--I love all 4 hours of lecture about theatre theory!)

Plástica y Visión: Anatomía (figure drawing class!)

Hopefully everything will turn out well! I realized yesterday that this is the first semester that I am actually a Theatre Major. It feels great and so, so right. I guess I'm lucky I found what makes me so happy--its unfortunate that its a field that millions of people also love and strive so hard to be a part of.

I should've been a woodworker.

Homework Session

Niall and I went to the park by the famous cemetery (2 blocks away from my house) to do homework. Here is the view of the park:

Here is the Hotel Alvear (1 block away from my house) that has a store called ARITA. So silly that I have a Rita too!

Dad-is this the same type of tree as the one at Holy Family? I think it is because those little mini red mushroom looking thingys fall from it. There are tons of these huge amazing trees in the park--and I love that no one grooms them, they are left to grow freely!

This is the type of homework I get excited for. While Niall read the book we have to read for our mandatory Spanish class, I drew his hand.

Unfortunately the drawing below isn't mine, but I bought a post card of it. This artist (a local selling her goods at the weekly art fair) gave me a little deal (cause I bought 3) and a kiss goodbye! Her art was so beautiful and her pencil work very soft and delicate. I loved what she did with the watercolor in the back and the addition of some color to the traditional black and white drawings! Don't worry Mom and Dad--I'll give you one to add to the Wall of Fame in the kitchen.

Still picking my classes. I'm hesitant to pick hard ones because they're in Spanish! Oh well, that's what I'm here for...to challenge myself! We'll see how it goes...

Teatro Ciego and Easter in a Box

Last night the crew and I went to see a play put on by the Teatro Ciego (Blind Theatre) company. It was called "La Isla Desierta" and it was truly a magnificent theatrical experience. We entered the big venue filled with anticipation of the unknown when two people introduced themselves and told us to form single filed lines of 10 people and put our hands on the shoulders of the person in front of us, so that we could be lead into the completely dark theatre.

When I say dark, I mean dark. You opened your eyes and closed them and could not tell the difference. It was exhilarating, scary and thoroughly entertaining. The play started with sounds of typewriters coming from all different parts of the room. None of us had any idea how the room was set up until the lights came on at the end of the show, and so the fact that the sound was coming from all angles of the room was overwhelmingly mysterious and awesome. The sounds and smells they created throughout the show were so realistic.

It was a beautiful introduction to new theatrical possibility--darkness and all that entails for the audience: the anticipatory nervousness, the automatic trust you must put in the performers, and the opportunity to let your imagination soar as you create the visual pictures on your own. I also loved the idea of adding a Smell Designer into the crew of a show. My love for theatre and happiness that I changed my major grow with every production I see!

Yesterday, I went to the Centro Postal Internacional to pick up a package I received! It was Easter in a Box from my dad's side of the family! Gabby knit me that adorable Easter egg, my aunt Pam collected yummy things and most importantly CHUNKY PEANUT BUTTER!
This was the makings of my first sandwich. It was delicious, it make me feel at home and I loved it. Thank you Aunt Pam and Patti and Nana&Papa and Ally and Gabby and everyone who helped pick all the yummies in this box. I opened it and felt really loved, even though you all are 6.000 millas away. Thank you so much I'm so lucky to have you all!

Senior Housing

The most beautiful thing happened today. Rachel and I became neighbors for the entirety of our Senior Years. Its like sleepovers everynight with boundaries and lots of closet space. What more could anyone ask for? I have my own bathroom and own mini kitchen. This is the building I lived in sophomore year that's only 6 blocks away from school, one block away from the best super market I've ever been in, and literally on top of a Chipotle and a Subway stop. Perfection. If you wanna come visit me, you should come and just stay in MY apartment with me!

Quick Update

School mode has kicked in. That means I'm terribly sleep deprived, sometimes forget to eat during the day, feel very overwhelmed and think about how awesome winter break in CA and chill time in NY and the first few weeks of BA were.

Today I "shopped" 3 new classes.

1: A seminar on Shakespeare that was a 4 hour long lecture basically about the main points of English history. Shoot me.

2: Literatura Rusa y Escandanava. I love Finland (that's no secret), and have been interested in Russia since high school when I took a Russian history class. Part of the syllabus was Crime and Punishment AND Anna Karenena within two weeks of each other. Shoot me again.

3: Historía y Cultura Judía. If you know me well, you also know that I have always had a huge interest (if not an obsession) with the Jewish culture--its traditions, practices, history and musical theatre portrayals. I walked in late after running around a multi-story building searching for the correct aula (classroom) and found a short Argentinian rabbi talking about our final projects and the beginnings of the Abrahamic faiths. This class could work...

This is what I've been thinking about...so I just thought I'd share. Later today my bff Rachel has to choose our housing for our senior year of college= so stressful. This week I have to finalize my schedule for this semester=so stressful.

Send me some good vibes, cause I'm freaking out. Next week I'll tell you how great my classes are going and how happy I am in BA...but for now I'm just trying to remember that working hard and being educated are worth all this hassle.

Good thing I have cool friends to order ice cream delivery with on Thursday nights :)

Mendoza

This beautiful weekend began slightly late, because Retiro (the bus terminal of BA) was packed completely full of people waiting for their delayed Micros (buses). We finally arrived to our silly hostel on Thursday afternoon, rested and had an amazing dinner at a "super fancy" restaurant named "Azafrán".

I ordered "Petit Filet" and it was delicious. It had bleu cheese and yummy sauces/flavors, which is rare to find in Argentine cuisine!

The next day we got busy. We were transported to Las Termas Cachueta on the outskirts of the city of Mendoza. We were in the Andes Mountains at hot springs. It was beautiful and looked like this:

Before we actually got in the termas, we went rafting. I would call it white water rafting, but there weren't many waves, so I feel like that would be an over-statement. It was still eventful and at times scary...some people did fall overboard! We had amazing tour guides, full gear (see below :), and one of the guides took lots of awesome action photos, that I will post soon! We had a great time and it was a really packed adventerous day compared to our last vacation!

While we were rafting we met a really nice porteña named Romina. She's super funny and her mom and aunt were so sweet they watched our stuff for us while we swam in the termas! She lives not too far from Niall so we're going to hang out with her a lot!

That night we were so pooped that we just chilled in the hostel, drinking some wine and telling silly Harry Potter jokes (our usual activities). The next day we woke up bright and early again to start our adventure in Maipú--a city on the outskirts of Mendoza that has lots of beautiful bodegas (wineries/vineyards). We rented bikes from a company called "bikes and wines" (see the logo below! Ate the "Biker Menú" at a magical restaurant and had a blast.

Below is Bodega Di Tommasino 1849!

After another packed day, this time we were starving and craving some Mexican Food! We went to a restaurant called "Cielito Lindo" and I was on cloud nine with the decor and familiar smells. This was as close to an Easter dinner as I got, and it was pretty nice! Check out our Fajita bar...

This was the really gorgeous church I spent Easter morning in. It was so peaceful and the art inside was incredible. Dad and Mom--you would've died for that mosaic behind the altar.

I missed being with people that celebrate Easter, but lots of things were the same, I ate chocolate and was with lots of people I love! This was an amazing weekend, but now that classes have started, I've got to do my work and choose which I'm going to stick with (ahhh decisions!!!) Hopefully I'll have a clearer idea of what to chose after this week. Off to art class!