Oh, the City...

So, here's the thing. I've never been much of a city person. I've lived in a smaller town my entire life, and I love having the space and serenity associated with that. Living here has been a completely different and eye opening experience. It's loud, dirty, and I have to rely on public transportation. But here lies the problem, we are currently on day 9 of the subte (subway) strike. Seriously, it's incredibly annoying. Because of the subte strike, a lot of plans from the past week had to change, and it turned out to be relatively uneventful.

Classes were classes, I suppose. Nothing to write home over. Our classes finally take attendance starting tomorrow, so we have to swipe in before each class to make sure we are counted.  I picked up a new class because my argentine culture class was cancelled due to low enrollment, so I'm taking latin american history during the 20th century. It's in spanish, so I'm having a bit of trouble comprehending, but luckily it seems that a lot of the other students are in the same boat as myself! Over time I'm sure it's going to become easier over time.

On Friday we were supposed to have a little day trip to Florida Street, which is a pedestrian street full of shopping and excitement, but due to the subte strike and the incredibly overcrowded buses, we had to postpone that to another day at some point in the future.

Saturday was an absolutely miserable day. It hailed for a while, and was thunderstorming and pouring all day.  We decided we would try to hit a museum since it was an indoor activity, but naturally as we stepped outside it immediately began to downpour. We managed to stop into a café and have some snacks, where it cleared up as soon as we sat down.  My roommate and I eventually made it to the Museo de Arte Español- Enrique Larreta, which was about 10 blocks from where we lived.  It was pretty small, one floor, but it had a lot of interesting art and artifacts.

Inside the museum

The best part of the museum though was DEFINITELY the gardens! We managed to find a break in the rain to head outside and explore the garden. I can only imagine how beautiful it is when it's sunny! Our host mom told us that during the summer, they have concerts in the gardens under the lights. I'd love to see that!

The beginning of the garden

In the corner of the garden

The gardens really were beautiful, and for a 1 peso entrance fee, I'd definitely go back again!

Today we headed to the Japanese Garden of Buenos Aires! It's one of the largest japanese gardens outside of Japan itself, and it's about 5 acres in total. Today was a beautiful day and perfect for exploring a setting like that. It was amazing to see how just scenery around you could transport you to a different place.

Incredible!

Kyla, Jenn, and myself on the bridge in the garden

While we were at the Japanese garden we ate at the restaurant on location and had some seriously delicious food.  I was really craving something flavorful. After that we did a little more exploring and decided to head out and walk home. It was a very long walk, but on a day like today it was great! We stopped at the Monumento de los Españoles, which was HUGE! It's also located in the center of a one way street with 11 (!!!!) lanes. It's also surrounded by a roundabout with no crosswalks to the monument itself, so getting there was a real-life version of frogger.

El Monumento de los Españoles

I was surprised when we got there as to how big it actually was (Over 80 feet tall). Standing next to it make me feel pretty much obsolete. But it was great to climb all over the statues that surrounded it and spend time sitting and watching the cars and people go by. After that, we continued on our walk home and stopped for some snacks at a cafe. My roommate and I arrived home just in time for dinner, and now it's time to catch up on some school work.

In more exciting news, my group is heading to Mendoza next week! This trip is on our own, and not paid for with our program, so it's our first real adventure outside the city. We have a long weekend because we have Monday off along with the normal no-class Friday. So we'll be heading out Thursday night and taking an overnight bus to Mendoza and staying in a hostel until Monday night when we will return in time for classes Tuesday morning. Mendoza is wine country, so we have a wine tour as well as horseback riding planned! I can't wait to see the snow-capped peaks of the Andes and experience life outside the city. It's going to be glorious! I'll probably be updating again once I'm back unless something crazy happens between now and then. :)

¡Hasta luego!

- Meagan