A Reflection

It's been two weeks since I arrived back home from Argentina.

These past two weeks have been a blur, but even more than that, Argentina has become somewhat of a blur.  One of the most unfortunate things about study abroad is that once it's over, you don't know when you'll be back next. Argentina is a country in turmoil, and because o that reason it makes me unsure of when I'll return.

When I left on the 12th, I left a piece of my heart in Buenos Aires. Saying goodbye to our host mom was one of the most heart-wrenching experiences I've ever had to go though. She held on to me and my roommate as we bawled our eyes out, and told us not to cry and how the past four months had been an absolute pleasure. She reminded us that we always had a home in the city, and made us promise to return one day. As she put us in the cab, we rolled down the window and she reached in and held our hands. My heart broke.

Jenn and I just cried our way to the school and cried again once we got there because it finally hit us that we had to leave the place we called home for four months.  After traveling and arriving back in the states, it seemed as if my life turned back to normal- and I don't like that.

I love my life, don't get me wrong, but being home has seemed to blur my study abroad experience. I don't know how to explain it, but these past two weeks have gone by so quickly and have seemed like an absolute lifetime. I feel so distanced from my experience and I feel like it happened years ago.  Maybe it's going back to my normal at-home routine, but it saddens me to feel like my experience hadn't actually happened.

But it did happen. And it was wonderful.  Every day I look back at my pictures and remember how awesome of a time I had. I showed my pictures to my family on Thanksgiving and it made me unbelievably happy.  Argentina had it's ups and downs, but it was part of my life I'm never going to get back, unfortunately.

Argentina taught me more than just spanish.  Those four months in Buenos Aires I learned more about myself than I could ever imagine. I was so lucky to have my roommate, Jenn, to push my limits and help me explore and become more open.  I'm more confident and willing to try new things, and I can't thank her enough for that. My host mom is a woman I'll never forget. She was crazy and wonderful and mostly crazy.  I wish I had opened up to her earlier, but I'm so glad I did and I'm eternally grateful that she had the opportunity to meet my dad.

I'm never going to be able to get back those exact experiences in Argentina, but I guess that's ok.  These past four months of my life have been incredible.  I would never want to replace the memories I made, no matter if they're blurred.  What I do know is that I'm happier than I've ever been and more confident in my abilities to do what I want to do in my life.  I grew up.

And I couldn't be more thankful.

Thank you for reading my blog, and thank you for following me on my adventure, it's been quite the ride.  Muchas gracias.

Te amo, Argentina.  Te extraño, Argentina.

Chau, un beso.

- Meagan

HOME!

I'm home I'm home I'm home I'm home!!!!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I landed safe after a day of traveling and I'm thoroughly enjoying my first night at home.

My dad was able to recover my photos from Iguazú off my memory card, so it officially looks like I'll have everything I lost when my laptop was stolen!!

I'll be writing a reflection later in the week on my experience, but for now my contacts are blurring and I think I need to catch up on sleep.

I love home.

- Meagan

Almost Done

Classes are done!!! Today we had our last day of trekking to the school and we got the rest of our grades from our professors. I manage to pull out a 4.0 semester and I couldn't be happier!

Not much has happened over the last week. We've been studying for finals and mostly just winding down our time. Tuesday night we went to a bar which was broadcasting election coverage and it was PACKED. I've actually never been so sweaty just sitting down doing nothing in my life. We stayed for a bit but ended up going home and watching the rest on our own.

The rest of the week has just been getting grades. I finished up some last minute shopping and I'm all done except for snacks. The weather has been absurdly hot but it's going to cool down tomorrow and rain so ill probably start packing- AH.

Today marked our last day at UB, and after Jenn and I came home and played some scrabble and made terere, which is essentially cold mate with juice! It was surprisingly delicious!

I can't believe I leave in just 4 short days and will be home in 5, it's been a whirlwind.

Until very soon,

- Meagan

Finals Week Grind

Hey, so remember that time I come home in 12 days? Yeah my life is insane.

We started finals today... What? Yeah these tests have snuck up on me like nobody's business. School in Argentina is very laid back, and there usually isn't work besides midterms and finals, so we're all feeling a little over loaded.

I had my first exam today which wasn't fun, but then two papers and three exams between now and Tuesday so my life is currently a joke. Also blogging without a laptop sucks. Sorry there are no pictures. There is no good way to add photos with an iPhone on the blogger app.

Last Friday we went to finally pick up our visas, because that makes sense with two weeks left, and then we explored Palermo and got some delicious American style food! After that a group of us went to the US Embassy to VOTE!! It was my first time voting and it was certainly a special way to do it. There was a children's Halloween costume party happening in the embassy and Disney background music. Perfect.

Catedral de San Isidro 

Saturday Jenn and I went and explored San Isidro in the suburbs and then back to Tigre. I'll post photos once I'm home! (UPDATE: I upload pictures to my roommates computer!) We were then super tired and crashed when we got home. Sunday we had a day event in San Telmo to go shopping, and it looks like I have some more last minute gifts to buy this coming weekend.

I can't believe how fast this is going. I can't wait to come home though!! Until next time...

- Meagan

A Quick Update...

I had the adventure of my life this weekend and I'd love to tell you about it, but I was robbed of my laptop today and will update when my life calms down a little bit. Argentina- 10,000,000,000,000,000, Meagan-0.

Besos.

- Meagan

Argentina- 1000, Meagan- 0

I got my behind handed to me by Argentina over the past week or so. It's been a rough past few days for me, in that I got my first migraine as well as what appears to be a stomach-flu type bug. It's cool, Argentina, thanks for waiting until the week before a HUGE adventure weekend to practically kill me. I can only hope that I'm better by this Friday for IGUAZU FALLS!

But anyway...

Thursday I got the absolute worst headache of my life, which turned out to be a migraine, and I was basically bed-ridden the entire night after school.  It was not a fun experience and I don't recommend it to anyone.

Friday my migraine had gone away so a few of us decided to get together to make guacamole! I had never actually had it before (believe it or not), so I was super excited to try some homemade guac! We took a trip into Chinatown to find tortilla chips, because yes, that's the only place you can buy them in this entire city.  After Chinatown we headed to a fresh produce stand and got our avocados, onions and tomatoes and headed back to one girl's apartment to start preparing. We had an awesome afternoon and the guac was absolutely delicious until...

I got absolutely sick to my stomach later that night. I literally couldn't even function as a normal human being I was in so much pain. I figured it would go away over night and I'd return to normal, but I was definitely wrong. Saturday I was feeling a teeny bit better so Jenn and I headed back to Recoleta so she could see la Flor and we could do some shopping for people at home. I felt kind of weird all day so I was excited to get back in bed when we got home. I, once again, started feeling very sick as soon as we got home and I couldn't get out of bed. I started getting some more flu-like symptoms like heat flashes and freezing, but I powered through thinking I'd be good by yesterday morning.

Wrong.

Yesterday our group took a day trip to Tigre, which is about 45 minutes away by train and is located in the Buenos Aires province. It's this beautiful little delta town with boats and beautiful scenery. On the train ride there I was fine until about 3 stops away when I started feeling absolutely terrible and had to physically sit down on the floor of the train so I wouldn't get sick. Attractive, I know.  Once we got off the train and into some fresh air I was better, but by the time we waited in line for our lunch at the buffet in the casino filled with stale casino air, I was absolutely feeling sick again and wasn't able to stomach or each much of anything during lunch. The buffet looked delicious and I really wish I could have eaten there.

After lunch we had a boat ride scheduled and I had a feeling it wasn't going to end well for me, but I felt surprisingly normal on the boat and had a beautiful time as we cruised around the various delta branches.  The views were spectacular and it was a great way to bring my spirits back up.

On the Delta!

They really like wicker

We got off the boat and Jenn and I went to explore the markets, but eventually decided we had enough and hopped on a train back home where I was luckily able to sit for the entire ride.  We got off at our stop and worked our way home, and my stomach was bothering me again, but I wasn't sure if it was me being sick or being starving from not eating lunch. I couldn't finish my dinner when it was served to me, and I ended up sick to my stomach again last night. I really just need to be better by the end of this week so I can have a normal weekend trip with my friends.

Today I'm actually feeling a lot better (knock on wood) and I'm hoping I'll be able to make it to class assuming I feel fine in about two hours or so, only time will tell.

In other unrelated news, I'm officially under the one month mark until I'm home, which is extremely bitter sweet. I also have over 1000 views on this blog, so that's kind of awesome too. Thanks for reading! :)

I hope I start to feel normal again and can start enjoying my last few weeks in the city, I miss everyone very much!

- Meagan

Frank Walsh comes to Argentina!

I wouldn't trade this past weekend for anything.  I had the wonderful opportunity to have my Dad come down to visit me here in the city, and it was absolutely wonderful!

My dad, me and my host mom!

He arrived Thursday afternoon after some interesting experiences traveling, but nonetheless he made it! I walked to his hotel after school and then we walked from his hotel to my homestay to meet my host mom! My host mom had invited him over for a "reception" as she called it, but in a weird turn of events she actually half forgot about it. In a way, I'm glad that happened because my dad was able to see my host mom in her true colors, frazzled, frantic, and absolutely hilarious.  When she arrived home she was in an absolute panic and it was pretty funny, but we calmed her down and gave her the book my dad had made of pictures of my hometown, which she loved.  She made appetizers and offered us drinks like "vino tinto." (Yes, just red wine.  The bottle literally just said red wine, no actual type.) Thursday night had to have been one of my favorite nights on the trip so far, and I'm so glad my dad got to meet my host mom.

The weather forecast for the entire weekend looked grim, but I secretly hoped that we would get some sunshine, and luckily we did! Friday was beautiful and sunny, and I wasn't going to complain.  We walked from his hotel along the Bosque de Palermo, and eventually made our way towards Plaza Italia.  While walking along the road, my dad and I were stopped by a man, who asked to see the photos on my camera because he had gotten a phone call from inside the United States embassy that they thought I was taking pictures of the building (which is apparently not allowed) and that security outside had to check it out.  Ironically enough, I hadn't even taken my camera out of my bag since the night before, and my dad was the one with the huge DSLR in a backpack behind him. I spoke to the man in spanish and explained that I hadn't taken any pictures, but for some reason they thought I was some sort of threat to american national security. Not only that, but the US embassy wasn't even pretty and I wouldn't have wanted photos of it anyway.

Once we got to the plaza we explored the Botanical Gardens of the city, and then made our way down towards Plaza de Mayo and the Puerto Madero area. I wanted to show my dad all of the cool touristy things when I knew the weather would be nice, so we did a lot of walking! Eventually we were both exhausted and headed back to his hotel just to lay around and watch some television. That night I took him to his first parilla restaurant (steak, chorizo, etc), and we had a wonderful evening.

La Flor

Saturday was another surprisingly beautiful day in the city. The rain held out and we headed down to Recoleta so I could show him the Recoleta Cemetery and the weekend artisan's market.  First we stopped so I could FINALLY see the flower! La flor is this giant metal sculpture in Recoleta that  looks like a flower and actually opens and closes like a real flower! It was extremely impressive in person. After that we headed to the cemetery, where we walked around the majority of it, getting lost between the mausoleums and monuments and appreciating the beauty.  After the cemetery we walked around the market and bought a few things as gifts. It was a really beautiful day overall and I had a great time. Saturday night we had tickets to a tango show (starring my professor), so we went to go see it at the legendary Cafe Tortoni! It was a great show, and I even got to dance on stage with my professor mid-performance!

Café Tortoni, and the stage where I danced

Sunday the weather was unfortunately not in our favor, but luckily we were able to head to San Telmo for the antiques/crafts market that morning before the rain hit! We were able to take shelter in a shopping mall and get some lunch before walking back towards El Obelisco in the center of city. While walking in centro we stopped outside El Teatro Colón, and then saw something super weird...

Do you ever have one of those stories that just no one believes? Well ours starts with a man on a little bike.  We were walking through centro when my dad told me to look up. When I did I saw a man riding a tiny bike with a 2 foot tall potted plant on his head.  Believe it or not, this isn't the weirdest part of the story.  It was raining too, which made it strange.  As we were standing across the street we saw another man come up with a two liter bottle of coke, and subsequently pour some of it into the other man's potted plant. The man with the plant stood up, yelled at the guy, and then tried to pour the coke out of the plant.  Clearly angry, the man with the plant told the other guy off for trying to kill his plant.  Surprisingly, the man with the soda then physically pushed the guy with the plant into the street, who then rode off in the rain.  I had no real words.

After that little moment the weather started getting pretty crappy, so we headed back to his hotel and were miserable excuses for human beings for the rest of the day.  We went out for dinner that night, got some ice cream, and overall just had a nice evening.  The next day the weather was so-so, but we decided to go out and explore some other stuff anyway. We headed back to Plaza de Mayo so we could find the San Ignacio church which has a series of underground tunnels. Unfortunately due to the holiday the church was completely closed.  After that we took a walk and I finally got to see the congressional building, which was very impressive! We walked back towards the plaza and along Calle Florida until we reached Plaza San Martin, which was very nice and had a cool clock tower.  My dad and I spent a lot of time just walking around his neighborhood and exploring all the city has to offer.

Unfortunately I had to say goodbye to my dad yesterday, which was not an easy thing to do because the weekend was not nearly long enough. Overall this weekend really made me appreciate home so much more, but it also gave me a greater appreciation of the city.

Beyond that, this was the weekend I finally realized how much I've learned here. Three months ago, I would never have been able to fully translate for my dad who speaks no spanish to my host mom who speaks no english. My confidence now is so much higher speaking spanish, and I finally realize how much I've grown as a person. This experience is one of those that I'm never going to forget and one that truly affected me as a person, and made me a better version of who I was.

The next coming weeks are pretty crazy looking. I have a day trip this coming weekend and a full weekend trip the following weekend to Iguazu falls! In reality, I only have ONE MONTH left here and I'm not quite sure I'm ok with that.  The days and weeks seem to be going faster and 33 days will be here before I know it.  It's a bitter sweet feeling, but I know for sure I'm going to be upset to leave this place. Argentina has it's ups and downs but the goods far outweigh the bads.

In the words of my host mom, "Qué voy a hacer?"

Love and miss everyone at home! Besos!

- Meagan

Uruguay, Where Buses Wait For No One.

This weekend was absolutely wonderful! After finishing up the last week of midterms (thank goodness), we headed to the lovely country of Uruguay for the weekend to do some adventuring!

We started off our Friday morning by meeting at the university at 7 am... which meant a very long morning for all of us. We took a van to the Buquebus boat port where we would get on our boat to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay! We originally thought we were going to take the slow boat (about 3 hours) but we ended up on the fast boat which took about an hour to get there! I was super excited because now I have new stamps in my passport... it's the little things.

Once we got to Colonia we headed to a tourist center where we watched a multimedia presentation about Uruguay as a whole, which was really cool because it was projected onto all the walls. After that we took a walk with our director and headed into the old area of the city, which is really well known. Along the way we stopped to look at the Uruguayan view of the Río de la Plata, which looks way more like an ocean because of how big it is.  We hung out down by the water, and then the sun started to go in and it got kind of overcast, unfortunately. After that we went to see their little harbor, and eventually headed out for lunch. After lunch the group split into those of us who would continue to travel in Uruguay, and those that were going to take the boat back to Buenos Aires that night. All in all there were 8 of us who were going to stay in the weekend in Uruguay.

After taking a little time to go see the lighthouse, the 8 of us went to the bus station and bought our tickets to Montevideo, and our transfer tickets to Punta del Este. Taking buses in Uruguay is much cheaper than in Argentina, and the buses aren't a bad quality either. On the bus ride to the capital I noticed that the country side reminds me a lot of home in Pennsylvania. Lots of rolling land in farms. At the same time, it feels a lot like going back in time because of the old cars and machinery. There was even a moment where I saw a man with a sheep tied to a tree that he was using to eat the grass on his lawn for mowing. Overall it was a nice bus ride.  For our bus to Montevideo, we would have about a half hour time between when we arrived and when our next bus would depart to Punta del Este.

Here's where things go bad. 

After the 3 hour bus ride, we arrived and were all pretty much starving. We decided to go to the McDonalds in the station and grab something quick.  By the time we were in line we only had a few minutes until the next bus left, so we were a bit crunched for time. In line, one girl in our group said she wanted ice cream, and when the mcdonalds told her she had to go upstairs to that one to get it, we told her it was a bad idea because of time.  Usually, in Argentina things are always late and never leave on time. Funny thing is, this isn't Argentina. Even though we told her not to go, she went anyway and the rest of us went to get on the bus.  First, we got on the wrong bus and were informed by the people in our seats that we had 2 minutes to get onto the other one... and to "hurry" if we could. So we ran to the second one and got on.  One other girl waited in the doorway and told the bus driver that we were missing someone and she would be here any minute. As it turns out, that means nothing to them.  

The driver literally closed the door on our friend so she had to come inside, and pulled away leaving our other friend in the station. There was a momentary panic among the group, so we emailed our director, who then called us and told us that he couldn't get ahold of her, and neither could any of us. Basically, we needed to trust that she would buy another bus ticket to Punta del Este for that night, and we'd find her at the station later. 

After the 2 hour bus ride we headed to our Hostel in Punta del Este and checked in. A few people went back to the station to wait for the other girl, and the rest of us just kind of sat around wondering what we should do. About an hour later they came back to the hostel WITH our friend so there was a collective sigh of relief with the group. We wanted to go out and explore the town that night, so we started off by spending the night hanging out with the guys that worked at the hostel, but eventually some of us were too tired to go out so we went to bed while others went. 

La Mano!

The next day would be our day to explore Punta del Este. The city is what south americans believe is the equivalent of Miami, but much smaller. I can see what they meant, but the weather wasn't exactly in our favor. Normally there are blue skies and beautiful beaches, but it was rainy and miserable for the majority of the day. Originally, our plan was to rent scooters and explore on our own, but the lady at the hostel advised us against that and also told us we'd be much better off on a bus tour. We were all kind of disappointed because the scooters seemed awesome, but scootering in the rain seems less than fun.  

We ended up booking a bus tour for 3:00, so we had some time to kill before that started. We went to La Mano (The Hand) on the beach that morning, which was sculpted in 3 days in the early 80s. It was so cool! Despite the rain, we had a lot of fun taking pictures with the hand as well as the beach. After that we walked across the peninsula and saw the river side of it and walked on a boardwalk along that. We had a constant companion for this portion of our day, which was a stray dog who followed us everywhere, but he was pretty cute. At one point Jenn and I walked under a pier where Jenn found some sort of bone... so that's the day Jenn became a paleontologist. 

We then walked towards the harbor, which was really nice, and after decided it was time to go to the grocery store to buy food to make lunch. It was a successful meal, and then it was time for the bus tour! I have to say, I normally fall asleep on bus tours but this one was great. The woman who gave it was really engaging and nice and we could understand her completely. She showed us around the town, and then off into other areas of a surrounding town, Maldonado. We got to see the Beverly Hills neighborhood, as well as stop off at lots of look-out spots in the rain. Eventually, we made it to a look out spot and it stopped raining! As soon as the sun came out the scenery changed and it was so beautiful. We then took the bus to Casapueblo, which is the house of Carlos Páez Vilaró, an Uruguayan artist. It was absolutely incredible! The sun started getting lower and the orange and yellow light was shining on the white structure. I could have spent all day just looking over the water there, but eventually we needed to head out to our final destination where we would watch the sunset on the beach. Luckily the clouds had broken so we could see the sun, and it was a great ending to the day. 

Casapueblo

We went out for dinner that night, and then got back to our hostel where we decided that we would go out that night, but unfortunately I started to get a headache, and pretty much everyone was too tired to function so most of us went to bed.  The next morning was another early day because we had a lot of traveling to do. We came outside to an absolutely beautiful day in Punta del Este, and had to get on the 8:45 bus to Montevideo. After getting to Montevideo, we had 4 hours until our next bus, so we decided to find Plaza Independencia which was recommended to us by our tour guide. Turns out, the plaza was WAY farther than she told us, and overall not that impressive. We grabbed some lunch, eventually reached the plaza and decided to go find the water. We walked along the water for a little bit back to the station, where we ran into a man selling puppies on the street. Naturally I grabbed the fluffiest one and was instantly smitten. I wish I could have stolen that puppy but that would probably end badly. We also saw a little fountain with tons of locks that couples add to (like the ones in Europe), and I thought that was pretty awesome.

Plaza Independencia in Montevideo

Smitten

We got on our bus to take us to Colonia, and we had a pretty uneventful ride. Straight off the bus we got back onto the boat (yay more stamps!) and headed back to Buenos Aires. Unfortunately we were stuck on the slow boat, so it took over 3 hours. Luckily, we were able to go up on deck and watch the sunset and see the moon. We arrived back in the city around 10, and caught a bus back to our apartments and finally got some rest! After lunch yesterday I had started getting a little sore throat, but by nighttime it was absolutely terrible. I convinced myself that it was a result of all the traveling/buses/weather/dehydration/tiredness and that it would go away overnight, but I woke up this morning to it being worse, unfortunately. I ended up not being able to go to class because of my headache, so I'm really hoping that I start to feel better tomorrow.  

In other news, my Dad comes to Buenos Aires on THURSDAY!! I am so excited to get to spend some time with him and I can't wait to show him the city on my long weekend! :) Also, Exactly one month from today is my last actual day of classes, and the week after that I have finals, and then I'm home... what? This is going way too fast.  

As always, I miss everyone at home! Ciao ciao! :)

- Meagan 

¡Primavera!

It's springtime in Buenos Aires! (Finally!!)

Friday marked the first official day of spring in the southern hemisphere and I couldn't be happier! I'm so ready for it to get warmer and to finally be able to lose my jacket! Right now I'm in the middle of midterms, unfortunately, so my life hasn't been too incredibly exciting.  I had a history midterm last Thursday, but luckily I had an extra long weekend! Which would be why I'm not in class today... You have to love random Argentine holidays.

Friday we had a day with the group, and we started off by attempting to go to the Bellas Artes Museum. We got there around 11:30 where we were informed they were closing and would open back up again at 12:30... well, alright. So we wasted some time in Recoleta and hung out on the bridge, and eventually found a comfortable spot on a bench to hang out. Instead of waiting for the full hour, our program director took us to lunch and I had a pretty awesome burger. We always try to take advantage of the free meals we get, obviously.

After lunch we finally went to Bellas Artes, where we were informed that there were no "large purses" or water bottles (even if empty) allowed in museum. Also there was no indoor photography, so sorry for the lack of photos on that one. The museum was pretty cool and had a lot to offer, but I wish the second floor was open so I could have seen the Argentine art instead of just the European downstairs.

After the museum we were heading to the Bosque de Palermo (Palermo Forest) to see the Argentine Spring Day festival where students from outside the city come to celebrate.  The Palermo forest is not a forest, it's a park, don't be fooled. We walked there as a group, but our program director was walking SO incredibly slow that we ended up losing him before even getting to the park. A few of us walked around the lake in the park, and it was really crowded! Kyla got her face painted for 5 pesos, and we all got to enjoy the scenery on the perfect first day of spring.

Unfortunately I got sunburn on the first day of spring, not surprisingly.

After I got back from the day I came home to find my host mom sick in bed, and a doctor had to make a house call. Basically all the neighbors and her kids were here comforting her so it was a little scary not knowing what was going on. I ended up staying in Friday night because I was doing stuff in the kitchen, but also felt a little weird leaving her here alone.

Saturday was another uneventful day, except I went to see Buscando a Nemo 3D with a few of the girls! The movie was dubbed 100% in different voices, so it was awesome to get to see it in spanish, as well as compare the jokes and translations. I forgot how awesome of a movie it is, and I'm so glad I was able to go see it! I'm relatively convinced that it was funnier in spanish because we already knew the jokes in english, so the spanish translations were so different but hilarious.

On Sunday I attempted to dedicate my day to studying, but that didn't happen, so I watched the Eagles get absolutely pummeled by the Cardinals. It was painful to watch. I'd rather not relive it.

Today I'm enjoying an extra day off for the holiday so I'm going to finish up some homework and relax! It's a bit overcast but I'll probably head out for a walk later just to get out of the apartment. Oh, and I've also been without a roommate since last Wednesday, so that's also been an adjustment for this weekend. Jenn is off exploring in Chile with her sister and I'm sure she's having an amazing time, but I'm ready for her to come back so I have someone in the apartment to talk to!

Can't believe I'm coming home so soon, so strange to even think about. I miss everyone very much! Ciao, besos.

- Meagan

Halfway Done...

Wow, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm officially halfway done with my study abroad experience as of Saturday. It's amazing how quickly the time goes, but on top of that, how much more I'm enjoying this city each day. It's been a while since I posted last, my apologies, but not much has happened. We started our midterm exams so we're all a little bogged down by school, but after having my first one and seeing how easy it was, I'm not as concerned for the rest!

I'm really enjoying my mate. As the weather is getting nicer here in the city (spring in 5 days!), it's so nice to sit out on our balcony and share a mate in the morning. We like to celebrate with "mate miercoles" and it's always a good time. I can't wait to drink my mate back at home, though I'll probably get some weird looks because I'll be drinking out of a gourd, oh well!

Like I said earlier, the weeks haven't been too eventful.  I have some exams in the next two weeks, but with the grading scale here, they really make it seem like there's nothing to worry about. Of course I'll be trying my hardest, but it's just kind of funny how it works out.

Last Thursday was probably one of the most interesting nights so far here in Buenos Aires. For those of you who don't know, there's a lot of drama and controversy here surrounding government, and especially the president.  She wants to make some constitutional reforms and is often linked to a lot of corruption schemes.  To put it in perspective, her and Chavez up in Venezuela are best buddies... Thursday night there was a huge protest planned all over Argentina, with the largest gathering happening in various spots in Buenos Aires. While other groups were told not to attend the protest (for fear that it could become violent if police become involved), we were told no such thing, so a few of us decided to go down to Plaza de Mayo to check it out, and I am SO happy we did! There was no violence, and we got to meet a lot of people in the plaza who wanted to talk to us and find out what we knew about the situation. We knew the basics, but it was wonderful to hear straight from the people what their concerns were, and also great to hear them thank us for helping them spread their message.  All in all, there were at least 100,000 people gathered at the plaza, and the crowd spread dense in the streets all the way to the Obelisco. Normally, there are smaller "pot-banging" protests (called cacerolazos), where people literally bang on pots and pans in the streets, and this was a HUGE example of that. Our host mom actually told us that her neighbor went to the protest and actually broke one of her pans because she was hitting it so hard. I was also able to learn some of their songs, which was a nice addition to the night! We left the protest after about an hour or so and headed home to our apartment, where we watched the protest unfold and grow larger on TV with our host mom. It was one of the coolest experiences I've had here in Buenos Aires, and for the first time the city truly felt alive to me.

Yes, I got one of these flags

The prettiest room in the museum!

On Friday a few of us went to the Eva Perón (Evita) Museum in the city. It was definitely an interesting experience. Across the world Evita is seen as a saint in many people's eyes. But she was also centered on a lot of controversy surrounding her choices, as well as the governmental choices of her husband. We had heard from our professors to go to the museum and see at the pure lack of facts presented, and boy were they right! It was basically a museum centered around her clothes, and every now and then showcased her philanthropy, but never showed how she got the money or resources to accomplish any of that. It was interesting to see how the museum was basically a shrine to her, when in fact many people don't believe she should be celebrated at all. Still, the museum was cool because I'm a big fan of vintage clothing, but oh the whole it was not what I expected it to be. After the museum we went on an adventure to find froyo and we FINALLY found it in this God-forsaken city. And it was delicious, and all was good in the world.

On Saturday we went to an event called the Buenos Aires Underground, and it was AWESOME! We went to the Almagros neighborhood of the city (which I had never heard of) and ended up at an old metal fabrication plant... not exactly where I thought I'd be getting some artisanal food from Buenos Aires. When we entered the building, we paid our 5 pesos to enter and then headed up to the 3rd floor. On all the floors in between, you could see all the old machinery and it was pretty awesome.  Once we made it to the top we found out that you had to buy "Indy Bucks" in order to get any of the food (why am I not surprised?), so we each bought a sufficient amount and started looking at what we could eat.  Even though we paid more than we thought we would, it was absolutely worth it for the experience! Not only that, but for about 20 dollars, I was able to have half a pulled pork sandwich, half a brisket sandwich, froyo (woohoo!), lemonade, and another small sandwich to try! The location was definitely one of the more hipster things I've experienced here, so that was definitely interesting. It seemed like there were A LOT of Americans there, though I'm pretty sure the whole thing was put together by Americans as well. If you're ever in Argentina and looking for something local and cool to do, you should definitely check out the Underground Market, so awesome!

Pulled pork... and it was spicy!

Today (Sunday) we headed back to the Puerto Madero neighborhood! I went there during the first week with a few friends, but this time we went with our program. We walked the length of the water and got to hang out on the bridge. We ended up going to a restaurant with our director Alfredo for lunch and it took over 3 hours to eat. The service was pretty bad, the food didn't all come out close to the same time (One girl and I waited to get our food when some people were already done eating), and it also took close to an hour for anyone to even take our order. However, the food was delicious and I was so full afterwards. Puerto Madero is beautiful!

On the way home we stumbled on a Brazilian festival! We only checked it out for a few minutes but it looked like lots of fun! Besides that, it's been a quiet few weeks. I found out a few days ago that my dad will officially be visiting in the beginning of October and I'm absolutely looking forward to that! For now, I'm looking forward to officially welcoming spring to the southern hemisphere on Friday, and maybe being able to wear shorts without being ridiculed. My roommate learned that lesson, even if we are hot because it's 75 degrees, it's not acceptable to wear shorts here because they think it's still jacket and scarf weather.  Crazies.

Puerto Madero

That's really all I have for now... I'm looking forward to some more adventures soon!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week, and ciao for now!

- Meagan

Remember that time I danced in a Tango show?

Happy September! (What?!)

Another week has passed here in Buenos Aires! I haven't gone on too many crazy adventures, but I did/saw a few things worth noting, I suppose.

Friday morning we headed to the DMV from hell (as outlined in my previous post) to finally apply for our Visas, and then headed to Florida Street to shop. We got a huge lunch so that was actually the highlight of the day in all honesty.

Friday night was La Noche Internacional (International Night) at the University of Belgrano, and because I'm currently taking Tango as a class, I was told we would be performing a choreographed number at the night...

Fantastic.

So in the two weeks leading up to the show, my partner and I practiced our moves and basically only mastered the final pose and opening sequence... but that's really all that matters in the end.

Kurt and I doing our final pose. #werk

The dance was horrendous, I'm not going to lie. Kurt and I were the only ones who could regularly keep time or know when the musical cues were, so Kurt actually had to yell "vamos" mid-dance to remind everyone to start the final sequence. It was a mess, but it was an experience to say the least.

International Night should have had a lot more to offer, in my opinion.  Luckily I got there early because of the tango show because I was able to try some of the food from each country's table.  I even went so far as to ask the french girl at her table if the french toast they made was actually french, or if that was just the name... but again, that's another story.  The USA table was seriously lacking on American food. They made brownies, which was cool, but guacamole? You're really going to make guacamole to represent the Americans? Believe me, we love our guacamole, but there wasn't anything more appropriate? Eventually the food ran out and people were pretty restless, but there were some performances by student groups that were pretty cool.

Brazilian students perform a routine

After the night concluded a few of us went to this Mexican restaurant next to my house called Frida Kahlo's and I FINALLY got some spicy food! The chilaquiles were. to. die. for.

Saturday was another day with the group, and we headed to se El Ateneo Bookstore. I know what you're thinking, what could possibly be so great about a bookstore? Well I'll tell you. This bookstore is inside an old theatre! The actual theatre opened in 1919 and tons of famous people performed there.  It was converted into a bookstore in the mid-2000s.

View from the second level towards the old stage

 It's really hard to believe when you actually walk in. Although the renovation and conversion happened in the early 2000s, they maintained the feel of the old theatre including the original architecture and curtain on the stage. I also think it's kind of awesome that the stage was turned into a cafe!

Standing on the 2nd level, where you can see the theatre boxes 

I could have spent forever here

The atmosphere was really cool, and I ended up buying myself a book which I'm really excited about! During that day we also had a buffet lunch that was delicious, and then my roommate and I walked up and down the street we were on and did some window shopping. We also picked up flowers on the way home because it was our host mom's birthday! She was heading to her family's house to celebrate, so we went out for dinner with the whole group to celebrate one of the girl's birthdays from our group! I unfortunately had hurt my foot the previous day, so I headed straight home after dinner instead of out on the town, but I think it was a good thing in the end, being that my ankle was the size of a softball when I got back to my apartment... ouch.

Sunday my ankle was basically back to normal and my roommate, myself, and some of our friends headed to the San Telmo neighborhood of the city so we could go to the weekly sunday craft/antiques market. The market was super cool, but very crowded and sometimes to an uncomfortable level.  I plan on going back again for sure because I saw some great gift ideas for people back home, but for some reason couldn't commit right there and then.

A side alley led us to these Antiques stands... a dream!

I went with the specific goal of buying my mate, and after LOTS of looking, I finally found one and I couldn't be happier! It's currently in the kitchen curing since it's made from a gourd and needs to be cured prior to use.

I'm in love with my mate and definitely not sorry about it. I can't wait until the curing process is over so my roommate and I can have mate miércoles and all of our other mate days. I also can't wait to use it casually back at home, but I'm sure if I used it out in public people would think I'm doing some sort of drug. It's tea, I promise.

Other than that, I've just had classes all week. And classes are classes, I suppose.  We're heading to a museum this weekend (in theory) but I also have my first exam and presentation due on Monday and Tuesday so I'll be in homework/study mode all weekend. Wahhhh. Hopefully something more exciting happens to me soon because I feel like my last few posts haven't been very eventful, I apologize.

As always, I miss everyone at home!

Besos,

- Meagan

My name is not Maggie...

I have some things I'd like to discuss about Argentina. Not adventures, but things.

This post isn't going to have pictures, sorry.  Not much has happened since we got home from Mendoza, at least nothing picture worthy. We had class and a weekend of doing absolutely nothing and that's it. I wish I was lying, but it's been a lazy week and a half. The most excitement of this week has come from standing in line at the place to finally apply for our visas, which is basically a DMV on steroids filled with lots of miserable people. I was a pathetic excuse for a human being when we went this morning, but that was mostly because we were up too early for my taste on a day without school. We all made it through the process in a reasonable time, and went to lunch and to La Calle Florida (Florida Street) to window shop.

But back to the point of this post... strange things about the city of Buenos Aires.  And boy, there are a bunch.

1.  Napkins  

I wish I could properly explain to you what napkins here are like, but I'd never be able to truly do them justice. Is the thought of using wax paper to wipe crumbs off your face or hands appealing? No? How about computer paper? Still no? Well, then you're out of luck. Napkins here are anything but helpful for  their intended purpose.  Obviously I'm not expecting cloth napkins, but I'm at least expecting them to be foldable without a noticeable paper crease and a glorious waxy coating.

2. Sidewalks

For the love of God, we've talked about this already. These people need to get their act together with the sidewalk situation. Is it really THAT difficult to get one material for all the sidewalks? Is it even more difficult to rope off sections so that people/birds/dogs don't step in it? 

3. My name

Apparently my name is somewhat of a challenge for the people of Argentina. A usual exchange goes something like this: 

- "¿Cómo te llamas?" (What's your name?)

- "Meagan, ¿y vos?"  (Meagan, and you?)

- "¿¿¿¿Maggie????"   (Self Explanatory)

Without fail.  I don't know what it is about my name, but nearly everyone here at first thinks my name is Maggie.  I then go on to correct them, and they can say my name perfectly. I have to agree with my roommate's theory that people don't choose to actually listen to us speak because they assume we're bad at talking based off the way we look.  I'm clearly too pale for this place.  

4. Eating at a Restaurant

Don't expect to be seated, and don't expect to be rushed in and out of the place.  This is one thing I can actually appreciate about weird stuff in Argentina. In the US, restaurants are all about turnover and getting meals out quickly and new people at the tables, but here it's perfectly normal and accepted to spend 3 hours at a cafe and only ordering a cup of coffee and some medialunas. The check is never brought directly to you, and you have to flag down your waiter or waitress if you want it.  It's also not unheard of for them to just tell you the amount and not give you a receipt at all.  It's a very laid back mindset, and something I'm learning to appreciate.  

5.  Getting Change...

Do you want change for that 100 peso bill? Too bad.  I'd like to preface this section by saying that currently, a 100 peso bill is the equivalent of handing the cashier $22.50 USD, so for the sake of this example, we'll use $20 dollars as the comparison.  Are you kidding me? I'm trying to buy 50 pesos worth of groceries, and naturally I hand you a 100 because those are the only bills that ATMs give out, so please do not look at me and ask me if I have anything smaller. You really can't make change for the US equivalent of 20 dollars? There is NEVER change here. I could even buy something for 80 pesos and they'll ask if I have smaller bills.  No, I don't.  And coins are an entirely different issue. From what I've learned there is a coin shortage here, so if something comes to 15.50 pesos, they will almost always ask you if you have the 50 centados because they almost never have the right change to give you.  I just can't wrap my head around the denominations of money that they have and how little they are actually worth, but the same goes for the penny in the US. 

On a related note to that, if the total comes to some strange number like 24.68, cashiers in normal stores will usually just round it to the nearest .25 because there are barely any coins smaller than that.  So strange.  

6. Cat Calls

From a young age, boys are trained to yell and whistle at virtually any woman who walks by or near them. It's unavoidable in this city, but it's just a part of the culture.  Even though they do it to everyone, I'll use it to make me feel a little bit better about myself, but still ignore them because it gets old, fast.  

7. Walking

I thought Americans were bad walkers until I came here.  I have to add at least 10 minutes to my daily commute from simply dodging people on the sidewalks.  The porteños just walk without any regard for the people going in the opposite direction, or even the same direction! I also feel like many have the attention spans of goldfish, because it's like they've never seen a store before. I cannot tell you how many times we've been walking, when suddenly someone in front of us just stops dead in their tracks and looks at a store window. Or how people cross a huge group of people just so they can go look at some pair of shoes in a window. I once saw an old woman walk slower than molasses in front of me, and then stop suddenly in a store window aimed at teen girls. I'm sorry lady, you are definitely not in the market for a pair of metallic leggings, please let me pass.  

8. Street Happenings

This goes for most cities. I don't want to take your flyers, I don't want to buy your counterfeit subte cards, and I definitely don't want to buy bras and underwear off your blanket on the ground. Believe me, some of the other items sold off blankets on the ground are pretty awesome (like bags and jewelry) but what could possibly be sanitary about buying bras and underwear? Someone PLEASE tell me.

FIN

Well, I digress.... I felt like this post was a long time coming. Believe me, I really enjoy the city, but there are always going to be things that are strange no matter where you live. This city has a lot to offer (including Dulce de Leche, and that's all I really need in life) and for every bad there is a good.  

Besides today, I have a pretty busy weekend ahead. Tonight is La Noche Internacional at our University and I will be participating in a TANGO presentation with my tango class, so look out for pictures of that soon! The International Night should also have lots of food from all over the world, including some adult beverages (Because the school actually allows and encourages that so we can share "culture" with our fellow students) from each of the participating countries. Tomorrow we have a trip to a really old book store which is inside a theatre, and then we're going out to dinner to celebrate one of the girls' birthdays at a restaurant which is apparently delicious.  And then finally on Sunday my roommate and I are heading to San Telmo (a neighborhood in the city) to go to the Sunday market and to buy our Mate gourds! I've been looking forward to this for a while. 

I think that's enough ranting on my part for today... I miss everyone very much, and I cant believe it's already been 6 weeks!

¡Ciao!

- Meagan

Long Weekend in Mendoza!

This post is going to be long and picture happy, so I apologize in advance.

Long weekends are different here than in the states.  On any given week, we don't have Friday classes, so it's always a "long weekend" by american standards. However, this week we also had Monday off so it was actually a four day weekend.  As a group we decided to take a trip on our own because we didn't have anything planned with our program.  So 12 of us headed to Mendoza, Argentina!

Our weekend started off with a bus leaving from the Retiro bus station in Buenos Aires around 7:15 on Thursday night. Classes ended for most of us around 5:30 so it was an interesting adventure to get there. The bus had two levels, and the top level was all seats. It was really cool because there were seats right at the front that just had windows in front of them. Also, the seats reclined pretty far and had foot rests, so it made the 14 hour overnight bus ride moderately tolerable. We got dinner on the bus, which was a nice surprise too. We ended up arriving in Mendoza round 10 on Friday morning, and we got picked up by a van at the bus terminal, who took us to our hostel in the middle of town. Once we got there, we discovered we couldn't check in until 2:00, so we had a lot of time to kill on a rainy day. We ended up exploring a little and found a hole in the wall restaurant where I got a delicious burger that ended up being the size of the average dinner plate. It was so nice to have a bigger meal after being stuck on a bus for the entire night. Mendoza is definitely a pretty sleepy town. It has a very slow pace of life and felt similar to home. I liked it, but I don't know if it's somewhere I could permanently live.

Once we got into our rooms, it was obvious that we were in a hostel, not a hotel. We had three rooms of four people with two sets of bunk beds in each room. Not only that, but I could reach from one wall to the other in the bathroom. It was a tight squeeze, but it made for some interesting stories. I had enough time to get a shower before our city tour at 3, so I was thrilled about that.

I could have done without the city tour, to be honest. It was raining, and we were on a bus (again) so it was pretty boring overall. We drove around the city (and it was cold!) and would stop every now and then. I guess one of the cooler things we did was we stopped at the monument on the top of Cerro de la Gloria and got to take some pictures.

The monument to the army of the Andes

Unfortunately it was a pretty crappy day overall. Afterwords I just wanted to take a nap, but we headed out for dinner as a group, which was a really good time. The next day we had an excursion planned for horseback riding! Originally we were all a little stressed because they were 45 minutes late picking us up, but it was absolutely worth it! The name of the excursion was The Gaucho Experience, and I highly recommend it to anyone who visits Mendoza. You can find information about them on their facebook page here!

The building where we ate lunch and hung out

We started off by meeting Javier and his brother Danny, who work on the ranch. We talked for a while and were told that we had to wait for some extra horses to arrive. We took the time to enjoy the scenery and to pass around a mate. And I have to admit, I hated mate the first time I tried it, and it has absolutely grown on me since. I really loved it that day, and once I told my host mom last night, she made it again for us this morning to have with breakfast! We also got to enjoy the scenery, which was incredible looking towards the Andes.

Part of the view!

So we got to talk with the guys, and finally it was time to head out on our horses! I don't have much horse riding experience so I was a little nervous but definitely excited. My horse's name was Nejo, and as I came to find out later in the day, Nejo is extremely stubborn and doesn't like to take direction. But he was pretty so it was good.

Nejo!

I trotted on a horse for the first time and it was fun, a little intimidating, but definitely worth it! But I have to admit, I'm still sore and it's Wednesday! We took about an hour and a half ride beside the mountains and it was SO beautiful! A few members of the group went running with their horses, but I think I'll wait until I have a little more experience for that. After we got back from our ride, we had lunch with everyone! They made us a traditional meal of beef and chicken along with roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions with a tomato and onion salad. We watched them cook it in the oven outside, and the smoke filled the air. They also served us some fresh wine. The afternoon was perfect, and I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Some of us with Danny and Javier!

We got to take lots of pictures too, which was awesome. Later the guys told us about a BBQ party that another hostel in the city was having that night, and that we should go. We did, and we got to see them again later that night! The party at the hostel had fresh BBQ and food, and it was incredibly delicious. It was nice to see the guys outside of horseback riding and getting to interact with more locals and other international people traveling that weekend.

We had an early morning on Sunday because we had a wine tour starting at 8:30 am! We got picked up in a bus, and we had a pretty adorable tour guide who was really enthusiastic. The first place we stopped at was an older bodega called Don Aruto that used traditional methods for making their wine. The winery was over 100 years old, and it was awesome to get to see the giant barrels and here about their processes.

Barrel!

Argentina is known for the malbec grape, so a malbec wine was one of the first things we got to try at our first wine tasting! We tasted three different ones at the first winery, and the malbec was definitely the best in my opinion.

The first tasting!

The second bodega we went to was a much more modern winery built in 2007 named Vistandes. Or literally, view of the Andes. It was an absolutely beautiful facility with lots of modern machinery and processes. We got to learn about the different types of wood barrels and the flavors they can give to the different wines.

The modern winery

Finally, a white wine! (All reds, all day)

View at Vistandes

We got to try more wines at the second bodega, and I finally got to a white wine! Argentina is mostly known for it's red wines, so finding a white was definitely a treat. During the tasting we also go to learn about how wines start as closed, swirling them, and how they become open. And I have to tell you, the smell completely changes! I'll never actually understand how it works but I'll definitely keep it in mind for at home. After the last bodega we headed to an olive oil factory, and that was great! It was called Pasrai, and we got to learn about how olive oil is made, and how it can be altered in different ways for flavor. Finally at the end we were able to taste a bunch of different ones with bread, and it was awesome because we were all starving by this point. After the olive oil factory we headed back to the hostel and then off to explore the market in one of the plazas in the city.

On Monday we decided to go for a hike on Cerro Arco... you think that would be an easy thing to do on your own when you're at the foot of the Andes, but it was definitely a process. We finally were able to call three taxis to take us to the specific mountain we wanted to climb, and they ended up taking us to the completely wrong area of the park. After they drove away, we then figured out that we were pretty much screwed. We ended up asking a man working at the desk at the zoo (where we were dropped off) how we could get there, and he said it would take hours to walk, and that we should catch the bus. Naturally, none of us had change for the bus. The guy then proceeded to tell us that he was going to call his brother to see if he could get us a ride (in what we thought would be a van). After about an hour of waiting, we see an old pick up truck arrive, and as it turns out, that was our ride. We negotiated a price and we all piled in the back of this guy's truck and he drove us to the foot of the mountain we wanted to climb. It was definitely an incredible experience to ride through the park in the open air and experience the scenery!

Once we got to the mountain, we got to climbing. It started off pretty easy, but by about 1/4 of the way in I was struggle-bussing HARD. Luckily I had a great group of friends hiking with me who were willing to not go quite as fast so I wouldn't get sick and die on the trail.

Hannah and I less than halfway up!

Right after this point is where it started getting pretty difficult. There were a lot of very steep sections that didn't quite agree with my lungs. One girl in my group was actually scared that I had asthma or something, but I then just reminded her that I'm out of shape and need to get my butt in gear. I stopped taking pictures until we got to the second highest point and people were going paragliding off the mountain. It was really cool to watch and I wish I could have done it.

Last stop before the final ascent! What a view!

After we watched the paragliders I contemplated giving up and walking down with a different group, but we were less than 10 minutes from the top and I told myself I would regret it if I didn't make it all the way there. In the end, it was completely worth it! My legs felt like jello, but the view was spectacular. All in all it was about a 5 1/2 mile hike round trip and a 2000 foot elevation change. About halfway up the mountain we met two guys named Germán and Leonardo, and they became our coaches and friends to get us to the top. They were really funny and would physically pull us up the mountain if we started slacking. I'm so glad I made it to the top!

The view from the top of the mountain. Breathtaking!

Part of our group with our new friends we met on the trail

Our group and the guys then walked down the rest of the mountain taking a few short cuts along the way, which was fun! When we got to the bottom we realized that the bus stop was really far away, so the guys actually offered all of us rides to the bus stop, which we ended up doing in two trips in the car. It was definitely an experience I'll never forget.

The mountain from the bottom where we started. 

In the picture above you can get kind of an idea of what we hiked. The mountain that's back in the distance has radio towers on top of it, and that indicates the highest point on Cerro Arco. I was really proud of myself for making it all the way to the top without dying, but I did fail on my goal of not falling on the way down. Oh well, close enough I suppose.

We then had another 14 hour bus ride home. We never got to shower after the hike so we all smelled terrible on the bus, but at least we were all together. Unfortunately I wasn't able to sleep on the bus because of how sore I was from horseback riding and hiking combined. We arrived back in the city on Tuesday morning and I had classes from 1-5:30. It was definitely a struggle to stay awake and alive but I did it!

Something pretty interesting happened when we got back to the city. Once we got off the bus and we were back into the craziness that is Buenos Aires, it was the general consensus that the city felt like home. After an incredible weekend in a town with a much different pace of life, it was almost nice to get back to the hustle and bustle of the city. I was so excited to get back to the apartment and see our host mom so we could finally have a home cooked meal for dinner.

Overall, it was an amazing weekend. There is no way that I'm ever going to forget about everything that happened in Mendoza. If you ever have the opportunity to go there, you should go in a heartbeat!

On another note, I've officially been in Buenos Aires for a MONTH (on the 21st)!! How crazy is that? Time really does fly... I miss everyone at home, and I apologize for making you read all of this. I just loved Mendoza.

Until next time, ciao. <3

- Meagan