Things Pick Up

Hola Todos

So things are rapidly coming to an end here in Buenos Aires. On Tuesday, I had my grammar final and yesterday I passed in my final for Economic Development. Now, I'm working on my fifteen page paper for my class at UBA on Chile and next Wednesday I'll have my Economic World History Final. So much to do, in such a short amount of time. After that, I'll have my Listening and Conversation final the next week, which I'm a little stressed about, but after next wednesday, the bulk of my schoolwork will be finished. 

All this really means is that my time in Buenos Aires is coming to an end. The other day I was thinking about how long ago i arrived and how much has happened in the past few months. It's been quite an experience. I still have many pictures that I haven't posted in this blog to show when I get back to America and though it is sad that things are wrapping up, I'm so grateful to have had a chance to experience life in Argentina. 

This weekend, elections are taking place in the country. It's basically for the legislature and I ahve to admit that I dont really know enough about politics here to say which party is in the lead on the polls, but I'm sure that it will be smooth enough. Voting takes place on Sunday and it's obligatory. Sundays here are usually really quiet, so it makes it easy for everyone to vote, although with the gripe porcina (swine flu) I'm sure there'll be tons of precautions set up to prevent the spread of the illness.

I registered for the LSATs today. Its so weird to think that it's already the end of June and that the test is in September. That means I'll have to spend a lot of the rest of the summer studying, but I'm glad to take them in September when I get back. I'll be taking them in Massachusetts (DC's venues were all filled up).

Anyways, I'm going to get back to writing my essay! but Ill post again later.

Miss everyone!

FINALS!

So, it's finals time and the workload has picked up. Unfortunately, my motivation hasn't. I'm planning a long night writing about Argentine politics and economics tonight to try to finish my take-home for Econ Development, but who knows how far I'll actually get?

Today, for my FLACSO class, we went to the Cancilleria which is kinda like a foreign affairs office of Argentina. We met with some ambassadors there who explained to us the role of Argentina in MERCOSUR and things like that. It was really interesting, but I was a bit too preoccupied with my exam to really pay that much attention. The building was really cool too, but I didnt bring my camera, so I wasn't able to get any pictures.

I have less than a month left and I finally figured out the date of my last final will be July 6, which means that I can head to Brasil (spanish spelling) with Val and Maureen on the 7th! I booked my flight to Rio from Buenos Aires and my flight from Iguazu back to BsAs and now all I have to do is secure my visa next week. Apparently the process only takes three days so it should be relatively easy, although a bit expensive- over $100, but by the end of next week, I should be all set.

Well, I'm gonna get back to work. I'll post later.

The Last Month

Wow, this month has been flying by.

I've meant to post more, but things have been really busy here lately. It's weird but although I haven't been traveling, I feel like I've barely had anytime to truly relax. This past weekend was a lot of fun though! Although I spent much of the weekend working to prepare for finals and a presentation, I also had a chance to go out to celebrate a birthday of one of my friends in the program! It was a lot of fun and a good way to chill out before the onset of finals.

Today, I had a presentation in my class at the University of Buenos Aires. It was on Venezuela and Hugo Chavez. Although I was nervous, I was in a group of four students and I was the only American so I was pretty confident that if I got confused I would be able to get help from one of the other kids in the group. The presentation went really well and I got a good grade. It was weird too because this project was my last real assignment before finals start up. 

Tomorrow, I get my first final in one of my Economics classes. It's a take-home and I have a week to complete it. My professor has been telling us that it's going to be really hard, but he also told us that the midterm was going to be really hard too and that turned out to be pretty easy, so it's really hard to know if he's just trying to scare us into doing some of the reading before the test or whether it actually will be hard. But I figure that I'll find out tomorrow haha. 

Two weeks from today, I also have my final paper due for my class at the University of Buenos Aires. It's a fifteen page research paper, and I have to admit that I've barely nailed down my thesis. Like I've said, these next two weeks are going to be pretty intense. However, I think I work better under pressure so I'm betting everything turns out really good. 

I know that this has only been my second post in June, and I wish that I could post more often, but the ongoing craziness here has made it difficult to do that! I can't believe that I have just over a month left in South America and really only three weeks left in Argentina before I head off to Brasil to visit my sister and cousin, which should be really fun! 

I'm off to try to churn out a page or two of my final paper, but I'll try to post again sooon. 

Buenas noches!

Time Flies

Hola todos,

I can't believe that today is June 11th! It's actually my cousin's birthday! Happy Birthday Dianne!

The other week in my grammar class, we learned that in Argentina, if you know that someone's birthday is coming up, you can't wish them a happy birthday unless it's the day of their birthday because to wish them a happy birthday earlier is bad luck, which I found to be very interesting.

Not a whole lot has been happening these past few weeks, just a lot of work and studying. However, I thought I would take the opportunity to share some things about life here in Buenos Aires.

First, the Quick and Dirty. The Quick and Dirty (not an official name) is a restaurant/cafe/parilla type of place really close to my university here. It's cheap food and it's really fast; however, it's also, true to its name dirty. And yet, despite this appearance, I've eaten there twice this week, two chicken sandwiches and frankly they've been pretty good. Haha. As long as I don't get the norovirus again, I'm pretty satisfied.

Second, final exams. At one of my universities here, UCA, I still haven't been told the date of my final exam. It's frustrating because I'm trying to make plans after my finals end, and I really want to know what day it does, but it's also frustrating because it seems no one at the school seems to really care. Asking them when the final is seems to annoy them, as if knowing when the final is isn't something that's important. 

Third, the subway system here. I don't know if I've blogged about this before, but the subway system here (called the Subte) is crazy. It can be forties degrees outside, but the Subte will always be warmer, like in the 80s. It gets horribly crowded as during most of the day, people are pushed up against one another. It's a very unpleasant experience, but pretty unavoidable.

Fourth, the Buenos Aires Symphony. Last Thursday, I went to the Buenos Aires symphony. I went with some kids from the program and it was a really good experience. It lasted for about two hours and it was a great way to end a pretty long week of studying. 

That's it for now! Things are really good and they're starting to wrap up! Hope all is well in the US, I'm missing the warm weather!