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! 

Peru

So after I finished up my two exams on Tuesday, I packed up my stuff to go to Peru on Thursday morning. The 25th of May was a holiday, and because I hadn't missed any classes up till that point, I figured missing my one class on Thursday would be okay.

So, at 4am I headed to EZE the international airport in Buenos Aires. We boarded the plane at like 7 and after 5 hours, we landed in Lima, Peru. From that airport, we headed onto another plane for Cusco, the biggest city near Machu Picchu. We got to Machu Picchu at about three in the afternoon and we knew that there were ruins around Cusco, and we wanted to see them before heading to Agua Calientes and Machu Picchu the next day. That afternoon, I saw the ruins at Sacsayhuaman, an Incan town almost five hundred years ago. Seeing the ruins were amazing and our tour guide explained about a lot of the symbolism that was involved with all of the ruins. That night, we headed to a restaurant and got pizza for the night.

The next day, after another early wake-up, we headed for the train to take us to Agua Calientes. Although it was cold and early, the train ride took us through the beautiful mountains of Peru in about three hours. That day, we focused on getting tickets for the bus and for Machu Picchu in the town of Agua Calientes. But that afteroon, as I was walking on a trail around the city, my camera broke. I thought it was done for good, so I ran out and grabbed a disposable one for the next day.

The next day, at 530am, we headed out to the bus station that took us up to the top of the mountain of Machu Picchu. After twenty minutes, we arrived at Machu Picchu. Getting there early was awesome and we were able to see the sunrise from Machu Picchu. Then we spent the day at Machu Picchu, learning all about the ruins, including the clock, Intihuatana, which is one of the great relics of the Incan civilization. A few years ago, the clock was damaged by a crane. There were also tons of terraces that were devoted to agriculture and cultivation of both animals and plants. The history of Machu Picchu is still much of a history as its location was perfect as a way to hide the town from the rest of the world. 

That afternoon, we climbed the Mountain Putucusi which was a ladder on the other side of Agua Calientes with a great view of Machu Picchu. The hike was pretty treacherous, as there were about ten vertical ladders that we needed to climb to reach the summit. The view was really worth it though and after four hours on the mountain to go up and down, I was pretty proud of what I had accomplished. 

The next day, we spent most of the day in the city, visiting the fairs and the local shops. We headed back on the train to Cusco at 500 that day. It was supposed to only be three hours, but it broke down, so it took us five hours to get back. Once we got to Cusco, we headed back to the hostel for the night, as our flight back was really early in the morning. We headed back and arrived in Buenos Aires with no problems at 8pm that night. It was a great weekend and I'm really glad I was able to get to Peru during my time here. 

This past week has been good too. I did really well on the midterm I got back. And last night, I went out for dinner and drinks with one of my friends from the university here. It was great to hang out with someone from Buenos Aires out of the classroom. 

Mendoza Part II

Hey Everyone,

I realize it's been a while since I've posted, and I still have some more hw to get to tonight, but I figure I'll start catching everyone up on the last two weeks.

The weekend before this last one, all the FLACSO students had another trip. This time, we headed to San Rafael in Mendoza. Although I had already visited Mendoza before, this trip took us to a different part of the province. We left Friday morning (at 4am!) and arrived on the first day to embark on a short hike through the hills near the Andes mountains. It was great to get to hang out with everyone from FLACSO. The next day, we headed to a few bodegas for wine-tasting. That night, the hotel we were staying at had some type of dance party which was fun as well.

The next day, we had a late start and went zip-lining and ropeling. Although I had never done either before it was pretty cool to try both of them. That night, we participated in some karaoke and made smores at a campfire. The next day we headed back to BUenos Aires. It was a really fun weekend, but I had two tests the day after we got back. Both of them seemed to go okay tho, so I'm just glad they're over now.

Gotta get back to doing some reading, I'll post again soon about last weekend- Trip to Machu Picchu!

Really short post (more like a tweet)

This isn´t meant to be a real post, but I wanted to give everyone a very quick update! today i climbed this ladder in order to climb Mt Putucusi. http://www.travelpod.com/travel-photo/rachel_john/roundtheworld/1146261420/100_0569.jpg/tpod.html (notice how high it goes, and there were like ten more of them to get to the top of the mountain!) I would have taken a picture myself but my camera broke, but more details to follow on that in the real post. Hope things are well, i should post again around tuesday/wednesday.