Hola!

These past few days have been great, and it's nice to finally be on a set schedule.  Sunday night the nietos (grandchildren-Gregorio is 8 and Laurianna is 2) came over for dinner and we ate Choripan, which is an Argentine specialty that is basically a huge grilled sausage.  Pepe, my host "dad" was in charge of the grill and we helped him with the fresh vegetables.  As he said, it's all about presentation and making the food look as good as it tastes...and it sure did.  Although the food was delicious, my favorite part was just relaxing outside while the food was grilling and talking with the family.  

                     Jenni, Me, Mary, Maxinne, and Gregorio helping Pepe with dinner

If you know me well, then you know how much I love food.  So when I am writing these posts, the easiest way for me to remember what I did each day is by the food I ate.....

Monday started off on an exciting note, since it was our first school day in the new house we had to take a different bus line.  We were not sure which side of the street our bus picked us up on, so we waited for 10 minutes at the wrong stop.  However, we didn't know this until we had swiped our cards and got on the bus. To be safe, we quickly asked the driver in spanish if the bus was going to Blas Pascal.  He looked at us with confusion and just shook his head and said "NO" and pointed to the door. So we ran out and crossed the street, waited another 15 minutes and finally got on the right bus.  You should also know that I despise being late, so showing up 20 minutes late to class was not ideal, but people here are much more laid back and our profesor got a good laugh out of it.  The rest of the day was pretty standard, and we had rice with parmesan and cheese omeletes for dinner, which was greaaaaat. 

Tuesday morning went much more smoothly, and the school day was pretty uneventful. Things got much more interesting at 6:30...our first dance class.  Its called "Ritmos Latino Americanos" and to say I was in for a surprise is an understatement.  First off, I thought it was a Tango class seeing that Tango is the dance of Argentina.  I've dabbled in Tango during a spanish field trip in high school, and I remember it being a somewhat slow dance with a partner, that focuses mainly on little steps.  Like 6th grade Social Dance and the Fox Trop.  Easy enough, right? Well this class was a little more Zumba than Tango.  I arrived in my green skinny jeans and leather boots.  That was my first mistake.  Within 6 minutes, I was sweating my ass off.  After accepting the fact that I would be disgusting, and looking around at my sweaty amigos, I had a blast.  We did all different kinds of dances, and literally did not stop moving for an hour and a half.  My favorite part was watching the guys get SO into it, especially during Salsa with partners.  The most animated dancer was definitely Stanley, the 6'5 guy in my group.  I found out today he used to Irish Dance as a boy, and he can really cut the rug.  Despite the 13 inch height difference, when Stanley and I danced it was pure magic.  Until the end when he spun me and I almost knocked him down.  All in all, I had an awesome time and am looking forward to tearing it up every Tuesday while i'm here. And most importantly, bringing my new moves to the Boliches (nightclubs) on weekends.

Today was good, classes were interesting and the weather was beautiful.  I went on a run this morning and got chased by a few stray dogs but survived.  We had eggplant casserole and salad for dinner, which was very tasty.  Tomorrow night there's a party downtown for all the exchange students and whoever else wants to come, with free sangria and american drinking games.  Friday night is my Flor's friends birthday, so I will most likely attend that party. And Saturday during the day the group is going to the mountains, which are about an hour away, and visiting the house Che Guevarra grew up in which will be awesome.  It should be a fun few days! Time for bed....

buenos noches!

kris

View from Flor's apartment in downtown Cordoba:

Flor, Sofia, and the Chica Americana (I'm tall in Argentina)

Buenos tardes!

I can't believe I've already been gone one week; it's gone by quickly but it's been exciting nonetheless.  I feel like I have finally settled down, and am sooo happy to be in such a cool place.  To make things easier, I'm going to break it up by day so you can hear ALLLLL I've done....

Thursday--
It was a pretty typical weekday for me, I had my Argentinian Short Story class from 11-1 and Business from 3:45-5:45.  For lunch, we go up to the register and say our names, and since we're a part of a program, they have a set menu for us that's prepaid.  Argentinians love their bread, starch, and meat...and not much else.  I had "papas bombas" which means a potato bomb, and its basically mashed potatoes, fried with melted cheese in the middle. Super healthy.  I went out for the first time on Thursday, and ended up keeping in touch with my American roots for I found myself at a bar called Johnny B Good's.  Photos of every american musical icon from the past 50 years are posted on the walls, and american music blasts through the speakers.  After feeling like such a foreigner for a few days, it was nice to be back with my people...even though they were fake.  I enjoyed a 17 peso glass of vino, which translates to about $3.86 USD (mom and dad are you proud?).  It's all about quantity, not quality.

Friday--
On Friday I spent the majority of my day in downtown Cordoba which is called the "Centro" here.  My room mates and I took the bus and spent a few hours eating lunch and shopping at the mall.  Total mall rat move.  I then met up with my tutor, Flor, and her friend Sofia.  When we were leaving, I was walking down the stairs that were in the center of the mall, and tripped about halfway down.  Luckily I am extremely quick and agile, so I caught myself before I ate it.  The three of us then walked Sofia's dog, a boxer named Uma, along the river.  It was nice to be outside, and a lot of fun being with thoroughbred (can't think of a better word) argentinians.  Although they spoke sooo fast, I understood most of their convo and Sofia actually lived in Virginia for a year so her english is good, but she only used it if I was really stuck.  We then met up with the group and had meriendas (snacks--bread and marmalade) and Mate, which is Argentina's most famous drink, which it is basically really strong tea.  That night I went to Sofia's house and met all their friends who were all super nice and loved american music.  Two of the guys there were obsessed with the Bulls, and said when he was younger (in the 90s) he watched all the games and loooved Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.  If you asked a player from the Bulls now, chances are I would name one of those three so I pretended like I was a huge fan.  However, we all reminisced about one of our favorite movies, Space Jam, starring the one and only Michael Jordan. The drink of Cordoba is called Fernets, and it is alcohol that is typically mixed with coke.  It was pretty gross at first, but it tasted better as the night went on haha. All in all, the day was so fun and I loved spending time with all of Flor's friends and learning more about their customs and fiestas.

Saturday/Sunday--
The reason why I haven't spoked about my host family much is because we moved on Saturday.  For various reasons we felt it would be a good idea to move, and I'm so happy with the decision.  Although the morning was rough, once we settled into our new house it was great.  We hung around here getting acclimated for most of the day, and went to a bar called "Don't Worry" last night.  It was a cool atmosphere and I was with some kids from the Richmond group and their tutors.
Our new family consists of Adriana (mama) and José (papa) and two other exchange students, Neil from Texas and Maxinne (a boy) from Germany.  They live in a small neighborhood which is pretty rural, but there is a mall within 5 minutes walking distance which is super nice because we go there to do our laundry and buy groceries if there's something we need that is not at the house.  They are SO nice and have actually hosted over 50 students at their house.  José is super relaxed and friendly, and his favorite saying is "no hay problema!" which means "no problem".  Adriana is the same, and is also a wonderful cook.  They have 4 children who are all grown, and 5 grandchildren.  Today, 2 of the daughters and their families came over for lunch, and are staying for dinner.  They also have a little dog named Manchita who is quite pregnant.  Her chest resembles a cow, and her lady parts look like utters.  She does a lot of lying around, and is very cute.  This afternoon I went on a run, which was nice because working out is not easy here since it's pretty dangerous to be out alone as a girl.  I went with one of my room mates, and since it's a Sunday afternoon it wasn't a problem.

This week will be pretty long, since I have class every day, but the following week we'll be making our trip to the Northwest which will be awesome.  Here are a few random things that I've noticed and learned since being here...
-I've been told by 2 different people that I look Argentinian, whereas my room mates look very american.  Go me!
-Paying with debit cards is a pain because you have to give them your passport number every time.  I learned that the hard way while buying snacks today.
-There's a water crisis in Cordoba, so you have to use the water sparingly...especially since there are 7 people in our house.
-The top bunk is cool, no matter how old you are.  Even when you're sharing a 10x10 room with 2 other girls.
-People (girls especially) belt out Adele in every country, even if they don't know what she is saying
-Don't tell a cab driver you're from America, they will immediately take advantage of your "foreigness" and charge you double
-They are also very interested in America, but many people have a pretty skewed perception of life there.
-Argentina is a developing country, and although there are some nice parts of Cordoba it is predominantly poor.  The middle class in this country is way different than the middle class in the U.S.

That's all for now...sorry it's pretty lengthy but I've received a few requests from my many readers (mom and dad) to write more, so here ya go!

Chau,
Kristin

Buenos tardes!

Despite a few delays and over 24 hours of traveling, I finally arrived in Argentina!  Our host "father" picked us up at the airport in a extremely small taxi called a "remis".  My two other room mates and I managed to fit our 6 suitcases, backpacks and carry ons all on our laps.  I sat in the middle, and one of my room mates actually started crying because she was so scared, which was sad at the time but kind of funny now.  It was a good way to literally get closer with my future room mates, Jenni and Mary.

On Tuesday morning we woke up, had breakfast (Argentinians don't do breakfast like Americans do--here it consists of basically a large crouton covered in jelly and tea) and took a remis to the University Blas Pascal, which is the private university in Cordoba where I am studying.  The difference between a remis and a taxi is that remis' are green and come to your house, whereas taxis are yellow and are only used if flagged down.  My group is 9 students in total from Richmond, and there are 5 girls and 4 boys.  Once we all arrived from our respective casas, we had an information meeting with the coordinator from Blas Pascal.  Afterwards, we met with our "mentors" for lunch.  Our guide, Carlos, walked me to the computer lab, and the right when I walked out the door I tripped on the sidewalk and fell in front of about 20 students.  It was a really cool way to get everyones attention, as if my Amerian-ness enough.  Although breakfast was small, lunch definitely made up for it. We were served empanadas, chicken breast, potatoes and ice cream for dessert.  My mentor is Flor, she is super nice and is majoring in tourism here at the University.  In the afternoon, the Richmond group took a bus to downtown Cordoba, which was about 20 minutes away and we went on a tour of the city.  Cordoba has a rich history, and was the original capital of Argentina, before Buenos Aires.  We had a cute little Argentinian tour guide, who dressed to impress in a blazer, purple button down and matching purple scarf.  He tried to speak to us in english (the first time anyone has spoken to us in english all trip!) which was nice so we could really understand the history.  We visited El Catedral, La Manzana de San Martín (the main square), La Universidad Naciónal de Cordoba (first University in Cordoba, founded in the 17th century), and the cultural center that used to be a prison, located next to San Martín.

Today was our first day of classes.  We took the bus from our house to the University, and although I did not think I would make it there alive, we only ended up being a few minutes late. My first class was Spanish in Business and my other class is Argentine Short Story.  Each class is 2 hours long, and spoken solely in spanish.  I am constantly speaking in spanish, or at least my attempt at Spanish.  When I have no idea what someone is saying, my go to move is to nod, smile and say "sí".  I'd say that works about 70% of the time, the other 30% I end up getting questionable looks from whomever I am speaking with.  The University is pretty small, I am not quite sure how many students go here but it can't be more than 1000.  In Argentina, the government pays for students to attend public universities, but Blas Pascal is private so there are fewer students who study here.

Even though the weather is in the low 60's, everyone's dressed for winter.  It has been cold and cloudy in the mornings, but by the end of the day it has been sunny and warmer.   Something that is very interesting about Argentina is the European influence.  Very few people are "indigenous" Argentinians, instead their ancestors immigrated here from various countries in Europe.  The most popular is probably Italy, so many people do not have the sterotypical "Latin American" look.

Here are a few things I've noticed...
-There are SO many stray dogs. Whenever you're walking around whether its at the house, in the city or outside Blas Pascal, you're guaranteed to see at least 4 dogs.
-All the girls have long hair (kind of second guessing the haircut I got before I left)
-Everyone wears dark clothes (all my clothes are light with colors)
-There are no stop signs or stop lights, just round a bouts. It makes driving in the Chicago look easy.
-They LOVE american music, especially from the 70s, 80s, and 90s...while sitting here writing this in the cafe, they've played Livin' on a Prayer, Take Me Home by Cher, and Girl's Just Wanna HAve Fun
-Me and my entire group could not look more American

That's all for now....

Chau!
Kristin