Hi! My name is Cindy. I will be a Junior at Penn next year. This summer for 5 weeks I am studying in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I am taking two courses at Torcuato di Tella University: Argentine History and Argentine Literature. I am also living with an Argentine family. So far, I absolutely love Buenos Aires!
My host family is great. I live with a mom, a daughter (Mariana) who is my age, and a cat named Roni. Apparently, inflation is high in Argentina. Thus, most families who host students usually are doing so to receive an additional source of income. However, they treat me as if I were part of their family, and I love that. In my home, we watch a lot of soap operas, as well as the futbol or soccer games.
(I wrote the following part when Argentina was still in the World Cup...)
I came to Argentina the perfect time because of the World Cup. Everyone here is a HUGE soccer fan! I watched the Mexico-Argentina game with my host family. We were cheering so loudly with our Argentina mini flags that our pet cat became scared and hid under the bed. After Argentina won the game, all of Buenos Aires and Argentina went absolutely crazy. People were in the streets shouting, waving flags, beeping their car horns, playing drums, and dressed in every type of soccer attire. After the game, I went to meet up with two students from Penn, who are also studying at the university with me. We walked many blocks and came to a huge crowd of people celebrating the win by the Obelisk of Buenos Aires (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obelisk_of_Buenos_Aires).
There were easily over 1000 fans there screaming and jumping in celebration. My friends and I joined the crowd and even made it onto two Argentine TV stations! The location where we ended up looked like Time Square with a huge monument in the center, around which everyone congregated. The monument, the Obelisk of Buenos Aires, was built in 1936 to celebrate 400 years after the first founding of Buenos Aires. Apparently, after major sport games, Buenos Aires' citizens (or porteños) all celebrate here.
This weekend our group, about 20 students, the majority from Penn, will travel to the North of Argentina to a province called Salta. The next soccer match will be Saturday. I bought face paint on the street yesterday, as well as a flag of Argentina, which I will proudly display during Saturday's game. I am crossing my fingers for Argentina! I have never been such a soccer fan, but I am really enjoying it! It is definitely a huge part of Argentine culture and national pride!
Regarding classes, I have had three days of class. My classes are very interesting. One of my classes, the Argentine History class, is great because the professor wants us to learn not just the history of Argentina, but also the politics and present day economic issues. I am very excited to do so. My Argentine Literature class is a survey of the major 20th century writers of Argentina. So far we have read works by Girondo and Borges. The class is discussion based, which provides a great learning environment.
As for now, I am going to take a siesta, or a little nap. In 1.5 hours, about six friends and I will be taking our first Tango Class in Argentina! I am extremely excited to do so because I love dancing and trying new things. We even convinced three of the boys on our program to join in on the lesson. The price is $5 for a lesson because of the amazing conversion rate here! Therefore, if I enjoy it, I will likely be taking classes a few times a week. In addition, the dance studio offers salsa classes, which I hope to take.
Hope everyone is enjoying their summers! Each entry I will post a few facts or vocabulary words or phrases that I learn. For example, in Buenos Aires the people say buen día (good day) instead of buenos días. In addition, a bus is called a colectivo, and a croissant a medialuna. In addition, like many South American countries, the government maintains a news station. I am interested to watch the station and compare it to what the local, non-governmental stations say about politics and the present day situation in Argentina. Lastly, while it is summer in the United States, in Argentina it is winter! The temperature averages between 50 and 63 degrees, which really is not that cold. However, Buenos Aires citizens think it is freezing here. If only they witnessed Philadelphia winters!
Ciao.
Cindy
5 comments:
It sounds like you're having a lot of fun! I'm interested to hear how the dance lessons go and if you do end up taking a bunch of classes you will just have to show us your moves when you get back!
Sounds like you're having an awesome time!
I can't believe you were a part of those World Cup mobs we always see here on TV. It's very cool to hear about one thing that the entire country can get so passionate and unified about.
Hillary,
The tango lessons were really fun! However, dancing tango was much harder than I expected. In addition, we only learned about 12 steps in 2 hours, so it was a tad boring. I did not go back to take a lesson; however, I saw an amazing tango show with real professionals that danced tango beautifully using much more than 12 steps :)
Hi my name is Monique and i'm planning to go to argentina.
I want to study my degree there. A friend of mine is staying there in some Buenos Aires Apartments. He told me that a good place to be is in Belgrano or Palermo. Is it true? What do you think about the nightlife in BA?? Thanks!
Monica,
I'd recommend staying in Palermo or Recoleta. Belgrano is out of the way. Also, the nightlife in BA is really great! Hope you enjoy the city!
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