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Punta del Este! Yes, lovely ladies and gentlemen, while you're shoveling yourself out of many, many inches of snow in the Northeast, I'll be laying on a beach in Uruguay with a mixed drink in hand and a novel in the other, soaking up the heat and being too scared of jellyfish to actually get in the water. Many pictures to come when I return Sunday night, sunburned and tired and completely unprepared for Monday's classes.
Much love,
Kristina
25 February 2010
22 February 2010
Anecdotes galore!
I have so many small little anecdotes to tell you all about, that I've taken to writing down. So, this post will be more or less a list of things I've noticed, written down, experienced, etc. A lovely series of snapshots concerning Buenos Aires.
-There is a company that makes drinking glasses called “ORLY.” Only some of you will appreciate this. If you don't, here's some help:
-The Starbucks here at the mall (right next to Benihana and TGIFridays) is full of teenagers on dates. The fancy drinks are between 15-20 pesos... so, right on par with the drinks in good old Washington Square.
-People weren't lying when they said that men are aggressive here. I haven't experienced anything crass or abrasive, though. I've been called “hermosa” a couple of times, and exchanged smiles with boys on buses or in cafes. Buenos Aires is, on one hand, a huge ego boost, but on the other hand...
-If you're not a size 6, it's almost impossible to find cute clothing here. Shopping at the mall is like a visit to your doctor... or maybe your dietician. Oh, hey, this shirt is really cute. Do you have it in a large? No, only XXS, XS, S, and M.
-While shopping one morning at the local Disco (supermarket chain), I heard a Backstreet Boys song, and that one awful Madonna song about DJs. I felt like I was in 5th grade all over again. And speaking of being younger,
-Remember high school dances? Junior high dances? Remember the music? Well, there's a club that has hip-hop Thursdays... and according to friends who were there this past week, they played everything from “What's Your Fantasy” (is that the title? You know the song.) to “Get Low.” I cannot. wait. I'm going this week, for sure. And if they play Busta Rhymes, you can bet I'll be there every week.
Those are all the nice little anecdotes I have for you right now. I finally have power in my apartment again (!!!!!!!), so I'll be able to blog more often. I'll hopefully have more pictures for you soon, too!
Thanks for reading,
Kristina
-There is a company that makes drinking glasses called “ORLY.” Only some of you will appreciate this. If you don't, here's some help:
-The Starbucks here at the mall (right next to Benihana and TGIFridays) is full of teenagers on dates. The fancy drinks are between 15-20 pesos... so, right on par with the drinks in good old Washington Square.
-People weren't lying when they said that men are aggressive here. I haven't experienced anything crass or abrasive, though. I've been called “hermosa” a couple of times, and exchanged smiles with boys on buses or in cafes. Buenos Aires is, on one hand, a huge ego boost, but on the other hand...
-If you're not a size 6, it's almost impossible to find cute clothing here. Shopping at the mall is like a visit to your doctor... or maybe your dietician. Oh, hey, this shirt is really cute. Do you have it in a large? No, only XXS, XS, S, and M.
-While shopping one morning at the local Disco (supermarket chain), I heard a Backstreet Boys song, and that one awful Madonna song about DJs. I felt like I was in 5th grade all over again. And speaking of being younger,
-Remember high school dances? Junior high dances? Remember the music? Well, there's a club that has hip-hop Thursdays... and according to friends who were there this past week, they played everything from “What's Your Fantasy” (is that the title? You know the song.) to “Get Low.” I cannot. wait. I'm going this week, for sure. And if they play Busta Rhymes, you can bet I'll be there every week.
Those are all the nice little anecdotes I have for you right now. I finally have power in my apartment again (!!!!!!!), so I'll be able to blog more often. I'll hopefully have more pictures for you soon, too!
Thanks for reading,
Kristina
18 February 2010
Hola a todos
Hello dearest blog readers-
What a week. There's no power in my apartment until lunes (Monday), so I've been spending all the daylight hours at the academic center, doing work and making friends with the other academic center hangers-out. Not much to say except for that my classes are going to be pretty intense, I enjoy the public transit here (specifically el colectivo - the bus!), and I've posted some pictures to my facebook of my travels... including Chinese New Year, my night out at Fili Bar, and pictures from Tigre (mentioned last post). You can check them out by clicking these links:
Chinese New Year and Fili
Tigre pictures
What a week. There's no power in my apartment until lunes (Monday), so I've been spending all the daylight hours at the academic center, doing work and making friends with the other academic center hangers-out. Not much to say except for that my classes are going to be pretty intense, I enjoy the public transit here (specifically el colectivo - the bus!), and I've posted some pictures to my facebook of my travels... including Chinese New Year, my night out at Fili Bar, and pictures from Tigre (mentioned last post). You can check them out by clicking these links:
Chinese New Year and Fili
Tigre pictures
16 February 2010
FINALLY blog post!
The aforementioned blog post (changes: I do have my luggage, and I have WAY more to tell you all about.):
So sorry that I haven't written in days. Orientation week was quite busy, and the internet has been slightly spotty. In fact, I am composing this entry in a word processor because the internet has been completely down for about 4 hours. But you don't want to hear about my internet connectivity problems, I'm sure. You want to hear about Buenos Aires! So, I shall tell you.
My adventure began with an incredibly drunk English ex-pat from Canada (mentioned earlier) who told the flight attendant that I was his daughter, and who insisted on helping me with my crossword puzzle. He also thought that the picture of Barack Obama on the front of the Toronto newspaper was Tiger Woods. That pretty much sums up THAT experience.
After a frantic sprint to my gate in Lima to catch my flight, and a terribly uncomfortable trip in the back row of an enormous plane (though, I got to play hangman in Spanish, that was fun), I finally arrived in Buenos Aires. As all of you know, my luggage wasn't there to greet me... and neither was anyone else. Everyone was at a loft in Palermo, starting the first day of orientation. ...Except me! So, I wandered around the airport. I changed my money to pesos, exchanged my travelers cheques, and made a two minute phone call to my mother that, as we later found out, cost almost fifty dollars. Then I got a taxi and headed to orientation.
The first thing I noticed when I stepped out of the fake-cool of the airport was the humidity. The wet heat practically hit me in the face, but I asked the cab driver if I could keep the windows down. As someone who's never been further south than North Carolina, I was so excited to see all that green and blue in the middle of winter. I had a stupid grin on my face the entire way into the city.
Now, I'm not going to bore you with details of orientation... lots of safety coaching (don't make yourself a target, lock your doors, don't set your bag down anywhere) and culture shock coaching. In Argentina, there are a couple major cultural differences. Here, they eat dinner after 21:00... that's the most relevant right now. I'll obviously talk more about culture shock in future blog entries.
Now, this past Friday, we went on a school-sponsored trip to Tigre, a small town to the south of Buenos Aires. Tigre is a touristy destination, but I guess you have to do Tigre once if you come to Argentina. And Tigre was beautiful. The water was very brown, but clean, so we could swim in it. And canoe in it, which was certainly an unsupervised adventure of wondering which way to move the paddles to avoid hitting that other person's wooden dock. Also! I tried blood sausage. I don't have the internet right now, so I can't look it up and tell you what it is exactly, but I'm pretty sure it's... actually exactly what it sounds like. I was told that it was delicious, so I was excited to taste it, but... oh goodness. I'm fairly certain that there's no actual meat in it... just congealed blood. I actually got goosebumps right now thinking of the taste and the texture. Some people might enjoy themselves some barbequed blood in sausage skin, but I'm going to pass from now on.
When we went to our second destination in Tigre, some sort of campground with a swimming pool, we were greeted by a surprise (all of us, including the staff members). Before we were permitted to go in the pool, we had to submit to a brief medical exam. So we queued up, gendered separated, and got medical-examined. None of us towards the back of the line had any idea what to expect.
After about an hour, it was my turn. The doctor first made me show her my manos, and then under my arms, and then my hairline. Finally, she had me sit down and she looked between each of my toes. As each part of my body was cleared for swimming pool goodness, she said “perfecto.” Ego boost! Why thank you, ma'am, I wasn't aware that I had perfect armpits. And between my toes? Awesome!
Anyway, more blogging to come in a few hours. In my next entry, I shall tell you about my Saturday at the movies, meeting Argentine men, and my foray into Chinatown for Chinese New Year. Also, about how I don't even have my luggage yet! And all this before classes even start.
Hasta luego,
Kristina
P.S. Pictures to come.
So sorry that I haven't written in days. Orientation week was quite busy, and the internet has been slightly spotty. In fact, I am composing this entry in a word processor because the internet has been completely down for about 4 hours. But you don't want to hear about my internet connectivity problems, I'm sure. You want to hear about Buenos Aires! So, I shall tell you.
My adventure began with an incredibly drunk English ex-pat from Canada (mentioned earlier) who told the flight attendant that I was his daughter, and who insisted on helping me with my crossword puzzle. He also thought that the picture of Barack Obama on the front of the Toronto newspaper was Tiger Woods. That pretty much sums up THAT experience.
After a frantic sprint to my gate in Lima to catch my flight, and a terribly uncomfortable trip in the back row of an enormous plane (though, I got to play hangman in Spanish, that was fun), I finally arrived in Buenos Aires. As all of you know, my luggage wasn't there to greet me... and neither was anyone else. Everyone was at a loft in Palermo, starting the first day of orientation. ...Except me! So, I wandered around the airport. I changed my money to pesos, exchanged my travelers cheques, and made a two minute phone call to my mother that, as we later found out, cost almost fifty dollars. Then I got a taxi and headed to orientation.
The first thing I noticed when I stepped out of the fake-cool of the airport was the humidity. The wet heat practically hit me in the face, but I asked the cab driver if I could keep the windows down. As someone who's never been further south than North Carolina, I was so excited to see all that green and blue in the middle of winter. I had a stupid grin on my face the entire way into the city.
Now, I'm not going to bore you with details of orientation... lots of safety coaching (don't make yourself a target, lock your doors, don't set your bag down anywhere) and culture shock coaching. In Argentina, there are a couple major cultural differences. Here, they eat dinner after 21:00... that's the most relevant right now. I'll obviously talk more about culture shock in future blog entries.
Now, this past Friday, we went on a school-sponsored trip to Tigre, a small town to the south of Buenos Aires. Tigre is a touristy destination, but I guess you have to do Tigre once if you come to Argentina. And Tigre was beautiful. The water was very brown, but clean, so we could swim in it. And canoe in it, which was certainly an unsupervised adventure of wondering which way to move the paddles to avoid hitting that other person's wooden dock. Also! I tried blood sausage. I don't have the internet right now, so I can't look it up and tell you what it is exactly, but I'm pretty sure it's... actually exactly what it sounds like. I was told that it was delicious, so I was excited to taste it, but... oh goodness. I'm fairly certain that there's no actual meat in it... just congealed blood. I actually got goosebumps right now thinking of the taste and the texture. Some people might enjoy themselves some barbequed blood in sausage skin, but I'm going to pass from now on.
When we went to our second destination in Tigre, some sort of campground with a swimming pool, we were greeted by a surprise (all of us, including the staff members). Before we were permitted to go in the pool, we had to submit to a brief medical exam. So we queued up, gendered separated, and got medical-examined. None of us towards the back of the line had any idea what to expect.
After about an hour, it was my turn. The doctor first made me show her my manos, and then under my arms, and then my hairline. Finally, she had me sit down and she looked between each of my toes. As each part of my body was cleared for swimming pool goodness, she said “perfecto.” Ego boost! Why thank you, ma'am, I wasn't aware that I had perfect armpits. And between my toes? Awesome!
Anyway, more blogging to come in a few hours. In my next entry, I shall tell you about my Saturday at the movies, meeting Argentine men, and my foray into Chinatown for Chinese New Year. Also, about how I don't even have my luggage yet! And all this before classes even start.
Hasta luego,
Kristina
P.S. Pictures to come.
Perdóneme por favor
Hello all!
So sorry I haven't written anything for a while. I have a huge blog post written, but it's on my laptop, and we had a big electrical fire at my apartment, so there's no electricity or internet there. As soon as I can get the file off of my laptop onto another computer, I'll post pictures and that nice long post I wrote. What a week!
Updates coming soon, I promise.
<3 Kristina
So sorry I haven't written anything for a while. I have a huge blog post written, but it's on my laptop, and we had a big electrical fire at my apartment, so there's no electricity or internet there. As soon as I can get the file off of my laptop onto another computer, I'll post pictures and that nice long post I wrote. What a week!
Updates coming soon, I promise.
<3 Kristina
11 February 2010
In which I've tasted Malbec, and been busy all day every day.
Hello loves-
Sorry I haven't been giving you stirring depictions of incidental things here in Buenos Aires... orientation week has very long days, and I haven't had a lot of free time. But! Briefly: I went out for my friend Seep's birthday last night; we had dinner and wine, and then went out for a drink afterwards. For two glasses of wine, a entree (I chickened out and had quesadillas), a dessert, and a drink at the bar, my total was about 100 pesos. BUT! 100 pesos is only about 26 dollars, how cool is that? Anyway, I really don't have time right now to actually blog, but I promise I'll catch you dears up later.
Thanks for reading,
Kristina
Sorry I haven't been giving you stirring depictions of incidental things here in Buenos Aires... orientation week has very long days, and I haven't had a lot of free time. But! Briefly: I went out for my friend Seep's birthday last night; we had dinner and wine, and then went out for a drink afterwards. For two glasses of wine, a entree (I chickened out and had quesadillas), a dessert, and a drink at the bar, my total was about 100 pesos. BUT! 100 pesos is only about 26 dollars, how cool is that? Anyway, I really don't have time right now to actually blog, but I promise I'll catch you dears up later.
Thanks for reading,
Kristina
09 February 2010
La primera entrada en Buenos Aires!
Hello readers-
I greet you cheerfully (for the most part) and well (except for my feet) from my delightful bed in my delightful Palermo Soho apartment, just before bedtime. Here, it is 9:30, and I'm exhausted from a lengthy set of flights (I got a few extraneous stamps on my passport, at least) and a few debacles today, including a maze-like taxi ride, the most uncomfortable shoes in existence, and thus traversing the streets barefoot. I'll go into detail about my flights - including the very drunk British man - and my first day in BA... tomorrow. I'm way too tired for that tonight, I just wanted to post some pictures, because I know at least a few of you are anxious.
First three are of my place of residence here, then one of the cemetery in Recoleta, where Evita is buried, and then one of my house right before I left. Just for good measure.:
I greet you cheerfully (for the most part) and well (except for my feet) from my delightful bed in my delightful Palermo Soho apartment, just before bedtime. Here, it is 9:30, and I'm exhausted from a lengthy set of flights (I got a few extraneous stamps on my passport, at least) and a few debacles today, including a maze-like taxi ride, the most uncomfortable shoes in existence, and thus traversing the streets barefoot. I'll go into detail about my flights - including the very drunk British man - and my first day in BA... tomorrow. I'm way too tired for that tonight, I just wanted to post some pictures, because I know at least a few of you are anxious.
First three are of my place of residence here, then one of the cemetery in Recoleta, where Evita is buried, and then one of my house right before I left. Just for good measure.:
08 February 2010
*Actual* last post in the United States.
I've never had a problem with air travel. I've heard horror stories, sure, but I've never waited longer than 20 minutes at a security checkpoint, I've never had a delayed flight, and I've never really even had excessive turbulence. (Almost) all of that changed yesterday when I attempted to leave Pittsburgh.
I got to the airport with about three hours to spare before my flight (thank you, paranoid parents!), and sat there happily, waiting for my still-scheduled flight to board. However, the boarding time came and went, and I was still sitting there reading my copy of Lolita. Sitting there reading, and also conversing in Spanish with the woman from Paraguay next to me. (OKAY enough Spanish practice I can go home now!) Then, my flight got pushed back two hours... and there begin the complications. I missed my connecting flight to Buenos Aires, so I had to completely reschedule my trip. This rescheduling will bring me to Toronto this morning, Lima, Peru late tonight, and Buenos Aires in the early morning. The only consolation right now is that I'll be able to drink a mimosa in the Toronto airport during my four hour layover.
Although my flight plans were annihilated, my LUGGAGE had ideas of its own.
"What?" it said. "You're NOT going to Dulles International Airport anymore? WELL, that's too bad... I've always wanted to see DC. I'm gonna head there myself."
And so it did. My luggage is currently missing, lost somewhere in Dulles. Luckily, I have a few days' worth of clothes in my carry-on, but HOW DID MY LUGGAGE GET LOST WHEN I DIDN'T EVEN LEAVE PITTSBURGH?
So, in about two hours, Leave the Country Take 2 will happen. You might get an update from Toronto, or I might be drowning my sorrows in expensive Canadian beverages. We'll see.
Adios,
Kristina
I got to the airport with about three hours to spare before my flight (thank you, paranoid parents!), and sat there happily, waiting for my still-scheduled flight to board. However, the boarding time came and went, and I was still sitting there reading my copy of Lolita. Sitting there reading, and also conversing in Spanish with the woman from Paraguay next to me. (OKAY enough Spanish practice I can go home now!) Then, my flight got pushed back two hours... and there begin the complications. I missed my connecting flight to Buenos Aires, so I had to completely reschedule my trip. This rescheduling will bring me to Toronto this morning, Lima, Peru late tonight, and Buenos Aires in the early morning. The only consolation right now is that I'll be able to drink a mimosa in the Toronto airport during my four hour layover.
Although my flight plans were annihilated, my LUGGAGE had ideas of its own.
"What?" it said. "You're NOT going to Dulles International Airport anymore? WELL, that's too bad... I've always wanted to see DC. I'm gonna head there myself."
And so it did. My luggage is currently missing, lost somewhere in Dulles. Luckily, I have a few days' worth of clothes in my carry-on, but HOW DID MY LUGGAGE GET LOST WHEN I DIDN'T EVEN LEAVE PITTSBURGH?
So, in about two hours, Leave the Country Take 2 will happen. You might get an update from Toronto, or I might be drowning my sorrows in expensive Canadian beverages. We'll see.
Adios,
Kristina
07 February 2010
Last post from North America!
By this time tomorrow, barring any terrible flight delays or cancellations or alien abductions, I will be safely in Buenos Aires. It's weird... I'm leaving a town with about two feet of snow on the ground and heading to a city where it is (as I write this, thanks weather.com) ...oh. Well, it's 77 degrees and raining. I was hoping for more of a dramatic difference, but hey! It'll be sunny a lot too, right?
I have this weird little welling up of anxiety in my stomach. I'm trying to practice casual conversation in my head. Do I know how to say "My luggage is lost"? (I think so... it might be "Me falta la maleta." But I might be wrong. And I don't know how to say "No, I don't need a ride" to those creepy cab guys, and... I need to relax. That's why I'm going to BA, right? Not to take advantage of the lower drinking age, though that'll be happening, I'm sure. I'm going to come back and be able to actually speak Spanish.
So... this is my last little prediction-type post on here. Next time you check, there'll be posts from BA about my fun times and hilarious misadventures and probably about how hard my Spanish classes are. I'm excited, and I also know better than to try and say that with a cognate. I'm ready.
I have this weird little welling up of anxiety in my stomach. I'm trying to practice casual conversation in my head. Do I know how to say "My luggage is lost"? (I think so... it might be "Me falta la maleta." But I might be wrong. And I don't know how to say "No, I don't need a ride" to those creepy cab guys, and... I need to relax. That's why I'm going to BA, right? Not to take advantage of the lower drinking age, though that'll be happening, I'm sure. I'm going to come back and be able to actually speak Spanish.
So... this is my last little prediction-type post on here. Next time you check, there'll be posts from BA about my fun times and hilarious misadventures and probably about how hard my Spanish classes are. I'm excited, and I also know better than to try and say that with a cognate. I'm ready.
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