Trading good air for good wine

Just when I think the novelty of this country is wearing away, something happens to restore my faith in this fabulous country. Last week was pretty rough and it really seemed like nothing was going my way---I was very unhappy with my host family situation, frustrated with the increasing pressures at school, and then on Wednesday afternoon my wallet and keys were stolen from my backpack as I was walking across the street. The city was finally starting to get to me and I desperately needed to take a break from the hustle and bustle of city life. Thankfully, I had already planned a trip to Mendoza, a province about 12 hours from Buenos Aires renowned for its amazing wines and beautiful scenery. I could not have picked a better place to unwind after a stressful week!

We left on Friday night and embarked on another very long bus ride--I've already exhausted all of my DVD options and my only source of entertainment on the bus was a spanish horror movie that I was too chicken to watch. The bus ride was a little more painful than last, but certainly worth it. The first day there, we just walked around the city and got aquainted with the area. Mendoza is the third largest city in Argentina, but it was certainly nothing like Buenos Aires--the streets were very quiet, there were no high-rise buildings and everyone dispersed at 1:00 for their daily siestas. That night, we had our first wine tasting at a trendy little spot called "the vines" and "sampled" five glasses of wine and a bunch of cheese--all for about $20 per person! (I'm sorry, the Argentine bargains don't ever cease to amaze me!). One of the girls who I was travelling with has a friend studying in Mendoza so we went to his flat after and went to dinner with a bunch of people from his study abroad program. Surprise, surprise--it was a pasta dinner full of empty carbs, cheese and wine. I swear, it will be a miracle if I'm not 20 pounds heavier when I come back to the States.

We went to a veeeerrry crowded boliche that night and spent most of the night warding off very pushy men and equally agressive girls. The line to get in was an absolute free-for-all and was indicative of the chaos inside the club. It made me appreciate the Buenos Aires night life, but it was still fun to experience.

We got home way too late and woke up way too early the next morning for our bus tour of the Andes mountains. We all slept for the first hour but were all wide awake once we saw how beautiful it was outside our windows. We didn't really know what to expect when we booked the tour, and I was so astounded by the natural beauty of the entire region. The mountains were picturesque snow-covered mountains and we were able to rent clothes and play in the snow for a while. It was undoubtedly one of the top five things I have ever done.

The next day we had a little "wine and bike" tour of the Maipu region of Mendoza wine country. We rode our bikes to several vineyards and tasted delicious Malbecs, Syrahs, Cabernets, and even some Chardonnay. Good thing I didn't have my credit card handy or else I would have bought bottles of every one! Maybe my wallet was stolen for a reason....

We were running out of time and needed to be back to catch our bus back to Buenos Aires, so a few of us decided to forego lunch and squeeze another vineyard in instead because obviously, we have our priorities in order. We sat on a beautiful terrace overlooking the vineyard and the mountains and had a littttttle too much fun. After our 5th or 6th "tasting," we decided it would be far too dangerous to bike back, so we called for "vehicular support"--which, obviously, we thought was hillarious. We told the company that we were just tired, but the driver who picked us up called us out immediately and laughed at us the entire way back.

So, another weekend gone--which leaves only three more weekends in Argentina! Thats pretty unbelievable--the time is flying here and there are still so many things I need to see!

I have uploaded pictures to my facebook page...if you want to see more, follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2247969&l=cf34b&id=2733351

The second most beautiful place on earth...

I hate to start every post on this blog gushing about how wonderful this city is, but I honestly can't say enough great things about this sprawling metropolis and country in general. I've had another great week here and can't believe my time here is almost half way through. Time certainly flies down here, but thankfully due to the Argentine (lack of) sleep schedule there seems to be more hours in the day to do everything! I've been trying to organize the rest of my time down here and have found myself torn between touring the countryside and staying in the city. Its so tempting to stay here in this amazing city, but I think I'm going to try to travel around as much as I can. I mean, how often am I in South America?! I have to do these things while I have this incredible opportunity! (thank you, mom :) )

My classes have been interesting--I'm learning more in this spanish class than I ever have and really think that my "castellano" is improving. Its exciting to have people understand what you are saying and some people have even laughed at my (stupid) jokes! I think I'm getting somewhere! Still, I'm no native and everyone here seems to know it. I was walking on the street today and again, without saying a SINGLE word, some man hands me a flyer (in english) advertising for Spanish classes. "I think you could use these," he said. I wish I had a really witty comback to say to him in spanish but I kind of just frowned at him and walked away. How did he know?! I'm contemplating dying my hair black and carrying mate and a thermos with me everywhere I go (Argentines LOVE their mate--its a kind of tea that you drink out of a fun little cup...they bring it everywhere).

Anyway, my friends and I did a bunch of fun things this week--went to a wonderful Latin American modern art museum called MALBA, took a salsa class, shopped at a (very Americanized) mall, toured a little street fair, saw a bongo show, and went to the supposed "second most beautiful place in the world"--all in the same week! Although I haven't yet seen the number 1 "most beautiful place" (Machu Picchu), I think I'd be hard pressed to give the award to anything other than the runner-up, Iguazu Falls. Granted, I haven't seen many waterfalls in my lifetime but Iguazu was so much more breathtaking than anything I ever seen--including Victoria Falls, one of the seven wonders of the world! The sheer magnitude and power of Iguazu was just astounding and I am so glad I was able to see it.

We started our journey to Puerto Iguazu on Friday night at about 10:00pm and didn't arrive until 2pm the following day. The sixteen hour busride was surprisingly tolerable--thanks to our last-minute upgrade (only $5 more than standard!) that provided us with almost-horizontal beds, wine, champagne, meals, and videos (in english!). We didn't have time to make it to the falls on Saturday, so we decided to have a really early dinner at a adorable restaurant right in town. We were treated to delicious local wine and some of the carnivores on this trip had the Argentine steak they've all been craving.

We woke up early on Sunday morning to embark on our "gran aventura" at the falls. Our tour of the park started with a jeep tour through the dense jungle and dropped us off at the base of the river to begin the "aquatic" part of the adventure. We maneuvered our way around some rapids and then finally got to see the falls head-on. It was breathtaking and so neat to be so close to them. Our crazy boat driver got us super close to the falls and we were all soaking wet and coldddd, to say the least. Still, our wet clothes and freezing bodies were insignificant in comparison to the beauty of the falls and it was easy to forget why we were shivering. We hiked for a few hours more, going from waterfall to waterfall. The chain of waterfalls was so extensive that we had to take a train from one side to the other! The breadth of the falls was just incredible.

I'm looking forward to another few days in the city, and then I'm off to Mendoza next weekend--"the land of sun and fine wine." Unfortunately, there will be even less sun there than there is here at this time of the year--good thing there is still fine wine!

Yeah, RIVER!

What a wonderful weekend! This city is truly unique and there is always so much to do. Thankfully, our study abroad program gives us three day weekends so accomplishing everything and then having time to sleep it off is definitely doable. I've been trying to take advantage of every possible opportunity I've had to explore the city...Unfortunately, I haven't quite mastered the public transportation system yet and I have often found myself roaming the streets aimlessly and realizing that I am no where near where I intended to be. Oh well, there are 5 more weeks to go and I'm sure I'll be more well-versed with the city by then!

Our study abroad group hosted a dinner for us on Thursday night at a well-known pizza place called Los Inmortales. Pizza is EVERYWHERE in Buenos Aires...on every menu and every street corner. As I'm thinking about it, I'm pretty sure I've had pizza every day this weekend. Healthy, huh? Its been pretty easy for me to find food here, considering I'm in the meat capital of the world. I broke down and had a tiny peice of meat from my friend Jackie's steak the other night and was sick the entire morning after. It was delicious though and almost worth it! I guess thats the last peice of meat I'll have in a while....

A few friends and I went to a salsa club on Thursday night which was so much fun and unlike anything I have ever seen before. It took us all a few drinks before we could even work up the nerve to enter the dancing part of the club just because all of the people were incredible dancers. Acutally, "incredible" is an understatement--these people danced better than anyone I have ever seen before in my life. It was so fun to watch and so hillarious to try to emmulate them. Some (handsome--but that goes without saying) Argentine man took pity on me and my pathetic salsa skills and taught me some moves. It was a blast and I was so glad I went, but waking up in the morning for class was difficult...to say the least.

Friday night I went to a tango class with a bunch of people from the program and again proved to myself and everyone else that I couldn't dance to save my life. My partner wasn't helping either--he was about six inches shorter than me and knew less about the tango than I did. I decided it would be best to observe from the bar and recruited some friends to do the same....

I woke up late on Saturday morning and decided to do some shopping in Palermo Viejo, a neighborhood filled with adorable stores and restaurants. I thought it was a really safe part of the city but was proved wrong when I witnessed a real-live robbery. So, that was fun (joking). The woman being robbed held her own though, and the guys ran off--one with a ripped shirt--and jumped onto the back of a motorcycle that was waiting for them across the street. It was definitely a scary experience and reminded me that I need to be careful everywhere I am.

That night, we went to the theater and saw a play that no one really understood. It was more or less about the history of Argentina and although a lot of us are taking an Argentine History class, they spoke so fast that it was hard to understand what exactly they were saying. Sometimes, I feel like I'm really making progress with my Spanish (or understanding of it anyway) and then there are times like those when everything goes over my head and I become really frustrated. I guess that's why I am here, though, and have to keep reminding myself that learning the language is not going to happen over night.

After the theater, my friends and I went to this delicious restaurant in San Telmo and had a wonderful dinner. We didn't get to the restaurant until around 12:30 and it was PACKED...everything happens so late around here and no one ever sleeps! We had a couple bottles of delicious malbec wine, aptly named San Telmo, and head out to a boliche (club, basically) after our meal. We stood in line for a good 30 minutes to get into the club but it was definitely worth it...The boliche was packed, even when we left at 5:45 am. These Argentines are crazy!!

The next morning came quickly since I had to get up early to go to a real FUTBOL game with my friend Jackie. Her host parents got us tickets a few days before and we didn't realize until we got there that it was a championship game! We took a bus there, which was SO MUCH FUN. Everyone on the bus was going to the game and was singing and banging on the bus the entire way there. Argentines certainly love their futbol....There are two teams in Buenos Aires, La Boca and River and loyalty to these teams divides the city in two. Portenos (people from Buenos Aires) take their teams VERY seriously. We were told by our study abroad director never to wear jerseys in public because we would probably get beaten up. Awesome.

The game we went to was with River and a team from somewhere farther south in Argentina. The entire stadium was PACKED with crazy River fans and everyone was so excited when they won and became the champions (of what, i'm not quite sure). I've posted a video of some of the insanity, so hopefully it works!! It was such a fun day and I am so happy that I went.

Today was rainy and cold (like, 45 degrees!!) so my friends and I decided to go to a museum called Manzana de las luces. It was really random and was basically just a few underground tunnels used by the Jesuits back in the early 1800s...interesting, I guess? It was the only museum open on Mondays.

There is so much more that I could say about this past weekend and my experience so far, but I'm going to stop here... Unfortunately, I just remembered that I am also taking classes while I'm in this amazing place and have to do homework. BUMMER.

Back to school...

This city keeps getting better and better every day! Buenos Aires is a gigantic city and there is so much to do, see, and explore. I've barely scratched the surface of this wonderful city and I've realized that six weeks here will barely be enough time to become truly aquainted with it. I sat down today with a few friends and wrote a list of everything I want to do while I'm here...at least I know I won't be bored!

Classes started yesterday. I'm taking two out of the three offered, a "castellano" class (thats what Argentines call Spanish) and a class on the history of Argentina. La Universidad de Buenos Aires is....interesting. Nothing like the colleges in the States, especially UNC. The building where we take our classes looks more like a warehouse than a university and the classrooms are about the size of a typical dorm room. Still, its all part of the experience and its really neat to be living (more or less) like an Argentine student.

We took a walking tour of downtown Buenos Aires a few days ago. The picture above with the terracotta colored building was the starting point of our tour--the Plaza de Mayo. The Plaza de Mayo is the center for political life in Buenos Aires and commemorates the revolution of 1810 which started the process for Argentina's independence from Spain. In more recent times, the plaza has been a meeting spot for the "madres" whose children disappeared during the Dirty War. Our guide was super knowledgeable about the city's history but it was hard to understand exactly what he was saying...This accent is unlike any Spanish accent I've ever heard! I guess thats all part of the adventure though....

A few of us went shopping in Palermo Viejo today after class which was amazing. There are so many great stores...and most things are so reasonably priced! I bought a cool scarf for $10 and I'm hoping it will make me look like a cool Argentine. I'm not quite sure what it is about me, but apparently I stick out like a sore thumb here. I was walking today to school and a man was standing on a corner handing out flyers and without saying a word he goes "ooh senorita, I have it in english!". I might as well be wearing a sign around my neck that says "gringo." Great.

Hopefully by the end of this trip, I won't be so conspicuous!

Bienvenidos a Argentina!

It wasn't easy, but I'm finally here in beautiful Argentina! My trip so far has been everything but seamless, due in large to the fact that I missed my group flight to Buenos Aires, held up the plane for at least an hour, and, needless to say, have been wearing the same clothes for 3 days. The reason I missed my flight is irrelevant, but I will say that it was not completely my fault and my time spent pacing the halls of the Miami Airport (oh, about eight hours) was....memorable. But-- I'm here now and couldn't be happier!

Since I had to wait almost a full day before catching the next flight to the Buenos Aires airport, my study abroad program arranged for a taxi to pick me up at the airport and drove me straight to our orientation location, an adorable little ranch about an hour and a half outside the city. The place was great-- they fed us way too often and we all really got to know eachother over the nine meals we had in the day and a half that we were there. Everyone in the group is great and I'm so excited to get to know all of them better.

Now im in the heart of Buenos Aires, in the adorable apartment of my host mother, Rosario. Its strange to call her a host "mother" since she is probably only a few years older than I am. She is very sweet, extremely pacient with my broken Spanish and I am excited to spend more time with her. Shes beautiful and quite fashionable, apparently just like every other person in Buenos Aires. I'm looking forward to seeing more of these beautiful Argentines tonight when we (basically all 60 of us in the program) go out for our first night on the town...¡Qué bueno!