Study abroad...

by becrach

Another fun and exciting trip… am I really in school??

Wednesday afternoon, we all ran around town shopping, packing, and preparing for our trip. We got on the bus at 7pm and sat for 20 hours. We arrived at Puerto Iguazú on Thursday afternoon and enjoyed the day at our campsite. The weather was beautiful with the sun shining on the endless greenery. Palm trees, grass, and other tropical plants all around us and our little tent. (very little…). We cooked hot dogs, went swimming, hung out, cooked pasta, made a campfire, relaxed, and went to bed. Friday morning we woke up and headed for the Parque Nacional del Iguazú. We were able to enter the park as Argentine residents (because we live here) which saved us a bunch of pesos! Then we went on this awesome “safari”/ boat ride through the jungle and the falls. We got super soaked and then laid out on a little beach right next to the falls. I’m pretty sure under the top ten most relaxing things someone can do; lying in the sun on the sand next to giant waterfalls, in the middle of the tropics, is up there. After that, we walked around the park some more, saw the devil’s throat (la garganta del Diablo) and took in as much sol y agua as we could. That night, we were able to enjoy a nice meal from the restaurant on our camp ground, relax some more, and hit the hay. At about 6:30am Saturday morning, I felt a rain drop on my forehead. I proceeded to get out of the tent, run to the front desk and beg for a cabin. Haha. We spent have the rainy day inside our cabin sleeping. After the rain died down, our hero hombres came to rescue us. They made us go to the falls again, and I am glad we did. The waterfalls (if possible) practically doubled in size from the rain. We hiked some more, took more pics from different views, and enjoyed las cataratas. My favorite part of the trip was standing on a ledge right in front of the waterfall. We were all there screaming and shouting, getting splashed, with our hands in the air, so glad we chose Argentina!!

On another note, it’s the half way point and I need to take a moment to reflect on the time I’ve had here from all aspects…

My Spanish: I maybe know 50 more words, and can tell my madre what I did and ate each day, but have not advanced much more than that

My health: I haven’t been sick once, besides the normal Becca stomach aches. And of course, I’ve been very tired – but I’m enjoying my awake time!

My friends: the people here are great. We all think it’s funny that even though the students here are from all over the country, we are all so similar. Humor translates.

My classes: oh I’m in school?

Home and PSU: I miss you every day

My feelings/ emotions: I’m on an emotional roller coaster every day. I love life, I don’t want to wake up, I love life. But some recent events have made me wonder what’s so great about life. And then I saw some pretty waterfalls, and now I know the answer to that – life is what’s great about life.

Thoughts on the present: I am grateful every day I walk down the dirty BA streets. I’m grateful for this opportunity and grateful for life. I thank God for putting me here, teaching me things, and introducing me to new people and experiences. I’m grateful for Argentine culture and American culture. Sometimes when you travel, you realize how much else there is out there in the world that is possibly much better than where you came from. Here, I just feel like, BA is okay and State College, PA is great and sunny Cali is better.

Thoughts on the future: I don’t really want to go back to school. I want to visit my friends and family, but being back in a class environment doesn’t really strike me as a good time anymore. I also feel like I don’t have a lot to look forward to anymore being in PA. I know that’s not true, but it’s how I feel. I want to drop out and be a nomad, but since I can’t do that, I’ve decided that when I graduate, I’m taking a year off before the real world.

All in all, todo bien. This is a growing experience in more ways than I’ll ever know. This week: midterms. Next week: spring break!!!

A Weekend of Fun (yeah, another one...)

Thursday night, we went dancing at a hip hop club called Lost. We had lots of fun and danced all night. Friday, I went to a Frida Kahlo exhibit and a walking tour. Friday night, we went to Asia de Cuba, a ritzy restaurant/bar/club, for Emily's bday and we ate and danced and then went to bed a little early. Saturday, we spent all day in Tigre, a cute river town and then went to Vinos y Bodegas 2006 for some unlimited wine tasting. MMMM... Sunday, I went to chuch and then hung out with Juan, the girls, and Rodrigo. Fun weekend. I don't have many other words to describe it, but fun!

Las Esteras

I did not want to come back to BA…

September 7, 2006

Today, we arrived at the Posadas Aguape Hotel at around 8am after a long night of omnibus and a 2 hour bumpy dirt road truck ride. I took a nap in the truck and when I opened my eyes, we were completely surrounded by water, driving on a tiny dirt road in the middle of a giant lagoon. It was absolutely beautiful! This morning, we ate a completely homemade breakfast complete w/medialunas, bread, ddl, cereal, and my fav fresh squeezed orange juice. Then we willingly followed our guide onto a boat big enough for just the 14 of us, with no idea of what we were about to experience. He took us through the lagoon a little bit on the boat and we got off at another random chunk of land. The whole time, we’re enjoying every second, taking pictures and taking it all in. the beauty of the water and the green and the absolute glory. When we got off the boat, we were led into a small random jungle. The jungle was cool, filled w/ palm trees and tarzan vines and crazy plants and moss covering everything, but it was all just nice and pretty until we saw the monkeys. We saw babies and mommies and one daddy. We saw some sitting and relaxing and some swinging on the vines and some playing with each other. They were so cute and fun to watch. We also saw crazy worker ants and beautiful birds.
Later after lunch and our siesta, we went on our boat tour where we saw a countless amount of caymans (yacarés – similar to alligators) and capybaras (carpinchos) and chajas and the most beautiful indescribable sunset. It was so relaxing being out there in the open, away from the noisy city, and inches away from all this wildlife. Later, we had guiso for dinner and went for a walk around the area.
I’m so grateful that I got to go on this trip and that I’m seeing the most unimaginable and unplannable things. It’s a wonderful adventure at the same time as a relaxing quiet time with new friends. We spent some time talking to Elvira too (in Spanish), which is always fun. She’s a very sweet woman. Three more days of this place!

by becrach
by becrach

September 8, 2006

Today, we woke up to a cloudy sky with hopes that it would clear. After another great breakfast, we went to the boat – I guess to see more animals. It started to rain though, so we headed back to camp. We had lunch and just relaxed all day. Every one took naps, read, sat by the fire and just enjoyed the storm. We weren’t able to do any more of our planned activities but it didn’t matter. It was a wonderful lazy day. When we needed a little revitalization, Leah, Alicia, Danielle, and I jumped in the pool. Either brave or really dumb, the sky was practically black and it had been raining – but we had to do it. It was pretty freaking cold but it was worth the thrill. The rest of the evening, we relaxed some more, had dinner, sat by the fire, watched a movie, and went to bed. I love storms!

September 9, 2006

We woke up to another day of sunshine and beauty today. We never know what’s planned but we ate breakfast and followed our trustful guides to the trucks where we all squeezed in ready for adventure. We started driving on the roads, muddy from yesterday’s rain. We were headed out to another lagoon for some bird watching. The drive was awesome! We got to see different vegetation, some cows, and just enjoy the bumpy wet muddy ride. We saw lots of cool birds including a pareja de chajas (my new favorite animal). The chaja finds a mate and it monogamous for life and are always together. How cute! We drove along and it seemed like we might be close to our destination when we got stuck in the mud. We all got out and all the girls watched the boys valiantly push both trucks out of the mud. I’m pretty sure the drivers were annoyed but we were all enjoying the scenery and comedy of the event, snapping pics whenever we could. Of course, we had to turn back and it was probably for the better because we came back to an awesome asado. We ate lots of meat followed by some more meat. Then we celebrated Danielle’s BDay with a cake with ddl of course and sang Spanish happy birthday. The rest of the afternoon, we sat by the pool, some swam, I read, and again – we just relaxed. Then we went out on canoes to see more yacarés and carpinchos. All in all, a very exciting and eventful day.

by becrach

We left on Sunday, and now I’m back in BA going to classes again. Spring break is coming up so that’s what’s on every one’s mind now. Yeah spring! Weird huh?

The Luxuries of Buenos Aires

I went to a protest, a bar, and a museum, watched Evita, played Tabu in Spanish, saw a soccer game and went to church this weekend. There were 2 protests in one night; one about asking for more security and harsher punishment for criminals and one was about human rights in general. Pretty intense crowd. There were people calmly singing with candles and the other one had drums and people shouting and marching and waving flags. It was a very interesting night and I got to see what true passion is. La Marcha, the one about needing more security, had a Time Square New Year’s sized crowd.
by becrachThe fútbol game was amazing. We got to see Boca Juniors play Estudiantes in the Boca stadium, which is HUGE. The fans were singing the entire time and we were trying to sing along but all we got was da da da BOCA!! Da dee dooo daaaa BOCA!!!
by becrach I haven’t seen a soccer game all the way through since freshman year of high school, and this was no ordinary soccer game. I definitely enjoyed it. After the soccer game, we went to this restaurant/ bar called the Alamo and it’s apparently owned by some rich dude who just wants Americans in his bar. So they give away free stuff all the time and they play American sports! I was really excited to see my Big Ten highlights on Sunday. I’m going to the same church every week now just because I like the people. I actually understood the sermon this week too, so that was a plus.

Classes are going well and my home stay is wonderful. I get a home cooked meal EVERY NIGHT! And breakfast every morning. I get clean sheets every week and my madre even cleans my room. She’s a lawyer and she’s very smart, religious, and opinionated. She’s definitely my “mom;” every single day she asks me what I had for lunch, and when I told her that I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, she said “what would your mother say?” I told her that my mother loves pb & j but she didn’t buy it as a nutritious lunch. Something else besides my madre though, that I think Stephanie Field would appreciate, is there are no laundry mats here. You have to take your laundry to a little laundry woman who washes, drys, and folds all of your clothes. Oh the luxuries of Buenos Aires!

This weekend, I’m going to Esteras de Íbera, which are huge wetlands in the north. I’m going with my “history of the environment” class and I’m really excited!!

Week 4! Tomorrow starts week 5... LOCO

Another week of FUN classes.... well as fun as classes can be. We had our first arte en español class, which is SO cool. Each week, we go to an art museum and learn about a few artists, then we have to describe a peice of art in Spanish to the rest of the group. It's a great way to practice and learn more artistic terms, and a great way to learn about all the amazing art in this city. That was Friday afternoon. Friday night, we went to this awesome monthly exhibity opening called Gallery Nights. It's an entire street of new galleries opening with free champagne and interesting people. ¡Que divertido! Then of course, we went out around the town to a few bars. Saturday night we went to the coolest show de Tango. It's a tango orchestra of young men who play the piano, violin, cello, bass, and accordians. It was this dark underground club and it was amazing! I can't even explain it, but enjoy the clip! Sunday morning, Lauren and I went to a Presbyterian church. We didn't know what time it would start so we went 2 hours early (haha) and sat and had cafe. Then, we sat through a service which we tried so hard to understand; at least we could sing the hymns... Afterwards, this woman came up to us and in English, invited us to have lunch with the "young adults." I guess anyone under 50 is a young adult. But we went and had ravioli with about 8 of the church members, and met the pastor and his wife. It was very fun and we had a little Bible study. I'll be back next week for sure! We were there from 11am-3pm just talking and getting to know these sweet sweet people. Today, I'm going to homework....

Córdoba

We had a four day weekend! We left on Thursday night at 11:59pm on a 10 hour bus ride to Córdoba. We arrived, walked through the town and arrived at the Córdoba Backpacker's hostel where we spent Friday night. We rested ate lunch and walked around the city center. Cordoba is much older than Buenos Aires and a lot of the buildings have been around for hundreds of years. There are beautiful cathedrals and churches on every corner it seems and a university that students have attended for centuries. Friday night, the girls and I went out to a Parilla and ate some meat, and some more meat after that, and when we thought there couldn't possibly be anymore meat... there was more meat! Sausages, steak, pork, and chicken up the wazoo. And wonderful wine from Mendoza, their wine making province. All that for about $10 USD. We then went back to our hostel, and hung out with all the other travelers. We taught a couple Argentines how to play "bullshit" (a card game) which was extremely funny trying to teach them in Spanish. We woke up Saturday morning for free breakfast at the hostel and headed off to our next adventure. Nicola, Amanda, and I went hiking at Parque Nacional Quebrada del Condorito (a national park with condors). What a day! After finally getting bus tickets and sitting through a windy bumpy road on a little tour bus, we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere. The bus driver got out of his seat and stood up to tell us that was our stop. We got off the bus and looked around; at nothing. There was a small road and some hills on either side of us. No sign that said, "Welcome to Parque Nacional, you stupid Americans, follow these signs," no nothing like that. But there were 3 backpackers that got off the same time we did and when we started walking the wrong direction, they hollered at us and led the way. Gracias a Dios. We then proceeded to hop a fence to get into the park, wondering if this was even at all legal. But the backpackers did it and we followed. Before I go on, let me tell you about our attire. haha. the backpackers each had a GIANT back pack with huge water bottles and a tent. They were wearing warm jackets and shoes suitable for hiking. I was wearing bright red pants and a tshirt and carrying a pretty floral purse. Nicola was wearing cut off sweats and flip flops and Amanda was hiking in jeans with her purse and professional camera. The backpackers kept telling us it was going to get cold and we weren't going to make it and basically told us we were crazy. The people at the info booth pretty much said the same thing but we didn't care. The hike was supposed to be 2.5 hours to this huge gorge, "Balcon Norte" and we had exactly 4 hours to hike there and back. But we didn't care. We just said, "well we won't go all the way to the top and pfff, what's cold anyways?!" So we hiked and this is what we saw...
When we got back to the hostel for that night, the Morada hostel (still in Cordoba) we went shopping for groceries and Amanda cooked a gourmet meal for us, with a little help from everyone. We had pasta with homemade vodka sauce, a HUGE salad, garlic bread, grilled vegetables, the same Mendoza wine, and some Colaciones (a yummy dulce de leche dessert from our amigo, Mark). We sat in the kitchen of the hostel and laughed and ate and ate and laughed for hours. Sunday, we had breakfast at the hostel and then went to Alta Gracia to visit Che Guevara's childhood home. Alta Gracia was a cute small town with a lake and really cute old homes. There's an ancient Jesuit chuch there and other historical museums. I didn't go inside Che's house, but there were artifacts there from his childhood and family photos all over. It was so crowded; it was really amazing to walk up to this house in the middle of no where and be in the middle of a huge crowd, all people coming to learn about and honor Che. Later, we went back to our hostel, ate our leftovers from the night before and headed back to BA. Another long bus ride, and we'd be home, or our version of home for the next 3 months.

All in all, it was an adventure in and of itself; filled with good company, great stories, and a LOT of laughs!

P.S. USPS Mail actually only takes a little over a week. UPS, FedEx, and DHL will never get to me because customs opens stuff and doesn't let much pass. My address is:
Rebecca Borough
c/o IES Buenos Aires
Carlos Pelegrini 1069, Piso 13
C1009ABU Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA

Las Clases

I started classes on Monday, and they all seem to be decent. I'm taking:
Spanish 4
Cultural Icons of Argentina
International Relations
History of the Environment
Tango - which doesn't start for 2 weeks
The Spanish class, we're all hoping will be more challenging because we looked at the syllabus, and we've pretty much learned everything on it twice. But of course. I've been taking Spanish every year since 9th grade, so the last 3 classes of Spanish have just been a review for me. And that's ok, because we're always learning new words and practicing speaking, and it will be an easy A. The other classes, I don't really know yet, because we've only had the first intro day, but everything seems interesting.

What else? I really like my madre more every day. She's crazy busy and super smart. She talks a lot, which is good because I can't. She's a good cook and I get to taste typical Argentine foods all the time. The steak here is amazing, the rumors were true. The other night, Juan took me to a famous cafe called the Tortoni. It's huge and the interior is all historic. He took me around Buenos Aires more and showed me some neat things that might not be in every tourist book. I'm spending too much time speaking English so that little night out with Juan was great and inspired me to go meet Argentinos so I can actually speak Spanish. This weekend we're going to Cordoba, which is the 2nd largest city in Argentina, and one of the oldest. It has a huge university and it basically a college town, so I think us college students will enjoy it. That's all for now!

San Pedro

So I guess they thought we needed a break from the city because they took us to this small cute little town on the river (Rio del Plata) a couple hours north of BA. It was a fun trip but it was funny to be with all Americans and be speaking English for 24 straight hours. We ate dinner on the river in an old boat house. It was a huge Parilla (barbeque) with every type of meat you could imagine. After dinner we all went back to the hotel and danced and played cards in the hotel lobby all night. Crazy Americans! Friday, we woke up and ate medialunas and drank fresh squeezed orange juice, walked through the town, ate again, and went on a boat tour of the river. It was all in all a very peaceful and relaxing little trip.

Friday night, we went out... well tried to go out to a bar near where I live. We proceeded to walk all around our neighborhoods looking for a bar that wasn't packed or didn't have an age limit. We ended up just eating dinner at a random restaurant. Who knows what'll happen tonight!

I found Peanut Butter!

This week has been mostly about making this place home to me. I am very accustomed to coming home (to my dorm) from classes and making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but here, they don't even know what peanut butter is. I went on a journey to find peanut butter and after vigorous searching in 2 stores, my host mom took me to find some. When I found the holy peanut butter, it was dusty because no one that even works in the store knows it's there and when I went to pay for it, the cashier asked me what I was going to do with it.

Other things I did to make myself feel at home were I bought a Cosmo in Spanish and made myself dinner one night. All in all, I feel pretty much at home except in a much more exciting place with much more to do, and a bigger challenge to communicate.

And we're already traveling. Tomorrow, we go to San Pedro, a little town by the river. And we'll spend the night there and tour the area. Bueno!


P.S. to answer some questions:
When do they have dinner? around 9. (It's a good thing I walk a lot)

Are people generally friendly (not just to good looking young girls?) yes, very friendly and helpful and when they hear my gringa accent, they want to speak English

How is the cost of living - hotels, restaurants etc? the cost of living is pretty good here, but mostly because we have the American dollar. But in comparison, it's about the same as in the states with the peso.

What are the nice hotels in the city like? They are very nice and ritzy. I live pretty much in the city center and I pass super luxurious hotels on the way to class every day (but that might just be the lobby)

Any golf course near by? yes, but I don't know where

Do they ever sleep in Buenos Aires?

You might as well just pack up all my stuff and send it to me now, because the Porteños know how to live and I don´t know if I can come back after this. (They´re Porteños because they live on a port - duh) We went to a club called Che on Friday night and it was sooo fun. The clubs don´t usually open until 2am so we went for coffee first at a local cafe. We went to the club and danced for 2 or 3 hours with our little group and plenty Argentinos. Practicing Spanish in a place you can´t even understand English because of the noise was ... interesting. We probably got home around 530/6am to sleep for a few hours and then wake up and tour the city. The tour was really cool. We got to see the Casa Rosada (pink house), their version of the White House and we saw a bunch of other important buildings and neighborhoods. Last night, we went out for Kate´s birthday to a little plaza that had a bunch of restaurants and bars. We´re all having fun just being with new people and getting to know each other. There´s so much more to say, but I´ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Look at my pictures HERE!