Buenos Aires!

This past weekend, the whole group took a trip to Buenos Aires, and it was a great deal of fun. We left by bus Thursday evening and returned by plane Sunday evening. There are many photos, and much that happened, so I'll break it down by day. This will be a rather long entry, so I'll be sure to put in a lot of photos for those of you who don't feel like reading 2,000 words. 

Thursday

Our prepackaged meal. Not bad, but nothing great either.

We went to the bus station Thursday evening and left on our bus at around 9:00 or so, with everyone slightly wary of the 9 hour ride ahead. The bus terminal was fairly similar to what you might see in the U.S. for companies like Peter Pan or Megabus, but for this long trip, our bus was different in a few different ways. This first was that it was a double-decker bus - this didn't make a whole lot of practical difference for anyone riding it, but it was still pretty neat. Second, because this bus is used for long, overnight trips, the chairs are large and cushioned, and can be reclined quite far back to make a semi-bed of sorts, and there's a little section from the back of the chair in front of you that you can flip out to rest your feet on. Not as comfortable or as spacious as a real bed, but far superior to trying to sleep on an airplane. They also served us drinks in the beginning and then a pre-packaged meal a little after we were on the road, so it did sort of feel like a flight in that regard. They did have TV screens with some Eddie Murphy movie showing, but I was pretty tired, so I didn't watch, and went to sleep before too long.

Friday

One side of the room, with my compañero, Mike.

We arrived in Buenos Aires around 6:30 or so Friday morning, and got off the bus at our hotel around 7:00. Fortunately, our rooms were ready at that point, so we were able to drop off our stuff in our rooms, shower, and come down to eat breakfast. The hotel and an American-ish breakfast, which was nice, because normal Argentinian breakfast seems to consist of bread and a drink, if it exists at all. They didn't have pancakes, waffles, sausage, or bacon, but they did have a variety of pastries, some cereal, and scrambled eggs, so that was nice. Our hotel room was quite nice and spacious, and included a balcony from which we could look out, so that was a nice treat for the weekend.

Other side of the hotel room, looking nice.

View from over our balcony down to the street.

View out from our balcony.

La Casa Rosada 

Around 10:00, we left the hotel and headed into downtown Buenos Aires, which was pretty close to the hotel. We viewed some relevant cultural and historical points from the bus, and then disembarked at the Plaza de Mayo, which is probably the most famous place in Buenos Aires. Plaza de Mayo is where Argentina declared their independence from Spain, and it has been host to a number of gatherings, protests, and demonstrations over the years, particularly during the dictatorship in the 1970s. Unsurprisingly, there were banners and posters for all sorts of different causes all around the plaza. Plaza de Mayo is also home to la Casa Rosada, aka the Pink House, the Argentinian equivalent of the White House, where the president conducts her business and whatnot. It was somewhat remarkable how close you could get to the building; it wasn't set back from the street and surrounded by fences like the White House.

An impressive looking building,
although I can't remember what it is...

The plaza with some banners.

That afternoon, we ate lunch, and then went to a few different places. First we stopped by the law school of the University of Buenos Aires, a well known building that we had just seen a couple weeks in the movie Tesis sobre un Homicidio. It was very cool to see it in person right after seeing it in a movie. Right next to that building was a large park with a gigantic metal flower in the middle of the park, although I can't recall whether it was purely decorative or if it was supposed to memorialize something. Either way, it was an interesting and impressive site. 

Large metal flower

Law School, looking impressive.

Not long after that, we stopped by a park next to Rio de la Plata, the big river that Buenos Aires was built around, and which serves as a port to the Atlantic Ocean. In this park, there were a number of signs that looked like street signs, but with social messages of variou sorts, often explicitly political. It was very interesting to see, and it made me think about who sponsors this and whether we would ever see anything like that in the US. Many of the messages were about the time during the dictatorship, and represent some sort of legal or social injustice, while others are more abstract statements on society.

Rio de la Plata. It's a very big river.

One of the signs in the park. 

Another sign, with more in the background.

After the park, we went to a famous cemetery that's home to many famous and/or rich Argentinians, including Eva Perón. Unlike a standard American cemetery, this cemetery consisted entirely of above-ground mausoleums, and one could walk between the various memorials, looking at the lavish and elaborate nature of the graves. It was impressive, but also a bit creepy, because you were essentially walking through a town of dead people. Still it was definitely a unique experience, and the memorials were worth admiring, although it did make me think about the practice of spending such large sums of money to memorialize someone with stones and engravings.  

City of dead people. Cool and creepy.

Eva Perón's grave.

Finally, we spent the evening eating a very nice dinner and watching a tango show. We had watched tango in Córdoba, but this was a slightly different set up. In Córdoba, we saw a show in a small restaurant that had a small stage. There was an accordion player, a bass player, and 2 singers and 2 dancers. This place was more like a banquet hall, with a large raised stage in front. The performance was much more elaborate, with more dancers, more musicians, and a generally more theatrical feel to it. It went on for a little long, but it was very enjoyable, and all the performers were extremely talented.

Saturday

Saturday morning, we ate breakfast and enjoyed a leisurely departure before heading to a museum dedicated to Evita Perón. I was familiar with the basic facts of Evita before this, but I did learn a lot of new and interesting information at the museum there. The tour got a little boring at some points, but it was interesting more often than not, mostly because Evita was such a unique figure. Maybe the best reference would be a combination of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Eleanor Roosevelt, but neither of those women combined political activism with popular appeal the way Evita Perón did. 

"May God grant that in this blessed land the Foundation for Social Aid may soon disappear, because if this occurs, the complete prevalence of social justice will have occurred. And it will have fulfilled the Peronist agenda of a woman who, trying to interpret the ideals of the people, was creating institutions worthy of that people."

After the museum, we went to the neighborhood of La Boca, which literally means the mouth, so named because of its location as a key port near where Rio de la Plata flows into the Atlantic. La Boca is known primarily in Argentina for its small touristy section, and for its extremely successful soccer team, Boca Juniors, one of the most decorated soccer teams in Argentina, and in the world. For a small price, I went in to the stadium to explore and take pictures, along with my friend Dean, who plays on the Union soccer team. Even though I'm not particularly invested in Argentinian soccer, it was still a great experience, and I could tell that the stadium was a really special place.

Me and the field.

Estadio! Capacity is ~50,000.

After checking out the stadium, I walked around touristy area, looking at the market and admiring the brightly colored buildings. Interestingly, this very brightly colored tourist area comprised an area of around 5x5 blocks, and once you got beyond that, it was not really a very touristy neighborhood at all.

Meeting this rather strange fellow in the red hat and cape
who tried to sell us a strangely professional looking DVD
that was apparently about his own life. Did not buy.

People walking around, enjoying the day in La Boca.

After exploring La Boca, we went back to the hotel and had the rest of the day to ourselves. The rest of that afternoon and evening consisted mostly of napping, walking around the city, grabbing dinner, hanging out, and getting some late night pizza. 

Sunday

Our last day, we enjoyed our last substantial breakfast, checked out, and headed to the neighborhood of San Telmo, which has a massive market on Sundays, stretching along one street for around 15-20 blocks. There we spent most of the late morning and early afternoon, exploring and checking out the trinkets and goods for sale. There were all sorts of things available, from professional looking jewelry to  incredible art to regular clothes and shoes. There were also a great deal of people, with a significant amount of tourists mixed in among regular Argentinians. The market was crowded and hot, but still a fun experience, and great way to see the culture.

Market, with nice looking buildings.

Straight shot of the crowded market.

After poking around the market and grabbing a fantastically delicious and cheap lunch (2 decent size empanadas + slice of pizza + juice, all for ~$6) we went to the neighborhood of Recoleta, near where the law school and giant metal flower were. There, we had the option to explore randomly, to go to another market, or to go to a museum of art. After the past couple days, I was pretty tired of markets, so I opted to just walk around for a while. I poked around the museum for a bit, which was free entry, and was moderately impressed by some of the pieces, but I could only stay there for so long before I felt the need to go back outside again. I walked around, took some photos, and eventually just sat down by a tree and watched people go by. It was a pleasantly relaxing way to end the weekend. 

Nice bridge with the law school in the background

View from center of said bridge.

View fromt the other side of the bridge.

We flew back that evening, which was far quicker than bus (only an hour and ten minute flight) and then started back on school the next day. Luckily, Thursday is a national holiday of some sort, so we only have a 3-day week (we get every Friday off). Being in school from 9:00-2:00 makes me feel like I'm in high school again, so I'll be grateful for the extra long weekend. We have a history exam tomorrow, but after that, we have a free and unencumbered weekend. I don't know what I'll do, but there's apparently a pool club of some sort nearby with basketball courts on the premises, and I haven't swam or played basketball in a while, so a chance to do both would be quite nice. Hope you all enjoyed, and I'll keep everyone updated!

More Fun Times

Hello again,

Sorry for not putting up a new post for a while; I've been slacking in my blogging duties. Over the past week, things have been very nice. After going to Jesus Maria last weekend, we had a pretty standard week of classes this past week. To get to the university campus by 9:00, I have to catch the bus by 8:00, which means I have to be up around 7:00 or so, which is a full hour and half earlier than I would have to get up for a 9:00 class at Union. So that part of my schedule is less than ideal, but I suppose it's a small sacrifice to make. For my Argentinian cinema class, we watched a movie called Nueve Reinas (Nine Queens) which is a tremendously entertaining crime caper from around 10 years ago. I'm sure you can get it with English subtitles, so I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, twist-filled film. As a full group, we also saw another movie this weekend in theaters, called Tesis Sobre un Homicidio (Thesis on a Homicide). This was apparently a very highly anticipated movie here, and had some well known Argentinian actors, including the star of Nueve Reinas, which was an interesting little coincidence. It was about a university professor who teaches a class on crime and criminal justice who becomes in trying to solve a homicide. Although it was a well-made movie, I wasn't very fond of the movie's ending, but it was still an interesting experience, especially because it didn't have subtitles or anything, so we really had to listen carefully and pay attention to know what was going on. Adding to our authentic Argentinian experience was our outing on Friday, for which the whole group went to a restaurant that also has tango shows. So we enjoyed a nice dinner and then watched several talented performers sing and dance quite impressively. The whole night felt quite Argentinean, although I think that place does get a good amount of business from tourists, both domestic and international. Still, a very enjoyable evening.

Nice looking Jesuit mission.

This past weekend, on Saturday, we went to the town of Alta Gracia, which is about 45 minutes to an hour to the southwest of Córdoba. According to Wikipedia, it has 43,000 residents, so it's a nice, small-ish town with plenty of history. We first toured an old Jesuit residence from the 1600s that has been converted into a museum. The Jesuits had a big presence in the whole Córdoba province when it was first being settled, so there are various Jesuit museums and such throughout the area. This one was quite pretty, and had some nice interesting exhibits that we were able to explore on our own. We've visited several historical sites that belonged to the Jesuits, so much of the same sort of information pops up each time we visit such a place. Still, it's interesting and usually very nice to look at, at the very least.


After that, we grabbed lunch at a nice restaurant in town and then went to visit what is possibly the main attraction in Alta Gracia - the childhood home of Che Guevara. Che Guevara was born in the city of Rosario, but he lived in Alta Gracia from the ages of 4-16, and they have converted his house into a museum that attracts a fair number of visitors. That was moderately interesting, especially since I didn't know a whole lot about him, aside from the basics. One of the more interesting exhibits was an add-on that had photos of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez visiting the house about 10 years ago or so, and signing the guestbook and everything. The exhibits tended to focus on the life of Che before he was very well known and how his childhood shaped his future, since this was the place he really grew up. Overall, Alta Gracia was a nice trip; I particularly enjoyed the more relaxed and condensed feel of the smaller town, as opposed to the busy sprawl of Córdoba. I guess I'm just not really a city guy at heart.

The welcome sign to the museum/house of Che

Me and Che.

We've got another standard week of classes now, but Thursday evening, we will leave for our first overnight/multi-night excursion - ¡Buenos Aires! Although I'm no stranger to long rides, I'm still not looking forward to the ~8 hour bus ride there. Still though, it should be quite a fun time, and I'm looking forward to it. Buenos Aires is the 4th biggest metro area in the Americas, so it'll be interesting to see what it's like and explore everything. Thanks for reading, and I'll keep everyone updated!

PS - A couple bonus photos of my house and the street I live on, just for some context. As you can see, my neighborhood's pretty suburban and residential, although it does get busier and a bit more urban-like a few blocks away.

Jesus Maria!

All continues to go well here in Argentina, especially with the weekend here; the freedom of weekends allows for quite a bit more fun than during the week, when we have classes. Thursday evening, we all met up with our speaking partners in a restaurant downtown. Most of them are around our age, but their level of English varies greatly, from nearly fluent to very basic. My partner is a girl named Belu, whose English is fairly basic and limited, but is very nice and friendly. After meeting with our speaking partners, we split up into several different groups and explored the city as we walked, talked and ate. Friday was the first day that we didn't have classes, so I took that opportunity to sleep in, for which I was very grateful.


Then in the afternoon, the whole group went to the town of Jesús Maria, a town about 50km north of Córdoba that hosts a festival of doma and folklore every year. Doma refers to the Argentinian equivalent of rodeo, in which people ride around on horses performing various tasks, such as lassoing horses, guiding them through a course, and riding a bucking bronco, all of which is supposed to be in honor of traditional gaucho culture. Folklore referes to a certain type of music also from the same culture, although I don't know it well enough to identify any defining characteristics. This festival happens each night in Jesus Maria for about two weeks, so we were really only seeing a snapshot of the whole thing. After arriving in the afternoon, we toured the city, visiting several spots in particular. The first spot was a Jesuit mission, hundreds of years old that is now a museum of sorts. We took a guided tour and heard about the history of the mission and looked at various rooms, paintings, and artifacts. Interestingly, they allow cameras on the grounds, but not inside any of the buildings.

A serene pond scene, and the main building of the mission, below.

After visiting the mission, we went to a winery, where we toured the place, and saw all the equipment that they use to produce the wine. The place was quite expansive, and they showed us all the places where they make and store the wine, which was interesting to see.

Our next stop was a meat-packing place where they packaged and sold various cuts of meat, including salami, which was their specialty. It was really just a small house-looking place on a street, that didn't look like anything special from the outside. Inside however, were rows and rows of salamis hanging from the ceiling. We got a tour of the place (if you can call it a tour, considering it was a pretty small building), and we learned about the process of getting the meat, and doing everything they have to do to sell it - store it, season it, package it, etc. While the information was mildly interesting, the real focus of the tour was the fact that having tons of meat hanging everywhere gave the entire place a rather distinct aroma, and not an entirely pleasant one. Like some sort of weird challenge, the smell got stronger the further into the building you went. There were two rooms on the first floor, and then two rooms in the basement, and each room had a stronger smell than the last. Some people couldn't even stand to be in the first room and had to go back outside. As the tour progressed, more and more people bailed out as we ventured further into the depths the meat rooms. By the time we got to the last room in the basement, probably only 1/4 of the original group was left. Although the smell was strong and unpleasant, I didn't find it as horrific as others seemed to find it, and it was relatively easy to avoid smelling it just by breathing through your mouth only. All in all, a most interesting experience.

After this, we went into the center of town, where it steadily got more crowded as people gathered for the events of the festival. We ate at a roadside stand, where we got choripan, which was a delicious sausage sandwich (chorizo [sausage] + pan [bread] = choripan). Afterwards, we ventured into the center of town, where they had blocked off all the streets for the festival. The streets were filled with people, and there were roadside vendors everywhere, along with the restaurants and such that were all open as well. After walking around and exploring for an hour or so, we went into the stadium, where the actual festival was happening. The stadium was fairly large, and could seat probably 25,000 people, and it was filled to capacity and then some. All the seats and benches were filled, and people were standing all around the stadium behind the seats as well. In addition, there were more people walking around the inside of the stadium, eating, sitting, and talking. All told, there might have been 30,000 people in the stadium, plus thousands more out on the streets. The events consisted of various rodeo-type events, such as lassoing horses, guiding them through a course, and riding a bucking bronco. In between the various events, there was music performed on a big stage by different performers, all of whom are apparently known in Argentina.

Overall, it was a unique experience for me, and

really interesting to see the celebration of this culture. There were all sorts of different people there, from Argentinian city dwellers, to people had come in from the country, to foreigners like us. I'm definitely glad we got the chance to go to this festival, especially because I don't know if I'll see something like this ever again. I'll keep updating here, so stay tuned! ¡Hasta luego!

¡Córdoba!

Hello everybody! Sorry that I haven't written in a few days, but there's been a lot going on which means I've got an extra-long entry today! I'll scatter in some photos for those of you who might be limited by time and/or attention span.

My Schedule and Living Situation

My room (books were provided)

Sunday evening, after a tour of the city, we met our families and moved into our new temporary homes. I live in fairly nice residential neighborhood with an older couple (60-ish I would guess) and their adult son, who's 24 years old. Despite having his own job, and being finished with school, he still lives with his parents, which is not all that uncommon in Argentina from my understanding. They've had a number of exchange students before, so they're familiar with the process, which is nice. They've been generally nice and friendly, and more than willing to converse, which has provided good chances for both practicing Spanish and learning about the culture here. It's also nice to have someone else close to my age in the house, especially since he's been very willing to talk to about whatever aspect of culture I might be wondering about. The house has both wireless internet and outlets that take American plugs, so from a technological standpoint, I feel right at home.


We take classes at the campus of the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, which as a pretty big campus, although we only utilize a very small portion of it. Because it's the middle of the summer here, there are few other students on campus, so we have it mostly just to ourselves. Classes are Monday-Thursday from 9am-2pm, with the three day weekend usually dedicated to some sort of cultural excursion that takes up anywhere from one day to all three depending on the trip. The classes I'm taking are a spanish language course, Argentinian history, and Argentinian cinema. The spanish and history courses are taught by university professors, while the cinema course is taught by the Prof. Mosquera, the Union professor who accompanied us for the term. Both of the university professors seem both friendly and competent thus far, so hopefully that continues for the rest of the term (although history looks like it has the potential to get rather dull at some points). I've had Prof. Mosquera before, and his classes are usually enjoyable, and the subject of Argentinian cinema is definitely an interesting topic. It almost feels as if I'm back in high school again, because I take the bus in the city center in the morning, and back again in the afternoon, and I'm on campus during the day. Because my house isn't particularly close to the university campus (more on that later), there's no chance of going home for lunch or anything like that, and we only have around 5 minutes between classes, which adds to the high school feeling. I must admit that I miss the typical US system of living on campus and only walking a few minutes to each class. Oh well, I suppose sacrifices must be made!

Impressions of the City

Impressive looking cathedral

After only a few days in Córdoba, snow, ice, and cold weather seem like a distant memory, but I guess that's what happens when it's 85-90 degrees all the time! I've been in Córdoba a few days now, and have begun to settle in a little bit, although it's still a process. The first thing that I noticed about Córdoba is that it is a BIG city. At 1.3 million people, it's quite populous, but even more so than that, the city is extraordinarily extensive and sprawling. According to Wikipedia, the city proper is 222 square miles, which is several times larger than the total area of Boston, and more than 10 times the size of Providence. As I found out firsthand, travelling through the city by bus or car can be very slow going, especially as you work you way through the center of the city, which makes the city seem even larger, because it takes so long to go through it. As I mentioned before, my house isn't particularly close to the university (~7 miles) and the slow travel through the city makes it a 40 minute commute twice a day, which is less than ideal.

Another church, slightly less elaborate than the other one.

The center of the city is an interesting mix of new and old, with a number of very old buildings right near some more modern high rise apartments. Although there are certainly nice areas, downtown Córdoba is rather grittier and dirtier than I expected (although I can't say that I had any real basis for those expectations). Two of the most striking characteristics of the city are the amount of graffiti (lots, and usually just scrawled messages, not artistic pieces) and the number of stray dogs, neither of which I was expecting. As with any city, some areas are quite nice looking, but there are a lot of areas that are much less aesthetically pleasing.

Plaza!

One thing I do like about the city is the presence of plazas, which are a staple of Latin American cities. They serve as places to congregate, relax, or do whatever, and are usually surrounded by rather important buildings for business, government, or religion. They're a nice aspect of the city, and there's no real equivalent that I can think of that exists in American culture.






My Experience

Two views of the city from a vantage point on our tour.
(Below right as well)

So far, my ability to explore the culture has been limited, since we haven't had a weekend yet, and everyone's still getting settled in. The other afternoon, a group of us met downtown to go buy phones, and walking through the downtown area looking for a good place to buy them was a fun way to observe and soak in the environment. After successfully purchasing phones, we went to a streetside empanaderia and ate....you guessed it, empanadas! The empanadas in Argentina are absolutely delicious; nice dough filled with meat (usually beef or chicken) and then whatever else one might want, including veggies, cheese, and potatoes. My other significant culinary experience thus far was going to my first asado, the Argentinian equivalent of a barbecue. Hernán, my host brother, invited me to come to an asado with him and a couple of his friends. It was a nice, low-key affair with a couple of his friends, one of whom had lived in California for nearly 15 years, so we compared notes on the differences between the countries, although he's undoubtedly much more at home here, considering he he was born here, lived in Córdoba for the first 8 or 9 years of his life, grew up speaking Spanish. As for the food, it was absolutely delicious; there were several different cuts of meat, including beef, pork, and sausage, and all was slow-cooked over a charcoal fire. Meat in the U.S. is quite nice, but I haven't had anything quite as good as this, and this meal was put together by several 20-somethings in a backyard. Tomorrow (friday) the whole group will go up to the city of Jesús Maria for the day. Jesus Maria is ~50km north of Córdoba and is home a huge festival every January that celebrates traditional gaucho culture, featuring music, dancing, and horse riding. It seems like a very authentic Argentinian experience, so I'm excited that we get the chance to go up and see it. I'll be sure to take plenty of photos and write an entry on the festival.



Overall, everything's going well thus far. It's a good group of students, and my family has been quite friendly and helpful, so no complaints there. The different hours of Argentinian culture has been a slight adjustment - dinner is frequently not served until 9:00 or 10:00, and people generally stay up pretty late, even on weekdays when they have to get up early the next morning. Luckily, I've usually got a couple hours in the afternoon to relax and take a siesta. I've wanted to go running and look for a pickup basketball game (there's a park with a court near my house), but I haven't been able to do either one so far, due to settling in and trying to figure out a typical schedule. Saturday and Sunday are free though, so I'll try and use those days to get going on those two items.

The whole group at our hotel on Sunday

Soon I'll be going back downtown to meet up with the rest of the group at a bar/restaurant, where we will meet our Argentinian speaking partners for the first time. The idea is that we meet periodically with an Argentinian student and alternate speaking in English and Spanish so that we can both practice our language skills. Hopefully all goes well with that, and I'll keep everyone updated on everything else here. If you read all this, thanks, I appreciate it! ¡Hasta luego!

The Journey Begins

Hello all!

Here, I will be writing and posting pictures about my time in Córdoba, Argentina, where I will be on a study abroad program until mid-March. Hopefully it will be interesting, so read and enjoy!

Departing from JFK

I arrived today in Córdoba, Argentina, nearly 24 hours after checking in to JFK airport in New York, tired but excited to be here. I took an overnight flight from NYC to Santiago, Chile and then spent several hours there before making the hour and a half flight to Córdoba. Despite being a bit cramped, the 11 hour flight to Santiago wasn't too bad, thanks to the nice personal TVs on the seats that allowed you to watch movies, TV shows, listen to music, and even charge your iPod!

My view as we descended on Santiago

I met up with several of my fellow Union students in Santiago, so that was nice to share the experience of coming into the country with them. We spend tonight in a hotel before diving into the program tomorrow, getting a tour of the city, meeting our host families, etc. Everything seems pretty great so far, and I'll keep everyone updated!