Wow, lots and lots to do. So I just recently heard a rumor, that the Buenos Aires program I chose is the hardest CIEE study abroad program.... I believe it. There's just work, work, work that keeps piling up! And I mean, I'm studying abroad! I wasn't expecting to actually have to do work!!...;) Just kiddin. But I am definitely learning a lot from all my classes, and having such tough classes is really helping the language skills too. Everything is starting to wind down here, final parciales and trabajos are due soon. I'll pretty much be done with everything by December 10! Which means I get a whole week just to enjoy my time here and relax, maybe do a little bit of last chance traveling. Greg gets here in T minus 10 days!!! I can't wait! We'll go around the city and do all the touristy things that I haven't gotten the chance to do yet, and maybe even take a day trip to our neighbor Uruguay.
I've been thinkin about home a lot more lately, now that I realize my time is almost up here. I know it sounds cliche, and I've said it so many times already, but I canNOT believe how fast it has gone. I will be home in 34 days! It's weird though, I can't wait for Christmas, it still seems like it's eons away. It just keeps getting warmer and warmer here, and there's palm trees for cryin out loud! You can't REALLY celebrate Christmas with palm trees and 80 degree weather, I mean, come one. But nevertheless, it is coming up fast! I walked past a store the other day and was a bit shocked to see it full of Christmas decorations. Can't wait to be home to celebrate the holidays with all of you guys back home! But don't get me wrong, I'm definitely still enjoying my time here! I can surely say that it's going a bittersweet ending.
Alright...back to work. I'm going to get two more pages done on my paper, then reward myself at the ice cream shop across the street :) See you soon!
I can't wait to write a paper in English!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Sights, Sounds, Smells
Los Parques
The dog walkers
Amorous couples lounge around
The super pancho vendor
Pigeons that fight over crumbs
The distant noises of a city
The cute outfit of the girl passing through
Beautiful arquitecture of the Facultad de Medicina building
Little kids with sticky faces from their dripping popsicles
A jack hammer rattles in the distance
The crazy homeless man feeding the birds next to me
Laughs and hoots of the hooligans under the tree
Cigarette fumes rising into the air
Students diligently studying
Mate drinkers
Girl singing along with her ipod
The florescent color my hi-lighter leaves on the page
A man playing his guitar
Little boy playing catch with his dad
Colectivo linea 132 coming to a screeching halt
Street performers juggling
Colorful playground in the trees
Boy tricking on his skateboard
The man with two young children asking for a few moneditas,
Complementing me on the color of my eyes
I come here to do homework,
But
Watching all these things is a lot more interesting,
Than my stack of papers to be read for class tomorrow
Monday, October 26, 2009
Where Kerri Adventures
I thought I'd post a map with all the different cities I've visited in Argentina, just so you get an idea of where all the places are that I talk about. There's so much more that I want to see, but unfortunately time and money are not unlimited :) Enjoy!
Friday, October 23, 2009
My life as of late
So, my most recent adventure: Iguazu Falls. I don't even know how to sum up this trip into words, whatever I say won't do it justice, but it was absolutely incredible! Thursday, October 8, a few friends and I hopped on a double decker bus, and rode 20 hours to Puerto Iguazu which is located on the border of Brazil and Argentina. When we arrived the first thing we did was just soak in the heat! Although we've had a few really nice hot days in Buenos Aires, it's still not quite warm all the time. So it felt great to be surrounded by tons of palm trees with the hot sun shining down. We stayed at Hostel Inn, which is by far the most amazing hostel ever. Huge gorgous pool, a bed, private bath, air conditioning, restaurant, internet, poolside bar, good location, and all this for, wait for it...13 USD! Crazy right?
Saturday we spent most of the day at the falls. First we walked on the paseo superior - the higher path. So we got a great view of all the falls and got to see how big the range actually is. Then we got into jungle safari mode, hopped into the back of a touristy, uncovered truck thing, and had a tour through the forest on our way down to the river. From there we got on a boat, warterproofed up all our stuff in bags, and set out down the river to the foot of the falls. Being right there was almost overwhelming, looking up at alllll that water pouring over the cliff. we even got to go into all the mist that was billowing everywhere. It was basically like I had taken a shower we got so soaked. After eating our sack lunches on a rock right on the river by the falls and pretending to be mermaids, we walked around the paseo inferior (lower path), saw some crazy wildlife including a huge black snake and coati (crazy little buggers that steal your food, some cousin or something of a racoon), and then..... headed to El Garganta de Diablo! Dun dun dunnnn. That means devil's throat btw. To get there we had to walk on this super long boardwalk over what seemed to be endless water. I don't understand where it all comes from, it was like one endlessly wide river, but had trees and plants and little chunks of land everywhere. Garganta del Diablo is basically all this water, cascading down one huge u-shaped cliff. It was sooo loud! And every once in a while a huge cloud of water would come up and wash over us all on the boardwalk. Looking down into the middle you couldn't even see the bottom, it was all mist, and there was an awesome rainbow too!
So I think I said in my last post that Iguazu Falls were one of the seven wonders, well it's one of the seven forgotten natural wonders of the world. How many seven wonders of the world lists can there be anyways? But anywho I think I'm done traveling for a while now. Have to concentrate on school (yes study abroad students do actually do some homework sometimes) and save a little money. I had three exams recently and a paper due last week, sooo we'll see how those turn out. I'm pretty nervous actually :/ It's crazy we really only have a couple weeks of class left, the majority of my classes finish the last week in November, so I just get to chill here for a little while before coming home. And Greg comes to visit, in 32 days!!! I haven't been keeping track or anything...;)
Hope all is well back home, in the cold, hehe. It's been gorgeous here, reaching 80's a few times and sun sun sun! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!
un abrazo grandisimo!
Kerri
Saturday we spent most of the day at the falls. First we walked on the paseo superior - the higher path. So we got a great view of all the falls and got to see how big the range actually is. Then we got into jungle safari mode, hopped into the back of a touristy, uncovered truck thing, and had a tour through the forest on our way down to the river. From there we got on a boat, warterproofed up all our stuff in bags, and set out down the river to the foot of the falls. Being right there was almost overwhelming, looking up at alllll that water pouring over the cliff. we even got to go into all the mist that was billowing everywhere. It was basically like I had taken a shower we got so soaked. After eating our sack lunches on a rock right on the river by the falls and pretending to be mermaids, we walked around the paseo inferior (lower path), saw some crazy wildlife including a huge black snake and coati (crazy little buggers that steal your food, some cousin or something of a racoon), and then..... headed to El Garganta de Diablo! Dun dun dunnnn. That means devil's throat btw. To get there we had to walk on this super long boardwalk over what seemed to be endless water. I don't understand where it all comes from, it was like one endlessly wide river, but had trees and plants and little chunks of land everywhere. Garganta del Diablo is basically all this water, cascading down one huge u-shaped cliff. It was sooo loud! And every once in a while a huge cloud of water would come up and wash over us all on the boardwalk. Looking down into the middle you couldn't even see the bottom, it was all mist, and there was an awesome rainbow too!
So I think I said in my last post that Iguazu Falls were one of the seven wonders, well it's one of the seven forgotten natural wonders of the world. How many seven wonders of the world lists can there be anyways? But anywho I think I'm done traveling for a while now. Have to concentrate on school (yes study abroad students do actually do some homework sometimes) and save a little money. I had three exams recently and a paper due last week, sooo we'll see how those turn out. I'm pretty nervous actually :/ It's crazy we really only have a couple weeks of class left, the majority of my classes finish the last week in November, so I just get to chill here for a little while before coming home. And Greg comes to visit, in 32 days!!! I haven't been keeping track or anything...;)
Hope all is well back home, in the cold, hehe. It's been gorgeous here, reaching 80's a few times and sun sun sun! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!
un abrazo grandisimo!
Kerri
Monday, September 14, 2009
La Edad de Pavo
We were sitting around the dinner table the other night and I heard my host dad keep saying something about "pavo" - turkey. I was wondering what he was talking about, and upon seeing my confused look, asked me, "do you know what the 'edad de pavo' is?" I knew that it translated as 'the age of the turkey,' but I didn't know what that meant. He explained that he was at his sister's house, and his nephew is at that age, about 11 years old. It clicked and I realized he was talking about the awkward stage of life! You know, when you were in middle school, had braces, and all the girls were taller than the boys. I just thought that was a funny translation/fun fact. Edad de pavo = awkward stage :)
Every once in a while, I'll be home for lunch time and so I'll cook myself up a little something. My host-grandpa thinks I'm an idiot. I don't know, maybe I've been cooking eggs wrong my whole life or something, but do you guys put oil in the pan before making scrambled eggs? I cracked a few eggs and threw them on the pan, and my grandpa was like, "Que estas haciendo!?" "What are you doing?" He's like no it's going to stick! And I replied stupidly, "Well, I never use oil at home" or something like that, and just explained that I scrape out the pan afterward. A different time I was frying up a burger on the stove, and apparently I was using the wrong utensils because he quickly picked off the pan I was using to swap it with another one, burning his hand in the process. Needless to say, the pan he gave me did work better, but I swear, they use different things here. So now I never like going in to the kitchen to make something because my grandpa is always there, smoking a cigarette by the radio... But don't get me wrong, he's so great and a ton of fun too!
Still continuing with classes, which I hate to say are quite difficult. It's mostly a ton of reading, we're not really graded on much so when we do have something to be graded, ya better work pretty hard. The more pictures of Hope College I see on the internet, the more I miss it, but I'm still having the absolute time of my life here in Argentina, and I'm growing in so many different ways.
Escaping the city for a while is always a blessing. One Sunday a few friends and I took a train from Retiro train station to a city called Tigre. It's on a delta so it has tons of rivers flowing through. A Catamaran ride, Puerto de Frutas, chocolate covered strawberries and cotton candy can really do wonders for a soul :) Two weekends ago of us Flacsitos flew 2.5 hours north to the province of Salta for an excursion. We stayed in a small pueblo called Tilcara which we all like to call llama land. It was really high altitude, and extremely desert-like. The sun was really intense during the day, but dropped down pretty chilly at night. I wouldn't usually describe a desert as pretty, but the mountains that we saw were absolutely breathtaking! There were literally blue, pink, purple, yellow, and green mountains. Then there would be a mountain that had like a whole bunch of colorful stripes! It was really humbling looking at the huge, majestic mountains and thinking about whose powerful hands created those, and decided to make little old me as well. We also got to see Las Salinas, or the big salt flats. It was so weird! A huge, vast, desert of salt right in the mountains. It was really beautiful. Here are just a few pics, I'll post some more to an album soon - enjoy!
So until next time,
Kerri
Every once in a while, I'll be home for lunch time and so I'll cook myself up a little something. My host-grandpa thinks I'm an idiot. I don't know, maybe I've been cooking eggs wrong my whole life or something, but do you guys put oil in the pan before making scrambled eggs? I cracked a few eggs and threw them on the pan, and my grandpa was like, "Que estas haciendo!?" "What are you doing?" He's like no it's going to stick! And I replied stupidly, "Well, I never use oil at home" or something like that, and just explained that I scrape out the pan afterward. A different time I was frying up a burger on the stove, and apparently I was using the wrong utensils because he quickly picked off the pan I was using to swap it with another one, burning his hand in the process. Needless to say, the pan he gave me did work better, but I swear, they use different things here. So now I never like going in to the kitchen to make something because my grandpa is always there, smoking a cigarette by the radio... But don't get me wrong, he's so great and a ton of fun too!
Still continuing with classes, which I hate to say are quite difficult. It's mostly a ton of reading, we're not really graded on much so when we do have something to be graded, ya better work pretty hard. The more pictures of Hope College I see on the internet, the more I miss it, but I'm still having the absolute time of my life here in Argentina, and I'm growing in so many different ways.
Escaping the city for a while is always a blessing. One Sunday a few friends and I took a train from Retiro train station to a city called Tigre. It's on a delta so it has tons of rivers flowing through. A Catamaran ride, Puerto de Frutas, chocolate covered strawberries and cotton candy can really do wonders for a soul :) Two weekends ago of us Flacsitos flew 2.5 hours north to the province of Salta for an excursion. We stayed in a small pueblo called Tilcara which we all like to call llama land. It was really high altitude, and extremely desert-like. The sun was really intense during the day, but dropped down pretty chilly at night. I wouldn't usually describe a desert as pretty, but the mountains that we saw were absolutely breathtaking! There were literally blue, pink, purple, yellow, and green mountains. Then there would be a mountain that had like a whole bunch of colorful stripes! It was really humbling looking at the huge, majestic mountains and thinking about whose powerful hands created those, and decided to make little old me as well. We also got to see Las Salinas, or the big salt flats. It was so weird! A huge, vast, desert of salt right in the mountains. It was really beautiful. Here are just a few pics, I'll post some more to an album soon - enjoy!
So until next time,
Kerri
Friday, September 4, 2009
Keep it Comin
Apologies, the last post is actually from about three weeks ago, but I guess it went away for a little while? Anyways, lots has been going on since I last wrote. This past Wednesday marked the day exactly 6 weeks since I left the great US, that's the longest I've ever been away from home! Like I've said before, I really can't believe how quickly it's going. It might slow down a little bit more now that I've been getting into a routine. Things are going to get rough with all the literature being piled up onto my back, on top of the constant thought process from English to Spanish. I hope that soon I won't have to be translating in my head as much and the words will just flow... that might take a while though :)
When I'm not in class I find that I usually occupy my time with many different types of things here in BsAs:
Cafe Culture: There are literally cafes or restaurants on every single block. Every time I walk by one I always say, "ooo that looks like a good one I'll have to try it sometime!" But there is literally no way I will be able to try them all, they're EVERYWHERE! It's nice though, you never have to walk far to find something to eat. Even if you just pick up a quick snack at a maxikiosco (please see description below)
Kioscos: These are terrible. Terrible, terrible, terrible, but I love them. You can come across these even more frequently than a cafe. Basically it's either a tiny hole in the side of a building or an actual little store where tons of snacks and refreshments are sold. It's so hard to pass up sometimes because there are so many snacks here that I've never had before! In the US, I've probably tried all the different kinds of candy bars, sodas, and crackers. But here, I feel like a kid again, drooling over the vast selection of dulces.
Night Life: I think I've talked a bit about this before, but Buenos Aires has a life that is unlike anything I've ever heard of, but that could be because I've been in a little West Michigan bubble my whole life... Anyways, last week Saturday some friends and I were taking a cab home at like 4:30 in the morning, and there were people on the streets everywhere! Some of the clubs and bars were just beginning to get busy! I don't understand haha. And the thing is that some people do this 3 to 4 times a week and then head to school or work the next morning! I think they're crazy. For me, being out that late is ok once a week for me, and only on the weekend haha.
Tourist traps: Sometimes it's inevitable, I try to blend in as much as possible so I don't look like a gringa too much, but I still gotta see the sights ya know? I love going to the markets with all of the handmade clothing, leather items, food, music, and souvenirs. They are so much fun! I also like going to salsa lessons and watching tango. Going to see the Casa Rosada might be a good idea to see too, and unlike the White House, we can actually walk right into the main government building here.
And of course...Homework: Had a little predicament the other day with course complications, but now it's all sorted out and hopefully things will be a little bit easier. I'm taking two literature courses, and it is a TON of reading, in Spanish, obviously. So it takes a while but I'm getting used to it. My two Spanish classes, grammar and listening/converstaion are great. We're really learning a lot about the language, especially the differences from what I've been taught my whole life, and the Castellano the the Portenos use.
I finally added photos to another snapfish album of our Bariloche trip. Sorry I realize that you have to make an account to view the pictures, if anyone knows of another way to post them publicly let me know! I still don't know much about this whole blogging thing.
When I'm not in class I find that I usually occupy my time with many different types of things here in BsAs:
Cafe Culture: There are literally cafes or restaurants on every single block. Every time I walk by one I always say, "ooo that looks like a good one I'll have to try it sometime!" But there is literally no way I will be able to try them all, they're EVERYWHERE! It's nice though, you never have to walk far to find something to eat. Even if you just pick up a quick snack at a maxikiosco (please see description below)
Kioscos: These are terrible. Terrible, terrible, terrible, but I love them. You can come across these even more frequently than a cafe. Basically it's either a tiny hole in the side of a building or an actual little store where tons of snacks and refreshments are sold. It's so hard to pass up sometimes because there are so many snacks here that I've never had before! In the US, I've probably tried all the different kinds of candy bars, sodas, and crackers. But here, I feel like a kid again, drooling over the vast selection of dulces.
Night Life: I think I've talked a bit about this before, but Buenos Aires has a life that is unlike anything I've ever heard of, but that could be because I've been in a little West Michigan bubble my whole life... Anyways, last week Saturday some friends and I were taking a cab home at like 4:30 in the morning, and there were people on the streets everywhere! Some of the clubs and bars were just beginning to get busy! I don't understand haha. And the thing is that some people do this 3 to 4 times a week and then head to school or work the next morning! I think they're crazy. For me, being out that late is ok once a week for me, and only on the weekend haha.
Tourist traps: Sometimes it's inevitable, I try to blend in as much as possible so I don't look like a gringa too much, but I still gotta see the sights ya know? I love going to the markets with all of the handmade clothing, leather items, food, music, and souvenirs. They are so much fun! I also like going to salsa lessons and watching tango. Going to see the Casa Rosada might be a good idea to see too, and unlike the White House, we can actually walk right into the main government building here.
And of course...Homework: Had a little predicament the other day with course complications, but now it's all sorted out and hopefully things will be a little bit easier. I'm taking two literature courses, and it is a TON of reading, in Spanish, obviously. So it takes a while but I'm getting used to it. My two Spanish classes, grammar and listening/converstaion are great. We're really learning a lot about the language, especially the differences from what I've been taught my whole life, and the Castellano the the Portenos use.
I finally added photos to another snapfish album of our Bariloche trip. Sorry I realize that you have to make an account to view the pictures, if anyone knows of another way to post them publicly let me know! I still don't know much about this whole blogging thing.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
First Real Week
I can't believe that it's been one month. Time sure flies when you're having fun I guess. We got back into Buenos Aires on Monday the 17th after an amazing 5 days in Bariloche. To be honest, I didn't want to leave, none of us did. It was so beautiful there with the mountains, lake, and the cool, fresh air. Our Saturday in Bariloche we really didn't have any plans, so one of the gals pulled out a map, and figured out a bus ride to Lake Gutierrez. We walked around for a while and happened to come upon a hiking trail. It was actually more strenuous than we expected, the snow didn't help out either because it was so slippery. It was all worth it when we got to the top of the "Mirador!" It was a bit cloudy, but the view was still breathtaking with the huge snowflakes falling gently. I hope that someday I get to go back.
Thus began our first official week of school.... I am planning on taking classes at three schools here: FLACSO - this is where CIEE is locate and where my two Spanish classes are, as well as a literature class. UCA - Universidad Catolica Argentina, I'm taking a 6 credit literature class here. It's going to be extremely difficult... And lastly IUNA - Instituto Universitario Nacional del Arte. It's an art school where I will be taking a Folklore and Art class. So far this has been my favorite schooling experience. Even though the class isn't super interesting, I just love the atmosphere of the School. As I'm sitting in the classroom I can hear piano music, drumming, and clapping coming from the surrounding dance studios. It makes me want to join them so bad! There are always students milling about in the courtyard with guitars or practicing their dance choreography. I know that it's going to make me miss dancing a lot, so hopefully I can find some type of class to join soon!
Thus began our first official week of school.... I am planning on taking classes at three schools here: FLACSO - this is where CIEE is locate and where my two Spanish classes are, as well as a literature class. UCA - Universidad Catolica Argentina, I'm taking a 6 credit literature class here. It's going to be extremely difficult... And lastly IUNA - Instituto Universitario Nacional del Arte. It's an art school where I will be taking a Folklore and Art class. So far this has been my favorite schooling experience. Even though the class isn't super interesting, I just love the atmosphere of the School. As I'm sitting in the classroom I can hear piano music, drumming, and clapping coming from the surrounding dance studios. It makes me want to join them so bad! There are always students milling about in the courtyard with guitars or practicing their dance choreography. I know that it's going to make me miss dancing a lot, so hopefully I can find some type of class to join soon!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
School, Spanish, and Skiing
I knew it wouldn't be fun and games forever, class had to start sometime...:) Just kidding, like I said I was exited for class to start. However, I don't know what I was expecting, but the first and second day was really hard!!! On Monday, we got to UCA (Universidad Catolica de Argentina) about a half hour early in order to get to the right building and find our classroom on time. The schedules on the wall were so confusing, and different than the ones we had received online, so we ended up in some economics class, and had to get up and walk out during introductions - so embarassing! Tuesday's class went a lot better, we went to the class that we meant to go to on Monday. It went smoothly and the professor is awesome! She's very sweet and seems willing to help us with whatever we need. It's a 6 credit literature class...about Aristotle, Shakespeare, and other authors that I don't even understand in English. Culture shock began to seep in a little. I'm realizing that I have a lot of work to do on my Spanish-speaking-abilities and culture immersion. Needless to say it's going to be very tough, but I have my Esperancitas (little hopes - that's also what us four Hope girlies call each other) with me! :)
Currently, I am in Bariloche, Argentina. It was kind of a last minute deal. On Sunday a group of 12 CIEE students decided to travel, Monday I booked my bus ticket, and we left Tuesday afternoon. After a 20+ hour bus ride, we arrived in the province of Patagonia, right at the foot of the Andes Mountains. 20 hours on a bus seems bad, but it was actually pretty fun, and it was super nice, a lot more comfortable than a plane. The food wasn't too bad either.
It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL here. We're staying in a really neat hostel called Patanuk Lake Hostel. The owner is awesome and everyone here is really cool, it's so chill! Here's the website if you want to check it out: www.patanuk.com. It's right on Lake Nahuel Huapi, and part of the mountain range is directly across. We woke up this morning at 8am to a pink and purple sunrise over the lake with the mountains and fog in the background. It was breathtaking! God is the greatest artist there is. A delicious breakfast is included in our 13 dollar a night fee in our hostel, and it was delish! Homemade bread, cereal, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and of course.... dulce de leche :) If I haven't explained what that is yet, it's pretty much a caramel-y type spread that Argentines put on EVERYTHING! Dulce de leche flavored ice cream, oreos, toast, medialunas, alfajores, you name it...
After breakfast, the owner of the hostel personally drove us to Catedral, a ski resort here in Bariloche. I have to say that skiing in the Andes Mountains is just not the same as skiing in Michigan :) The mountains were gorgeous! It was weird seeing snow when I am still in the Michigan summer mode. It's actually going to be warming up soon in Buenos Aires, next week will be in the 60's and by the end of September it will be summer!
I'll update soon with pics :) abrazos y besos! (XOXO)
Currently, I am in Bariloche, Argentina. It was kind of a last minute deal. On Sunday a group of 12 CIEE students decided to travel, Monday I booked my bus ticket, and we left Tuesday afternoon. After a 20+ hour bus ride, we arrived in the province of Patagonia, right at the foot of the Andes Mountains. 20 hours on a bus seems bad, but it was actually pretty fun, and it was super nice, a lot more comfortable than a plane. The food wasn't too bad either.
It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL here. We're staying in a really neat hostel called Patanuk Lake Hostel. The owner is awesome and everyone here is really cool, it's so chill! Here's the website if you want to check it out: www.patanuk.com. It's right on Lake Nahuel Huapi, and part of the mountain range is directly across. We woke up this morning at 8am to a pink and purple sunrise over the lake with the mountains and fog in the background. It was breathtaking! God is the greatest artist there is. A delicious breakfast is included in our 13 dollar a night fee in our hostel, and it was delish! Homemade bread, cereal, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and of course.... dulce de leche :) If I haven't explained what that is yet, it's pretty much a caramel-y type spread that Argentines put on EVERYTHING! Dulce de leche flavored ice cream, oreos, toast, medialunas, alfajores, you name it...
After breakfast, the owner of the hostel personally drove us to Catedral, a ski resort here in Bariloche. I have to say that skiing in the Andes Mountains is just not the same as skiing in Michigan :) The mountains were gorgeous! It was weird seeing snow when I am still in the Michigan summer mode. It's actually going to be warming up soon in Buenos Aires, next week will be in the 60's and by the end of September it will be summer!
I'll update soon with pics :) abrazos y besos! (XOXO)
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Wow where to begin? Sorry it's been so long in between posts, a lot has happened and I've been super busy!
For orientation this week, all of us students have been figuring out our class schedules. It was kind of stressful figuring out what would transfer back to Hope, but the classes I came up with should work out great! I'm really ready to start - as weird as that sounds, but I would like to get a routine going instead of just mosy-ing along and spending money. Don't get me wrong, it's been great so far though! Like I said earlier it has been really nice getting to know the city!
Monday night a few of us students went to this club/old warehouse type thing called Konex. Apparently every Monday night there's a percussionist group called La Bomba de Tiempo that play. They were phenomenal! And dad you would have loved it :)
So far I've done a few "touristy" type things in the city. I've seen the Plaza de Mayo, which is in the center of the city and is where most of the government buildings are. The Casa Rosada, "The Pink House," is the White house of Buenos Aires. It's beautiful! After that, us Hope girls (Niki, Jessie, Lizzy, and I) went to the oldest cafe in the city. I love going to cafes and this one was so cute! It was built in the 1800's and had a lot of the original woodwork/tables/wallpaper/bar/etc.
Thursday night, Anneke (one of the girls from my program who lives in the same building as me) went dancing! We went to a culture center called La Viruta and for 16 pesos - about 4.2 US dollars - we got to take a salsa, milonga, and tango lesson, and then there was a an open floor. Even though Buenos Aires is famous for the tango, salsa is definitely my favorite! I can't wait to start my salsa classes that I'm taking through a different culture center!
This weekend, all 106 of us CIEE students got to go on an overnight field trip to a province outside of the city called San Antonio de Areca. It was beautiful and so much fun! It made me miss home a little bit because I saw dirt roads again for the first time, and smelled beautiful fresh air!! I always took that for granted back home. On another note, I don't think I've ever eaten so much food in my entire life. It was SO GOOD! For dinner Friday night we had like a 4 course meal with tortilla papas, salami, breads, cheezes, ham, empenadas, salad, and flan for dessert. Saturday's lunch was pretty much the same thing - deliciousness. I'm going to have to get some recipies while I'm down here that's for sure. We spent the whole day saturday at La Bomba Chica, which is kind of like a ranch. We went horseback riding, played games, ate good food, and watched a cool show! We got to watch some gauchos (cowboys) do some cool horsetricks, and we also learned a traditional dance, kind of like flamenco.
All in all it was a great week, and I'm looking forward to what else God has in store for my adventures in Argentina. One of my classes starts this week at La Universidad Catolica Argentina, and the rest start next week. Hasta Lugeo! *muah
FOOD! Dinner our first night in San Antoni
Watching lunch cook at the La bomba Chica
Gauchos!
For orientation this week, all of us students have been figuring out our class schedules. It was kind of stressful figuring out what would transfer back to Hope, but the classes I came up with should work out great! I'm really ready to start - as weird as that sounds, but I would like to get a routine going instead of just mosy-ing along and spending money. Don't get me wrong, it's been great so far though! Like I said earlier it has been really nice getting to know the city!
Monday night a few of us students went to this club/old warehouse type thing called Konex. Apparently every Monday night there's a percussionist group called La Bomba de Tiempo that play. They were phenomenal! And dad you would have loved it :)
So far I've done a few "touristy" type things in the city. I've seen the Plaza de Mayo, which is in the center of the city and is where most of the government buildings are. The Casa Rosada, "The Pink House," is the White house of Buenos Aires. It's beautiful! After that, us Hope girls (Niki, Jessie, Lizzy, and I) went to the oldest cafe in the city. I love going to cafes and this one was so cute! It was built in the 1800's and had a lot of the original woodwork/tables/wallpaper/bar/etc.
Thursday night, Anneke (one of the girls from my program who lives in the same building as me) went dancing! We went to a culture center called La Viruta and for 16 pesos - about 4.2 US dollars - we got to take a salsa, milonga, and tango lesson, and then there was a an open floor. Even though Buenos Aires is famous for the tango, salsa is definitely my favorite! I can't wait to start my salsa classes that I'm taking through a different culture center!
This weekend, all 106 of us CIEE students got to go on an overnight field trip to a province outside of the city called San Antonio de Areca. It was beautiful and so much fun! It made me miss home a little bit because I saw dirt roads again for the first time, and smelled beautiful fresh air!! I always took that for granted back home. On another note, I don't think I've ever eaten so much food in my entire life. It was SO GOOD! For dinner Friday night we had like a 4 course meal with tortilla papas, salami, breads, cheezes, ham, empenadas, salad, and flan for dessert. Saturday's lunch was pretty much the same thing - deliciousness. I'm going to have to get some recipies while I'm down here that's for sure. We spent the whole day saturday at La Bomba Chica, which is kind of like a ranch. We went horseback riding, played games, ate good food, and watched a cool show! We got to watch some gauchos (cowboys) do some cool horsetricks, and we also learned a traditional dance, kind of like flamenco.
All in all it was a great week, and I'm looking forward to what else God has in store for my adventures in Argentina. One of my classes starts this week at La Universidad Catolica Argentina, and the rest start next week. Hasta Lugeo! *muah
FOOD! Dinner our first night in San Antoni
Watching lunch cook at the La bomba Chica
Gauchos!Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Another beautiful day has gone by in Buenos Aires, I swear it's always sunny here! It got quite warm too, about 60 degrees and it felt even warmer in the sun. Yesterday morning Jessie, Lizzy, Niki and I decided to check out the rural exposition in on of the neighborhoods. It was really cool because it was like a country fair right in the middle of the city. We sat down in the stadium part of the fair to watch the caballeros (cowboys) show their cows and horses. One thing that I loved was seeing them in their traditional clothing! They wore really cool boots, and vests, and hats, different than our western cowboys anyways.
Some other funny things I've noticed while being here are the mullets, movies, and music. It's not uncommon to see guys with mullets walking around, wearing skinny jeans and converse or keds. They fit in perfectly with all the 80's music that plays everywhere! I don't know why, but in most public places, it's all music from the United States, 30 years ago. I've also hear Jason Mraz and other newer artists, but it's Celine Dion and Michael Jackson galore (and yes he's all over the news here too). Also a lot of the movies that play on the TV are in English with Spanish subtitles, or they're actual voices are dubbed in Spanish. For instance, last night I watched Cheaper by the Dozen 2, but in Spanish haha. Today a few friends and I went to see The Proposal, which I was so exited about because I really wanted to see it in the sates, but got to see here!
Today I found out that I got placed in the advanced II for my Spanish level, and I get to figure out what classes I get to take tomorrow during more orientation stuff. Classes won't start for a little while yet, but it's been really nice being able to explore the city. I feel like I already know my way around a lot of places and how the whole transportation system works.
Love you all back home and thanks for your thoughts and prayers!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Country Girl Gone City
So I was thinking today; in west Michigan, I live on a dirt road. I have to drive 15 minutes if I want to get groceries or go shopping. Life for me here is so different that anything that I've been accustomed to! Right now there is loud traffic on the road down below with a siren zooming pass. When I walk out my front door, I jump right onto a sidewalk that's on one of the main roads in BsAs. It's lined with shops, cafes, banks, gyms, little supermarkets, kioskos, and even a McDonalds :), basically anything I could ever need. Life is so different here, so I thought I would make a little list of all the things I do/see/notice on a daily basis:
Water: Portenos (that's what the people from BsAs. call themselves) don't drink much water. I find myself coming home to my room and filling up a huge water bottle from the sink and chugging it as fast as I can. I get so thirsty! Water costs just as much as a coke in a restaurant, and you can order it with or without gas. I know that sounds funny but it just means that you can order carbonated water. Sometimes if you order a coffee or tea in a cafe they bring you a tiny shot-sized glass of water with gas haha. It makes me laugh
Transportation: I know this isn't really that big of a deal to some people reading this, but I have never had to take public transportation before except like 3 times in my life. This past Friday, I successfully completed trips on all four main means of transporation in BsAs: the colectivos - the crazy buses whose system I haven't completely figured out yet (there's probably about 200 different bus lines with different routes coming and going), the subte - short for subterraneos which means underground. There's one that runs right under my street, radiotaxis - a taxi with a meter inside so they don't jip you. They start at only 3.8 pesos and then add a little bit per mile, walking - of course there is a lot a lot a lot of walking around to get from place to place in a city.
Night life: I think I've explained this to a couple people already, but the night life here in the city is insane. Generally people don't eat dinner until 10 or even 10:30. My family eats a little bit earlier than most because we have a little girl and an old couple, so we eat supper at 9pm haha. Also, my host grandma asks if we're going out every night because it's pretty much just expected. I got home at 3 in the morning on Saturday night and that's considered early for most Porenos!
Money: Everything is so much cheaper here it's great! It's about 3.8 pesos per US dollar. If anyone needs to start their life over because of money, Argentina would be the place to do it!
Food: It's very good, I ate steak twice in one day. And my host grandma is a very good cook. Also, every morning waiting for me on the table is a bowl of cereal, a loaf of bread, jelly, coffee, tea, sugar, milk, and a basket of fruit (mom please take note of this). Ah life is good :)
Language: Castellano is what the call their language, they don't like to call it Spanish for some reason. And to everyone back home who I've told I am kind of fluent in Spanish, I take it back. They talk so fast! I can't understand very well yet haha. I'm hoping I'll improve soon!
Arquitecture: The buildings here are absolutely beautiful. A lot of it was built in the 1800's and has French and other European influence. Sorry these pictures aren't very good, I wish I had a better camera.
Well By now your eyes probably hurt from reading all this! But if you want to send me a love from the US via mail, send it to:
Kerri Terpstra CIEE-FLACSO Program Ayacucho 555 Buenos Aires, 1026 Argentina
(no packages please, supposedly it's really costly and takes forever to go through customs)
Un beso enorme para todos!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
"El amor de una familia es lo bendición más grande de vida"
"The love of a family is life's greatest blessing," and now I have two!! Sorry I haven't updated the past couple days, a lot has happened, so here goes...
As you can probably tell, I moved in with my family! We all moved in with our families on Friday night. I was nervous and exited and didn't know what to expect before I met them, but then my host mom came to pick me up from the hotel where we were staying and all my fears melted away because she is so sweet! My host mom came to the hotel with her mother, who also hosts a student from CIEE (sorry this might get a little confusing). We all live in the same building together! My mom's parents and their host student live on the 2nd floor (we live in an apartment building that's above a whole bunch of shops on the first floor). There names are Marta and Adolfo and they are such a sweet old couple! They're hosting Anneke, one of the girls from my program so it's really nice to have someone right in the same building as me that also speaks English :) My family lives on the third floor. There's Maria Victoria (Mavi), her husband Diego, there adorable 4-year-old daughter Federica, and a new kitten Bon Bon! I don't really call them mom and dad like some students do because they are quite young haha. I can't wait to get to know them better!
The cool part about where Anneka and I live is that we're basically all one big happy family! We all eat together and hang out together in Marta and Adolfo's part of the building. It's such a beautiful old building that was built about 75 years ago (mom and dad you would love it)! Our family pretty much owns the whole building, I think there are officially 4 units, and then my room (I'll expalin that later), and one of them is taken by a man who lives across from Marta and Adolfo. Across from my parent's apartment is their business. They own a business that delivers like special diet meals (or something like that) to people who need to watch their cholesterol, are overweight, etc. My room is all by itself on the 4th floor, and I absolutely love it! It's quite big, and I have my own tiny little bathroom right there too. There's a random bar in my room and I don't know why it's there, but it looks pretty cool and sometimes I sit at it with my computer haha. I have a ton of natural light which is beautiful. There's a door from my room that opens up onto a HUGE patio because I'm basically on the roof. The whole house has access to it from the staircase too. I can't wait till it warms up a little bit so I can sit out there and enjoy the sun.
I don't have time to write more right now but I'll update again soon! Thanks so much for keeping me in your prayers everyone! So far everything has been wonderful and I love Buenos Aires!
Les Quiero a Todos!
Kerri
p.s. My pictures aren't working so I'll post the link to my facebook album once I get all the pictures uploaded.
As you can probably tell, I moved in with my family! We all moved in with our families on Friday night. I was nervous and exited and didn't know what to expect before I met them, but then my host mom came to pick me up from the hotel where we were staying and all my fears melted away because she is so sweet! My host mom came to the hotel with her mother, who also hosts a student from CIEE (sorry this might get a little confusing). We all live in the same building together! My mom's parents and their host student live on the 2nd floor (we live in an apartment building that's above a whole bunch of shops on the first floor). There names are Marta and Adolfo and they are such a sweet old couple! They're hosting Anneke, one of the girls from my program so it's really nice to have someone right in the same building as me that also speaks English :) My family lives on the third floor. There's Maria Victoria (Mavi), her husband Diego, there adorable 4-year-old daughter Federica, and a new kitten Bon Bon! I don't really call them mom and dad like some students do because they are quite young haha. I can't wait to get to know them better!
The cool part about where Anneka and I live is that we're basically all one big happy family! We all eat together and hang out together in Marta and Adolfo's part of the building. It's such a beautiful old building that was built about 75 years ago (mom and dad you would love it)! Our family pretty much owns the whole building, I think there are officially 4 units, and then my room (I'll expalin that later), and one of them is taken by a man who lives across from Marta and Adolfo. Across from my parent's apartment is their business. They own a business that delivers like special diet meals (or something like that) to people who need to watch their cholesterol, are overweight, etc. My room is all by itself on the 4th floor, and I absolutely love it! It's quite big, and I have my own tiny little bathroom right there too. There's a random bar in my room and I don't know why it's there, but it looks pretty cool and sometimes I sit at it with my computer haha. I have a ton of natural light which is beautiful. There's a door from my room that opens up onto a HUGE patio because I'm basically on the roof. The whole house has access to it from the staircase too. I can't wait till it warms up a little bit so I can sit out there and enjoy the sun.
I don't have time to write more right now but I'll update again soon! Thanks so much for keeping me in your prayers everyone! So far everything has been wonderful and I love Buenos Aires!
Les Quiero a Todos!
Kerri
p.s. My pictures aren't working so I'll post the link to my facebook album once I get all the pictures uploaded.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Safe and Sound
Yes mom and dad, you heard it: safe and sound :) So adventure has officially begun, and I can't believe how fast it came! Yesterday there was a tearful goodbye at the Detroit airport, and now I'm on the other side of the world! The flights went very smoothly, it was so nice traveling with two friends. We even met a girl at the Detroit airport that was in the exact same program as us, so it was kind of cool getting to know her a bit.
I am now in a foreign country where I don't speak the language well, I don't really know the customs, and well, I'm a tall dutch girl. So let's just say I stick out a little bit haha. I'm totally out of my comfort zone, but I love it!!! A few of us girls took a walk around a couple blocks in town, and it's kind of what I expected, but different too. The city is alive with hustling and bustling, and the streets are pretty narrow with crazy scooter drivers that practically go onto the sidewalk. I loved looking in all the shops and am especially looking forward to stopping in one of the little panaderias (bakery) with all the pastries and dulce de leche I can devour! This is my forewarning to you all... I might come back home 30 lbs heavier than you remember me, but hopefully not ;)
I'm really tired now since I wasn't able to sleep well on the plane last night, so I'm off to a real bed now. I'll add some pics soon hopefully!
I am now in a foreign country where I don't speak the language well, I don't really know the customs, and well, I'm a tall dutch girl. So let's just say I stick out a little bit haha. I'm totally out of my comfort zone, but I love it!!! A few of us girls took a walk around a couple blocks in town, and it's kind of what I expected, but different too. The city is alive with hustling and bustling, and the streets are pretty narrow with crazy scooter drivers that practically go onto the sidewalk. I loved looking in all the shops and am especially looking forward to stopping in one of the little panaderias (bakery) with all the pastries and dulce de leche I can devour! This is my forewarning to you all... I might come back home 30 lbs heavier than you remember me, but hopefully not ;)
I'm really tired now since I wasn't able to sleep well on the plane last night, so I'm off to a real bed now. I'll add some pics soon hopefully!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
The Departure, dun dun dun...
Hello everyone! Right now I'm finishing up the last minute packing details and procrastinating as usual. I leave for Detroit in about 2 hours, and then at 3:20 the plane takes off Argentina bound! I'm a little nervous I'll admit, but exited beyond words! I'm going to keep this blog to kind of keep track of all my adventures, and that way all you guys can follow along too! So visit me every once in a while, feel free to shoot me an email: kerri.terpstra@hope.edu, and post your email addresses for me! See ya'll in a couple months! Hasta Luego :)
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