Round 3

So I'll try to catch up on the past 2.5 weeks which have been nothing short of exciting. I'm finally getting a real feel for the city and have a good sense of where I am geographically, understand more of the lifestyle and cultural traditions - standing in a line at a bus stop, being patient when you are being served because very little gets done quickly here. As one person put it in the campus bookstore, "Service gets done at 2 speeds. Slow and stop."

Definitely a different feel and sense of patience then I have experieced in the US, but instead of getting annoyed or frustrated its been a lot easier to enjoy and accept it. That being said, I've changed my eating habits, sleeping habits, and some social habits. I eat a lot of meat/carbs but eat less. I go to bed later and siesta if I plan on staying up late that night. And the whole dynamic of meeting a girl here is both funny and unorthodox for me.

Two words I would use to describe it: persistence and confidence. Never will a girl come up to you here, and more often than not you will immediately be rejected / not fully engaged when you attempt to talk to a portena. This doesn't necessarily mean she's not interested in you but you should push to keep the conversation going and throw in some really ridiculous sweet nothings (comments about their beauty, their country, or how glad you are to have met them) but if you push too hard they will know you are coming off as fake and you will immediately be labeled as a "chamushero" = player. Very different then the push/pull relationship structure of the states in which often times a boy/girl  fight to make the other person want them more while showing more subliminal signs of interest. Here one will do best if they can act directly. Also of note, you don't really see too many boys and girls as just plutonic friends - boys mostly hang out in large packs of guys and girls stick to their own as well.

Mar del Plata - So this has probably been the highlight of my trip. We had a day off school, a weekend forecast of decent weather and wanted to get out of the fast life of BA. Anthony, Adam, Zach, and I (the four amigos) booked some bus tickets to MDP - a touristy rather large beach city. We wanted to take advantage of the end of summer and this may have been the best decision we've made so far. Long-distance busses here are very popular a whole different situation than taking a greyhound in the US, and I was quite pleased. The seats reclined about 40 degrees, we got a few snacks for the ride, and their was a bathroom and water fountain. Pretty comfortable and not a bad deal at all. We also met a hilarious aunt/nephew combo. This lady was about 50, caked in make-up, and had fake hair extensions. Her nephew was a ginger 10-year old named Darlis, but I definitely would have called him Dudley if I could've named him (based on his looks). Zach and I innocently started talking to them in Spanish and the next thing we know she busts some laminated photos out of her purse. I kid you not, these were like 10 year old photos of her and Ricky Martin that she has held onto and brings everywhere with her. At least she always has a conversation starter. She continued to profess her love for Ricky and further went on to tell us she was one of the best tarot card readers in BA. We could barely understand a word coming out of Dudley's thick accent but eventually he gave us his 20-year old sister's name for facebook so we could befriend her later. We still haven't found her, but after this encounter with Dudley and his crazy aunt, we had a feeling this was going to be a good trip.

We arrived mid-day, made our way to the hostel which was super laid back and filled with a lot of surfers (can it get any more chill, bro?), but also a whole melting pot of Germans, Colombians, Venezuelans, and Argentineans. We tried to do our best representing the good ol' US of A. We hit the beach for the day and then came back to the hostel to socialize. It was a good night of hangin at the hostel and we made some solid friends named Cecilia (portena), and Diego and Alejandro who lived in the provinces just outside of BA. From my experiences I definitely would say that the "proviniciales" (people from the provinces) are much friendlier than the porteños (ppl from BA who are more often than not quite arrogant). The next day we hit the beach again, played some beach soccer - Team USA vs. Team Argentina and inevitably lost 6-5. Still a lot of fun. Then we sat on the beach, relaxed and sipped on maté for the rest of the day. Maté is a popular herb drink (a tea I believe) that is extremely popular here. It originated in South America and is packed with caffeine. To drink it you place the shredded maté herbs in a special gourd and mix it with hot water. Then you use a special straw that strains out the herbs so you just get the tea. It can be mixed with sugar but I prefer it straight. It is a social activity and is an awesome way to converse and pass the time with friends.

 Made some more friends at the hostel and the nightlife was exciting - kind of like a dorm party of international sorts. Always a good time sharing playlists off iPod speakers and learning about new music/dance moves and also showing off yours. The rest of the weekend was just a lot more beach - soccer, maté, meeting friends and friends of friends, and even watching some crazy locals pull off some insane parkour flips. A lot of fun and great to finally meet some Argentine friends that I knew I could keep. We also invented some new lunfardo (argentinean slang) perro (dog) + heróe (hero) = perróe (super hero dog). Examples include: lassy, old yeller, air bud. The term was coined after we befriended a really friendly stray dog and combined our immaturity and affinity for making up words. Some interesting notes about the beach - trash everywhere (cigarettes, plastic, whatever else could be littered), all women wear thong bikinis, and half the beach is public while the other half of the beach is littered with privates cabanas that can be rented out for like 20$ a day and include a manmade pool that are all a real eyesore when looking at the coastline.

All in all, great weekend. Great people, plenty of time in the sand, and some of my best memories thus far.

Mendoza - So included with my study abroad program are 2 trips - 1 to Mendoza (famous Argentinean wine country) and 1 to Iguazu (World famous waterfall). I went with half the students in my program which was a group of about 35 - only 8 guys. Another weekend, another bus ride. Except this time you got more of an "American" experience if you stick 35 Americans on a bus on a thursday night. Suffice to say, we had the bus attendant (think flight attendant) taking shots with us minutes after the bingo game ended. Javier loved us until he had the unfortunate fate of cleaning up somebody's puke. I think we did a great job of changing a foreigner's perception of Americans... Our program hooked us up with an amazing set-up. Cabanas (5 bed condos) right next to the river at the foot of the Andes mountains. Absolutely gorgeous - we laid by the river, hiked around the mountains (and made a sick rock tower), rafted across a lake and swam around, and finally took a boat tour around the same lake. All of the activities were awesome until I had to go and ruin it. On the last day we were on the boat and the boat pulled up and anchored so people could swim around the lake. Being the "boludo" (dumbass) that I am, I couldn't have fun just swimming around in the kiddie pool, I had to make it interesting and do some jumps off the 2nd story of the boat. I was killin it, until I tried to get fancy with a flip. Let's just say I'm no gymnast and when I tried my flip I failed. I somehow landed right on my ear and popped my ear drum. It really hurt until I was able to get water out, and now I have a perforated ear drum and wont be able to hear well out of my left ear for the next few month. Luckily there shouldn't be any permanent damage. I feel like this blog could be posted on WebMD titled "Failures in Argentina". We also toured 2 wineries which was fun, but to be honest I only can taste 2 types of wine on my pallete - good and bad. The second winery was awesome though because they had a whole farm full of pigs, llamas, crazy field dogs, and 2 of the cutest kids who loved playing with us. Plenty of pix of this excursion on facebook. Rough getting back from the bus ride back home from Mendoza to BA at 8 am before a 10 am class.

School - Finally have homework. A few essays I'm putting off as I write this. Best classes are Argentinean culture and traditions, econ, and Tango. I used to think I suck at dancing but after a lot of failing at tango, I think I only kinda suck at dancing. I got some spins down and stuff but theres still a lot to be done. The hardest part about that class is that there is about 20 girls and only 7 guys so I never get a break. My econ professor continues to be awesome and can hardly go 5 sentences without going on a tangent. We start by talking about the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis and then 2 minutes later were talking about the migration of whales in southern argentina.

New apartment - This past week was exciting as I finally moved out of my craigslist sublet with my really nice roommate Imran into an apartment with my longtime friends Zach and Sean (who's couchsurfing our couch for the next month). It's a really nice furnished apartment in a perfect location, next to Plaza Serrano - the heart of the city for young people. I'm surrounded by parks, street fairs, public transportation, bars, cafes, museums, and so much more. The apartment has everything we need - 2 br 1 bath with a living room and good sized foyer. Clutch also that it came with wifi, utilities included, and a washing machine. Everything for $1000 (being the charmers we are, we negotiated 200$ a month off our rent). Now all I have to do is house train zach who has never lived in an apartment before. We had our housewarming party saturday night and it was a huge success - our friends from the hostel came, my basketball teammates came, and people from our program came. We had portenos speaking english, "yankees" (gringos) speaking spanish, and sean killin it in both languages (he didnt know anything besides hola before coming down here).

Volunteering- Tomorrow I start volunteering with an organization "portencialidades" helping under-priveledged children at an afterschool center. I get to play games and sports with them and teach them about environmentalism. It's located in a province to the north of BA, so wish me luck in getting there.

Check it out, and practice your spanish skills! (or just use google translate) http://www.potencialidadesweb.com.ar/

That's all I have for now. More to come - my next stops are Iguazu and Patagonia. I can't wait.

First week of classes and being sick

Hola familia y amigos,

This last week did not go as expected to say the least. That being said, there was still a lot of positive that came from it. I try to be a glass half-full type of guy.

Health care - Lets start with the worst and try not to dwell on it. As you may recall I blogged about having terrible stomach cramps. Sparing you the details, it´s safe to say I didn´t heal quickly. Low on energy and motivation to leave my bed, I got through my first week of attending classes and saw a doctor on Monday (3/14). All in all I took it to be an immersing experience because I got to see the Argentine health care system on a firsthand basis. I´m not sure of the details because I have health insurance through my study abroad program but apparently healthcare here is semi-centralized with many relying on public healthcare for service while others are covered by private HMOs. I´m not quite sure of the model but it sounds very similar to the one adopted by Obama in which the goal is for everyone to be insured although there are certain loopholes that still exist.

As far as my experience, I waited in line, told a receptionist about my problems and handed her my insurance authorization and was given a number, I then sat and waited and waited and waited for about 2 hours before finally I saw a doctor. Its safe to say she was also gorgeous like many other Argentinean women (porteñas = women from Buenos Aires). She asked me some questions and thank god I at least have a basic understanding of Spanish. I did a little google translate research of some medical terms before my visit so she knew exactly what was wrong and told me I had an intestinal infection. I was regulated to a strict diet of water, gatorade, fruits, veggies, soup, rice, beans, wheat bread, and mashed pumpkins (a very popular and tasty dish here). Also she gave me some enzyme to take daily and after a week of taking it easy, watching plenty of college basketball (how great has this tourney been!! - not to brag but my bracket is in the 92nd percentile in all of yahoo), and a bunch of movies. All in all, I was better in a week just like the doctor said and now I´m back on my feet. I´m not gonna lie though, it was tough sitting in bed when everybody else was doing all this fun stuff (St. Patricks day, sports, music festivals, exploring the city and meeting new people). Self-control is very important in life though and one should always try and look at the bigger picture and plan for long-term happiness instead of indulging in the short.

Sports - Obviously soccer (futbol) rules here and Maradona (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maradona ) is god. Its a shame I really don´t care about soccer though (save the world cup) and people are automatically disappointed in me when I admit that to them. Am I better off lying? I do my best job as a poser though by rocking an Argentina national team jersey in the streets and receiving high fives from strangers. Pretty empowering I have to say. The two biggest teams here are River and Boca. Everyone chooses a favorite, but once again I don´t really care. I still hope to make it to a game though just for the experience. Basketball is probably the second most popular sport here although it is quite a distant second. Manu Ginobli is on a bunch of billboards around Buenos Aires and is considered a hero in the bball world. I´ve played a lot of street ball around here and it´s really fun but I´m at a huge advantage being 6´1´´ because most people here are really short. I´m actually in the process of trying out for my school team right now. I might be able to call myself a collegiate athlete when all is said and done which is hysterical considering how bad of a beatdown I would get if I stepped on the same court as Jimmer Ferdette. Practices are 2x a week and we play on saturdays if I make the team. It is a mix of Argentines and Americans and overall I´d say the Americans are better but I´ve only been to one practice. I´ll be sure to update more as this topic progresses.

Classes - I could go on and on about my classes but I´ll keep it short. Here is a list and a brief summary of how I feel about each one.

Political and Social change in Latin America (taught in English) - So far really basic and kind of boring. Most of what we have talked about is colonialism and enslavement of the natives. I feel like it is taught at the level of a high school class and my professor doesn´t really give off any detailed facts which is sad because this is a really interesting topic, especially since most of my history classes thus far have been taught from a US perspective and this one finally is not.

Tango (taught in Spanish) - Awesome class. I am still in disbelief that I am allowed to have so much fun in school. So far we have learned about the origins and history of Tango (did you know it originated from an African slave dance brought to Argentina) and the first 8 basic steps. I get too much practice because the ratio of guys:girls in the class is about 8:24 so I get too much practice. I still have to look at the ground when I dance, but for any dance there is a white-boy learning curve which I think I´m really on the verge of surpassing.

Argentine cultures and traditions (Spanish) - very interesting class ranging a whole range of topics specific to Argentina. I really should be doing my homework for this class right now and starting up on my semester long research project through interviews, observations, and studies one specific aspect of Argentine culture. I´m not exactly sure what I will choose yet, but I´ll get back to you...

Latin America in the global economy (English) - probably my favorite class. Taught by Jose Gustavo Roger (http://www.ub.edu.ar/studies/palas/CV/Roger_ingles.pdf) who has worked for the UN and world bank, we study macroeconomics (I have mostly studied micro so this is all very new and interesting) and the Latin American world. He is very critical of populism and Argentinean government. He says the US won´t invest here because they know Argentineans are lazy and their money will go to waste. He agrees with this statement and calls all of the government here liars. Also, he doesn´t do email because it bugs him, doesn´t make students write papers because he thinks everyone cuts/pastes from google anyways, and ends class a half hour early everytime. I´m a fan. I am very excited to see where this class goes.

A few other points of interest about my school (University of Belgrano). School is a lot easier here than Berkeley. I would put it around the same difficulty as my community college class at COM. Luckily everything transfers for general credit and my spanish minor at Cal. This bodes nicely for me as I look to make the most of my free time. The campus consists of one big modern building of about 20 stories although the elevator only stops on the 7, 12, and 17 floor. From there you take the stairs. Not the kindest of situations for disabled students (I have yet to see one). Teachers are frequently 5-10 minutes late to their own classes. I have seen used cigarette butts on the floors of hallways which leads me to believe that Argentines smoke inside the building. There are outstanding views of the city from each classroom above the 10th floor making it harder to pay attention in class. All of my classes unfortunately are with international students so I am not getting the full on immersion I expected. For that, I´ll have to strike up random conversation with porteños in the hallways.
Nightlife - This past weekend once I became healthy I had my first experiences really going out here. It´s quite different here. Most clubs, bars, nightlief establishments don´t open til 1 AM and people don´t really start coming in until 3 AM. This allows for elongated pre-games "previas" where you meet up with a group of friends and drink. You have to prepare in advance though because you can´t buy liquor after 10 PM. Popular drinks here are Quilmes (national beer) which you can buy a 40 oz of for about $1.25. This has been my favorite drink so far. Also, fernet con (with) coke is really popular as a mixed drink. You can find jsut about whatever you want down here though. Wine is abundant with a varied selection as Mendoza (one of the most renounced wine producing regions in the world) is only a 5.5 hour drive away from here. My program takes me there next weekend. Should be fun touring the wineries so I can come home a yuppy snob and pretend like I actually know something about wine.

Anyways, so last saturday I went to una fiesta de la luna (moon party) in a village just to the north of BA called tigre. I went with my friends Zach, Adam, Tyler, Tempe, Clara, and their 2 argentinean friends. We really had no idea what to expect other than to celebrate the biggest full moon in the past 30 years on the river. So we took a 45 minute train to tigre and then walked over to what looked like an abandoned port only to see a small boat waiting for us to take us 15 mins up the river. We arrived at a rickety old dock (Zach got a little too hyphy and broke one of the planks and almost fell in hahaha) paid 80 pesos and then entered one of the funniest, wierdest, surprisingly entertaining fiestas I´ve been to in a while. Heres the setup: basically a campground scattered with tents, hippies, a DJ spinning electronic music, colorful walls of psychadelic lights, and a rustic shack with a bar that served beer and shwarma (so random). People there ranged from little kids around 5-6 year olds to adults over 50 to everyone in between hanging out on the island. We met Americas, Germans, Argentineans, and people from all over the world. It was like power to the peaceful argentinean style. It was a legit setup for a party but lacked human bodies. The people who seemed to be having the most fun were most likely taking acid because their dancing was too weird and they seemed trapped in their own world. We enjoyed it for most of the night until about 4 am when we decided we had done just about everything we could there. We aren´t true hippies and we weren´t on drugs so we knew it was time to go. Sadly they would only take us back if we could fill a boat with 10 people. We were a group of 8. It took about 2 more hours to convince them to let us go after unsuccessfully searching for 2 more people to leave with us. I actually ended up falling asleep (it was soooo cold) from 4-6 before finally waking up and being told we were leaving. I got home at about 8 am and slept until 2. Conveniently college bball started this time as well. Thank you CBS for streaming online! All being said, I need to start taking more naps  if I want to party like Argentine.

Odds and Ends - Luckily gatorade only costs about $1.50 here. Unfortunately I cannot find anywhere to recycle the bottles. I went to an outdoor ferria (open air market) this past weekend and saw some of the most impressive breakdancing of my life. At first it looked like the dancers were fighting but then you could visibly see they were play fighting and not hitting each other. Then all of a sudden they were doing flips and crazy dance moves. It turned into a show, but I didn´t stay for the whole thing. From what I saw though they amazed with flips, spins, and crazy acrobatic poses. The street art here is gorgeous and you can find some really amazing stuff. And also, I saw a puppet show. Tonight I am going to la bomba del tiempo which is a crazy drum/percussion show that happens every monday night with a lot of dancing. I can´t wait.

I´ll try my best to update next week but I feel like I always end up writing too much. Oh well. Hasta entonces...
Un abrazo muy fuerte a todos,
Lew

here we go

I'm new to this whole blog thing, but I figure its the best way to keep in contact with people while I'm abroad. Plus it's in my blood (http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/02/22/72-study-abroad/). My goals for this blog are to keep it like a sportscenter highlight (before they sold out and started talking about twitter gossip) - entertaining, witty (hence the blog name), brief and condensed. So lezz go!

Flight - Someday I should be awarded for being the best flight passenger to fly an american plane. I didnt miss my flight, slept for the entire duration of my flight to Dallas and then second flight to BA, and sat in the window seat without getting up once. As borat would say, "Great Success".

Housing - I was nervous going into a craigslist deal (after being bailed on once over craigslist) and using a brand new laptop as collateral for my deposit (apparently electronics are really expensive down here because of taxes. On the other hand, just about everything else down here is 20%-50% cheaper). Anyways, I got dropped off by my program at my housing and crashed for nearly 20 straight hours. My roommate is a 30-something year old Indian man named Imran, who has lived in BA for 10 years and works in information technology. He is very friendly and hospitable. He has even shared his indian cooking with me which is delicious! It is a 1 BR and he sleeps in the living room and I sleep in the bedroom. Not a bad set-up at all for my first month. Only 300$ a month, everything included. Hard to find that price anywhere in the 100-mile radius that surrounds SF. I live in a very central part of the neighborhood of Palermo, close to numerous subways and buses, which is clutch because I take them everywhere. Public transportation here is amazing and everyone uses it.

On a forward note, I just found a new apartment to move into with my friend Zach once my lease ends. I cant wait. All going well, the lease will be signed tomorrow... but you never know with the landlords in argentina, or anywhere for that matter.

School - Going into my program I thought that it would be very small, as only 6 people are in the direct program I'm in (CEA). The schools being represented directly by CEA are: Pitt, UWisco - lacrosse, Cal poly, Williamette. All the people are super friendly although I havent spent much time with them outside of school. However, once we got to the full orientation I ended up in a plaza crowded with people speaking languages that I couldn't understand but I knew weren't spanish. That combined with the fact 60% of them were smoking cigarettes made me knew they all couldn't be American. Turns out the majority are either French or American, with a bunch of other countries from Europe and South America being represented. A lot of Mexicans as well. Funny enough most of the French people didnt want anything to do with me once I told them I was from the US. Everyone else was super friendly tho. The orientation was epic - school policies, president of University of Belgrano speech, Tango demonstration which raised the temperature in the room at least 10 degrees warmer - so sexual, and finally a tour guide gave us a little info from the agency of tourism. Finished up with a little social empanada chowdown. Best believe I spread that good California love. It was crazy meeting everyone from other countries and really connecting with them through spanish. I'm starting to feel fluent, and it feels good. I can understand just about everything others say but sometimes I forget words/conjugations when I'm speaking although usually I get my point across. Depending on how I did on my placement exam, I should be taking all my classes in Spanish. The exam was kind of a joke though because just about everyone around me was cheating and I was really surprised to see that, especially since the exam has no effect whatsoever on your grades... I guess that's just how the world works, sadly.

Food - If you're on a diet, don't come here. First thing I ordered was a salad and it sucked. Basically one big leaf of lettuce covered with chicken and hard-boiled egg. Disgusting. On the other hand if you love pizza, empanadas (find these everywhere for about 1$ US), or meat then Buenos Aires is the place to be. Eating schedule is completely different here and I guess thats how they stay fit. Breakfast is small - usually a croissant and coffee. Light lunch, maybe an empanada or two. Popular flavors are: ham and cheese, beef, chicken. And then you go big for dinner. This is where you really go crazy, because dinner doesnt start til 9 at the very earliest. People will dine as late as 2 am though. Nuts. But it works well becuase you're usually full til noon the next day. Overall I'd give the food a 8.5/10 but I haven't splurged yet because empanadas keep me going at about 1$ apiece. It's hard to know exactly what im ordering too because my food vocab is kinda limited. The great part though is food is extremely cheap. Wine + a steak dinner is around 15$ and I have had a hard time spending more than 10$ on a meal, or more than 3$ since I've been living off empanadas haha. Prepare for many more updates on this subject....

Update 3/11 - I ate a milanesa (fried chicken sandwich) at this shady restaurant and my stomach has not been the same since. I should have taken a hint when I saw the waitress smoking a cigarette... It literally feels like a rat is crawling around my stomach gnawing at the insides. I'm going to give it til tomorrow (monday) and then go see a doctor.

Transportation - A huge plus about this city is the public transportation. You can take a bus nearly anywhere for 1.10 peso (~30 cents) or subway for the same price. They also have a great website (http://mapa.buenosaires.gov.ar/) that hooks you up with all the info necessary if you enter your starting location and your destination. I have relied on it everyday and its super clutch because the busses come every 5-10 minutes. Also the locals are very helpful in giving you directions if you can speak a lick of spanish. I have about a 15 minute commute to school and get dropped off a block away.

Girls - this subject really deserves its own section. They are of a different breed, literally. I think it has something to do with the mix of europeans (a lot of them came down here in the late 19th / early 20th century I think) and indigenous peoples. I dont think any group of the girls in the US really could compare: LA, Miami, SF, NY all don't hold a candle to BA. Just about everytime I get on a bus or subway I see at least one beautiful woman. Apparently there is a significant jewish population down here as well, so maybe I can find one to wife up.

Other fun stuff I've done - La ferria de San Telmo (San Telmo street fair) a cool open air market with handmade goods, Tiesto massive electronic music concert til 6 AM! The nightlife here is insane. I really cant keep up. My friends back home know me to be the first one to pass out and I have to struggle to make it past midnight so leaving the house at 2 AM  (which is the norm here) is a huge adjustment. The park near my house is very popular for running, rollerblading, padddleboating. It's the tail end of summer so everyone is still out because the weather is still in the 80s.

Noticable differences - here's a little list of cultural differences. The car has the right of way in a crosswalk. I definitely learned this the hard way when I got the finger for crossing a crosswalk in traffic. Stupid gringo move. Public displays of affection (full on makeout) is totally acceptable, even today at 6 AM a couple was going at it right on a busy street corner. Guess its just some of that latin spice. Everyone smokes cigarettes down here. Guess I'm just not used to that coming from California. Everyone loves facebook here, but that may be a global trend nowadays. You have to buy minutes as you go at "kioskos" for cellphones, no cellphone plans. Milk isn't refrigerated when you buy it in the store here.

More to come. I'll shoot to update once a week. School starts tomorrow and I really can't wait.

Miss everyone and love to all those that I can't see back home