It's like flying

What did I do? I still can't even believe it.

Yeah... I went skydiving on Sunday.  Sorry I wasn't able to write about my experience earlier ... it's midterm week.

It was honestly probably the coolest thing I've ever done... and that's pretty impressive because I've done plenty of cool things ;)

I've collected a few questions people asked me about my experience and below I answered all of them! Here ya go!

1. Were you scared?

The scariest part is when they opened the door of the airplane. Before that, it's not even real that you're actually going to jump out of this perfectly good plane. The plane was so small, though! My friend Christina and I were squeezed in the back on the laps of the men we were jumping with and the only seat on the plane was for the pilot. Honestly, we were probably at maximum capacity. 

The scariest part though was after Christina and her partner jumped out (they went first cause they were closest to the door). Seeing them disappear was like... HOLY FUCK IT'S MY TURN. One of the scariest moments was clumsily scooting backwards while on the lap of my partner towards the plane door then awkwardly maneuvering my legs outside of the door. I was already attached to him. It was so difficult and I thought we were just gonna tip out of the plane right then and there! 

Hi, Christina!

Bye, Christina!

So there I was attached to my partner with my whole body hanging out of the plane while he was standing on a small platform outside of the door holding onto handles attached to the plane... holy shit. There's no going back now. I have ZERO power here, I am helpless! My fate is in the hands of this Argentine man I just met. 

Also, after my partner pulled the parachute, he unlocked the clips that connected our hips without telling me!! I thought something went wrong and had a mini heart attack!!! Then I realized that he unhooked the other one and it was just so I could relax on the parachute ride to the ground... although it wasn't very relaxing because the harness was super uncomfortably tight.... better than uncomfortably loose I guess. 

2. How much was it?

The jump including video and photos were AR$1000, about US$130 with a medium exchange rate. 

3. How high was the jump?

10,000 feet.

4. Did you get any training first?

A little bit... they just told us we had to get on the laps of our partners and when we jumped, we had to keep our feet together, our arms crossed in front of us, and our heads up. Then 5 seconds in, our partner will motion when we can open our arms.

Our partners did all of the work so we really didn't need much "training".

 

5. Did you get a money back guarantee for the parachute to open?

No, Dad, I did not. 

Good one, though.

6. What was the coolest part?

The best part was when I was sitting on the edge of the plane one second and then the next second I was free falling. I didn't even realize it happened at first! My stomach just dropped and all of a sudden I was flying.

Also while we were parachuting, we went through a cloud!! It was so cool!! Everything in my sight was just pure white for like 10 seconds. And before we entered the cloud, I saw my shadow on the cloud and a circle of rainbow colors in the cloud! It was like I was dreaming! It's exactly what I imagined flying above the clouds would be like.

Although, I thought that going through a cloud would get my clothes damp because of the moisture... that was not the case FYI.

7. Who did you go with?

I went with a group of 7 students from IES but I got to meet two awesome girls from Holland! One is interning (along with a girl in IES) with the same company that set up the skydiving trip and the other is just traveling. That night, Will and I went over to their apartment for dinner!

They are in the same "fraternity" in Holland. We talked for about an hour the similarities and differences between American Greek Life and their "student unions". Their organization is through the community, not through their university. And there were like 6 different organizations they rushed and within the organization they chose, there were smaller sections that you did your pledging. 

Their entire "pledge class" was over 100 people but within their "mini co-ed fraternity" they only had like 10 people and these are the people you really get to know during pledging.

Their pledging was pretty tough too-- way tougher than mine! They actually got hazed in their "co-ed fraternity". I'm not even sure what to call it because it's not associated with Greek Life. I guess it's just a social student union club.

Anyway, Will cooked dinner that night and I brought the wine. We had steak (obviously), garlic mashed potatoes and salad... it was delicious. And the Malbec went perfectly with the red meat!

8. How long were you falling?

At first I thought I only free fell for MAXIMUM 15 seconds... then when I watched my video and counted, from the time I tipped out of the plane til when my partner pulled the parachute, I was free falling for 50 seconds!! Almost a minute!!! I guess time does fly when you're flying :)

I'm not sure exactly how long the parachute ride was but I'm guessing about 6 or 7 minutes. It was weird, after we passed the clouds and all, I kept thinking we were so close to the ground... then nope, I would look over at the cows on the ground and they were the size of a pinprick.

We were also moving SO fast, but I didn't think we were. but when I saw the other people parachuting down, it was crazy how fast they were falling.

9. Did you land on your butt?

No I did not!! I had a perfect landing on my feet, thank you! Christina kinda crashed on her bum though, sorry for ratting you out, chica. 

For those who have ever wanted to skydive, just do it. Do it this weekend! I found out I was skydiving the DAY BEFORE! It was so last second and I think that's what made it so fun and spontaneous! 

I was very lucky because I was approached with this awesome opportunity but if you really want to go skydiving, don't wait, just do it! 

I will repeat myself: 

Skydiving was the coolest thing I've done in my entire life!

Hasta luego chicos!! Tomorrow I leave for Peru for Spring break! I'll try to blog during my trip but if not I'll catch yall up when I get back to BA!

In the swing of things

I have a few different things to catch ya'll up on!

1. I finally got my residencia yesterday!!

I had to go to immigration with a 4x4 passport photo, my passport, photocopies of EVERY SINGLE page and AR$300. Luckily I went with a group with my program cause it made everything so much easier.

I heard that the process could take up to 4 hours but we got there early and I got in the front of my group so it only took me about an hour and a half--go me!

Now I have to go back to get my student visa. Funny thing is--I'm not going to get my actual visa until a couple weeks before I leave... so yeah, this process makes tons of sense.

After my appointment I went to get empanadas! Yumm!!! I'm definitely making empanadas back in the states.

2. I made a bean salad and it was pretty good!

It was just lentils, chickpeas, white beans, red peppers and tomatoes all mixed into one. Sometimes I put oil and vinegar on it sometimes balsamic dressing. It's pretty yummy and something I don't need the stove to make! It's fun finding things like this to make my wallet happy.

3. I've been having more and more "on point" Spanish conversations! 

For those of you who have never had to speak a foreign language everyday, sometimes my Spanish is really good and sometimes I sound like I have a mental retardation. It's as simple as that.

It's strange--you'd think that if you know Spanish, you know Spanish. This is unfortunately not the case. You have your good conversations and you have your bad conversations.

Anyway, this hopefully means I'm getting better at the language cause that's one of the main reasons I came to South America to study!

4. The girls and I went to Jobs last night

I haven't been to this bar since the beginning of the semester because it's usually a Tuesday night event and I have an early Spanish class on Wednesday. However, since midterms are next week I definitely can't go out this weekend so I decided to suck it up and have a fun Tuesday night with my friends!

I also got to meet portenos! Chloe brought her friend Mate and I met some of Sam and JuanP's friends. I spoke tons of Spanish and it was awesome! We played some foosball and we were gonna do archery... maybe archery next time. 

It was a great night out with the girls before we had to really get down to midterm business.

5. My bed could possibly be the most uncomfortable surface in the world 

I've been having so much back pain because of it! Mi mama said my mattress cost her AR$90... that's US$12!!! No wonder!! 

So this morning when I got up I did about a minute of yoga... it's not a lot, but it helped with my back a bit. It woke me up too!! Check out THESE pick-me-up yoga moves for a fresh start to your morning!

6. I presented my Spanish project today

It was on La Bomba de Tiempo and, honestly, mine was the most exciting project. I had pictures and videos that I took from the event when I went! I think I did pretty well with my Spanish and the overall project.

I'm not sure how exciting my life is going to be in the next week because of midterms. After that is our Spring Break to Peru!!!! 

Hasta luego!!

Chupitos

Like every other Friday, I went to work at Uplifted from noon to 5. I honestly love my job.

(I would like it more if it was a paid internship but I'll take what I can get)

Dante was there and made everything wonderful but we were still all a  little sluggish so Katie and I went out to get cupcakes and Starbucks!! Great pick-me-up. We all sat around the table and told stories of our crazy nights out in the city. It was a good office bonding moment : P

Chloe texted me asking if I wanted to go to La Malba (an art museum that has a really cool exhibition going on right now). The artist is actually living in a mental institution--kinda cool. The whole exhibition involves bright colors, dots and mirrors... probably so trippy!

I still had some work to do but Nora told me to just start my Friday early! (again, I love my job)

I met Chloe and Mindee at La Malba but the line was too long so we went to a cafe instead.

That night I was ready. I NEEDED to go out! I didn't go out at all this week so I was so excited to get together with my friends and have an awesome night!!

Chloe, Jessie and I planned to take the 39 bus into Palermo to go to this bar called Chupitos. Luckily we got on the exact same bus because I wasn't sure exactly where we had to get off. Tomas was on the bus too. The whole time Jessie said she knew where she was and we were fine.... nope.

More and more people got off the bus and it was getting less and less full.... not a good sign. Next thing we know we pull into the bus terminal!!! Thanks Jessie.

The bus driver told us that the 3 bus will be leaving in 15 minutes and to take that to Plaza Serrano where a lot of bars are in Palermo. We weren't about to wait so we started walking down a scarily empty street to find a taxi. All of a sudden the bus driver yells to us (in Spanish ) "Do you want to get raped?!?"

ummm... no.

So we ran back right when a taxi was driving by and it dropped us off at Plaza Serrano. It was so weird cause the website we use for Colectivos de Buenos Aires said the 39 would drop us off right here! Turns out, right by the plaza was a 39 bus stop... but it never went there!!!!

Damn public transportation.

But Chupitos was so fun!! Jenna H. and Sam and her Juan P were already there. For all those non-Spanish speakers, Chupitos means shots and they probably had about 100 options there!! Each shot was about AR$20 (US$2.50).

I got 3 at first with Jenna, Jessie, Chloe and Thomas. We got Rasta on Fire, Harry Potter (both flaming shots we had to take through a straw) and another one. They were all good! But the Harry Potter was sooo strong.

Then I got another shot called Granada de Mano... holy crap.

It came in two parts. First the guy filled up the shot glass half way and told me to swish it around in my mouth until he told me to stop, Sam was doing it with me. So we did.... then he WALKED AWAY!!

It wasted like strong minty mouthwash and Sam couldn't handle it so she swallowed it. Finally after serving other customers he came back about a minute later... me still swishing. He yelled at Sam for not doing it properly then fill the shot glass half way with something else, told me to swallow what I had in my  mouth then take the shot... I literally had no idea what I drank because my mouth was so numb... but minty!

It was so fun trying out the different shots and hanging out with my friends but it was after 3:15am and Thomas and I were getting a bit tired so we decided to share a cab home.

Another great night in Bs As!

Hasta luego, chicos!

Lance's last day!

Yesterday was the first day at my internship where I had to do actual crappy intern duties. Bahh. But I didn't mind much. It wasn't stressful and I was in good company :)

It was Lance's last day too :/ He's the other intern (full time) from Iowa who came in June to work for Uplifted. We went out to La Fabrica del Taco in Palermo and it was DELICIOUS!! I got a vegetarian taco (check out my blog about me possibly becoming part-vegetarian when I go back to the states) and this thing called a Volcan which was a flat hard taco shell with strips of beef with cheese and this guac sauce--- uhhh so good!!!

The tab was going to Uplifted's founder, Withers, so I even got a Coca :) It was delicious and so much fun to chill out with my coworkers!

We were so stuffed but got back to blog writing and such anyway!

Lance went out to get AR$2 bills for easy souvenirs and when he came back he had a huge thing of ice cream for the marketing team!!!  He just walked in saying, "I'm here to take care of my ladies!" <--yes he is!

It was really sad when he eventually left the office :/ And it gave me a super weird feeling. I only have about 70 days here left... 70!!!!!! That's nothing if you think about it--especially with all the things I want to do! 

But another part of me felt a bit envious of him. It honestly made me a little homesick thinking that he was able to go home and I wasn't. Definitely a bittersweet feeling for me. I'm so comfortable and happy in this city but I also miss my family and friends in the states so much. I really don't think I could live abroad for years at a time like my other co-workers. I would have too much to lose in the states.

Chloe messaged me on Facebook saying she wanted to do some shopping and since there were outlets in Palermo (technically Villa Crespo since it's on the non-Santa Fe side of Cordoba) I had her meet me near my internship. The outlets are about 4 or 5 blocks down Serrano from Cordoba... I'd barely call them outlets though. Everything was still expensive!! 

I'm probably not going to buy many clothes here. They're expensive and not the best. I did, though, find these super retro pants which I was so close to buying!! They were about $40 but soo cool! Like nothing I have in my closet! But I unfortunately didn't have enough money on me :/ Oh well-- that saved me $40.

I'm currently listening to the Chillin section of FratMusic.com and I'm totally feeling it. Check it out! This is the station I'm listening to right now!

OK chicos, I need to begin on my Visual Arts of BA mid term--kill me. 

Nos vamos!

La Boca Loca

Started off the day heading to Uplifted! I started on a blog post for one of our clients, Fligoo, about the traditional wedding anniversary gifts each year. You can log into Fligoo through Facebook and it'll give you ideas on what to give your friends for gifts depending on their Facebook activity. So I went on the Fligoo website and found possible gifts for 1st anniversary, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 30th etc.

Lance was just coming back from a weekend trip in Cordoba and got in the office a little late. But guess what he brought us??? FACTURAS!!! (Pastries for my Americans).

We set up in the front office and it's so much better! We have french, full-window doors that opens up to a balcony overlooking Ave. Cordoba. It's so nice and sunny, but a bit noisy when the doors are open.

Dante, Nora's dog, was also in the office today! He always brightens our day! He mainly hung out on the balcony all day.

For my Visual Arts of the City class that day we were supposed to go to an art museum in La Boca... which is almost completely slums except for 3 small blocks and some of the main road which are tourist attractions with the colorful buildings.

I did NOT feel safe traveling there alone and our professor never even mentioned anything about it--it was just in our syllabus. So I made a bus plan and headed to IES early to meet Sam and Sheridan to take the bus over. When I got there, however, the girls said our professor just emailed us saying that we were renting a bus and to meet downstairs at 3... thanks for warning us.

The museum had different exibits. One was about the obelisk and another was about the rich vs. poor urban life. It was pretty interesting. What would have been more interesting, though, is grabbing a cup of coffee at the museum's cafe and looking through their library. We didn't have enough time for that though.

We got back around 5 and I had class at 6 so Sheridan and I went to El Ateneo to buy a couple books to practice our Spanish. We walked in and said we each wanted a book that was pretty easy to read, light, and maybe funny. The guy immediately took out two books and gave them to us- good enough for us!

After a few more minutes of looking around we went to pay for the books. It was more than I thought! Mine was over AR$100 and I didn't have the money on me, neither did Sheridan. So on the way back to IES we each got an ice cream cone instead. I got dulce de leche y chocolate, Sheridan got vanilla and coffee.

The internship seminar at 6 was just as pointless as ever- but I researched some used book stores around here that I want to visit! That's productive I guess!

Until next time chicos!

El Cumple de Carla

Saturday was my productive day. I knew it was going to be raining all day so I made sure I got up early and did WORK!

To see productive things you can do on a rainy day, check out my original blog!!! <--

I applied for three internships, did some homework, cleaned my room and wrote a blog! Yeah... that pretty much took all day.

I had to relax for the night because it was Carla's birthday at midnight!!

Christina and I meet at Las Heras y Pueyrredon to catch the 39 bus to Palermo. When we got on the bus, Sheridan, Chloe, Carla, Mindee and Jessie were already on!

Right on!! Because I honestly didn't know exactly where our stop was. Wasn't very prepared.

We got dropped off at Costa Rica and found Sam sitting outside of the restaurant, Green Bamboo.

We got a private loft and all sat on cushions around a short table. It was so nice because we could all talk to and see everyone.

We all got a small salad with greens and peanuts at first and split bottles of water--you usually can't ask for tap water here :/

Sheridan and I ordered different plates and shared them. I got these yummy chicken skewers over a cucumber salad and rice balls.

Sheridan got delicious steak with rice noodles. It was one of the best meals I've had here so far!

We left for Red Carpet at around 10:30 which was only a few blocks away. They had an open bar (beer and mixed drinks) until 1 for only AR$35!!!! That's only about US$4... Hell yeah!

So we spent the next 2.5 hours drinking as many mixed drinks as we could because it was Carla's birthday, it'd be more expensive at the boliche (club) and.... IDK... just because we could!

More IES people came to Red Carpet later on and it was one big party! Carla was pretty trashed by the end of it.

So I'm not sure exactly with what mode of transportation, but we got to a club called Dubai in Recoleta. It was sooo fun!!!! I danced all night with everyone there! I was dancing with one guy for a bit and we were speaking to each other in Spanish. He finally asked me, "de donde eres?" and I said los Estados Unidos. he's like, "really?" I asked him where he was from and he said Michigan!! We both thought each other were portenos the entire time!

I take it as a compliment :)

Long story short- I sobered up around 5-6am. I looked at my watch finally and it was 7:30am!!! What???

The boliche was still so funny and full-fledged!!! Who are these crazy people??

It's funny cause it didn't even seem that late. Alas, when I walked outside to catch a cab home, it was light out...

#PortenaProbz

So I got home around 8am and went straight to bed. Woke up at 10:30am... not happening. So I went back to bed until 1pm. I got myself together, ate "brunch" and met up with Sam at Starbucks to do homework on Coronel Diaz and Arnales.

On the way walking there I passed Liam and he joined us. I got a yummy coffee and pan con queso... that and an Advil was exactly what I needed for my lingering hangover headache. 

Basically, barely any homework was finished but it was a great afternoon with friends. We then headed over to a park on Las Heras and relaxed some more. Liam went to El Ateneo and bought a book in Spanish. He says it's helping him a lot to learn the language so I'm thinking about going today and buying one. I'll let yall know how that goes!

I had a great Saturday because:

1. I wasn't incredibly hungover
2. I wasn't incredibly tired since I didn't go to sleep until 8am
3. I spent a great afternoon with great friends
4. I had Starbucks
5. I had two full water bottles with me to re-hydrate me
6. It was a beautiful day!

Did yall do anything special this weekend? 

Hasta luego, chicos!

Hookah Bar

Friday was just an all-around great day!

After Uplifted, I headed home and was READY for dinner! We had delicious pizza and empanadas with an apple and banana for dessert.

The other day I asked mi mama if I could have fruit for dessert instead of pastries or dulce de leche desserts. I joked about how I was going to get fat from her delicious desserts. The blunt Argentine woman she is cheerfully agreed with me saying she could tell I was getting a little fatter as she pointed to her face and collarbone....

Thanks, Mama!

Can't blame her for being a blunt Argentine, though.

So now I have yummy fruit for dessert!

Later that night Chloe, Sam and I met in Palermo to go to a hookah bar. We had our 3 waiters put some sofa chairs together so we could have a better table outside. It was so nice out!

We got strawberry banana flavored tobacco but it didn't last as long as hookah usually should. We also split a bottle of delicious white wine!!

It was supposed to rain so the girls and I just decided to go home. Saturday at midnight was Carla's birthday so we had to rest up for that!

It's nice doing something different for a change, it mixes things up a bit!

Until next time, hasta luego!

Productive day at Uplifted!

I didn't go out last night THEREFORE I made myself be productive today.

Don't ask me why I didn't go out... I'm just a weenie I guess.

I got up this morning for a 9:30am run around Recoleta. It was awesome weather!! Absolutely perfect! The sun was shining and I knew it was going to be a good day in Buenos Aires.

I Google Mapped the route I run and it calculated my run to be just over 5 miles! Go me! I think I'm gonna stick to that.

And I calculated the loop around the Rose Garden in Palermo and that's about 1 mile around. Easy enough to add up how many laps I gotta do!

I got home from running and my doorman stopped me to tell me that him and a group of people go running every Tuesday and Thursday night at 7pm. I think they go up to Palermo and run around there. They're training for a run that's about 50 blocks long.

So IDK, I'll think about it. I kinda just like relaxing running by myself or with an amiga :)

I showered and headed over to Palermo for Uplifted. Got there a little late (oops) but got straight to work!

First I wrote a blog post for HEAR CONGO about a volunteer program that helps women with sexual and reproductive health in Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wanna go to DRC and volunteer? I'm not sure if I'd exactly recommend it but if that's what you're passionate about--it's at your disposal.

Nora, my supervisor was impressed on how fast I researched and wrote the blog (go me).

Then she had me research some interesting topics to post on Uplifted's Facebook page. <--go like it!

 Now this was pretty interesting.

I recently found the app Flipboard... and it is AMAZING!! It's basically a personal magazine/newspaper and it only shows you stories or posts you want to see!

So I just looked up posts about marketing, PR, startups, SEO, leadership, new technology or findings, etc. and it was SO easy to create 15 Facebook posts.

I asked Nora to email the head of Internships for the School of Communications at Elon to try to convince her that this internship should count for my required internship credits. Apparently I was supposed to preregister any internship while I'm at Elon because they don't accept anything online.

What?

How on earth was I supposed to preregister for an internship in BA back in May when I wasn't even enrolled in the internship seminar class here until August?? Come on, Nagatha. Let's make my life a little more difficult, shall we?

So I've been looking into other internships (for January/December) that I found from the Elon School of Communications database last semester. I looked for internships for Comcast Corp. but I didn't see any so I emailed the reference and asked him if there were any available. He seemed very nice and said he'd check for me.

Honestly, it would suck if I had to miss Winter Term at Elon right after missing Fall semester. I could always just shoot to get an internship next summer but if I can't find one, I'd be screwed. Better be safe than sorry I guess.

I just gotta MAKE myself apply for these, it's such an annoying process though.

On another note-- I found my go-to packed lunch!

Rice cake, peanut butter, strawberry jam and cut up banana on top. It's SOO yummy! And quite filling when you have two or three of them.

I also have a yogurt and an apple--pretty good lunch :) Especially with no access to a kitchen.

Back when I couldn't understand what mi mama was saying, I asked her if I could use the kitchen... and obviously I didn't understand the answer. So now I'm super awkward and don't want to ask again. I remember her saying that none of her previous 11 students ever used the stove/oven so I guess the answer is no.

I also asked her if I could use the coffee maker if I used my own coffee... that was a definite no. She was saying that it's using a lot of electricity and whatnot... OK lady, if you're that desperate for money then you wouldn't be living in a nice apartment in one of the most affluent areas of Buenos Aires.

She did make the point, though that I am paying IES in USD while IES is paying her in Argentine pesos. Honestly, I wouldn't want to be paid with Argentine pesos either because their economy is so crazy. Inflation has gone up since I got here.

When I got here, the blue market was about AR$8 to US$1. Now I've heard it's AR$9.7 to US$1!

People can't save in Argentine pesos because one year the money under your mattress equals $100, the next year it'll equal $50 because of inflation. Everyone wants the US dollar to save here because it's so stable.

Again, I'm glad to be an American.

Today was a great day!

Don't forget to check out my original blog!!

Chau chicos!!

My hunt to survive in the Amazon

One of the coolest things about studying abroad below the equator?

TWO SPRING BREAKS IN ONE YEAR!!!! 

SB2k13II is currently in the planning stages.

We already booked:

• Flight Buenos Aires to Lima
• Two day stay in Lima Hostel
• Day in Lima: Walking distance to beach, pre-Inca mud-brick temple Huaca Pucllana, Museo Larco
• Flight from Lima to Puerto Malonado
• 4 Day G Lodge Amazon hiking/excursion trip in the Amazon of Peru
• Transportation on dugout canoe up the Tambopata River
• Hike to Lake Condenado, tree platforms, swimming in Gallucunca stream, Tambopata River nocturnal animal search on canoe
• Hike to Lake Sachavacayoc and swimming
• Canoe trip on river at dawn

We still need to book:

• Flight from Puerto Malonado to Cuzco, Peru
• Cuzco apartment/condo/hostel
• Transportaion from Cuzco to Poroy and back
• Train from Poroy to Agua Calientes and back
• Hostel in Agua Calientes
• Enterance to Machu Picchu
• Hostel in Cuzco
• Flight from Cuzco to Lima

Here's a link to our 4-Day G Lodge Amazon Trip!

For that trip, though, I need to prepare a bit and buy some hiking gear.

First, I'm on a hunt for a new backpack. I brought a big backpack that was unopened in my garage. Apparently my Uncle Jay got me the backpack years and years ago but I just never used it. It looked pretty strong and it was big so I figured it'd be perfect for my BA trip. 

Nope.

BOTH adjustable plastic things on the straps broke within the first 3-4 weeks of being here-not cool.

So now my backpack is huge and uncomfortable and falling apart. Therefore, I'm getting a nice hiking backpack for school and my trekking travels. 

I've been looking everywhere and so far everything has been super expensive. I looked at a Colombia and a Montague store... I'm not about to spend over US$100 on a backpack. 

I was once told the reason everything is so expensive here is because everything is imported. But in reality, the exact opposite is the case. To give citizens jobs, the government made it extremely difficult, if not impossible to import anything into the country.  That's why you see tons of store names that you've never seen before and why there's no Apple products here. Everything has to be made in Argentina. If a student on my program had a problem with his Mac, he'd be screwed.

I's a lot more expensive to make things in Argentina than it is to make them in China then import them (like the US does) so that bumps up the price. The only way Argentina can have international companies like Zara, Nike, Coca Cola, etc.

As I was walking to the bus stop from my internship the other day, though, I passed by a camping shop. I stopped by yesterday to see what they had and everything was about half the price of anything else I've seen so far. SCORE!!

Obviously had to transfer over my Sigma Kappa Alzheimer's awareness ribbon and my airplane pendant. 

It's even got a laptop holder!! No one is gonna be stealing my laptop on the street!!

This waterproof daypack was only AR$360! Better than the ones at Montague that were like AR$560! 

Here's a list of other things I need to keep an eye out for:

• waterproof backpack cover
• poncho
• knee-length socks
• sunblock
• purification tablets
• insect repellent
• malaria pills

This is gonna be a spring break I'll never forget! Hiking Machu Picchu, adventuring though the Amazon... it's gonna be awesome!

Surviving Machismo Culture in Argentina

Argentina is one of the world's best tourist destinations famous for it's amazing steak, tango, scenery and people.

However, for a single female traveler, Argentina's rich culture can be a positive and negative experience. Even though Argentina has a female president and strong female figures emphasizing female empowerment such as Evita Peron, Argentina still has a great sense of patriarchy.

The attention a solo woman receives on a daily basis on the streets can sometimes be overwhelming-especially at first. The attention is not always bad but it is definitely all the time.

It's called machismo- and men can handle it very differently. There are men here that practice chivalry religiously. They open doors, help women carry their things, address women very politely, and escort women from place to place.

But there's also a flipside with gentlemen that really aren't gentlemen. As a female traveler, you'll have to get used to relentless and aggressive advances from men.

I've learned to keep my head down and not make eye contact with men on the street and that is not like me. I love making eye contact with people and being very aware of who is around me. But if you do that with a man here, sometimes they'll give you unwanted attention.

Advertisements on the street here tend to be much more scandalous than in the states. For example, on the bus ride to my internship this morning, I saw a billboard of a pretty woman completely naked sitting on the ground. Her long blonde hair was covering her breasts and she had her legs crossed...barely.

Sorry, she wasn't completely naked. She was wearing high heels.

Does this type of daily sexual visuals have anything to do with the machismo culture?

One of my friends was talking to her host parents, who are old and conservative, about the machismo culture. BOTH OF THEM said that women are asking for the catcalls (or propios). They want to get called at so they dress scandalously and act like they are interested.

When I heard this my inner feminist came busting out.

The fact that people actually think that I'm asking for it when I'm wearing jeans and a t shirt are freaking insane. It is NOT the woman's intention to get called at, believe me.

One of the hardest parts about machismo culture in Argentian is feeling like, as a woman, you have no voice. I feel sometimes that I'm not heard when I voice a complaint. I just have to keep remembering myself that this is a different country and obviously some things are going to feel backwards.

I'm just glad to be an American.

I've learned not to be afraid of saying no to these aggressive men. I've even gotten comfortable enough with the culture to physically push a man's face away from mine.

Literally--hand to face and push.

Don't flirt out of politeness. And don't respond "to be nice". Don't believe that every compliment is genuine- not every man that catcalls you has your best interest at heart even if he says, "You're beautiful, I love you."

Last but no least, be confident and cautious, not paranoid. You will get catcalled, you will turn heads and you will have to be rude at times. Take it for what it is and walk on.

Hey, I now look at it as a bunch of ego-boosters on my walk to class every morning! Can't get too many of those!

Have you ever encountered machismo while traveling the world? Or maybe even in the United States? How did it affect you?

Elon Reunion

The Elon girls from the CIEE program and I got an email from Ashley Pearson a couple weeks ago that she was coming to BA for a few days. She's one of Elon's international admissions counselors who goes all around Latin America. 

Three other Elon girls and I met Ashley at the Recoleta Cemetery and had tea/coffee at a cafe nearby. It was so nice getting to see everyone again. We all talked for a long time and Ashley paid on her Elon credit card! Woo!

Then Mindee, Carla and I went to the Evita museum... honestly not that exciting. 

Here are the many faces of Evita. 

Evita was married to President Peron and was a supporter of the people. She did great things for the community by building hospitals and schools. Yup.. that's about all I have to say about the museum.

But we walked around to find a good place to eat in Palermo. We found this place and it was great!! We got free bread too- that NEVER happens. I had a big capresse chicken with a yummy side salad and tea for $50 pesos. Such a good deal!

This weekend was a great one- relaxing, yet productive. 

 

Recoleta Fair Afternoon

Saturday was basically a day with Christina- a girl that lives a few blocks from me on my program.

We took a bus to the rose garden in Palermo to go for a run and it was BEAUTIFUL!! We did a nice jog around the whole park a couple times then hung out in the grass for a bit to chat (doing abs, squats, and stretching as well). It was actually the BEST weather ever.

We were so high on life.

We ran home and met up a bit later to go to the Recoleta fair that's right next to the cemetery. I got myself a super cool mug from this stand.

And here's a nickel ring!! Argentines do love those gringos.  I apologize for my ugly nails- didn't bring any nail polish with me.

 After we walked though the fair we found a nice spot under a palm tree to do homework. Palm tree in Buenos Aires? Yeah, not too native. But it was marvelous.

I was sitting in the sun with Christina listening to people chatting, performers performing and the drumming of an acrobatic show down the way. I was looking at the law building and the beautiful, colorful bridge that crosses over a big road.

I felt like I was in paradise. For homework, I was reading a book called Planet of Slums. How could I have only been about 20 blocks away from slums and you don't see a trace?

There were dogs running and playing without their leashes (like always) and rollerbladers passing by. People were walking around with liter beers- so casual.

It was a great morning/afternoon.

That night I met the girls at Sheridan and Chloe's apartment in Retiro to go out. We were going to a Porteno friend's show at Moon Bar on Juncal. We were a bit early so we went to a china to grab some snacks- it was gonna be late before we ate.

We went back to the show and they were playing the most typical American songs: Coldplay, Taylor Swift, Robin Thicke... they really do love gringos.

Then we went out to dinner... to Wendy's... I was not happy or satisfied. And fast food is freaking expensive here!

Didn't realize til after I got my salad I was splitting with Sheridan that there was a whole food court with tons of options.. oh well.

We hung out at the food court for a while- so boring. We were losing steam fast.

We finally left, Sam was getting some with Juan Pablo at a local house party.

Christina and Jessie wanted to go out to the Alamo but everyone else was tired and wanted to go home. I wasn't too hard to talk into going out though :)

Alamo was SO FUN!! Only $50 peso charge at the door (which came with two drinks) and I got super drunk somehow! People just kept giving me drinks.

I tried fernet and coke for the first time... was not impressed. Fernet is the Argentine liquor and it has such a distinctive taste. It's almost licorice-y. It was a little tough to finish a glass but I did!

I met some Brazilian girls and porteno guys who were so friendly!! I taught them how to play flip cup and slap cup... again... they love their gringos.

Awesome night with some awesome people- can't get much better.

Cooking Class

This blog is getting tougher and tougher to catch up with!! Too much to do with too little time!

This weekend was awesome- it was just very relaxing but I still did so much!!

Friday I had to call out of work because I signed up for a cooking class!! I had miss the one the week before cause it was my first day at my internship. I heard the class was amazing and we got to bring home so much food!

So we all met at IES and walked down M.T. Alvear til about Montevideo. It was an actual cooking school!

It was so much fun! We split up into groups and cut up tomatoes, onions, peppers, potatoes, green onions and put all the vegetables in a pan with beef (obviously). This was all for the empanadas we were making.

Then in another pan we put some vegetables in with choclo (corn) for the corn empanadas!

It was nice but we honestly didn't know what we were doing. And I really didn't know many people that signed up for that day so I was a little awkward chica the entire time.

FUN FACT: Did you know that there's no direct translation for the word "awkward"? They have "strange" and "weird" but not "awkward". Same with the word "fuck". They don't have a curse word that can be used as a verb (both transitive and intransitive, active and passive), an adverb, a noun, an adjective, or a word that can be inserted into other words (abso-fucking-lutely).

After everything was cooked we rolled the empanadas!! Luckily we all learned how to do it at the Argentine Experience in the beginning of the semester cause he didn't even explain it! It's tough to roll an empanada like a native Argentine!!

After we rolled probably 10 empanadas each, the teachers took them away to bake in the oven and some they fried. 

That's when they brought out the steaks-holy crap. They brought out 12 gigantic steaks for us to cook up. Then they took them away and put them in the oven for a bit.

We then made dessert!!!! The first was a pastry with membrilla (which is some random fruit that I've never seen in the states. It kinda looks like a huge pair). It was a piece of membrilla wrapped in a pastry dough then fried... DELICIOUS!!! 

Then we made a dessert with a layer of pita type bread, dulce de leche, another layer of bread, another layer of dulce de leche, another layer of bread, then marshmallow meringue... YUMM!!!!

One of the teachers also said he was making sweet potatoes... Apparently the Argentine version of sweet potatoes is mashed regular potatoes with a sugary creme sauce mixed in... holy crap it was good though.

This is all the food I brought home... I'm basically set for the next week.

Yup... I got a certificate too :)

Can't wait to make empanadas with my roommates in the states next semester!! 

Chau chicos!