My First Class

Well, I survived my first Argentine class. My professors name is Elbio Rodriguez and the class is investigacion de mercado. It´s a business class and luckily, there are a lot of words in the business field that are cognates, and of the 10 or so he used, I was able to pick out. Other than that, I didn´t get a whole else! haha..He did give us a website that we have to go to and print some materials out for a TEST next Thursday. So, that should be interesting. I´ve printed the materials, so I hopefully, I´ll understand them by Thursday. Students don´t use books here, they use ¨fotocopias¨ apparently, they don´t really pay attention to copy right laws. But you have to buy the photocopies when you start the class, then the materials that I printed today are just supplemental readings. I´m not sure if I will stay in this class or not; it depends on my other classes and how they all schedule with each other and if I can get to them on time. The class today was downtown, about a 5 minute walk from my apartment, but the public university where the majority of my classes are is about a 25 minute bus ride-trolly ride. It will be tough. But the Professor was nice, he introduced me to the class twice, which was mortifying. But no one laughed or gawked too much. One girl, Romina, came up to me afterwards and told me in brock English that she speaks spanish and didn´t understand much that he said, haha..isn´t that comforting? Oh well. It was definitely an interesting experience. I was able to scribble down some complete sentences and a few key points (i think) and looked up some words I didn´t know. Some of the words I thought I heard, didn´t exist, so, maybe I´ll catch them next time! haha
So, I´ve been watching a lot of tv, probably too much, (but it´s so easy to do considering dinner isn´t until 9:30 and I´m usually out of stuff to do by 5 or so) but I was able to watch Latin American Idol!! Unfortunately, it doesn´t have English subtitles, but you really don´t need to know what they are saying because like the American one, you can hear who is good and who is terrible. It is pretty hilarious, and I think it either comes on tonight or tomorrow. It´s getting close to the end. It´s funny how closely the judges resemble the American judges. The ¨Paula¨ is totally made up and glamorous, the ¨Simon¨ is metro and clearly opinionated, then they have the ¨bigger guy¨ who´s funny and makes jokes, etc. Anyway, I thought I would share. Talk to you later!

Semana Dos

Well, I have survived my first week and first full "Argentine" weekend. My friends and I tried out the popular Escra Boliche. It was interesting to say the least. Other than having a live band, it was comparable to clubs at in Raleigh, not that I've gone to a lot of those. It is better than City Limits, haha. We had a good time though..there were about 14 of us from our group, so it was nice. We didn't quite make the 6:00AM time, but I guess 4:00AM isn't too shabby.
Classes at the private University (Congresso) started today. I'm trying out a business class tomorrow morning, but I don't know if it is going to fit in my schedule. It will be interesting to see what it's like. I am really nervous about interacting with Argentinian students. I'm sure they will be nice and helpful, but it is intimidating.
We had a group walk around Parque San Martin on Sunday and it was luckily a really pretty day. Apparently, there is a free aerobics class from 9-1 on Saturdays and Sundays. Picture a Hispanic Richard Simmons on a stage shaking his hips Shakira style to about 50 Argentinian women!! It was hilarious! I have some pictures our group participating, so hopefully I will upload them soon. Wish me luck with classes this week! I hope everyone had a great weekend!

En el fin del Mundo

Hola! I do not have many exciting stories to share, but I will update you on a few topics. The food has gotten a little better, still weird. I had lentil soup for lunch today, and it was better than I had first thought. Liliana also made me flan, so that was a nice treat as well! We also had spaghetti last night, so I've been full and satisfied for the last 24 hours, not just full! haha.
My mandatory Spanish class started yesterday, and it is going well. We are reviewing now, blah. But I need it. It stinks actually being in CLASS! I keep imagining my parents and family on a CRUISE right now and Molly Keel at the lake and I am a little envious! I guess what goes around comes around when in late October and November I get to wear shorts =) I hope to see more of the city and take some pictures this weekend. Hopefully, I will be able to upload some by early next week.
Class "shopping" at the private university starts Monday. I am visiting one class there. Wish me luck. Luckily, I can walk, so I don't have to be worried about getting lost in the transit system.
Oh, for the past two days, the teachers at the public university were on strike and the entrance to our campus was blocked off! Unfortunately, our class was not affected because our teachers are not really paid by the state/province? But once the second semester classes start, if our university teachers go on strike, NO CLASS! How nice! It supposedly happens a lot at the beginning of a semester, so keep your fingers crossed! Today they were burning stuff in the entrance way (small piles on the asphalt), but no one seemed to think this was dangerous? The police weren't even there! Jose (our director) said it's typical Latin American fashion, bienvenidos! (welcome)
"En el fin del Mundo" is an expression Liliana always says to me when I get that blank look on my face after she's tried to communicate something with me. She tells me "Caitlin, you are at the end of the world! Don't worry! You will understand soon."
Hasta Luego

La comida

Buenos tardes! I´ve been getting some questions about the food and I am sad to report that it is not as grand as I had thought it would be. I´ve had a few good meals out. Empanadas are good (i´ve had cheese and onion empanadas), but my host mother does not have very good meal choices. I had a weird lunch yesterday. It was rice, with two fried eggs on top. It was weird, but good once you broke the egg yoke over everything and poured a lot of salt on it. Last night, was the weirdest of all though. It started out well: homemade mashed potatoes. Then, she gave me two hot dogs with it!!! Two hot dogs and mashed potatoes! I thought Argentina was famous for its ¨bife¨?? Today for lunch, I had boiled chicken with a lot of PEAS, carrots, onions, and some awful green olives. I ate most of it, except the olives. She asked me if I wanted more instant pea ´sopa¨ but I kindly declined. Hopefully, when I go back to the apartment, she will offer me tostados and cafe (which is what I have for breakfast every morning). At around 5, I usually have a snack, or everyone does in Argentina. Now, don´t get me wrong, I´m not starving, but I guess my expectations were too high about the food. If it weren´t for bananas and dulce de leche, I might be starving though.
I´ve found that it is 10X easier to talk to Liliana (my host mother) in spanish than it is to talk to my friends. we rarely talk to each other in spanish, and if we do it´s ugly sounding spanglish. Friend lingo is much harder to translate than proper, descriptive spanish. I was able to carry on a conversation in Spanish with Liliana about politics today during lunch. It turned out to be quite interesting. The presidential elections for Argentina are in October (or september, no se) and President Kirchner´s term is up, but his wife is running. I dont´really think anyone likes her, but she´s running. So, I compared her to Hilary Clinton and asked Liliana if she knew who she was and she said she did, but she didn´t think anyone liked her either, haha. Liliana reads a lot, and she knew about Obama too. She like Bill Clinton though. And when I asked her if it bothered her that he´d had such a public scandal, she said No because he was a good president the rest of the time and that was all that mattered. I thought it was a good insight, and it was definitely interesting to know someone else´s perspective. I think the US has an obsession with people´s personal lives and that a lot of other countries focus on more important aspects like policy, international relations, the economy, etc. .. Hmmm, what a novel idea?
Hasta luego!

Internet cafes

I abruptly stopped writing because my airtime ran out at the internet cafe. Fortunately, the cafes dont´close during siesta. Siesta is taken very seriously in Mendoza and everything is closed from 2-5 everyday. Most everything is closed on Sunday. It is literally a day of rest. My madre explained to me yesterday that they usually don´t eat a heavy dinner on Sundays. However, I didn´t figure this out until about 11:00PM, so I had instant pea soup. yuck. Not the most delicious meal I´ve eaten here...I will know for next Sunday. I really enjoy cafe con leche and te con leche. I could live off of that!
Now that I have found the internet cafe, I should be able to get on the computer more regularly and keep the blog updated. I will try to let everyone know when I´ll get on so we can Skype. I think you can group chat on Skype? Anyway, I´m off to exchange some money! 3 argentine pesos = $1 USD!! whooo'hooo!!
Hasta Luego!

I have so much to say!

I feel like I could talk for hours! I am slowly able to communicate more and more with my mother and sister everyday, but it is very frustrating when we misunderstand each other or don´t know what the other one is saying. Fortunately, they both speak a little English, so if it´s really bad, they will speak a little. Our entire group met up this morning for orientation, and it was really good to see everyone and figure out where everyone lives. Most of the friends I´d made live closer to the huge park in Mendoza and closer to our university. But once it gets warmer, I´m sure we will be walking more and it will be easier to meet up. I haven´t figured out the bus system yet, but I´m sure it cant be that difficult.
I have fallen in love with dulce de leche. For those of you that don´t know, it is a caramel looking stuff and it´s sweet, but not too sweet. My favorite way to eat it is on bananas. mmhhhhmmmm.

Buenos Aires!

Today has been a very busy day, and it's not quite over yet. We did a bus tour for most of the day and went to a pretty cool cemetary in the middle of the city. Basically, if you are somebody in Argentina you are buried there..it was pretty neat. We had lunch on the Rio de la Plata which is looks more like an ocean. It separates Buenos Aires from Uraguay. There, I got my first taste of Argentine time. I believe we got to lunch around 1:45 and were finished eating about 3:45. Everything is three courses and lonnnnnnggg. It's nice for us because we are all getting to know each other, but it's hard to think that all our meals (except breakfast) will be like this. I've had three "cafes" today, which is probably helping my lack of sleep, but I love coffee and so do Argentines.
Our orientations have been very helpful and the director, Jose, is really nice. Today is the last day we are supposed to speak English, even with each other. Luckily, we meet our host families tomorrow when our plane lands in Mendoza around 8:30 PM. I'm hoping everything will go well. We've figured out that some of us supposedly live near each other, which is nice. Hopefully, we'll be able to meet up and walk to the university. My family lives in downtown Mendoza and that's about all I know so far.
One of the things we've talked about in orientation is how different Argentines spend their time, especially at night. Jose told us that after we eat dinner with our host families around 9:00 or 10:00 PM, we should take a nap until 1:00AM, then shower, and then go out for the night! And, the craziest part, is we should come back when our host mothers are preparing breakfast! I have no idea when I'm going to sleep or when my classes will start. We do get to participate in Siesta from 1:00-4:00 everyday but Monday & Wednesday (because of our mandatory class). I'm going to have to work on my ability to nap. Now, if I were Kristin, siesta would be no problem (haha!) I'll keep you posted on how I adapt to this new schedule.
I'm getting low on battery, so I don't know if I'll be able to get on again until I can buy one Sunday (hopefully).
Thank you all for the emails and posts!! I really, really enjoy being able to read them when I get the chance. I will email you back when I can, I promise. Hasta luego!

The Big DELAY

Well, it's 12:35 AM and I am still in Miami. My 11:20 PM flight has been delayed twice until 2:45 AM. Luckily, there are about 25 of us hanging out in one corner of gate E8. I hope all this waiting will make me tired enough to sleep through the night on the plane.
Everyone I've met so far is really nice. The majority are girls and everyone seems different and unique in their own way and many of us are from different parts of the country which is also interesting. There are 4 girls from Davidson College & 2 girls from Chapel Hill, so everyones been playing the "Do you know who "such and such" is?" game. Oh well, it passes the time. For the most part, everyone is nervous about their spanish speaking skills, which makes me feel better. I think it will work out well if a lot of us are on the same levels. I've also found some people who are interested in skiing, so hopefully, I can do that soon!
Mom, Dad, Molly, Molly Jo, Kristin & Brock, thank you for the very nice send-off today. I really appreciated it. And Happy Birthday Andrew!

The Big Day

Whew, 5:25PM will be here before I know it. I hope many of you have received my massive email. Please be patient with me as I am new to blogging, however, I have been taking notes from Liz & Meredith, so hopefully, I will live up to theirs :).
As promised, here is my address. I cannot receive mail at my host family's house, so this address is the Butler Study Abroad office at my new University, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo.
Caitlin Dillon
COPA Mendoza
Institute for Study Abroad
Barrio Dalvian
M27-C1
M55000-Mendoza
Argentina

I will also put my phone number on here. I get free incoming calls, but have to buy airtime. I would love to get a QUICK call (that's for you Dad).
54-9-11-40924431
Also, I've downloaded Skype which allows you to talk through your computer, and my Skype name is caitlin.m.dillon
Once I get settled in Mendoza and begin classes, I will figure out the best methods of communication. But it's safe to say that I will receive emails and have the easiest access to checking my email.

I look forward to hearing from you all! Take care, and remember while you're sunbathing at the pool, I'll be skiing in the Andes. =)