Limbo

This week has been weird. Not necessarily weird in a bad way- as my super geeky study abroad mantra states, "different is not inherently bad"- but in the transition from our jam-packed orientation period to the "real" part of the semester, I have encountered several firsts, false starts, and quite a bit of sometimes-dreaded-sometimes-cherished unstructured free time.

But let me back up (like my loco taxi driver from last weekend who insisted on driving several blocks in reverse down a one-way street to provide me with the true door-to-door service...). On Sunday afternoon some of us ventured to Palermo Soho for a delicious American-style brunch. I have to say that one bad different thing about the Argentine culture, as I've experienced it, is the lack of appreciation for the best meal of the day (breakfast, claro); thus, I very much savored my panqueques, especially after smothering them with dulce de leche. When I returned to the house afterwards, some of my host family's relatives were visiting so I greeted them each with a beso and then, naturally, scurried up to my room to escape any more potential overwhelming social interaction. I did join everyone for dinner, where I did my best to keep up with the numerous overlapping conversations as well as the programs on the tele (one thing I actually understood/enjoyed: someone's remark as we clicked past a channel playing the movie Surrogates- "¡Mira, Bruce Willis con pelo!"). Sensing my exhaustion from trying to follow everything going on, my gracious host mom snuck me an alfajor, which I gratefully took up to my room to devour in privacy.

The next morning Caroline and I met up at la facultad bright and early for our first class, a seminar called "Lecturas del presente." There was basically no one around the building and we waited alone in the classroom for about 30 minutes before a handful of other students trickled in. After another 15 minutes or so, a faculty member came in to tell us our professor was sick and class wouldn't start until the next week. Though disappointed that my first-day-of-class outfit was wasted, I was thrilled to spend the morning shopping with Caroline instead of sitting in a 4-hour class! Our first actual class was Tuesday evening, and this time we arrived too late and had to sit in the very back, practically out of ear shot of the professor. I think it's safe to say that neither of us were prepared for this drastic change of ambiente; the vibe of the class could not have been more different from Davidson. The classroom itself was papered with political posters and there weren't nearly enough dilapidated desks for everyone. Throughout the night, the professor was interrupted by the political announcements of various student groups and a little boy winding through the rows of students selling trinkets. We preferred both the content and atmosphere of the materia the following night, a course on Latin American literature held in a large auditorium (attended by around 200 students!). To humor our program director (whose friend teaches the course), we also visited a class called "Introducción al lenguaje de las artes plásticas," but I left still clueless as to what the "plastic arts" are exactly and with the realization that the art students were way out of my friendship-league in terms of coolness.

Other highlights/memorable moments of the week include: visiting Centro CONVIVEN, the site of my pasantía, for the first time; trying an interesting dessert called zabaione that my host dad prepared for me by blending (by hand, for close to 10 minutes) egg yolks and sugar (shout out to my high cholesterol!); morning runs walks-punctuated-with-spurts-of-running in Parque Chacabuco; struggles communicating with waiters (requesting la cuenta typically involves multiple attempts and extreme hand gestures) and taxi drivers (Me: "Thames, por favor, T-H-A-M-E-S" Him:"¿Charcas?"); the discovery of a Walmart supermercado near my house that sells peanut butter (!!!); and riding the same colectivo as a couple of "Little Things"-humming Directioners.

I'm hopeful this strange in-between stage will give way to a more predictable rhythm sometime soon! (By the way, for anyone left doubtful after this somewhat whiney post-- I really am having an amazing time so far!)

Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano 

Muma's Cupcakes!

A memorial for all of the UBA-affiliated desaparecidos 

DELICIOUS sandwich (brie, goat cheese, caramelized onions, apple chutney, mustard, lettuce, tomato) at a'Manger