school:



so i realized that i have done a pretty poor job so far in sharing with you all about how classes are going.



okay then, so i attend Universidad Torcuato di Tella (or di tella as we all call it). it's in the neighborhood of Belgrano... i have class monday-thursday and i normally start at 12:45 (with the exception of tuesdays 8 am class). i'm taking only three courses, they are: 1.)Argentine foreign policy 2.) history and literature 3.) study of Peron. All of which are taught in spanish, by argentine professors. The study of Peron is a class offered only to exchange students, but otherwise i'm with regular argentinian students. so far, so good, the material is interesting enough and i can understand pretty well. funny story: for my history and lit class we have a session with a TA to help us review the material and get some extra discussions in. but us exchange students cannot understand this TA. so in fact, we sit there for two hours, paying ridiculously close attention and leave the room laughing, because we don't understand squat. don't worry, we're going to talk to him about it.



di tella is one of the primer private universities in argentina. it's small, with only two buildings, but very nice. the professors are extrememly accomplished and very helpful. as far as the students go, it's been a mixed box. they are generally really kind and nice, but as far as getting to know people, i mean really know people, it's been a challenge. most of the students at di tella went to the best high schools in ba and now are going to college with their high school friends. so essentially they have their groups and are quite comfortable. and add on that they all live with their families (dorms are non-existant here in south america)... so to put it generally, the students are quite comfortable in their bubbles, in their city, with their family and friends. as you can tell from my diction, i'm not the biggest fan. it has made being here difficult, esspecially factoring language difficulties...



but on a happy note, the exchange students are really wonderful, a truly neat group of individuals. it's just tricky to hang out considering it's a big city and we're all over the place...

a love poem:

Nori-
i love you
you are the woman of my heart
never will i stop loving you
i love you
-chelo

found this today near the river, and it made me smile...

On Wednesday I went to my cafe after class to get some serious reading done. But as life would have it, a protest literally started right outside the cafe. I live several blocks from the president's house (where she lives, she works at la Casa Rosada downtown). The police shut down the street, setting up metal walls to keep the people as far away from the gate as possible. But metal walls are nothing to human spirit, and within a few hours they broke through and took their pumped fists straight to the gate... What do they want? Better security in Buenos Aires. More and better police. There are a lot of robberies and murders (frankly very similar to DC), and the people are fed up. Needless to say, I didn't get much reading done... But I sure learned a lot.
Seguridad: Mejor y mas!

one love

i am not a particularly inspired person but since arriving in ba i have felt particularly inclined to express. it all started in santa teresita when i bought a spray paint painting from a street performer. ever since then, i've been seeing the beatuy in everything around me.

when you walk here, there are always people passing out flyers. mostly nonsense (clothing sales, business prospects, concerts) i had taken to declining and walking blankly past. however, while cleaning out my purse i found a pile of brightly colored papers and bus tickets. so... i decided to let the design speak for itself, instead of the basura.

so here's to looking for a sign...

English in Spanish

In honor of my newly discovered love of the English language, I thought you all might enjoy some words that lack a Spanish counterpart and therefore are encorporated into the Spanish language (with an accent of course). My personal favorite is delivery. And now that I've sat down to write down all the words, none of them are coming to me. Well, I'll keep you posted as they come back to me.





Life is going well. Friday concluded my Intensive Spanish Course and i had an orientation for exchange students which was very helpful. The fam here went to the beach for the weekend and I joined them on Saturday. It was my first experience traveling alone within a foreign country by bus and it went really well. The buses here are double decker and the seats are super comfy (you can almost lay flat) so, it's the most common way to move around the country. The trip from Buenos Aires to Santa Teresita was about 5 hours and I enjoyed getting to see the country (lots of cows for eating). The ocean was beautiful, I got to relax and enjoy some down time before the semester officially started. We camped at a place right next to the beach and had wonderful weather until Sunday night. I headed out around 1 am on Monday morning and slept the whole way back.





Today I attended my first, for real, legit classes. The first was Latin American History in the 1800s, focusing on literature. Then I went to a Politics and Society in Argentina class (but I don't think I'll be taking it). Fortuneately the university lets exchange students try out classes for a week before officially registering. So I'm not exactly sure what my schedule will look like as of now. It's really hard, but I just have to stay persistant and know that it's going to get easier with time.





Here's my address:
VIRREY A. OLAGUER FELIU 1960
(1636) C.P. OLIVOS
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA





And as always, I uploaded more pictures:



http://picasaweb.google.com/samantha.boss