so it's confession time...
I have an unhealthy obsession with laundry. Anyday I get to clean clothes, is a good day. In Nigeria, we would pay women to wash our clothes (about 35 cents per item) and everything was handwashed and then hung out to dry. But, given the Sahara-like conditions, the clothes never came back to me looking, smelling or feeling very clean. In my home here, there is a washer (in the kitchen) and after about 40 minutes of scrubadubdub, the clothes are ready to go upstairs to the lines. The smell of line-dried clothes is very marketable (candle company anyone?), but honestly there's just something about letting the wind and sun do the work... So as spring approaches (for most of you at least), instead of throwing that next load in the dryer on a beautiful day (and wasting ton of energy), hang the clothes up in your backyard and soak up the freshness!

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

como te va

Hola from Buenos Aires! It has been a very eventful week and I want to fill you in...

I arrived on Sunday morning and the family that I'm living with picked me up from the airport. They are just about the sweetest people I've ever met, Karina (37), Edguardo (40) and Paula (2)...and two dogs (that aren't allowed inside the house). They have been overwhelmingly gracious and helpful, and they don't speak English (which is exactly what I need!) I'm living in a loft apartment they have in their nice home in the neighborhood of Olivos. Olivos is a part of Gran Buenos Aires (technically not the 'city') but about 10 min. by car outside the limits. The neighborhood has a flavor of Chagrin Falls (argentinian style), lots of little boutiques and vintage bicycles are all the rage (with baskets of course). It's quiet, but there's a lot of people at the same time.

I'm taking an intensive Spanish class at the university (Universidad Torcuato di Tella) in a neighborhood called Belgrano. It's a 20 minute bus trip from the house (plus some walking of course) so it normally takes me about an hour to get there. The class is going well, there are about 30 exchange students taking it from all over the world, Japan, Holland, France, Switzerland, Germany, and the US of course. So everyday I have that from 2-6 ('intensive' yes).

So life here is different, but not crazy different. It's urban and fast-paced, but with a different flavor. People are very polite and respectful (on the bus men always give up their seats for women and elderly) and there's no pushing in crowds. The day starts a little later with breakfast around 9 or 10 and then lunch is the big meal at around 3 and finally dinner at 11 pm. Paula (mi hermanita) takes her nap after lunch around 5 and stays up till 12ish, but sleeps in. I kind of like it this way, more time with kids for parents who work all day. The food is delicious! Last night for dinner we had baked breaded fish (fresh) and I actually loved it. There's a lot of meat (the grill is muy popular) but also fruit and veggies. Today I tried 'mate' (pronouced mat eh) which is very argentinian and is more popular than coffee. Imagine tea that's not in a tea bag and then your pour water in and drink it out of a metal straw that has a filter in it. Sounds strange I know, but it was delish.

Today I didn't have class so I went with Karina and Paula to run some errands in el centro. She took me to see all the tourist sites, la Casa Rosada (equivalent to the White House) and el teatro Colon (the most famous theatre) and the burial place of General San Martin, who won Argentina and Chile independence from the Spanish. One interesting thing has been the fact that I fit in here (compared to Nigeria). People ask me questions while I wait for the bus about which bus to take. The city has a very international feel with lots of immigrants (the neighborhood La Boca is primarily Italian) but there's also lots of others (with the exception of black people).

My Spanish is getting better, but it's a little daunting to consider that in less than two weeks classes start. Okay, well I better get back to listening to Spanish instead of writing in English!

Hasta Luego

p.s. I uploaded pictures today of Buenos Aires thus far http://picasaweb.google.com/samantha.boss

Off to Buenos Aires!

HOLA!

Today I leave for the other half of my exciting year... I'll be in Argentina from now until July studying at Universidad Torcuato di Tella in Belgrano (a neighborhood in BA). Should be 'a great experience' as every seems to say when I tell them I'm studying abroad.

I'm pretty anxious about this trip and my transition, mainly because of the whole Spanish thing. I have taken Spanish for about seven years, but it's not the same as being immersed in the language and taking all my classes in Spanish. So, I'm anticipating a possibly rough entry, but hopefully after a month or so I'll be on top of it... For the next two weeks I'll be taking an intensive Spanish and culture class through the university in order to prepare me for my real classes.

The university does not have any housing so students are expected to take care of all their living arrangements. I was initially concerned, but one day I was talking to my oldest sister who is currently living in the UK. She and her husband have a friend there from BA and ironically his home church is in Belgrano. Soooo, he was able to hook me up with a place to stay and his sister agreed to pick me up at the airport! Amazing!

Well, I better finish packing... Looking forward to sharing this 'great experience' with you all!

p.s. got to see one last snow here in Cleveland before heading off to sun and 90s!

Pictures from Nigeria!

Alright, so I finally have pictures to share with you all...

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

Enjoy!

Every New Beginning

"Every new beginning comes with some other beginning's end"

Well, I'm back in Cleveland! Sorry for not updating my last few weeks in Nigeria, but for some reason the internet was not letting me get on to my blog. Anyways, it was a jam packed month of trying to make sure my experience in Yola was complete.

I have been home for a week and it has been so wonderful to see my family again. Coming back was definitely a lot harder than leaving home. This voyage was such an adventure, I didn't know what was waiting for me. But coming home is coming back to everything that I know. I did miss some things, but I think I could easily go without in exchange for the mystery of the unknown and charm of the 'different'.

The hardest part so far has been trying to explain what life was really like in Yola. Pictures only go so far and it just seems so second nature in my mind, so it has been frustrating to find a way to express everything I want to about the past four months. But I'm working on it and my family has been extremely patient which has meant so much to me!

The strangest thing to get used to here is the order. There are traffic lights, checkout lines, things are just not very chaotic. I think that I got used to the freedom and now it seems ridiculously obnoxious to have to sit at a red light at an empty intersection. I've definitely grown patient after living in Yola, which was reaffirmed when my flights home got all jumbled up and delayed.

I'm gearing up for Argentina and I hope that being home for a month will be a good rest before heading back out into the world! I am going to put some pictures up on some sort of online album so I will fill you all in when I have the site up and going...