Study abroad during my fall semester in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

31 July 2008

La Rural

Yesterday I had the chance to go to the Rural. The Rural is a display of the top farm animals in Argentina. These animals are the best of the best and are owned by gauchos or cowboys. I enjoyed attending the rural because I had the chance to see the different horses, pigs, cows and sheep from Argentina. Oh and they are huge!! It was interesting to see how well maintained the animals were. One cow had its hair on the tip of its tail blow dried by its keeper, then they put a bag on the end so the cow wouldn't mess up its tail hair. The blow drying of the cow's tail reminded me of my sisters Court and Cece (haha) and all of their dangerous hair equipment back home.

There were also restaurants at the show, some of which sell the best meat in Argentina. I had a great steak sandwich from ARGNaturalBeef. Eating the food was a little cruel because the restaurant was located right across the aisle from the live cows. Hopefully my pictures will show it. If you want to know more about the meat I had you can visit www.unitecagro.com.ar
After the Rural I had the chance to see American soil, the US Embassy. Its located right beside the area which the Rural is located. It was nice to see the American flag flying high.

Today I found out more information about Universidad del Salvador, the school I will attend down here. Classes begin Monday but I don't sign up for them until two weeks after they begin. Then I can drop any unwanted classes anytime before September 1. The largest classes will be at the University reach about 40-45 students. For the most part they will range from 15-30, around the same size as HSC. I'm considering taking a class at another university here, Universidad Catolica because my counselor down here said it wouldn't be bad to see how another University operates here but I'm unsure of that right now.

29 July 2008

First Week

Hola!

Greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I've been here for a week now and I'm just starting to get used to the area. I live off Ayacucho in the Recoleta "barrio", a 5 minute walk to the famous Recoleta Cemetary where Evita is buried. I stay in an apartment with my host mother Elena. It's not too bad here, she prepares everything for me for breakfast so all I have to do is wake up and put it together. Breakfast for me consists of a granola and yogurita mixture with fresh squeezed orange juice, coffee and toast. Breakfast is always ready for me no matter what time of the day it is. Lunches are on my own, I have found a couple spots over the last week which are decent to eat at, especially if I'm looking for empanandas. Dinner is provided at my host apartment, usually around 8-10 pm. At first it started out with nothing but vegetable dishes like eggplant and artichoke tarta (ugh) and spinach and cheese tarta ( a little better), then I pushed for some meat and got chicken and last night a slab of meat. It was great.

Life is pretty laid back here, my host mother makes my bed for me every day. When I want to wash my clothes I take them to the cleaners and they charge 11 pesos ~ 4 dollars. They wash and fold my clothes for me so all I need to do is bring them back and put them in the dresser. I bought a jacket here and fit right in with the locals. Really as long as you don't speak English you will fit right in here.

I went to the Recoleta Cemetary briefly on Sat. just to see Evitas grave because the day marked the 50 something anniversary of her death so there was a line of people who flocked there to pay their respects. I just wanted to see what the big deal was. It's actually kind of creepy in the cemetary because it houses a lot of cats. The only cats I've seen here have been in the cemetary. I've also had the chance to see the goverment area of Buenos Aires but I forgot to check my batteries in my camera before I left and ended up taking a dead camera so I have no pictures from the visit but I have more than enough time to take pictures before I leave.

Ill try to update this blog as frequent as I can, pretty much when I have free time and internet. My host mother doesnt have internet in the apartment so I have to pull it from other sources. Next week I start classes at Universidad del Salvador but I dont sign up for them until 2 weeks later so I can try them out to see how I like them before I commit.

Ciao!