Key to traveling South America: confidence

There is no doubt that people change when they study, work or travel abroad. It takes a certain level of confidence to successfully make it in another country, conquer each day in a second language and take care of mandatories like purchases, payments and transportation.

This week alone, there have been multiple instances that require confidence and an overall sense of level-headedness to get through without being the underdog. And I would not have had this if I hadn’t first studied and traveled Buenos Aires.

First, I was buying a ticket to climb a mountain and only had a 10.000 bill, equal to $20 USD. South American countries are notorious for hating large bills and not providing change. But at the end of the day, that’s what the ATM gave me and no one else could break it. The salesperson asked if I had lower bills, no. Could I borrow from someone else, no. Did I have coins to make it easier for them to break it, no. I wasn’t trying to be a jerky customer; I sincerely didn’t have any of these. So what did he do? Took the bill and gave me change. It was right there; it was just a last resort. Pre-study abroad Katie would panic and start asking people in line to break the bill, but traveler Katie knew you had to be strong in your words.

This situation can be repeated in various other contexts, whether it was ordering soda in a restaurant (we don’t have that…but you did before and that’s what I ordered…oh, okay, here it is), or buying tickets for a bus (there aren’t any seats on earlier buses…oh, here’s two on the bus 30 minutes earlier). My personal favorite was going through security at the Santiago airport. The woman tried convincing me that to fly back to America, I needed a paper receipt that was not in my passport that proved the time I entered into Chile. “No one handed me that,” I said, in Spanish. “I can’t let you onto your flight unless you have that paper.” My first instinct was to panic, cry and tear apart my bags, going back to get my checked bag from the airline and search for where it was.

My levelheaded self paused and thought- there is no way everyone in this international flights line has that sheet of paper. I stood my ground, and she just handed me the exact same sheet of paper where I wrote my name, address and passport number. And now I’m back in the United States.

My point in sharing these situations is not that South American salespeople lie. Or that they are always seeking convenience and won’t accommodate their customers. All of these attributes are a part of their culture, and if you can’t assimilate into that in every moment, which not all Americans can, you have to be assertive to not get shorthanded, robbed, tricked or stressed.

At the end of my freshman year, I took a StrengthsQuest exam and learned that my five strengths were communication, focus, woo, responsibility and individualization. I was happy with these results, fairly good attributes and described who I am.

Immediately after returning from my 2.5 month trip to Argentina, I had to take StrengthsQuest again for a campus organization, and was shocked to notice that in 15 months, my strengths were completely different. The results showed that I had learner, input, arranger, responsibility and achiever. I was pretty upset and started crying at this change; I wanted my old strengths back. I hadn’t outgrown them, but these were just new strengths that better described my personality in various situations. The ‘new’ strengths exemplified the independence I gained while studying abroad, when my roommates and I constantly took the next step to assert ourselves, get from point A to point B safely and not settle for natives tricking the gringa Americans.  

Elizabeth and I met some college juniors from Vermont at a convenience store in Valparaiso who were studying abroad in Buenos Aires, and when we established that we were all American, they asked us if we had any suggestions. Naturally, we rattled off a list of the best things to do in Buenos Aires, and as much as they were taking it in, they weren’t writing it down or following up. We muttered how naïve they were for not asking for our names to message us on Facebook, or writing anything down. Then…we realized that how they acted was exactly what we would do our first time abroad too. Not everyone travels with those strengths.

Independence, assertiveness, an inherent eagerness to learn and self-confidence are things people must discover themselves and through their own experiences. They can’t necessarily be taught, nonetheless forced upon people. I urge you to unleash your confidence to have the best experience abroad, and not feel ‘jipped’ when you’re paying hundreds of dollars for a trip. Once you adopt these attributes, they’re difficult to hide in other aspects of your life - look at anyone who comes back from studying abroad and watch how they act when making plans. You’re in control of the life that is yours, and it’s a good feeling. 

Español

Although I completed my Spanish minor in Argentina, I decided to take a Spanish class this semester just for fun. Spanish 4471: Spanish American Literature. While originally contemplating why I would voluntarily take a 4000 level, three-credit hour, reading course "for fun," the first week and a half has already proven my gut feeling correct.

The literature on the syllabus is all short stories and poems written by Latin American authors, which carry not just new vocabulary- but a lot of meaning and symbolism. Today, we read a story called El Matadero by Esteban Echeverría, a writer born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It described what happened during Lent in the early 1800s when a poor neighborhood near Río de la Plata in Argentina flooded, and the city of Buenos Aires had such a huge beef shortage (going on 15 days) that they were killing their own citizens for meat.

Regardless of the crazy plot line (which we read many stories like in Argentina), it was so fulfilling to read this story entirely in Spanish and know that I not only gained this skill by studying abroad, but so much background knowledge along with it. El Matadero had a lot of references to the corrupt government, specific neighborhoods and culture of Argentina, and I understood them perfectly. It was truly a feeling of accomplishment to so easily pick up on the cultural hints and the value of how much traveling and familiarizing yourself with different places and cultures teaches you. Who knew that it would take reading literature in another language to get me to appreciate English literature and the significance of analyzing authors, their whereabouts and more!

Things I miss in Argentina

Things I miss about Argentina

• My roommates- love you Stacey, Elizabeth and Jordin!
• Dulce de leche- similar to carmel. Yum.
• Pomelo- grapefruit soda. CRAVE.
• Walking everywhere. And loving every minute of it.
• The cost of living- VERY favorable to Americans
• The cost of taxis: Each 200 meters going up 10 US cents and us thinking it was 'expensive.'
• Mate- the traditional herb in a gourd that is like tea but better.
• Willingness to help- Every porteño regardless of what they were doing would always answer my annoying questions- were we going the right way, at the right bus stop, near the right street, etc. and usually even follow up!
• Public transit- Taking the Subte everywhere and not having to drive!
• Traveling and it not being a big deal

Things I don't miss about Argentina

• Paying for toilet paper- toilet paper wasn't usually provided in public bathrooms, so you have to bring your own or hope that there's someone there you can buy it from.
• Not having tap water- restaurants only serve bottled water, usually con gas (mineral water).
• Free refills- What a value.
• Movistar cellphone- my crazy phone where texts were in T9 Spanish and the company was my only text message. But hey, I do miss not being able to be contacted!
• Daily usage of power converters- So nice to not have to remember to bring a charger and a converter to work everyday.
• Hostels- They live up to the stereotypes.
• Service charge at restaurants- Although I miss having no tax, it's nice to not have to pay a service charge for the bread at restaurants.
• Having to find coins and change everywhere- paying with a $20 bill and not having to find singles has never felt so good! No one in Argentina has change, expect banks from 9 am to 3 pm, work hours, and you usually just don't make a purchase if you don't have exact change or small bills.
• Customer service and service in general- The Argentine service is a cultural and South America thing, but essentially is not existent. I will not miss having to flag down waiters for the check, asking for a menu because it's assumed you don't need one sometimes, separate checks and all the little conveniences we have. One of my co-workers, when I explained this phenomena, actually said "There [in the US], people complain if what they get isn't perfect or what they asked for. But here, everything is bad, and we just get adjusted to it and don't care anymore." Haha.

The Quote List: Part 2

In case you thought my quote list was over, I just found a book of quotes from Mendoza! Amusing trip, amusing quotes!

• It's a hostel, you're going to have to deal with poop. -Elizabeth
• I know we need to get off at Riga & Guemes, but I don't know where it is so that's good. -me
• As if we don't stand out enough, give us red ski pants. -Jordin
• MR. HUGO! -Jordin
• I might as well [tell my parents the La Plata Story] because then they'll know that I do things and respect me more. -Stacey
• My dad took a maintenance job at a motel once and I was like...what? -Stacey
• If Mr. Hugo, like, what's his name, would have been easier on the wine.... - Elizabeth
• I'm cutting myself off and that never happens. -Jordin
• No hay empanadas de caprese. Ella es vegeteriana. Ah, caprese. -us and our waiter who wouldn't bring cheese empanadas for Elizabeth
• Maybe if they only had 3 left or something and he wanted them. -Stacey, discussing why the waiter would only bring us meat empanadas although Elizabeth is a vegetarian and asked for others
• I can't believe we rented ski equipment in that condition. -Stacey "I don't even remember anything about getting gloves." -Jordin
• I'm going to get married twice so I can have one honeymoon in Iguazu and the other in Mendoza. -Jordin, serious
• You're like a broken record, you've repeated yourself like 9 times. -Stacey, to Jordin
• I don't even know what I ordered. -Jordin
• You could go as Carolina and borrow my sweater. -Stacey, to Elizabeth
• (Discussing why mate is a difficult yet interesting concept) The point is that 1 you're still carrying around an open cup, 2 you can't set it down anywhere and 3, you will sometimes need a thermos. It's not an expedited process. Is the culture really better when you're watching 30 kids and holding all this mate? It's just not necessary. -Stacey (it really is complicated!!)
• I was on the phone with Texas for 12 hours- my license had a felony hold. -Elizabeth
• How do we always end up at McDonalds before the Omnibus? -Stacey
• My life on an omnibus. -Stacey
• Can you do that? Probably in South America. -Talking about taking extra wine to go from a restaurant when you don't finish the bottle
• Sorry, are you talking about a distant relative from Yemen? -Elizabeth, talking about Stacey's boss calling gmail HEY-MAIL
• We haven't even gotten to tomorrow yet! -me, referring to telling stories from yesterday
• We could make an entire movie about our weekend. -Elizabeth, on our Mendoza trip
• Ugh...there's a child. -Jordin, on the 12 hour bus
• They can have the honor of being in my profile picture even though they're in high school. -Jordin on our friends at the hot springs

The Quote List

Here is an abridged (yes) version of my quote list from our trip. Brief contextual explanations are provided when necessary, but otherwise, just sit back and enjoy the humor of what people say on an average day!

• “This place is in Uruguay…oh, ON Uruguay.” Jordin, 5-19
• That’s why I hate Mizzou. I have to take a class on guinea tribes and know all about those, but I can’t order a steak in Spanish. Jess, 5-19
• I’m going to tip him extra and tell him the money is for my ring. –Jess, 5-19
• “We have a president and it is a she.” –Carolina, 5-20
• “I want to get one of those huge things and act like we’re all obsessed with it.” –Stacey and mate, 5-20
• “Why is my mom calling right now?” –Jordin, 1:40 am, 5-21
• “It must do wonders for your self-esteem but Argentinian women are like ice queens.” –Sebastian, 5-21
• To Han: “If you missed your flight after only drinking coffee, how are you going to be on mate?” –Jordin, 5-21
• “I even posted on total GDI move.” –Sebastian, 5-21
• “I mean…GDI just stands for god damn irresistible.” –Sebastian, 5-21 “What’s with Greeklife and abbreviations?” –Sebastian, 5-21
• The neighbor was like…there’s four of you and you’re the only one who got things stolen?” –Stacey, 5-21
• “Well…this is perfect to write about for Welshful Thinking. I should just take a picture of my purse without the wallet in it. My life.
  –Stacey, 5-21
• I haven’t seen this stuffjournalists like twitter. Like..I like all of these things!!
• (Ensalada del día) I was going to ask them what was in it, but I wouldn’t have understood anything he was saying so I just didn’t bother. -Jordin, 5-21
• “That’s the one thing I miss. Refills.” - Stace
• “Maybe we should just get delivery so we don’t embarrass ourselves.” -Jordin
• You can’t assume anything, we’re in South America (lettuce on the salad) –Jordin
• I’m sick of us speaking in Spanish because all we do is say the same things! –Stacey
• “I feel like my English is actually getting a little worse.”
• Why is this exactly how I imagined it? We’re going around and learning dances from Argentine men and eating meat. –Elizabeth, 5-25
• “I was so scared, you guys have no idea.” –Stacey, 5-25 I should check if I got robbed.”
• I literally made the sign of the cross when I got into that club. –Stacey, 5-25
• Every time we leave the house I think we’re gonna die a little bit. -Elizabeth
• Carolina told me big city, big eyes! –Stacey, 5-25
• Who cares about cinco de mayo when we have VEINTICINCO de mayo?!
• Everything that comes out of your mouth is just gold. –Elizabeth to Stacey, 5-25
• “We couldn’t speak to Spain.” –Elizabeth and Jordin
• Does that happen to everyone that does this program?, 5-26 Stacey, 5:30 am
• “Just sayin…found my papi.” –Jordin, 5-26, 5:30 am
• Who am I? What happened? –Elizabeth , 5-26, 5:30 am
• The guys in Missouri suck. They’re so f’in repressed.” -5-26, Elizabeth, 5:30 am
• I told Pedro we like the pomelo. –Stacey, 5-26
• We’re winning guys!! –Jordin
• Guys this is probably the best thing I’ve ever written. My mom’s gonna be so mad.” –Jordin, 5-31
• “I walked into UCA to see what it was like.” –Stacey, 5-31
• I can understand Alejandro and my PASantia peeps but not f’in Sebastian! –Elizabeth, 6-1
• He wrote on my wall “saw In The Heights…I know you’re jealous.” And I was pissed because I WAS JEALOUS! HE KNEW! –Elizabeth, 6-1
• Sebastian must have been on the floor drooling to be called out on sleeping during class and not Jordin. –All about Alejandro’s class, 6-1
• Oh my God I love this cat I just want to give him a hug. –Stacey, 6-1
• “Kip and John are on my tell off list.” –Stacey, 6-2, on the criminals/ “easy work”
• The best thing is he wants me to ue the camera Carolina has to film this thing! –Stacey, 6-2
• CFK’s son followed me on Twitter! –Stacey, 6-2
• Just take a nap then drink some mate. –Jordin convincing Stacey to see Que Pasó Ayer 2, 6-5
• He’s such a cutie! Like wouldn’t you just die if you saw him playing with his son? –Stacey on Alejandro, 6-7
• I’m dressed up because I’m running out of things to wear! –Stacey, 6-8
• I wanted to tell Carolina my story about the Coldplay concert, but 1 she wouldn’t have cared, and 2 it would have just taken too much time to tell in Spanish.
• I mean study abroad is just one really long vacation that your parents pay for, right? –Elizabeth, 6-9
• Patagonia has volcanoes. In Buenos Aires we have… strikes”” - Carolina Escudero
• So the criminals kept asking me questions about the judicial system in the US…and I like didn’t have answers.” –Stacey, 6-9
• I just love the bromance! Stacey, 6-10
• Guys it was family day at work! Everyone and their mother and their kids were there. I had to give so many kisses/besitos! Elizabeth, 6-10
• It’s so weird getting ready to go out this early. –Jordin, 6-10, 9 pm
• I speak more Spanish when I go out then at my internships. Maybe I should just go out every night instead of working internships. –Elizabeth, 6-11
• I’m on 57 on the top 200 Latin American iTunes songs sold. No I have no effing clue what you are talking about. –Jordin on the song, 6-11 IT WAS NUMBER 134 AND IT’S CALLED PRUUM. – Elizabeth, 6-11
• “Everything we’ve done outdoes the last crazy thing that we did.” –Stacey, 6-12
• We should have a day where we just make an album of all the American stereotypes.” –Elizabeth, 6-13
• How long did you leave that popcorn in? Two minutes and 17 seconds. –Jordin and Elizabeth
• Guys..we’re winning at being funny. –Stacey, 6-14 Not sleep. –Elizabeth
• “Why does she email us when she’s sitting right there?” –Stacey, 6-15
• Come to Argentina and work for my news portal…FREE LABOR!!!” –Katie, 6-15
• Elizabeth had the best meal of her life tonight too. Burger King. VEGETARIAN SANDWICH! It was the best meal I have had here.
• My mom literally said “honey I wouldn’t with your luck.” –Stacey, 6-16
• And he wrote the email in English and Spanish! –Jordin, on random man in the street
• Can I just make up a cell phone number? I did that at the Western Union. –Elizabeth & Stacey. “I just started rattling off random numbers.”
• How did people book flights without the internet? –Elizabeth “Let’s go to iguazu!” 6-18
• I used to freak out about driving to Fulton.” –Stacey Now we don’t even know which airport we’re flying into. Where am I? No one will help me.
• Katie: This bread must’ve been so good. Elizabeth: ARE YOU SERIOUS KATIE. WE’RE MISSOURI JOURNALISM STUDENTS, WE DID NOT CONSUME THE FOOD! Stace: We didn’t have empanadas…
• This is the most epic trip of my life. What are we doing?!
• Jordin: Not to get all philosophical and shit, but who the f* thought to make popcorn? Seriously, who saw all these little kernels and thought hey! I wonder what happens when you heat these up. WHO THE F*?! 6-18
• “Guys...if I get an A on this test, we’re going out with Alejandro for a celebratory tomar algo.” –Jordin, 6-20
• Guys, boys in botanical gardens with cats on their laps are clearly just looking for women!” –Katie
• Do they just go sit down and socialize with random people?! Katie Who are we to judge?! –Stacey
• Gustavo..I mean, Gonzalo! –Stacey
• All of Welshful thinking is white girl problems…
• My zoo pictures are taking forever! White girl problems.
• Guys, I have so many profile picture options I just can’t decide! White girl problems.
• What is this? The raddison? Oh wait…it is. -6-21, Elizabeth
• We should’ve asked him to tomar algo! -6-21, all, about the room service man. “He came in a little costume!” Everyone asks us, it’s about time we ask men! [to tomar algo] -6-21
• Have you ever gotten a FB chat from someone you didn’t want to talk to and gone offline? I’m pretty sure my dad did that to me.” –Sebastian, 6-21
• (On getting carded) They asked me. This was two years ago, I was so excited. –Carolina
• They will tell you about a tango spectacle. I do not recommend the tango spectacular. It is not that great. –Carolina
• You won’t let me take a picture of the US embassy but you’ll take us out? –us, after the tour
• They have parkas. .. You can stay in longer than 30 minutes, but it increases your risk of like…hypothermia. –Stacey, 6-22
• So today we met the security guard at the US embassy and he invited us out, but this is like a daily occurrence so we were like nahh.” –Elizabeth on skype, 6-22
• It wasn’t because she was dumb, it’s because she was stupid.” –Elizabeth, 6-23
• How did people book flights without the internet? –Elizabeth “Let’s go to iguazu!” 6-18
• I used to freak out about driving to Fulton.” –Stacey Now we don’t even know which airport we’re flying into. Where am I? No one will help me. -6/18
• Tengo un montón de gringos.” –man at Monte Carlo TV station about going in the HD bus
• ¿Hay una reunion, sí? Bajan sus voces.” –concierge, 6-22 at night
• Su vuelo es cancelado.” –Despegar
• By the way, I’m not telling my parents about leaving my charger. So if you ever meet them, don’t mention it. Please don’t. Because they always say KEEP TRACK OF YOUR STUFF! And that was the definition of not keeping track of your stuff. Literally, my dad instead of saying goodbye says keep track of your stuff! And I’m like, bye! –Stacey, 6-23
• Radisson: “They said he was coming down now and I was like ‘OUR FLIGHT IS LEAVING NOW. We are going to be late now! And I do not think he liked my expression.” –Carolina, 6-23
• Pottermore is like Harry Potter and World of Warcraft, it’s like the two most addicting things!…it will take over the world of nerdhood.
• They’re not going to have a life. –Stacey 6-23
• Where’s Paraguay? Oh..I think it’s right past the bank. –Jordin and I, 6-24
• (about the heladería in Puerto Iguazu) Jordin: He loves us. Stacey: We tend to have that effect on people here. 6-24
• Four countries in 24 hours!
• Screw UT! They’re all like…we have a partnership with the University of Cordoba and we’re like…well WE have a partnership with CAROLINA. –Stacey, 6-24
• I always wonder if there are secret things under the waterfalls.” –Han, 6-25
• And they have all these signs that say “cerrado” but you can just go past them. There are really good views! –Han, 6-25
• Trashy to classy in one photoshop click.” –Jordin, 6-27
• And she treats my stuffed animal like a king! –Jordin, 6-27
• Carolina, I can’t do this, Jordin is applying for an American reality tv classic and I want to help her.” –Stacey on the bachelorette, 6-27
• This information is GOLD. –Carolina, 6-29, on other BA study abroad programs
• Helicopter sound at school: “Cristina está volviendo a su casa.” –Carolina, 6-29
• And the demonstrations. That was really really weird. –Carolina, 6-29
• What I can do? I have a flight in two hours and we don’t have a president.” –Carolina, 6-29
• I called my parents to ask what I supposed to do? And my parents say you know our country, just come. It was ok, then I came back to Brussels.” –Carolina, 6-29
• Por favor no duermas en clase. –Alejandro, 6-30
• El rap es muy importante en Nueva York, sí? Alejandro, 6-30
• We’re going to the Argentine Oscars!” –Stacey & Elizabeth
• Why does this feel so normal? I feel like we’ve lived in this apartment and that I’ve known you guys my entire life!” –Elizabeth
• There’s a priest in Ballwin that was inappropriate with teens. I thought we were done with this! –Stacey, 7-2
• Other people do not have the privilege of listening to Carolina skype in French for two hours. Who was she skyping? Probably Strauss Kahn. –Katie, Stacey, Elizabeth, 7-1
• I really want to be in a country while there’s a coup. It would be really cool…if I lived.” –Elizabeth, 7-3
• Would you ever take grasshoppers and take their legs off? –Elizabeth, 7-3
• When I was 9 years old my dad used to tell me this story abou taking out his scorpion and I was like that’s really cool dad! And now I’m like…that’s really weird dad. -Sebastian, 7-3
• You need to work this out because it is today.” –Carolina, 7-4, to Stacey about the Silver Condor
• I will be in trouble in Argentina, so I will publish it in the states.” -Carolina, 7-5
• Yo soy un freelancer, why? I do not want my name associated with the government. Carolina, 7-5
• Por ejemplo where is my cellphone? –Carolina, 7-5
• I can’t imagine walking into a convenience store and not having to repeat myself four times to find what I’m actually buying. Or being stared at on the bus. Or killing myself waiting for the 152 to get here in the morning. Or bagging my own groceries! –Elizabeth, 7-5
• Estaría avergonzado en esta situación. –Alejandro on having a sombrero put on your head, 7-5
• Como Taco Bell?” –Alejandro, with certainty, 7-5
• In what universe did we think that thing was going to work?!” –Stacey, 7-6, about the hair dryer crazy thing
• In what universe do they think Mostaza is going to give them their food on time?” –us, 7-6, 5:53 pm, before class
• Who are you and where do you sit? –escuela de periodismo woman, 7-7
• Is there anywhere in the world where a white man gets hit on? –Keith, 7-7
• 90% of my Spanish is non-verbal. –Keith, 7-7
• I have a picture of an orangutan on my Facebook. Who should I tag it as? –Keith, 7-7
• I wish I had a button that’s like a debby downer button that I could press for all the Staceyisms.” –Sebastian, -7-7
• ¿Hay alguien encerrado en su casa?! –Alejandro, 7-7Who said you’re out interviewing movie stars? Stacey: or prisoners. 7-9
• Don’t you love how we bought these tickets 24 hours ago? –Armeen, 7-7
• That’s happened to me three times now, I just couldn’t get the door open! And you can’t crawl out of these ones either! I’m not going to call you on the phone, but I was like hoping someone would come open it. –Stacey, bathroom door, 7-8
• Let’s look at where we are today. Yesterday, we went to Spanish, work, and Keith was over and our friend. Now we’re in Cordoba, 10 hours away, and Keith is CRAZY! Look what can happen in 24 hours! –Stacey, 7-8
• That granola bar lady! –Everyone, on the bus, 7-9
• I’m going to sleep with my purse like a stuffed animal. –Stacey, 7-8
• I could see if I left my purse there for a second, but I didn’t! It was on my shoulder! –Stacey, 7-8
• You have a lot of stories.” –Carolina to Stacey
• Bueno, la alegría. –Alejandro, during the laughter class one Thursday
• El jabón es común para usar aquí? –Stacey to Alejandro, 7-12 I mean la palabra!!
• No sabes como, pero finalmente, estás borracho.” –Alejandro, 7-12
• This really is free labor. –Stacey, 7-13
• Don’t tell, don’t ask.” –Carolina, about Sebastian, 7-13
• You look like you’re on the same team.” –Carolina, 7-26, on Stacey and Katie wearing similar outfits
• Have fun and drink lots of…mineral water *facial expression,” –Carolina, 7-13 on Mendoza
• I’m going to look at the hairy leg once I have clothes on.” –Stacey, 7-18
• I’ve already lost some of my hearing I’m sure.” –Stace, 7-18
• I think anything with mundial is funny. –Stacey Kind of like seguridad.
• Isn’t it weird when someone you barely know likes like the 8^th profile picture of you? – Elizabeth, 7-18
• We should make a movie called Hostel Behavior. -Elizabeth, 7-19
• Hay que probar colores que queden mejor que esto que hay –Carolina, 7-20
• I’m just SO EXCITED that he can speak English! –Stace on the Adidas man, 7-20
• And the taxi driver was telling me about Día del Amigo and he was like tenés amigos? And I was like yeah.” –Han, 7-20
• WOOT we get a refrigerator magnet!” –Jordin, 7-20
• This stupid cake tried to screw up my life. -Katie, 7-20
• I mean we’re all thinking it, we’re just not going to SAY it.” –Stacey
• Want to hear something really strange? I finally get where Carolina is coming from with this.” –Stacey, 7-20
• There’s like a sign stuck on a tree with a piece of gum. “ –Stacey, 160 bus, 7-21
• You know what’s even sadder than eating the 5.0? Eating it by yourself.” –Sam, 7-23 I had to buy a bottle of water.
• He was like, walking the other way and I was like, jumping in front of a bus.” –Elizabeth, 7-23
• Telling the taxi driver “el restuarante cerca del Sheraton con muchas banderas.” -7-23
• Do you guys mind if I go to bed?” –Stace, 7-23
• If your grandparents aren’t racist, they’re not real people.” –Sam, 7-23
• Guys, everything has come full circle. The first Saturday here, my wallet was stolen. My last Saturday here, I bought a new one!” –Stacey, 7-23
• AMY WINEHOUSE DIED. Rehab? I hope she died in like a car accident or something. Nope…it was drugs.Katie, Stacey, Elizabeth, Stacey, 7-23
• I feel like whenever I go on Twitter, I always see all these posts about nutella. Like why are they crazies? I have an excuse, I’m in a country without peanut butter. –Stacey, 7-24
• No se puede sacar fotos. –Guy at museum to Stacey, 7-24
• Sam, you’re already an infinitely better house guest than Keith.” –Elizabeth, 7-24
• Check it out, I got a new mate!” –Jordin, 7-24
• I’m also really excited to see Katie artemas in New York. Maybe her assertiveness will rub off on me.” –Stacey, 7-24
• I was just shaking the whole time. It’s like I was on drugs. It was an exceptionally good show, and I was in the front row. But…I think I’m just going to have a heart attack.” –Elizabeth, 7-24
• I think this might be a better day than the day I get married. Better than graduation, my 21^st birthday…” Elizabeth, 7-24
• And they always tell you to not go to La Boca at night…so of course that’s the first place I went.” –Joshua, 7-25, from Texas Tech
• I don’t understand how he got that from agua, but I had to get the hello kitty out of there! –Joshua, 7-25, on asking donde está el agua and having a random man lead him into corner and stick his finger in his behind
• Sounds like everything has different connotations. –Han, 7-25
• Stace, when someone elbows you in the face, you can’t say that’s okay.” –Sebastian, bday
• Bueno. La ironía. –Stacey, 7-26
• Yeah I’m pissed. I was like sweating when we started dancing.” –Stacey, 7-26, 3:20 a.m.
• And what saves Cinderella? La universidad, el trabajo, sus amigas, un proyecto en Greenpeace, tampoco Amnesty Internacional, no. Un principe. –Carolina, 7-26, clase de género
• Katie, I have a gossip for you. The parents of Kylie se nombra because they like Kylie Minoque. Are you named Katie for Katie Holmes? -7-26, Miguel
• This cake tried to screw up my life. -me
• I cannot control YouTube of FinalCut. Ya saben. -Stacey, 7-27
• And we didn't really have an office so I was having meetings with the students in a bar. It was really hippie. -Carolina, on the Buenos Aires program, 7-27
• And you were red, I can imagine. -Carolina, 7-27
• I have been living 7 years in French speaking countries and your English is too fast. -Carolina to Fritz Cropp, our study abroad coordinator, 7-27
• En el invierno, tomamos mate. They publish a picture of me in St. Louis at a Cardinals game with a red shirt and hat, holding a Coke. That is very controversial. So I was like maybe in Switzerland they like it but that is not so Latin American. –Carolina, 7-27, on an article written about her
• Maybe if I walk around with it like this it’ll just fall. –Stacey on getting a cork out of a bottle of wine, 7-28
• What do you think is the best method of getting this switch blade through customs? -Jordin to her mom, 7-29
• Honey I don’t think that’s a good idea. –Jordin’s mom's response, 7-29
• I am an avid syllabi reader, woman! -Cally, 7-30, on annoying professors lying about not reading their syllabus
• Why is everyone so mean here? NO wonder people think poorly of the US. They cross the border and the first person they see is an a**hole who hates their job. “ –Jessica on arriving back into the United States, 7-31

Regresar a casa/Coming home

Plane experience

I can’t say my flight experiences have been good ones to and from Argentina. Both were overnight, bumpy, involved little sleep and poor service. From Miami to Chicago, I asked the flight attendant for a tissue when she came with the drink cart and she told me to go to the bathroom (instead of giving me one of the napkins in front of her). We’re leaning toward the Argentine service level here.

From Buenos Aires to Miami, Cally, Jordin, Jess and I took off at 8:30 p.m. Dinner arrived around 9:30, and by that time…I was unfortunately asleep. Instead of tapping me, giving me a meal or asking the person next to me, I was just skipped. No food. Having not eaten since 1 p.m. that afternoon, when I woke up to the food cart 10 rows behind me, I was pretty upset. I pushed the flight attendant button three times and no one came back. FINALLY when they PICKED UP the trays, I begged for a plate of food and got one. But gosh forbid they come and pick it up, right? So I scarfed it down with the flight attendant awkwardly standing there waiting for it as she was on her last garbage check. In the process of begging for dinner, the woman next to me spilled her Coke on my blanket. Fun flight.

Current events

As journalism students, we always have to be up on what the most important current events are and how they affect us as students, humans and a journalism school. My GoogleReader news gave me a lot of updates this summer on what was going on, but Google Argentina could only link me to so much information in English.

Stacey compiled this list of the top 5 news stories we need to read up on upon returning home to be updated on American society.

1. The current debt and default situation

2. The Joplin tornado

3. Casey Anthony

4. Twit-pic’d NY politician

5. Murdoc phone tapping

Benefits of being back in the US

Back in the US, everything is going to be so easy. We realized this at the Miami airport when we could speak English to the Customs employees. Everyday errands and necessities can be completed in our first language. Making reservations, ordering dinner or planning trips will be a breeze since we’ve had so much experience doing them…in Spanish. Driving across Missouri seems like nothing after flying and bussing through all of Argentina, and our worries have simmered down after what we’ve accomplished here.

Having a cell phone back will make me less of a Facebook, Twitter and Skype addict. Jordin and I laugh at ourselves because our friends from home probably think we’re crazy always logged into all of our social media, but it’s our only way to contact our friends in the United States. Anytime you would randomly text a friend a question, request or funny story, we would have to message, email, Skype chat or tweet at these friends to get a hold of them. If I wanted to Skype my parents, I’d Facebook chat a friend and ask them to call my house and tell my family to log on Skype. Now, I’LL just be able to text or call them! How fascinating communication is!

As much as I’ll miss Buenos Aires, I look forward to applying my experiences and lessons from my internship, 12 credits of classes, daily urban commutes and international travel stories to what I do in Chicago and at Mizzou. Thank you to anyone who followed my summer experiences here!

My roommates and I on our couch on our first day in Buenos Aires...

....and our last

La Comida

As young adults, my roommates and I prioritized eating all of our favorite Argentina food our last few days. We definitely ate more than we were actually hungry for, but here’s the food we’ll miss in Argentina:

Empanadas from La Cocina

Empanadas are phenomenal and have basically created our Argentina diet. Empanadas are stuffed with carne (meat), pollo (chicken), queso y cebolla (cheese and onion) and a variety of other things. Our favorite empanadas were from La Cocina, a restaurant within walking distance of our apartment. The seasoning was phenomenal and the chicken and meat empanadas were also stuffed with eggs (Argentina likes to put egg in everything) and potatoes (YUM). This was our last meal in Buenos Aires and will definitely be missed!

Elizabeth and I with our empanadas

Dulce de leche

This “cono de cuatro” from Mostaza is a $1 USD soft-serve dulce de leche ice cream cone from a fast-food restaurant that’s only a 5 minute walk from Carolina’s office. Stacey and I ate here every Wednesday, and got cones as often as possible. YUM. Alfajores (cookies) and a lot of our other BA staple dessert items have dulce de leche, so I brought a jar back as well.

Helado

Ice cream in Argentina is a little thicker, and tastes phenomenal. It’s also very affordable, can be fruity and sherbert if you want it to or fill your chocolate/dulce de leche needs.

Here’s a cone from Modena, the ice cream store that we frequent down the block. The employee knows us and giggles at how often we come in. Freddo is usually where we go for internet, and their ice cream is great too. Here’s what Stacey and I ordered the other day! Woot promociones!

Red meat

Stacey and I returned to La Payuca, a steakhouse-type restaurant near our house to get their afternoon special. Bife de chorizo was our last red meat meal, but we will never forget this, bife de lomo, carne asado and all the other red meat dishes we’ve eaten here. They don’t even need seasoning and are always cooked how you want them.

Stacey at La Payuca with bife de chorizo

Wine

Argentine wine is from Mendoza and amazing. It’s cheaper if not the same price as water at most restaurants, and just goes down really well. I’ll miss not being able to go into a restaurant or grocery store and buy wine, at least for the next six months. This is more depressing because one of my most fond roommate memories is when the four of us go out to dinner together; it’s like we’re on Sex & The City, everyone with their favorite menu item and drink. Going out for drinks is a social thing that can be done early afternoon or late at night, and a way to hang out with people. It’s fun to relax after class and go to Fridays and get mojitos and margaritas. I’ll have to wait until January to take part in this again (21). Good thing my red wines made it past customs!

Carolina

On our last full day, Stacey and I went to our program director Carolina’s office to drop off some items from our apartment to donate give to future students on this trip. Carolina invited us to hang out and drink some mate, and we chatted with her about our experience and future plans.

Carolina and her accomplishments have always impressed us. We spent the majority of our trip wondering how Mizzou went about finding her to lead our program in Buenos Aires, especially since she’s currently a freelance journalist. She explained that Fritz Cropp (Mizzou J-School study abroad director) had met her at a conference in Buenos Aires upon looking for a director, and went to a meeting a few weeks later in Washington D.C. with some people from the European Union that worked there with Carolina. They convinced Fritz that he had to find and hire her because she was so amazing. He contacted her and she was unaware of what she wanted to do—move to Patagonia, go back to Europe, whether she was staying in Argentina, but ended up accepting the job and figured she’d give it a try.

Carolina in her Puerto Madero Mizzou office

That’s already pretty impressive. How many people, in a time of uncertainty about their future, would volunteer to be the guardian, professor and trip organizer for American students with questionable Spanish in Argentina? Carolina would. She likes what she’s doing, and continues to freelance instead of work for a specific publication because of the government’s relationship with the press in Argentina. She even told us once:

• “Yo soy un freelancer, why? I do not want my name associated with the government.” -7-5

In here “free” time, she researches world issues and writes about them. At 34 years old, she speaks five languages (Spanish, French, Italian, English, Dutch, and is learning Chinese). Discussing her study on Argentina’s government spending on campaign advertising and its massive increase, Carolina said:

• “I will be in trouble in Argentina, so I will publish it in the states.” Carolina, 7-5

How intelligent! But that isn’t it. While some people choose to settle down, she chooses to keep going. The Argentina program is more popular in the spring and summer for J-School students, so Carolina gets this fall off. She’s moving to Bolivia to live with female farmers (campesinas) and learn more about how they see ecofeminism. If that’s not enough, she’ll be working at an institute for teenage girls who have been sexually abused, and teaching them coping mechanisms, laughter yoga and ecofeminism as well. While she’s there, she managed to schedule an interview time with EVO MORALES, the PRESIDENT OF BOLIVIA who is very controversial (not educated, Indian, only speaks Spanish, very anti-US, dictator, bureaucratic, the list goes on). She hopes to do a two-day interview with him in a casual setting to learn about his policies regarding women in his cabinet, having a family and the treatment of women as well as his presidency. She got the interview because one of her friends wrote a book about Evo and passed along some contact information. Can you imagine?!

Before she heads out to Bolivia, she has to finish her 85 page thesis on women in newsrooms and the types of programs they implement, focusing on Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and the United States. So between August and September, she will be writing this 85-page thesis, planning the program for spring 2012, interviewing Evo Morales, preparing to teach these young girls, preparing to observe the Bolivian farmers, flying to Missouri early-September to promote the Buenos Aires program, flying back to Bolivia, getting a visit from her French boyfriend as he flies in from Canada and living life. And I thought I was busy.

Not only is she a great role model, but Carolina also provides hope that anything is possible. You CAN be 34 and do all of this. You CAN learn six languages. You CAN research and read up on a topic to write your thesis in less than three weeks. You CAN keep track of all 10 of your students and their daily whereabouts in Buenos Aires. You just have to be patient, prepared and determined to carry these types of things out.

I am (was?) pretty nervous about how in my next three weeks, going home and running errands and seeing all of my friends for ~4 days, driving back to Mizzou this Friday, work week and recruitment, preparing for the GRE in THREE WEEKS, having meetings with all of my Maneater clients, working on Homecoming merchandise, doing all the vice president chapter-programming for my sorority, planning OCF meetings, planning Relay For Life and remaining a social and happy human being. But spending our last afternoon with Carolina and hearing about her accomplishments and future plans has given me a positive attitude and hope that all of this will just be a breeze. Thank you to Carolina for being such a great role model!

La Ultima Semana

Visual documentation of our last week in Buenos Aires!

Jordin, Sam and I at Palacio Barolo during the day

Me by Congreso

Celebrating Sebastian's birthday at Cigale

Recording quotes everywhere we go

Goodbye breakfast with our Spanish professor, Alejandro

My co-workers know me well, we took a group picture

on self-timer on my last day! This is the "funny shot."

Thursday night at Club 69, a Buenos Aires staple at Niceto Club

Starting our round of favorite last meals:

Bife de chorizo at La Payuca Parilla

Missing Argentine red meat!

Trying to open bottles of wine with the South American

corkscrew provided by our apartment:

always a struggle.

Off to the plane, I'll elaborate on these stories and a lot more later! Saludos Argentina, we'll be back!

Viernes

As a tribute to our last Friday night here, Jordin, Stacey and I rewrote Rebecca Black's Friday chorus describing our Fridays in Buenos Aires:

Es viernes, viernes

noche de boliches en viernes

Todos están esperando el fin de semana

Viernes, viernes,

noche de boliches en viernes

Todos están esperando el fin de semana

Kika, Maluco Belleza, BRUJAS!

Crobar, Asia de Cuba, Niceto (Vega!)

Di-ver-ti-do

Esperando el fin de semana :)

English translation:

It's Friday, Friday

Night at the clubs on Friday

Everybody's looking forward to the weekend

Friday, Friday

Night at the clubs on Friday

Everybody's looking forward to the weekend

(names of our favorite clubs in Buenos Aires)

Kika, Maluco Belleza, BRUJAS!

Crobar, Asia de Cuba, Niceto (Vega!)

Fun

Looking forward to the weekend :)

And now...a video of the song with Spanish subtitles!

As my last full day in Buenos Aires, today has seemed surreal. All weight is off my shoulders...literally and figuratively. Today was the first day I walked down Puerto Madero without my laptop and computer bag, because I didn't need it! Work was over, classes are over and all of my papers and assignments are turned in! Very peaceful.

Stacey and I chatted with Carolina at her office for two hours, on which I'll write another post, and enjoyed charlar-ing un poco with mate! We walked home and shopped on the way, and are heading out to dinner.

Expect a lot of lists, photos and concluding posts the next few days!

Stacey's Documentary Project

My roommate Stacey's internship for TVM- Televisión de las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo - was to make a documentary on a program they run.

This specific program is theater and acting classes for prisoners (precos), who are excused to leave two days a week to take these classes. Stacey spent a lot of her time here interviewing them, attending the theater classes and even playing the games! In the process, her and Elizabeth learned a lot about their views on the prison system here and in the US. Check this documentary out; although it's in Spanish, no worries...there are English subtitles! It's moving!

Our small world

Each of my roommates has had an experience here that have taught us all what a small world it is. Or....we're just really good at making connections. Or a combination of the two.

Friday afternoon when Stacey and I went to the US Embassy, the other students at our briefing was from University of North Texas. Stacey, being from Dallas, got a kick out of this because UNT is right outside of Dallas so of course, we'd be at the Embassy with all the people from her area. We didn't have an opportunity to talk with them that much after the meeting, but came home and told Jordin and Elizabeth about our afternoon.

Fast forward to La Viruta dance lessons last night. Jordin and Han had gone a little earlier and as Stacey and I walked in, Jordin told us one of the kids from UNT who was at the Embassy with us was there. How did they figure this out? They both realized the other was speaking English and did one of the practice dances together, small talked (chamuyar'd) a little bit and figured out that Jordin's roommates from Mizzou were at the same Embassy briefing as this guy!

That's not all though. We re-met him when we walked in and were discussing how funny this was, when I asked him where he was from.

Him- "Oh, Dallas."

Me- "Really? So is Stacey! Where at?"

Guy- "Frisco."

Stacey- me too!!

Guy- I went to Centennial High School.

Stace- ME TOO!!

So, at 11 p.m. at dance lessons at a random tango bar in Buenos Aires, we met someone who had graduated Stacey's high school two years earlier than she had. SMALL WORLD. We helped him take a bus back to his hotel and hung out for a little bit too, always fun to meet Americans and get their impression of Buenos Aires!

Jordin's small world story is how she noticed a girl from her high school was studying abroad here and Facebook messaged her to see if she had any recommendations. The girl was leaving so they didn't get to meet up, but her last night in Buenos Aires she ran into another boy from Highland Park at an apartment party. She told the guy (Sam) that Jordin was in town, and Sam contacted Jordin to meet up. Even though they hadn't kept in touch, they always had classes together and were friends so we met Sam at arteBA the day that Stacey's wallet got stolen. Who would have known that now, Sam hangs out with us all the time!

Elizabeth's was a little more known, but one of her friends was studying abroad here on another Mizzou program. I published my story awhile back, but another American student we met at a club also happened to meet Amy in Washington DC, even though neither of them are from DC. Apparently it's common to say "You might know this person in Buenos Aires," and then ACTUALLY know them.

Today at work we had a nice lunch with the entire office where they just asked me every question they could think of before I leave. Comparing the boys in the US and Argentina, movies, TV shows, parties, everything. Then, the main boss had me guess all of their ages, in front of everyone. A little embarrassing, right? I was doing okay at first, and not so well at the end, but never guessed too far from anyone's age.

I'm going to Palacio Barolo again with Jordin and Sam as a proper goodbye to Buenos Aires and because it was just too beautiful not to go back with people who haven't been! Hasta luego!

Argentina facts

Here are some lessons from the Embassy about Argentina as a country:

• Forty-two percent of Argentina's population lives in the Greater Buenos Aires area.
• Argentina has hyperinflation at rates from 30 to 35 percent, but the official government statistic is only 4 percent. You can be arrested for publishing numbers different than what the government lists.
• The distance from the northern point of Argentina (the Misiones province, where Iguazú is) to its most southern point, Tierra del Fuego (Oswaya in the Patagonia area) is the same distance from California to Maine. We're bigger than you think!
• Argentines eat their own weight in beef each year, and consume more beef than anywhere in the world.
• Before the economic crisis in 2000, Argentina had the 5th highest GDP (gross domestic product) in the world.
• Market drivers include cars (especially to Brazil), soybeans, beef, oil and gas and the IBM company (International Business Machines). Argentina's IBM office has over 10,000 employees!
• General Motors (GM) had its most profitable year in Argentina and makes up a huge part of the market.
• Mattel's Barbie has been banned in Argentina. Instead, they sell a lot of knock-off Barbie dolls.

The presenter from the US Department of Commercial Service started off his slideshow with a slide titled "Argentine culture." Four pictures were on it.

• Diego Maradona playing soccer
• Two tango dancers
• Beef
• A gaucho drinking mate

While incredibly accurate, Argentines can easily get offensive at this brief representation of their country. The man even said that his Argentine coworkers told him to take this slide out, and he just didn't. Instead, he made amusing commentary like the following:

• The tango. "Complicated dance, complicated country." I was dying of laughter.
• "I made Maradona thinner there to make him the same size of the gaucho."
• "Understanding Peronism is like trying to understand existentialism. ...No one knows what it means, it can mean something different to each person."
• "If there's one thing less popular with the government here than the US government, it's the IMF."

While being an amusing presentation, we also learned a lot!

Weekend Update

And so it begins. Our last week in Buenos Aires.

To kick off the last week, we're being hyper-tourists again. Saturday morning, Elizabeth, Stacey, Jordin, Sam and I went to a guided tour of the Casa Rosada, the Pink House (where the president works).

Casa Rosada

Saturdays they have an open-house type deal, so we waited in a short line to enter the building and walked into a room with artwork of Argentine historical figures. There was a line for tours, but apparently a man was walking around distributing tickets (since it's free, the tickets just denote how soon you can enter the line). One woman handed me four tickets on her way out, and so we just got in the front of the line, didn't worry that there were five of us and handed the man the four at once so he wouldn't notice how many of us entered.

Lessons from my dad! It always works--whether you're going into a movie, concert or other public venue, never fear that someone will actually count the tickets! The tour began in both Spanish and Portuguese, and the tour guide was pretty great. He walked us through each room, gave us an explanation and then left two minutes for pictures. Flash photography is allowed! My kind of tour, right? Here were some of the highlights:

Me in Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's office!

Stacey and I in one of the press conference rooms

On the south plaza, Jordin and I found a

QUATREFOIL FOUNTAIN!

In the president's building in Argentina!!

Phi Mu spirit there.

On our way out, Elizabeth and I were mocking

Evita hand movements.

Don't cry for me Argentina!

After roaming and appreciating all that is Plaza de Mayo, Elizabeth, Stacey and I went to Plaza Francia in Recoleta to the Saturday fair and to buy some regalos/gifts. Everyone was successful, and we even bought dulce de leche-filled alfajores (cookies) and churros! We decided to walk home so we could stop by Biblioteca Nacional, the national library.

Biblioteca Nacional

Just to go inside, we needed to walk through security and submit our passport/identification numbers. This allowed us to visit specific areas of three of the seven floors- the 1st, 3rd and 5th. Argentina makes us laugh and we deemed the situation ironic because a few hours earlier, we walked into the president's office and one of the biggest governmental buildings without doing anything, and to walk around the library we needed to turn in all this information.

A cool view from one of the library windows

on the 5th floor. You can tell Argentina doesn't have

very tall buildings!

There was a Jorge Luis Borges exhibit and a lot of researchers. One room we walked past was the Academia de Periodismo (Journalism), where we saw this plaque for a National Journalist Day! Pretty exciting.

Pedometer count for the afternoon: 8,400 steps. After everyone got home, all of us napped for a good three hours. Because of our two eight-page Spanish papers due this Thursday, we enjoyed a nice night in the apartment hanging out and being productive together. Around midnight, we left to go get helado/ice cream down the street, when something really funny happened.

The only sad part about living in a city and not knowing a lot of people here is you never really run into people. You see friends who find friends, classmates and family members on the bus and hangout, but we can't do that. A woman yelled CHICAS and what do you know, it was Monica, our cleaning lady. She was walking her puppy with her husband, which was hilarious for many reasons.

1. We just ran into our cleaning lady on the street.

2. She lives in our neighborhood.

3. We finally met her dog who she tells us how much she loves, and we were already planning to buy her dog a sweater as a thank you gift!

4. We met her husband who we've spoken to on the phone.

5. It was midnight!

Pretty amusing addition to the evening.

Sunday morning, Jordin went to Mataderos while Stacey, Elizabeth and I did our own walking tour of the Retiro area. For the first time this trip, we walked into Starbucks to see what it was like. Most beverages and prices were the same, but the greatest difference for us was the sales of dulce de leche items! Stacey got the dulce de leche latte, Elizabeth got the mocha dulce frapuccino and I got the regular frapuccino. We enjoyed some quality Starbucks time with a good view of the city, then took off.

We walked Arroyo Street, which is known for its antiques and art galleries. We let the Frommer's guidebook lead the way, and walked past historic hotels, the Four Seasons where Madonna stayed at while filming Evita and practiced her balcony speeches, shops and more. The Four Seasons had a tasty Sunday brunch going on, only costing 395 pesos ($100 USD). We wish.

Next, we stopped at an excellent Hispanoamericano Museum with a lot of plates, silverware, dolls and religious items like censors, icons, vestments and more. The museum was never-ending and each room was decorated like rooms of a house. Very interesting. The man told us we could not take pictures, so of course...I took pictures without the flash. When we were downstairs, Stacey took her camera out to do the same thing. We didn't get in trouble the first time, so Welshful thinking that someone would say something. Sure enough, the man somehow appeared downstairs right as she took out the camera and said, "¡No se puede sacar fotos!" We were dying of laughter.

We walked home to get one of our last long walks down Santa Fe, and stopped at a bookstore to buy some Spanish novels. Reading novels is something I wish I had more time to do during the school year and the feeling of finishing and comprehending a Spanish novel is incredible. The woman I met at Teatro Colón gave me a list of recommendations, so I bought a book by Gabriel García Márquez, a Nobel prize winning literature author. I can't wait to read it! Tonight, we're off to our last dance class at La Viruta. ¡Saludos and suerte to a good week!