Regreso a Buenos Aires, home sweet home

Well I'm back here in the city. I actually got home on Sunday night and arrive to the apartment about midnight. I was exhausted, I slept from 1 am to about 11 am on Monday. I didn't have anything to do Monday because our teacher canceled class. It was lovely, Rosario, but I'm glad to be back in the city. It's hard because you don't want to bring a lot of clothes because I know that I won't wear everything but every time I go on a little trip, I end up wearing the same clothes most of the time. I don't know. Plus I don't have a great traveling bag and where the bus station is here, you have to be really careful of your belongings. Anyway, I'm back in town. Last night I made empanadas for the guys, I tried to put some hot peppers into the relleno but that was stopped by Tito. Man they just don't like spicy things here! I guess I'll just have to wait to come back to Sacramento to eat something spicy once again. As soon as I get home, I'm headed straight for a Vietnamese Restaurant with my best buddy Jannie and I'm going to put a bunch of cock sauce in my tofu soup jaja. But the empanadas came out great! I just ate the relleno because I didn't want to eat the crust. I ate way too much over the weekend and I felt really full! The summer is coming, it's time to change out of my winter coat. Well, tomorrow I have an exam on the beginnings of Latin America and the Brazilian difference during the times of the conquista and later the development of the government in Brazil. I think it should be fine, the classes do seem a bit unorganized but I've decided that I'm not going to worry about the school. I'm here to learn from the culture, to learn the language perfectly, and to travel. The school may not be the greatest but that's ok because Sacramento State is a great university and I will learn what I need to from this university when I get back. If I were to do this all over again, I would go to the public university: UBA. It's much much much better I've heard. But unfortunately my school doesn't have a deal with this university. I can't believe that it's going to be October in two days. I only have one month left of school! Wow! That's incredible. Then I have no idea what I'm going to do....travel yes but what about the rest of the time? I don't know. I'll start my investigation after school is out. I would like to just volunteer to teach English but everything here is a program and you need a special license. Anyway, maybe I'll just post something on craigslist. Well, I'm off to study for my exam for tomorrow then I have gym till 215, school 3-7, gym 7-8 then study until I fall asleep. Busy day today! One month of school so crazy! Chau

Rosario

Well I'm here in Rosario! The bus was ok....5 hours about. We arrived last night at 11pm and met with our friend Mercedes at the hostel. The hostel is cool. 90 pesos for two nights and breakfast is included, so about 45 USD. Good price! Today we went to the river where there is a beach and today was a lovely day. Nice weather, I finally got some sun! I took some great pictures of the river. Also, I bought a cool Jamaican bracelet and got this hair thing put in my hair, I'm very hippie now. Haha! We are really tired right now, so we're just sitting around drinking mate. Tonight at 10pm we are going to a parrilla! Yay! I love meat cooked in someone elses house. Tomorrow not sure what we are doing. We leave at 7pm and get back to Buenos Aires around 11pm or probably more like midnight. Monday I have free because my teacher isn't going to be in class, so I'm headed back to immigration to see what they want me to do to get my visa. I hope everything works out. Rosario is a cool city, big but still small. No comparison to Buenos Aires. It's really relaxing here and nice weather. Nice get away from the city. The people are really nice here too. It's like comparing San Francisco (Buenos Aires) to like Sacramento I guess. Even though I think Cordoba is more like Sacramento, so a city a little smaller than Sacramento. You make the decision on what that is. Well, I'm off to use the comunal shower! I love hostels. I'm going to use them forever, no more hotels. Cheap and cool and you can meet cool people. A guy works here that is from Utah but he has lived her for a year and a half and speaks as if he were an Argentine. Can't detect nothing of an American accent. Wish I was like that! In time....well miss you all, I'll take more pictures tonight of the parrilla. LOVE YOU!!! NOS VEMOS AMORES! CHAU CHAU

Headed to Rosario

Well friends and family! I'm headed to Rosario for the weekend, my friend and I leave at 630 pm tonight and arrive around 1030pm. We are going to stay in a hostel up there and visit with our friend who lives in the city. Should be a great time. I will be bringing my laptop with me, so if anything exciting happens, I'll be sure to blog it! Everything is going great here, I've started to use the bike around the city that Cristian and Tito have, it was a little scary in the beginning because of all the cars and people, but now I'm back in action. It's a lot easier than walking and taking the bus! Except the part where sometimes the sidewalk just ends or is missing pieces or a bus goes right in front of you, hehe! But the weather is starting to warm up, it's going to be 77 degrees up in Rosario tomorrow. Yay! I'm super excited! I have only 5-6 more weeks left in the semester. Wow! Then its finally my break time jaja. I didn't get a summer break in Sacramento, so it will be nice to have one. I have been talking to my Argentine friend's who have jobs with American or English companies, they said that if I give them my resume, that I can probably get a job with that company, but speaking English :( o well, anything counts! Ok well talk to you all soon, here I come Rosario!

Lesbian Radio Talkshow, Sushi y mi Primer Espactaculo en Argentina

Well, it was a busy busy weekend! On Friday I went to a Lesbian Radio Talkshow here in Buenos Aires with some girls I met through a friend at my facultad. More people that I am meeting here, its great! The girls want to go on some trips in October, so more travelling and with Argentines its a lot better to travel, I think, its their country and they know the best places to go. So the talkshow was in an apartment here but it was hard to hear the show because everyone was talking, from now on, I'm going to go on Friday's to the girl's house, Belen, and she said they eat dinner and listen to the show in her apartment. This way its a lot easier to hear. It was a nice night! I got to know more of the city, the bus system, and more new friends! Then on Saturday, I got up early and went to my yoga class and then after I made pancakes for the guys because Cristian has been talking about how he wants big fluffy pancakes but they don't have them here. So I surprised them and made big fluffy pancakes! I didn't eat any of course, no thank you! But they enjoyed them. Then later I did some homework and was quite lazy until about 9 when I met my friend Marion for her birthday at a sushi place in Palermo. It was Marion, Constanza, Yorrick, Sahar, David and me eating Sushi. The girls split a plate of sushi and a bottle of wine and it cost: $57 pesos cada uno, per person so about 15 dollar meal, good deal! But I didn't really find the sushi to be that fantastic, but the ginger o wow it was great! I usually don't like ginger but this stuff was delicious! Anyway, afterwards we went to a club to dance and had fun blah blah blah the usual. Then on Sunday, I had a relaxing day, woke up late, did yoga, rode the bike to the store, my first bike riding experience here in Buenos Aires. Its scary to ride your bike around because the streets are really busy....but Sundays are pretty relaxing and not too full of people. O my gosh its really hard to write in English, which is a good thing! Ok what else, then Tito had his Cuban friends over to the house later on and we ate cuban food, yummy, lentils and chorizo! I wasn't very hungry but it was still really good. It was nice to see all of his Cuban friends again because they are the first people I met when I arrived and my Spanish was nothing like it is now. Now I can actually have a conversation with them as opposed to just saying o si si, no gracias, jaja. Then after, Tito and I went to meet Cristian to watch a "one man show" in Microcentro. It was great! It was this woman and she was fantastic! It was called "No soy la victima" I'm not the Victim. It was a humorous show! I liked it a lot, some parts were hard to understand, like the local jokes but I got the jist of it, so that's good. So I saw my first show! It almost took me 3 months wow that's bad. I need to start doing more cultural things here, not just workout, shop, and go out to the clubs! I'm going to start right now! Today is a holiday for my school: Dia de los estudiantes. I'm sitting here at Puerto Madero, its so pretty, if anyone ever goes to Buenos Aires, you have to go to Puerto Madero to his place called Tea Connection. It's great! So relaxing, good place to do work. And you have to order Mate! Anyway, that's what I'm doing right now. I need to get started on my homework haha, I'm writing a paper about tango. Well, hope all is well, talk to you soon. Chau hasta luego!
Raquelita

Student Visas, Imigraciones, Embajada

So what's been going on lately? School, wow I only have 7 weeks left in the semester and then a break! Wow! What am I going to do? Well, I have been researching some companies that might let me intern for them while I'm on break and tomorrow I have a meeting for new members of Green Peace, so hopefully I can do some work for them. Yesterday, I had my appointment to get my Student Visa and I went to imigraciones at 8 am! I got there and there was something wrong with my paperwork so I had to go to the embassy to get a document saying everything was fine and then they need something from my paperwork so I had to go back to imigraciones and then back to the embajada and o my gosh! All in the rain, in public transit, such such such a good time I had! I was beat by the time I got home that I ended up ditching my class....oops. Oh well! On Wednesday we had the Mexican Independence Day Feast, it was good but I had to leave early because I had to wake up early for the appointment. It still hasn't been resolved either....I hope I get my visa, if not Cristian told me I could make a trip up to Uruguay and come back and it will renew my travel visa, lots of people do it. jaja! I'm sure everything will be fine though. What else? Nothing much, had my first examen parciel in Literatura Uno, it was good, not too hard. This weekend is a long weekend for students because Monday is day of the students ???? They have lots of holidays up here like that. So we don't have school on Monday yay! Then the weekend after my teacher is not going to be in school on Monday so I have another long weekend yay! Haha. I'm going to head up to Rosario for the weekend to visit a friend that lives up there. Should be fun no? Tonight I'm heading to a new Argentine friend's house to meet and hang out with her and her friends. We are going to listen to a local lesbian radio talkshow and eat dinner. Obviously they are a lesbian activist group and since I'm all about gay rights, I'm really excited to go! Should be an interesting and conversational night! What else? Its raining raining raining here! Spring starts on Monday so here comes the warm weather but not before this rain hits. It's been pouring for 3 days or so, maybe less. But it's nice, we need it! The whole world needs it. So I'm having a great time here! Hopefully all this immigration business will work itself out. I'm off to study buddy. Chau hasta luego!
Raquelita

Nueva Grupita

Well I have met some wonderful and great people here in Argentina. My new vecinas: Clau, Renata, Elisa y Marion, I love them so much! And also we have to include the non-vecina Sahar who lives in the Recoleta. She is from Canada and has a big heart, super sweet. She lives with a family in the Recoleta and pays barely nothing to have bascially her own apartment on the second floor. The family has some money, from what I can tell, I think they like have someone foreign living with them. Anyway, she is from Canada, Renata: Brasil, Elisa y Clau: Mexico, y Marion: Germany but lives in Holland. We are planning when Sahar y yo get back on in July to go backpacking together in Europe because we have met quite a few people here that live in Europe, like Marion. We can just visit each person we have met here and stay in hostels, should be pretty cheap no? Just the plane ticket! Hopefully I'll have miles by then though from all my travelling! So yesterday we went to the Caminito where Tango has its beginnings. We got there late and it was super frio so we kinda walked around a bit and stayed in a restaurant chatting and eating for a while. Then we left and went back to the girl's house to get ready to go out last night. It was fun, free drinks, free food, free entrance. But I left early (4 am! not early jaja) because I have an exam tomorrow that I need to study for today and I didn't want to sleep all day or be supertired while trying to study for my Literature class, ugh Gaucho literature, is soooooo hard to understand! Well, the girls and I are going to Puerto Madero to study and drink some tea, I love this spot to study, its super lovely! I want to take Steven there when he comes, its quite romantic! So what else has been going on? Nothing much, on Wednesday is Mexican Independence Day and we're going to have a Mexican Culture night at the girls house! How exciting! Its been so long since I've eaten authentic Mexican food, well we're going to try and find some here in Argentina jaja! Spicy food please! What else? Nothing much, I get my Visa next week yay! Then I can travel more. I can't believe how quickly this time is going by, its almost October! Wow! I can't wait until my family comes down here to see me, it will be so nice to have people to show this great city. The OAJNU is going to send its members information soon, we are going to meet yay! I'm excited for that. Ok well, I best be off to studying! Talk to you soon. Chau besos todos!

Brasil vs. Argentina

So Saturday was the big game in futbol: Argentina vs. Brasil, unfortunately Brasil won! I thought I would bring some luck to the team by being here but no. I went to a house of a Brasilian so everyone was rooting for Brasil to win. And they did, by two points, pretty sucky game. Anyway, after that we went out to a club close to my house and danced the night away. I had the house to myself all weekend because the guys went to Colon to celebrate Cristian's birthday. Its a city in Entre Rios about four hours away. So Sunday, I spent most of the day alone, relaxing, took a bath, and then I met my friend Marin at Puerto Madero to drink some mate and chat by the river. O my gosh what a beautiful place! We sat by the river and chatted, I took some pictures, it is so beautiful and super romantic. It would be a good place to have a romantic first date. Anyway, whenever I have homework to do now, I'm going to head to this place and sit and drink tea and do homework, its supertranquil and super relaxing. Not a lot of noise, super quiet. I love it! It's a ways away from the apartment but on a Sunday, when I have nothing to do, it'll be worth it. Well, I have a long weekend coming up: 21st of September is "Day of the Students" so everyone all students have it off. I don't know what I'm going to do....my friend Marin wants me to go to a rave with her on Friday and my friend's bday ist he 19th sooooo I don't know what the weekend has in store but something definately fun! Anyway, everything is going great, I'm really feeling apart of society now. I get my student Visa on the 17th yay! So, I'll have an ID besides my passport jaja. O and my new friends from Mexico and Brasil are going to celebrate Mexican Independence Day on the 16th, soooooo we're going to have a Mexican Food Night with some tequila, I'm not going to drink because I have my student Visa thing early the next morning but I will definately eat some Mexican Food hehe. Its been a while! Anyway, talk to you all soon! Chau chau
Raquelita

Finalmente Una Organizacion!

Well, success! I sent emails to various organizations here in Argentina, non-governmental organizations and I got a response from one. It's called OAJNU: Organization Argentina Jovenes Naciones Unidas, Organization Argentina of young people for the United Nations. It's not directly affiliated with the UN but it follows the same goals and it gets most of its funding from them, because the UN is allowed so much money per country per year for the New Millenium Goals. Anyway, they are sending me information on how and where I can volunteer to help with Human Rights and the 8 Millenium Goals. So excited! This will be great for my resume because I actually want to work for the UN when I graduate so.....yay! Perfect. If you want to check out the website its:

http://www.oajnu.org,

I think you can translate the page or read it in English, not sure. Anyway, I'm really excited about this. Besides that its been pretty busy but not too crazy here. A huge storm is coming today o no! I'm feeling a tad bit under the weather but I'm pretending not to be sick. I have a scratchy throat and that's it. I went to the farmacia to buy some vitamin C pills, so I have been drinking that remedy every morning. I'll be fine I think, since getting my tonsils removed, I really don't get sick, I only get infections on my leg jaja. O and yes the humidity to all those who wonder is worse on my leg than the cold! The humidity makes my leg swell so bad!
So Cristian, Tito and I love to cook, so yesterday I went to the book store and found a great Mediterranean Cookbook for us. I'm going to read through it and start making some recipes in there. The problem is that the food is mostly from Spain and Italy, so a lot of the local stuff is either hard to find here or really expensive, but I will just change out the ingredientes probably. Well, I'm off to pretend I'm not getting sick by going to a class at the gym, then school, then another class later on. Don't worry all I'm not over doing it! Please don't send me emails saying don't overwork yourself blah blah blah, I don't feel sick just a little scratchy throat that's all. Well, I'll talk to you all soon, love ya lots!
Chau!
Raquelita