Semana 7

Martes el 30 de agosto – día 44

Today I got up at 8:30 and had breakfast, then took the colectivo to mi clase de castellano.  After class I walked home (about a 35 minute walk).  I watched some of the US Open while I had lunch.  I headed to my clase de psicolingüística around 13:30, arriving at UBA at 14:30… half an hour early (of course).  I stood in the hallway outside my class and read for my lit class until class started.  I took the subte home and did some reading and picked out my pictures for my photography class on Wednesday. 

Clarisa called me down for dinner around 21:30, we had cheese ravioli which was good.   During dinner we watched “Salven el millon” and for the first time, the people won!  Granted they ended up winning $100.000 instead of $1.000.000 but it’s better than nothing.  In case you were wondering they lost $900.000 on one question, they got everything else completely right.  The question was: which of the following fútbol teams has won the European Tournament the most times; Milan, Liverpool, Barcelona.  I had absolutely no clue what the answer was.  It turns out it was Milan (7 times, the all time winner is Real Madrid with 9. Liverpool-which is who the team picked, has won 5 times, and Barcelona has won 4).  For dessert Clarisa we had dulce de batata con cereza (sweet potato with cherry) y queso.  I wasn’t that found of it, as I don’t like cherry, but it wasn’t terrible.  

After dinner I showered, did some reading, then went to bed.

Miercoles el 31 de agosto

I didn’t have any classes this morning so I slept in.  When I got up I had breakfast and did some reading.  I packed a lunch then took the bus to UCA para Registrando Buenos Aires.  Our assignment,  as you may recall, was sacar autoretratos (self-portraits).  I really didn’t like the assignment at all as it made me feel like a 14 year old taking myspace pics, but here are the ones I ended up presenting to the class (some of them are strange  but you should have seen the examples my professor showed us from famous artists):

I actually presented first because nobody else in the class wanted to present so I figured I should just go and get it over with.  Unfortunately a ton of people didn’t bring in photos so our assignment for next week is to take more self-portraits.  Joy!

After class I took un colectivo home then finished up the reading for my literature class on Thursday.  I also listened to the songs for my castellano class from the 1970s.  I really like listening to the songs, and it’s really interesting to think about the similarities/differences between Argentine music and US music from the same time period.

My favorite song from my class from the sixties is “Jugo de tomate frío” by Manal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELkMKNkenTk ).  I didn't have a favorite from the seventies is but here are a few of the songs I liked “Peperina" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlspcUC3LKI   I really the part in the middle, skip to 1:48 if you don’t want to listen to the whole song) and “No llores por mí, Argentina” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4E3QsmW61c) by Seru Giran, “Cancion para mi muerte” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k-eX3rF8xM sad but good), “Quizas porque” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGjt-EB3tmQ), and “Mr. Jones, o una pequena semblanza de una familia tipo Americana” (2 notes about this song, the video is strange but I couldn’t find a better one, and don’t listen to the first 10 seconds with little kids in the room, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwS_UF3nRDo&feature=related) by Sui Generis.

Clarisa called me to say she wouldn’t be home for dinner, so I went downstairs to heat up the lentils/potatoes/peppers mixture she had left me on the stove.  

After dinner I showered and got ready for bed.  The windows in my room have shutters on them so every morning I open the shutters to let the light in, and every night I close them again.  Tonight when I went to close them this was awaiting me:

I had a heart attack, then, realizing I was home alone and would have to kill it myself, had another heart attack.  I picked up a shoe, tried to smash it and missed.  It then scurried into its hole. 

I tried to smash its legs to no avail.  Now I’m petrified to open my window…

I skyped with Kevin who thought he would show me a “cute” video DO NOT WATCH THIS IF YOU DON’T LIKE SPIDERS http://www.wimp.com/strangelyadorable/.  On what planet is that cute or adorable???? Not on the one I’m living on, that’s for sure.  Nothing a spider can do is cute. Ew.

Afterwards I went to bed and tried not think about spiders.

Jueves el 1 de septiembre

Today I got up at 8 for my first day volunteering doing biochem research at la Facultad de Medicina de UBA.   I’m going to go again next week but I don’t know that I’m actually doing to do it.  I feel like they want me to put a lot more time into than I’m able to, and I feel like I’m in over my head as far as the bio goes.  On the bright side I tried mate for the first time!  It wasn’t bad and I’m now going to seriously start looking for a mate of my own (which is proving very difficult because I’m so freaking indecisive).

I walked to my lit class at USAL. 

I have no clue what this building is but I passed it on my walk and thought it was pretty.

When class was over I took the subte to UBA for psicolingüística.  I got there 15 minutes late and classes hadn't started yet (typical).  At this time I would like to reiterate what I said last week: 4 hours is FAR TOO LONG for a class.  I got home around 21:50 and had dinner with Clarissa (rotisserie chicken and french fries) while watching some random telenovela.  I was exhausted after my long day so I went to bed shortly after we were done.

PS- Feliz cumpleaños Molly!

Viernes el 2 de septiembre

I woke up around 10 today, had some breakfast and did a ton of work.  I had lunch around 14:00 and then did more work.  I really don’t understand how everyone in the history of study abroad says you don’t do work when you go abroad.  I have a TON of reading for all of my classes and have found I spend a very large portion of my time here doing work.  I know I had more work at home (thanks for that chemistry) but as I said before I have pretty much no motivation to do work here, and it’s still A LOT of work.

Clarisa wasn't home for dinner so I watched the US Open while I ate (some sort of pasta dish)

Right now I'm just finishing up some reading and possibly starting a paper.

Un beso,

Taylor

Random Photo:

Market by my house