Goodbye Buenos Aires

Well I guess it is not goodbye forever since I will be back here in about 2 weeks with my dad but it is goodbye for now because later tonight I will getting on a bus to start my journey back to Santiago. But I am not going to straight back, I will first be stopping in Mendoza...about a 12 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires and on the way back to Santiago. I should arrive in Mendoza on Tuesday morning and then I will spend the day and the night there, hopefully drink some good wine (most of the wine from Argentina is made in Mendoza), and relax. Wednesday morning I will finish the trip back by taking a 6 hour bus ride over the Andes and back to Santiago, which should be incredible as long as I don't get bus sick. I think it will weird being back in Santiago, I feel like I have been gone for so long (5 1/2 weeks). I am eager to get back and see the other kids in my program and see my little brother and sister. But I am also really going to miss my family here, they are really incredible. But I think the weirdest part is that going back also means the end is really really close.

My ISP is due on Friday...but thankfully I am done! On Saturday night we have a farewell dinner with all of our families at a restaurant and then on Sunday we all head to the beach (the same place where we had orientation) for our oral presentations and our re-orientation back to the states. It is actually unbelievable that just a little over 3 months ago I was crying at the airport not sure if going abroad was the right decision for me and now it is hard to imagine leaving. How did the semester go so quickly? And now I am stuck wondering did I do everything I wanted to do? Did I make the most out of every experience I have had here? But I guess these are typical "it's coming to an end questions". But maybe I am getting ahead of myself...even though the program ends in just 10 days I still have over a month left in the southern hemisphere and although I am sad about saying goodbye to the people that have been my support system for the last 3 months I am so excited for the next leg of my trip and to see my family!! 14 days till my dad comes!

Besos y abrazos,

Ana

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!! I had to post today cause I am missing my family, friends, and the USA so much today! Although I just got back from stuffing my face with some incredible argentinean meat, it didn't quite make up for missing Thanksgiving. We all went out for a delicious lunch today and even though it wasn't the same it was nice to be able to spend the day with great friends and we even went around the table telling each other what we are thankful for.

I am very thankful for the wonderful experience I have had and am still having in South America, learning and exploring a new and totally different culture. I am thankful for my family who always supports me and my incredible friends, new and old. I didn't feel quite so far from home knowing I have family and friends who love me.

I wish I could say that I am taking a break from school, but it is quite the opposite right now, I am nearly finished with the first draft of my ISP and just need to write one more section and then get it edited by my advisor. It is crunch time here and I can't believe how quickly my time here in Buenos Aires is coming to an end (I leave Monday night...LOCO!)

This is just some of the meat they were cooking at Sigue La Vaca today!

This is where you stand and point to the meat that you want...normally the whole grill is FILLED with so much meat but I took this at the end of the lunch rush so there wasn't that much meat left.

And I had to add this cause it was just SO beautiful today (although very humid)

Happy Thanksgiving,

Love and Miss you all!

Game Time!

Well it is game time here in Buenos Aires, no, not soccer game time, but Ana writes her ISP in record time game time. I just finished up a meeting with my advisor and promised her a finished (although rough) copy of my ISP by Thursday (yes not tomorrow, but the next day). You may be shaking your head thinking, no she can't do it, but I must. This is because we are writing our final papers all in Spanish and it is required that our advisor reads through it to check for our grammar mistakes so that our director who gives us or grades in Chile doesn't have to deal with grammer issues when grading. This will be incredibly helpful when I hand the paper in to UPS for credit (they will think I am brilliant) but not helpful that I have to finish this thing up in the next two days. And on top of this deadline nearing I am fairly positive I will not be able to get any work done on Thursday because I will be mourning the lack of my dad's turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, apple raspberry pies, and of course missing my family. But to try and combat this looming sadness the 5 of us who are still in Buenos Aires will be going back to Sigue La Vaca for a delicious meat filled meal...it will be tastey but not like home :(.

Although I have just less than one week left here in Buenos Aires, things are really feeling like they are starting to come to an end, and every time I sit down to dinner with my mom and dad here they sadly remind me that this will be the last time I eat breakfast on a tuesday with them. !Que triste! (how sad)...and oddly being told this at every meal is not getting old...I am really going to miss them too.

Obviously I am sitting at a cafe right now, with my half eaten ice cream next to me trying to think of more things to write about so I don't have to get back to writing this paper but I am running out of anything interesting to say...so I will go and try to keep plugging for just a little longer...I am fairly certain tomorrow will be a rough day scrambling to get things done.

Sending all the love I have back to the states and wishing everyone safe travels this week!

Ana

Work?

Wow, I cannot believe it has been over a week since I last posted…doing a whole lot of nothing really makes the time fly.
Not too much to report here, but I am starting to realize why they say this ISP part of the program is so hard, and it is not the fact that the majority of my communication is in Spanish or that I am visiting schools on my own and forming my own relationships with students and teachers but that I have no deadlines, except the one on Dec. 4th…that is really far away, aka motivating myself right now to do the work is really hard. But I am trying to push myself. I am trying to work hard and enjoy my last few weeks in this awesome city.
I have been doing a little work, spending a good amount of time on the computer researching the different laws about sex education here in BsAs and in Argentina as well as reading a few blogs that teachers have created here about their views on sex education in the school systems. I also spent a morning interviewing the rector (principal) and one of the sex ed teachers which was very informational. Bright and early this morning I went back to the same school and got to talk with about 5 students about their thoughts on sex education and its effectiveness. I am getting lots of information but now I need to figure out how to narrow it down to write a concise paper. I have been pleasantly surprised with how wonderfully helpful and kind people have been and by their willingness to help me. I am crossing my fingers that tomorrow I will have an interview with someone in the ministry of education to help me better understand the laws and what is being taught in the classroom.
Last week me and 3 other people who have stayed in BsAs went to a restaurant called Sigue La Vaca (follow the cow), it was INCREDIBLE. The restaurant is buffet style and you have all you can eat salad bar, all you can eat grill (with everything from steak to chicken to heart to chorizo…all muy rico!), everyone gets there own dessert and you have your choice of your own bottle of wine, pitcher of beer, or pitcher of soda, and bottled water is free (that in itself is pretty incredible). Not only was the food absolutely incredible and full of wonderful flavors but it cost a total of $15. Can you believe it? I still can’t. And let me tell you it is true what they say, Argentinean meat is truly delicious! Before dinner we took a little walk on the wharf and in the picture below that is Abigail, Sussy, and me! Needless to say we had an absolute blast at this restaurant and already have plans to go back before we head back to Santiago (only in 14 days ☹).

Now I am going to re-listen to all of my recorded interviews and try to jot down the important quotes...sounds fun? I think yes.

Besitos y Abrazos,

Ana

Fake Money and Monedas

Fake money, apparently something I need to be weary of here...who would have thought that. Two girls from my program weren't able to pay for their items at a restaurant because the 100 pesos (roughly $25 ) weren't real. Apparently there is a lot of fake money that moves around this city after the economic crisis spanning from 1999-2002. This is also the reason that there are very little monedas (coins) in circulation. And if I didn't already hate the bus system enough the moneda situation just makes it worse. There is a black market to buy monedas and you can also by them on the street for more then they are worth. People are really worried that there will be another economic crisis here so they apparently hoard all their moneda and small bills. The buses only take monedas and you can't just walk into a store and get change for a bigger bill and most things are priced so that they won't have to give monedas back. Needless to say my hunt for monedas has been ongoing since I arrived in this beautiful city, and I will be checking my big bills to make sure I am not carrying around fake money.

This weekend was amazing, incredible weather, sunny days and warm nights. On saturday the small group of us that are staying in BsAs went to the gay pride parade in the center of Buenos Aires. It was pretty amazing, especially because gay rights are so minimal in South America, although Buenos Aires is very progressive compared to other countries here. There were tons of people and a good time was had by all! I haven't uploaded my pictures yet, but I will try to do that tonight. After the parade we went out to dinner and then spent the rest of the evening relaxing at a bar...although the sun was rising when I took my cab home we had a nice and relaxing time. Oh and I finally joined a gym...it is no Malibu or UPS gym but it will suffice for a few weeks. It is going to be a struggle trying to get back into shape! Sunday I relaxed and tried to figure out my trip back to Argentina with my dad.

Today officially marks the first day of my ISP, although all I have done today is slept in, gone to the gym, enjoyed a rather large lunch with my Argentinean mother, and now I am posting on the blog. I suppose I should at least be some what productive today...

Sending lots of love,

Ana

Goodbyes and Tango

Greetings from hot and humid Buenos Aires! Lots of changes haven happened in the last week. To start, yesterday marked the last day of classes, seminars, group visits, and our days of traveling as a group of 15 are over. And this morning I had to say goodbye to 8 of my friends because they are heading back to Chile to spend there last month in Santiago and Temuco. I was more sad than I thought I would be…it is a weird feeling to know that I won’t see these people until Dec. 4^th because I have pretty much seen them all everyday since I have been in South America. I am sure this next part of the trip will be wonderful and I am so happy that there are still 7 of us who decided to stick around in Buenos Aires but the rest of the group will definitely be missed.

Last night we had our final dinner her in Buenos Aires, at a wonderful restaurant with all of our host families. We had empanadas, beef, chicken, ice cream, enjoyed live music, and a tango show (I was in it!!). For the past two weeks I have been taking a Tango class from a girl in my programs host sister. There were 5 of us in my program who went to the 4 private classes where we were taught many basic steps of the Tango. I was excited to show my skills off to everyone when I got home but I didn’t think I would be debuting my new skills (if you could call it that) to anyone here. During our last class our teachers choreographed a skit for the 5 of us to Tango to! We didn’t tell anyone else in the program that we were going to put on a short show so when we started our little show everyone was pretty impressed…I think we impressed ourselves too. It was very cute and we all did really well. I am going to have to keep practicing if I want to remember anything for when I get back! Even though I could possibly be the worlds worst dancer and I normally don't have the patience taking classes and putting on our little performance was a wonderful experience that I will never forget about my time here in BsAs. After our amazing dinner the whole group, all 15 of us, went out to a bar and a club for one last hurrah before some of them head back to Chile...it was a blast and by the time I got home the sun was about to rise! If you go out before 2:30 here people think you are crazy and let me tell you, leaving a bar or club before 8am is also crazy...not sure I will ever make it that late (well I guess early but you get the picture). At the club there was a great show of break dancers...they were so impressive!!

So some of you are probably wondering what I will be doing with my next month here since I have no more classes or seminars or what not. Well, Monday officially starts the Independent Study Project (ISP) portion of my study abroad program. I am both excited to have this whole new world of independence and lack of structure but also incredibly nervous. On Monday I handed in my ISP proposal and was very happy to have it approved. I am going to study sex education in the public school system in Buenos Aires. In 2006 a law was passed that sex ed classes were going to be a requirement in all schools in Buenos Aires but right now there is no developed curriculum and sex ed classes tend to consist of one class a year with older students talking to the younger students. With teen pregnancies and teen parents being so common here and abortion being illegal here, I thought this would be an interesting subject to investigate. I am going to visit two schools who claim to have a sex education class and I will observe the classes, interview the students and teachers, as well as hold interviews with people in charge of sex education in the ministry of education here in BsAs. I will be conducting all my interviews in Spanish and although I think I am ready I am sure it is going to be exhausting…the whole process is going to be exhausting but so rewarding I am sure. By the end of the month, Dec. 4^th to be exact, I will hand in a 20+ page paper in Spanish about my investigation…wish me luck?

In other news I am slowly being to learn my way around the city. Buses, although still ridiculously challenging, are getting a bit easier. I don’t get lost every time I try to leave my apartment and things are starting to look familiar. The shopping is just as great as it was last week although my wallet is getting lighter and lighter.

I hope everyone is well, wherever you may be in the world.

Besitos y Abrazos,

Ana