Back to School

Hey Everyone! I hope you're all doing well and enjoying the pics/posts from break. After Deven and I left in such a rush, I was literally in and out of my apartment in 20 minutes before going to class. History at 9:30am after an overnight bus ride is not exactly what I would call fun...but we made it on-time, so that was a start. Of course the class didn't start until shortly after 10, so we all had time to catch up. It amazes me that in such a short period of time here we have become such close friends. Not just within the program, but with the students from this class too. They really are a blast to hang out with and I know I'm going to miss them when I go home.

Luckily Monday was a very short day. After history I was commitment free. Spanish class had been cancelled for the week to give us a slightly longer break in that class, so at 11:30 I was done for the day. Honestly the first thing on my mind was a nap! So after walking back home, catching up with Sole and Paola, and enjoying a lovely homecooked lunch (man have I missed the food), I spent most of the afternoon napping. I was supposed to go to the gym, but that just didn't happen. So I relaxed, unpacked a bit and started studying for my first parcial (mid-term). Of course we watched our weekly series as well. Lie to Me is becoming a favorite that I'll track in the US when I get back. Then it was off to bed. I was still exhausted from the trip and needed to study the next morning for Sociology.

Tuesday came way too early and I ended up sleeping through more of the morning than I had planned, but I still got some studying in before walking to class. I'm really enjoying being able to walk places here. Its nice to have that exercise built in to my schedule and it honestly takes just as much time to take the trolley home as it does to walk, so I may as well walk. Development went fine. No big surprises and just a bit more new material. Our parcial is in 2 weeks for this class, but the other group took it yesterday and said it was just fine. After class it was back home for lunch and a study session before class. I was nervous about the exam, but I felt like I knew the material, so going into class I was pretty confident. Looking over the test after our teacher handed them out it didn't look too bad. There was one part I hadn't looked over in awhile and a true/false section about the famous sociologists. After turning it in, I knew it wasn't perfect, but for my first exam I felt like it went pretty well. I'm still not exactly sure how the whole system here works with exams/grades etc, but I'm trying to be very Argentine and just go with the flow... We'll see what happens.

Wednesday is usually a very busy day for me, but with no spanish class and childhood moved to Friday I had absolutely nothing to do until 5:30pm Tango class. I slept in and spent a vast majority of the day relaxing, reading, studying, and of course taking a very nice siesta. It still amazes me that after 2 1/2 months here I can't seem to get my energy back. Most of the time we just blame it on the Zonda (that crazy weather phenomenon) but honestly I think its that our brains are working so hard all the time to translate words and think in 2 languages that we are just in a constant state of mental exhaustion. I did manage to make it to the gym though, which definitely felt good. As per usual, a bunch of us girls met in the plaza to take the bus to class, but with all the construction that's going on, all the bus stops have been moved. So instead of waiting on the bus, we decided to just walk. It was a nice day (hooray for spring) so none of us minded. At Tango we learned a bunch of new choreography. The teacher goes over it so fast and without counts or steps that its more of ... and step, step, step, kick, turn, and pose. Got it? Moving on ... So we hardly have time to catch what she is doing at all. Its still lots of fun though and I'm getting excited for the actual performance at the end of October! After class we all decided to walk back to the town center too. As its starting to turn to spring here we have more light in the evenings and just don't feel like taking the bus unless its absolutely necessary. This also could be that we just feel safer navigating on foot than trying to judge which bus will actually take us where we want (especially with the construction). Once I got back, it was time to relax and study until dinner. We found out on Monday that we have to have 2 books read (in spanish of course) for class this coming Monday... Needless to say I have hardly any hope of getting it done, but I'm certainly trying to do it in spanish. Fernando (a friend of Sole's) was scheduled to come over for dinner - partially so that he could see all my spring break photos, so we didn't eat dinner until midnight! In all fairness he did work until 10 and then had to run home and change etc, but it was SUPER late for dinner (even by their standards). None the less we enjoyed a lovely meal, looked at the pictures, and then I crashed.

Thursday morning and class hit like a load of bricks after being up so late the night before. But it was off to class anyway. We took the whole first half asking questions to clarify issues for the exam (which is in a week) and then learned a slight bit of new material before class let out. Amazingly enough unit 2 is not FINALLY at the copier, so we will be able to read it before the exam. I left class for home and had a nice lunch with my aunt before hurrying out of the house for volunteer work. Unfortunately....I got lost along the way and couldn't remember what street to take. Of course it was also the one day I left the house without a map. I found a street nearby with loads of stops and found one for the bus I needed. What luck! A few stops down I encountered Louisa (who had told me not to wait on her because she was going to be late). So we arrived again together and spent the afternoon helping the students with their hw. The girls mostly had math to work on, so we helped them finish that. Then I ended up finger painting a sign (because there were no brushes) for the gate that read "Dogs can not enter". It was entertaining...I cannot remember the last time I finger painted! Then Louisa and I taught a group of girls the alphabet in english. It was fun to watch them practice and see what fast learners they are. Some of them had it nearly perfect after 5 or 6 tries. Then they taught us some hand games like the ones I used to play with friends in elementary and middle school. Its just so much fun to hang out with them and learn from them. They're very patient even when our spanish isn't perfect and they're just happy to sit and talk with us. I'm really enjoying working there. Later that evening Deven stopped by the apartment to look at bus tickets with me. We have another long weekend coming up and the current plan is to go to Iguazu falls. I don't know how to describe it, so if you don't know what I'm talking about, google some pictures. :) He ended up staying for dinner and afterwards managed to talk me into going out for the evening. So we both changes clothes and met up a few blocks from the apartment to walk to the bar and meet up with some other friends. We sat outside for nearly 4 hours just talking, catching up about trips, sharing stories etc. Eventually we decided it was too cold to just sit anymore, so we headed to another bar that is more of a club. Its called Por Acá, which in spanish means roughly "over here". I'd never been, so we decided to check it out. At this point most of the kids had gone home and so it ended up being me and 3 of my guy friends. We had a really good time just dancing for the next few hours. There were strobe lights, fog machines, disco balls, and all kinds of other light effects going on. To be honest it was kinda overwhelming! We stayed until the club closed and I didn't get home until 6am!

Needless to say I slept in Friday and didn't make any plans Friday night. I actually finished my first book (although I am definitely cheating now by reading them online and in english). I simply did not have enough time to complete the reading in spanish. New goal: read the entire 3rd book in Spanish and start early! So I spent the entirety of Friday relaxing and studying. However! I did go to the gym again! The whole exercising on purpose thing has never been a big part of my life, but I'm determined to actually start going here! Its kinda nice actually to have that time to myself to just think and relax. I also made it to the gym Saturday as well! Then I met up with a friend from class and we attempted to study in the plaza (after first getting some ice cream). This history class just has us both confused. The good news is that the local students seem about as confused as we are... the bad news is that we all have to take the test anyway... I'm sure it'll be fine, I just need some serious study time in the next few days to re-read the material and organize all my thoughts on the topics and time periods. After we gave up studying, we ended up shopping our way back to my apartment. I found some wonderful deals on some really cute tops! The clothes (like almost everything else here) are really cheap if you know where to look. By Sunday afternoon I had finished the second book (also read online and in english) and felt completely prepared for our discussion Monday morning. I can't believe another week has flown by so quickly! Time here either goes very fast or very slow... Before you all know it I'll be home!

I hope everyone is doing well! Please take care of yourself and DON'T GET SICK!!! All I keep hearing from the US direction is that swine flu is taking over and everyone is sick! Keep in touch and I hope to talk to you all soon! Also, if you want a postcard/letter etc, shoot me your address at my e-mail: Laurel.Story@du.edu and don't forget to look at the pictures! Missing everyone bunches!

All my love!