megtm

We had our first weekend trip with GW to Los Esteros de Ibera, wetlands in the North East of Argentina. Ibera comes from Guarani (an indigenous population in that area of South America) and means "shinning water." The freshwater wetlands are protected in Argentina and are some of the largest in the world. The decision to take a trip to this nature reserve came when it became too risky for us to travel to Salta, in the northwestern region of Argentina, because of dengue. We took a ten hour bus ride over night on Thursday and then a two hour van ride on a dirt road to get from Buenos Aires to the reserve. We stayed at a lodge on the reserve (http://www.posadadelalaguna.com/). It was an incredible trip and I loved getting out of this huge ... read more

Hola hola hola! I already mentioned before that my host mother is a single psychologist with three grown children. Overall I am very happy to be living here and I think I really lucked out with my home-stay. Others that I know are battling multiple host siblings for the use of the bathroom, wondering why they are paying so much money to eat pasta every night and go without breakfast every morning, and even one living in a room with no windows. I however, have a very spacious room (with windows), internet access, a variety of food and the luxury of being able to have friends over when my host mother isn't working. Most of the time I am grateful for how nice she is to me (she said she is doing this for the cultural ... read more

I can't believe it's April! These past few weeks have been very busy with classes. At the university I am studying at we had a two week "shopping" period. The idea is that during this time students can go to whichever classes they want and see if they like them. At the end of the period, you have to have finalized your classes because once the period ends, you are not allowed to add/drop no matter what. I was very stressed during those weeks because while I thought I knew what I was taking I read the schedule of classes wrong and scheduled two at the same time that I really wanted to take. So I went to a lot of different classes trying to figure out alternative schedules...which meant most days I was at school ... read more

On Friday, the last day of orientation, we got to go on a field trip to the campo (countryside) to an estancia (ranch). It was a really tourist place, unfortunately I forget the name and the exact location, but we took a bus from UCA an hour and a half outside the main city. Tourists can either make a day trip to the estancia, or they can rent rooms and stay for a little while in the country. We had the day trip plan, as did a few other touristy groups, which meant a snack, time to wander around the farm, a lunch, and a horse show. Only two others from the gw group went because you had to pay 100 pesos, but it was worth it to check off another attraction in argentina. Also we ... read more

I have been at UCA orientation all week. Pretty much the daily schedule is as follows: arrive around 10am via metro (subte) and short walk through Plaza de Mayo, have a croissant (media luna) for breakfast, listen to a lecture on shock cultural or the transportation or something student related, then have lunch, and sometimes stay for an afternoon activity. Highlights of the orientation: Monday we were split into random groups and had to do a scavenger hunt around campus. UCA sits right on the water, which is the same color as the Potomac, and has about three buildings connected by an underground tunnel. My group won the scavenger hunt, so we all received the cup thingy that Argentines drink mate from. Mate is an herbal tea of sorts, it’s a very ritualistic social drink. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(beverage) ... read more

I have been in Buenos Aires for about four days now, so this first entry may be a bit more event orientated and a bit less anecdote orientated. Wednesday morning I arrived in BsAs with two other GW students. We were among the first to arrive at the hotel Bel Air for orientation, joined later in the day by the other 14 students in our group. The orientation lasted three days and was led by Lise-Anne, an American now living in Santiago (where she completed her masters) and Marcelo, an Argentine professor. Lise-Anne will return to Chile this weekend and give orientation for the GW students that will be studying there (apparently, there are only 2 or 3) and Marcelo will be our main point of contact here in Argentina. During the orientation we learned about ... read more