1. We walked around for 2 hours trying to find cell phones that were cheap but we walked to five different stores but they didn't have enough for our entire group and we all want the same company so its cheaper to communicate. We saw more of La Plata which is good but another day without phones is getting annoying. It's hard to meet up with our group and talk with our host moms about when we'll be home and such. Hopefully, we'll get them tomorrow.
2. I think I'm going to take a tango class. At a cultural center close to La Comisión you can sign up for classes in art, language, music, theater and most importantly, dance. We want to learn tango when we're in Argentina but even if I can't take tango I think it would be a good way to meet people too.
3. Ice cream is delicious. We stopped after class at una heladería and I had some sort of Dulce de Leche with peanuts and chocolate. It was wonderful (plus i miss peanuts/peanut butter especially so it was good to have some here).
4. People at La Comisión talked to us today about a program that they have called "Jovenes y Memoria" or "Youth and Memory." It sponsors a year long project for high school students of research into the disappeared from their region and helps them create a project to display their work. We watched an awesome documentary that showed incredible courage and curiosity in the students to investigate what happened with bodies that washed up on the shore in their town during the 1970s. It's really great to see young people so interested and involved in their country's history.
5. I talked tonight with Eli a little about politics and she is a Peronista (and thus, she supports Cristina Kirchner the current president of Argentina) through and through. I hate to say that I don't know much about the politics in Argentina but I'm excited to learn more seeing as they have an election in October for President.
That's it for now. More pictures later.
Love, Caroline
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Hola from La Plata, Argentina
Hello everyone! Before leaving for La Plata, Argetnina I didn't think I was going to keep a blog but I just have so many things to tell everyone and it's easier to tell people all at once on a blog than explaining each thing to every person. No promises as to the content and promptness of this blog but we'll see how things go.
I arrived in La Plata on Sunday and I already love it. La Plata is the capital of the province of Buenos Aires. There are about 500,000 people in La Plata and almost 80,000 students. It's a very youth based city and there are lots of people my age (but also older because many people go to school for almost all of their 20s b/c higher education is completely free). It's an easy city to navigate, numbered streets in a grid but then a few diagonals too. I've explored a bit but I'm still gaining my bearings. I like living in a city-- there's a lot going on and everything is within walking distance (plus i haven't figured out the bus system so I've been walking everywhere).
I live with a host family and one other student from W&M named Ruth Ann (here is a picture of our room-- I'm on top bunk).
My host mom is Eliana (or Eli) and she has two kids: Francisca (7 years old) and Isidro (10 years old). Eli is so welcoming and really wants us to feel like its our house too. Living with kids is fun and they have no reservations about correcting my spanish or laughing at me when I sound like and American (here they say "yanqui" like yankee to describe Americans). Fran sometimes jokes with me when I ask her how to say certain words in spanish and instead tells me bad words instead. Una chica tan loca. I had a great Harry Potter chat with Isidro today complete with spells and a promise to go to Harry Potter world if he comes to the U.S. Eli also has lots of family around the house every day and I really like that they are such a big part of her life here. There are sisters, cousins, grandparents etc. and its hard to keep them all straight.
Let's see... classes. We started class today at La Comisión Provincial por la Memoria. It's a commission established in 2000 that focuses on human rights especially with "los desaparecidos" or the disappeared from the Dirty Wars and military junta in Argentina. They do some incredible work and I'm excited to learn from them and hopefully research with one of the departments that they have. Today was just a class de español but we start history classes this week too. The spanish here is definitely different than what you learn in school but its getting easier to hear even after three days. They don't pronounce "y" or "ll" but instead use "j". Me "jamo" Caroline. Vivo en "Caje" 3. It's definitely a different accent but I like it so far.
This is getting to be long so here are just a few things that i really love about La Plata so far:
People always kiss you on the cheek when you say hi-- its cute.
There are lots of parks or plazas around town.
This is Plaza de San Martin from a window in El Pasaje de Dardo Rocha.
Its warm! Like 85 degrees today which got a little hot in the middle of the day but is still nice.
I understand more than i thought i would (expectations were really low) but i still have a long way to go.
I saw lots of people biking and running today so that's a good sign. I’m pretty sure biking here would be about 4789356935793805 times more dangerous than in the US. Nobody wears helmets (except people intense road biking people) and there are no stop signs and few stop lights.
Mate! Its kind of like green tea? but stronger and you share it with people when you drink it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_%28beverage%29.
El Catedral (Cathedral) in La Plata is incredible. I love love love churches in Latin America and this one is beautiful. The stained glass is so detailed in every window and it makes the light inside really pretty. I can't wait to go to mass there (hopefully this weekend).
This is a long post but I'll make sure to add photos next time. I love and miss everyone at home and I hope you are all doing well!
Con cariño,
Caroline
I arrived in La Plata on Sunday and I already love it. La Plata is the capital of the province of Buenos Aires. There are about 500,000 people in La Plata and almost 80,000 students. It's a very youth based city and there are lots of people my age (but also older because many people go to school for almost all of their 20s b/c higher education is completely free). It's an easy city to navigate, numbered streets in a grid but then a few diagonals too. I've explored a bit but I'm still gaining my bearings. I like living in a city-- there's a lot going on and everything is within walking distance (plus i haven't figured out the bus system so I've been walking everywhere).
I live with a host family and one other student from W&M named Ruth Ann (here is a picture of our room-- I'm on top bunk).
My host mom is Eliana (or Eli) and she has two kids: Francisca (7 years old) and Isidro (10 years old). Eli is so welcoming and really wants us to feel like its our house too. Living with kids is fun and they have no reservations about correcting my spanish or laughing at me when I sound like and American (here they say "yanqui" like yankee to describe Americans). Fran sometimes jokes with me when I ask her how to say certain words in spanish and instead tells me bad words instead. Una chica tan loca. I had a great Harry Potter chat with Isidro today complete with spells and a promise to go to Harry Potter world if he comes to the U.S. Eli also has lots of family around the house every day and I really like that they are such a big part of her life here. There are sisters, cousins, grandparents etc. and its hard to keep them all straight. Let's see... classes. We started class today at La Comisión Provincial por la Memoria. It's a commission established in 2000 that focuses on human rights especially with "los desaparecidos" or the disappeared from the Dirty Wars and military junta in Argentina. They do some incredible work and I'm excited to learn from them and hopefully research with one of the departments that they have. Today was just a class de español but we start history classes this week too. The spanish here is definitely different than what you learn in school but its getting easier to hear even after three days. They don't pronounce "y" or "ll" but instead use "j". Me "jamo" Caroline. Vivo en "Caje" 3. It's definitely a different accent but I like it so far.
This is getting to be long so here are just a few things that i really love about La Plata so far:
People always kiss you on the cheek when you say hi-- its cute.
There are lots of parks or plazas around town.
This is Plaza de San Martin from a window in El Pasaje de Dardo Rocha. Its warm! Like 85 degrees today which got a little hot in the middle of the day but is still nice.
I understand more than i thought i would (expectations were really low) but i still have a long way to go.
I saw lots of people biking and running today so that's a good sign. I’m pretty sure biking here would be about 4789356935793805 times more dangerous than in the US. Nobody wears helmets (except people intense road biking people) and there are no stop signs and few stop lights.
Mate! Its kind of like green tea? but stronger and you share it with people when you drink it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_%28beverage%29.
El Catedral (Cathedral) in La Plata is incredible. I love love love churches in Latin America and this one is beautiful. The stained glass is so detailed in every window and it makes the light inside really pretty. I can't wait to go to mass there (hopefully this weekend).
This is a long post but I'll make sure to add photos next time. I love and miss everyone at home and I hope you are all doing well!
Con cariño,
Caroline
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