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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