Oh yea, I’m here to study—right?

After Gualeguaychu we had our first final in our Spanish class at the Comisión. It was fine—nothing compared to W&M finals but still a reminder that we are taking classes here in Argentina.

We have finished our Spanish class (2 credits) and almost finished a history of Argentina in the 20th Century (3 creidts). We just started a new class on Tuesday about the construction of memory and its place in Argentina after the military dictatorship. I really like the professor (his style is similar to the professors at W&M) but it’s a little too theoretical for me. I feel like I’m back at school taking Intro to Hispanic Studies discussing “interpretive power” and “collective memory” (no mention of “imagined community” but I’m sure it will come up soon). However, if there is ever a place to study historical memory it would be in Argentina with the Comisión so it’s definitely a unique opportunity here.

The remainder of our credits will come from the University of La Plata. I finally signed up for classes at the University last week but they are still not set in stone. Here, public higher education is completely free. Thus, you can take however many classes you want and drop them at any point before the final exam. I have thus signed up for 5 different seminars and I’m waiting to see which one I will end up taking. After going to all the classes next week I’ll decide which one to take based on three criteria: the schedule that allows the most time to travel, the professor whose Spanish I can understand the best, and finally, the class that has the least amount of work/a written final instead of the traditional oral final exam that is customary in many classes. Maybe I’m slacking off a bit this semester but it’s hard enough to think in Spanish all day that I’m not really looking for more of an academic challenge.

I’m excited to finally nail down my schedule at school so I can start planning trips around Argentina. So far, my must-see list consists of Cordoba, Mendoza, and Bariloche with maybe a trip to Patagonia pending time and money remaining.

Overall, I’m still really enjoying the culture and it feels a little more permanent after a little more than a month in Argentina. I’m so lucky to be living here with wonderful people and I’m excited to see more of the country and meet more Argentines in the next couple weeks.

With love,
Caroline

Ps. Please send mail if you can! I promise to write back. My address is:
Caroline Grady
Calle 60 N 318
Entre 1 y 2
La Plata CP 1900
Buenos Aires, Argentina