A Glass Half Full, A Semester Half Done

It is hard to fully comprehend that I have been in Argentina for two and a half months and even harder to believe that I have that much time left. Looking back on the past two and a half months it is hard to believe all the places I have been, things I have learned and how much has happened in such a short amount of time. The time feels like it has gone by quickly but I know I have made the most of every moment. I have traveled, explored and built friendships. I have also learned a lot of Spanish which is a feat within itself considering I couldn't string a sentence together when I arrived.

The next two and a half months are going to go by quickly but I know I will continue to travel and fall more and more in love with this beautiful country. This upcoming weekend my host family is taking me to the countryside of my province, Cordoba, to see some of the nearby cities that I haven't visited yet. The following weekend I will being headed to Brazil for a few days to see some friends and host families. Lots of traveling still to come!

School is in full swing now and midterms have begun. The bulk of my assignments and exams will be this next week and will include: a paper about euthanasia for Spanish, a photography project, and tests in my Argentine Literature and Spanish classes.

I am loving my host family. They regularly include me in every family event and always make me feel at home. My host mom is a wonderful cook and my host dad can always make me laugh.

This past weekend I traveled to Jujuy in the north of Argentina. I was only there for a couple of days but I had an incredible time and got to see some breathtaking places. I will blog soon with a post exclusively about the trip but until then, here a couple pictures from my weekend.

Lets Go On Strike For A Day!

Yesterday, March 31st, all public transportation in all of Argentina went on strike. When I say all, I really mean all. Some of the things that were are strike include:
Buses (local, mid and long distance)
Trains
3 out of 6 Airlines
Ports
Banks
Gas Stations
basically if it can get you from one place to another, they were on strike

My bus stop to go home from my university. I take number 18.

Why did they do this you may ask. Its because they don't like the president. I am sure there is more specific reasons beyond that but basically, that is why. Also, it was only for a day. Most things were closed because the majority of Argentina takes public transportation to get to work and it just wasn't possible to get there. My university gave out excused absences for anyone living 30+ blocks from school. As I live that far and normally take a public bus to school, I didn't have to go. Can't say I am complaining.

Getting from one place to another here is somewhat of an art in my opinion. Not everyone uses cars so there are so many ways to get places. I have used the public bus system most. A one-way ride costs 7.15 pesos (less than 1USD) and I take it at least twice a day on a regular school day. There are also private bus companies which have additional routes, are less crowded and often come more frequently. I haven´t had the need to take one yet but they cost slightly more and are not a bad alternative. You pay in cash which is convenient when your bus card does not have any money on it. In order to ride the public buses you have to pay for a card (about 25 pesos) and then add money to it periodically. You can only go negative on your card up to 2 bus rides so I try to keep a decent balance on my card on all times.

Bus 18, which runs next to my house, university, and all the way to downtown. 

There are also taxis, which the cost varies depending on how far you are going. From my house to downtown (a 40 minute ride completely depending on the traffic) can cost me upwards of 150 pesos. Most of the time people divide a taxi so that it does not come out that expensive. A short trip can be as low as 30 pesos (they normally charge a start up cost of about 15 pesos). There are two types of taxis, the yellow ones and the green ones. The yellow ones are the kind you normally flag down on the street and the green are called Remis. Generally you call the Remi company to come pick you up. I normally take Remis because they record in their system exactly when I am picked up which adds a little extra safety.

As Cordoba is a city, many things are in walking distance. At my first house I would walk to school which took about 20 minutes. I can walk to a mall, supermarket, some of my friends houses, and several other businesses from where I am currently living. Many people also own bikes and use those as their main form of transportation during the day. I have now had the uncomfortable pleasure of riding the crossbar of other peoples bikes side-straddle as a way of "catching a ride" a couple of times.

Some people own motorcycles or motorbikes. I haven't ridden one of them yet, but they are pretty common, especially among the young professional crowd as they don't have family to tote around. Of course there are always cars but most don´t have one and often times there is only 1 for an entire family when they do have one.

People can get pretty creative here on how they get themselves from place to place. You can even see a horse drawn cart from time to time. With so many ways to get where you need to go, its always a bit of a chore to figure out the best way to go. While I am not going to be saddling a horse to get to a friend´s house anytime soon, I have definitely started to master the art of transportation in Argentina.

I Have A Secret.

I have a secret. I like to travel. I guess that isn't exactly a secret, but you might not realize that I travel low budget. I will start out with my most recent trip which was 3 days/ 4 nights to Mendoza, Argentina.  

There is not just one secret magical trip to traveling cheap but I will share a couple of the ways I have traveled cheaply in the past. 

For my trip to Mendoza March 21st-March 25th I went with a group which can sometimes be the cheapest way to travel. I went with a travel agency from my city in Argentina called Intercambio Cordoba which was created by a german about 5 years ago to provide cost affordable trips for exchange students living in Cordoba. It is run and organized by young adults who understand where to cut costs and what is important to students in their early 20s. Basically, they didn't have us spending the entire weekend looking at art displays and discussing the history of the region in great depth. 

Some of the activities included: rafting, an afternoon at a pool, big asado dinner, optional night out, visiting an Inca carved/natural land formation "el puente del Inca", hiking next to Aconcagua (6956 meters above sea level), a visit to a statue of saint martin crossing the andes (which required hiking up a hill to get to), and a bike tour to different wineries/vineyards. 

The trip included transportation, the cost of all the activities, all the food and drink except for 1 lunch,  and the hostel. The trip cost me about $230 USD. I would say that is a win. The only additional things I paid were my one lunch, snacks, taxi to get to and from the place the bus left from, and souvenirs. Without souvenirs, the trip cost me around $250 USD. Two of the nights were spent on the bus in transport, the other two at hostels. We ate burgers, sandwiches, a big asado, typical breakfast foods, had snacks periodically provided and were completely taken care of. It was a great way to see a place that is about an eight hour drive from where I am living and in a cost effective manner. 

For me, the two most important ways to save money on a trip is housing and transportation. The cheaper the hostel/hotel/bus/flight/taxi/walk/bike ride/ whatever, the better. As long as it is safe, obviously. 

For spring break freshman year I spent $227.63 for 2 weekends+ 1 week by sleeping in homes of people I know, buying groceries for some meals, and traveling by car (splitting cost of gas), and taking advantage of free activities (AKA beach and window shopping). In Brazil I took a bus (about $50 round trip) to a different part of the country to visit a city I had not been to. I stayed at a French girl's house that I had met while previously traveling, traveled around the city on the public bus system, and took advantage of some of the local tourist opportunities that were very cost efficient (museums, tourist bus system, overlook of the city, public parks, etc). I have learned that often times city governments offer some great tourist attractions or interesting places to visit for almost no cost as a way to encourage tourism. It doesn't require deep pockets, 5 star hotels, and 3 weeks of entry to disney theme parks to have some really cool experiences. 

Money, Money, Money

Money is a somewhat confusing topic in Argentina but I will explain it the best way possible. 

In Argentina inflation is a real thing and a serious problem. The currency is the "Argentine Peso" and what a peso is worth varies within a matter of months and over the course of a year can dramatically change. Because of this problem, Argentines began purchasing dollars as a form of more stable currency to save with. 

When the economy in Argentina crashed awhile back, they actually converted completely to dollars. When they returned to using pesos, the purchase of dollars became restricted as a way to stabilize the economy. The only problem is, no one trusted the peso and knew how unreliable it was. Out of this distrust of the currency, the dollar became a valuable resource worth purchasing and investing in. Since an Argentine can not just go and purchase as many dollars as they want because of the restrictions, a black market was born. There is an official exchange rate and then an unofficial rate or the "blue dollar" rate. This blue rate changes slightly most days and is well know around the country. It is broadcasted on the radio, published in newspapers, and talked about regularly. At lanacion.com you can see what the official rate and blue dollar rates are at any time. They even have a calculator to see what the dollar is worth depending on how you exchange money. 

It makes sense that Argentines save in dollars. If they were to save 1 million pesos today, it is possible that it would be worth half of that in 2 to 3 years, devaluing their savings significantly. There are only estimates as to how many dollars are being saved in Argentina but guessed that there is around 50 billion USD being hoarded within the country. NPR did a piece on the exchanging of dollars in Argentina if you are interested in reading more. 

Currently, I can get about 13 pesos/1 dollar if I exchange at the blue rate, but only about 8.8 pesos/1 dollar at the official rate (like withdrawing from an ATM or taking dollars to a bank). When it comes to paying tuition, travels, or day to day expenses that can make a huge difference. 

$100 dollar bills compared to 100 peso bills when exchanged at the blue rate. The largest bill in Argentina is 100 pesos, which is currently worth about 10USD (depending on which rate you use). 

There is a 3rd way that some exchange students get money if they did not bring dollars to Argentina and it is through XOOM. Xoom is a money transferring company in which dollars can be transferred to this company and then you later go to their location and pick up pesos as a rate that falls somewhere between the blue and official rates. There is a small fee attached to the service. I have not used it before and I have no idea how illegal or legal it is but from the testimonies of the other students who are studying in Cordoba with me, they have said that is has worked out well for them. 

So that is money in Argentina. Somewhat complicated but if you stuck with the entire post, at least you got in your economics lesson for the day. 

First Weeks of Classes on the Books

From February 5th to March 5th I was partaking in an intensive Spanish month at my school here in Argentina. The month consisted of classes and activities Monday-Sunday, for almost the entire day, with homework every night. All of my classes were in Spanish and we had professors for Spanish, History and Culture. There were 17 people in the group, 3 from Japan, 1 from Canada and the rest from the US (mostly from Clemson). We visited places around the city and region together and really got a crash course on argentine life before our semester classes began.

Our semester classes began in early March. I am currently taking Spanish, DELE (a Spanish proficiency exam) prep course, Argentine Literature, and a Latin dance class with other exchange students. I am also taking Portuguese and photography with argentine students.

My class schedule 

One of the big differences between college in Argentina and the US is the textbooks. While we buy huge, couple hundred dollar textbooks in the US that we may or may not end up using for each class, the argentine students have little 100-250 page spiral-bound notebooks that their professor's have created with all the material that they will need. The notebooks consist of photocopied pages from other books, worksheets, and basically anything they want to put in them. The students go to the "photocopier" on campus to get these notebooks. The photocopier is a little center where you tell one of the guys that works there which classes you are taking, they pull up the documents on their computer and then print them for you and you pick them up the next day. The cost of each just depends on how many pages are in each. The most I had to pay for a textbook was about $9 USD.

Another difference is that the students have a very rigid class schedule. Each major has designated classes, no electives and all the students in the major take the same classes together for all four years. My photography class is with freshmen who are in their first semester together but my Portuguese class is with seniors who have already been together for three years. The difference between the students in each group is remarkable. It is different to be in classes that are so separated by year and major rather than having a mix like I am used to in the US.

More about school and classes will come later!

On campus, taken from the 2nd floor of the building I have most of my classes in. The red and white building is tons of computer labs and the white one is classrooms. 

Its Been Awhile! But I was busy turning 21 and traveling!

Since my last post I have changed families (March 1st), finished my intensive Spanish month (march 5th), turned 21 (also march 5th) and traveled to Buenos Aires (March 5th-9th). I also have begun some of my classes this week!

The outside of my first home. The middle one was my unit. 

My first host family

Goodbye asado with my first family

I am loving my new host family so far! They threw me a surprise asado with extended family for my 21st birthday with ice cream and a present. They have been extremely nice and helpful so far. I live with an older couple (68, 79) and their 30 year old son. From my new house I have to take a bus to and from school but the ride is quick. 

My host parents with some of the extended family for my birthday

Birthday Asado 

On my birthday I had my final exam for the intensive month (both oral and written) and then I traveled that night by bus to Buenos Aires to visit some of my friends there. I was able to celebrate my birthday in Buenos Aires with an Asado lunch as a wonderful steak restaurant and wonderful gifts from my favorite Argentine clothing store, Rapsodia.

Shopping 

This was waiting for me in my room when I arrived in Buenos Aires. 

Hockey field in Buenos Aires 

Hanging out with the hockey team my friends are on 

Puppies in San Telmo, Buenos Aires 

San Telmo 

New Argentine Shoes from Mishka 

Gauchos and Carne

This past Saturday I spent the day with my classmates on an estancia (farm) about an hour and a half from my university. In the morning we ate breakfast there, watched the farm hands try to lasso cows and then rode some of the horses they had. That afternoon we ate asado which is where someone cooks tons of carne (meat) on a large outdoor grill. After our huge lunch we learned about the gaucho (cowboy) lifestyle from the owner of the farm, learned some traditional music and learned a little bit about traditional dances. The gaucho culture has a complex history and a unique lifestyle that makes Argentina's farming unique from other countries.

Breakfast with homemade jellies, coffee, yerba mate, coffee, etc 

Someone didn't like the idea of lassos

Asado 

Disaster Relief

Once again I have had an eventful and exciting weekend. Friday afternoon I got together with some other exchange students and Argentine tutors to help out in Mendiolaza, an area about 25 minutes from where I live.

For those who haven't heard, Cordoba and the surrounding region received an abnormal amount of rain this month. There was so much rain within a short period of time that some areas were placed under a "state of emergency" and troops were deployed to assist with relief. There was tons of flooding, at least 1,500 houses were effected and around 10 people died (the number hasn't been finalized yet).

People in my area had told me that the rain had been pretty bad but didn't prepare me for what I saw when I got there. With two bridges completely taken out, roads and homes flooded, and many places completely destroyed, there was a desperate need that hasn't been met.

This woman's house was right next to the river, flooding her house and leaving about one foot of mud on top of her front and back yards.

Every house we visited did not have working electricity, they were working to get the water back and running, and everything in the houses had been completely submerged under water. 

Every house had removed everything from inside and placed anything salvageable out in the yards to dry. The rest went into huge trash mounds in front of the houses. 

The families told stories of water reaching chest high, trying to salvage anything, damage to cars, lack of beds, having no clothes, or their children being without basic necessities, and no toys left. 

We found a teddy bear near the river that had been destroyed by the flooding.

One of the saddest parts was that there were very few people around to help. Our large group was able to help but there was still so much to do and some of the only other people were police. At least they were nice and working hard to help. 

The following pictures are from the time we spent in Mendiolaza. We are hoping to go back again this week. There is so much need and so much to be done. 

We worked hard but managed to have fun doing it! 

One of the saddest things I saw. Two young girls carrying donated clothes home. One was shoeless. 

Carrying donated goods 

This woman lost pretty much everything except her dogs, her family, a few plates and some chairs but had a wonderful attitude. She was extremely thankful for the help and when we asked her if there was anything she needed her only response was "We are doing really good. The only thing we could use is shoes but other than that, I think we are fine!" She said that as she was standing in torn clothing in front of her empty, water damaged house that still had standing water in the destroyed kitchen. 

This 2 1/2 year old wanted to be held but would not smile and was not interested in playing. She was scared to be away from me or her mother for any amount of time. 

As typical as Argentina gets, every house had Mate (similar to tea) to offer, even though they didn't have anything else. Everyone that helped was offered Mate. Mate was originally used by the indigenous people in Argentina as a way to help get through a long day of work. The tradition still stands today 

This was the owner of one of the houses she worked on. She was extremely thankful for all the help. She told us that a 4 year old and an 8 month old baby normally live in her house and that they were there when the flooding occurred.