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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

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. 

Monday, March 30, 2015

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. 

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

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