30-31 July 2014
Yesterday, I went on a run in hopes of a) running off the delicious argentine steaks I’ve been eating and b) discover this new city I am calling home
Here are my discoveries:
1) Argentines take window-shopping very literally
2) Platform shoes are the hottest thing to hit Buenos Aires
3) Dog walking is an art—walking 8+ dogs is the norm
4) Argentines have a burning passion for fútbol. In fact, I passed by the Plaza Mayor Torcuato de Alvear, where there were not one, not two, but three statues of Argentina’s most prized fútbol players:
Gabriel Batistuta
Diego Maradona
Lionel Messi
5) And finally, I had to document that beautiful moment when I finally met my—though ceramic—idol, Lionel Messi.
Today, Nicole and I ventured out to our school, Universidad Torcuato di Tella, to get to know the area before our orientation tomorrow. The struggle was real. We first took the #60 Colectivo, which is the bus system here in Argentina, towards the university. We got off and started walking towards the school gracias a Google Maps. It turns out, we stopped the bus a three stops too early but we did find the school after much trial and error. Thankfully, there is a Vern express-like bus that takes us from the #60 bus stop to the university. You can take a girl out of GW but you really can’t take GW out of a girl, am I right? On our way back, we hopped on the same Colectivo, the bus driver was very nice and he took us exactly which stop our destination is and then he started speaking some sort of gibberish towards me and I had not a clue in the world as to what he was saying. That is until after we pass him that I realized he was trying to say “Ni Hao” to me. I thought it was bad when Costa Ricans would make their eyes slanted and say “chinos” to me, but I guess here in Latin America, there is no such thing as filters.
To go along with that, tonight at dinner, my host mom passed me a bowl of rice and asked me if I liked arroz. I said yes, obviously because at this point I was the hungriest person at the table due to missing lunch earlier in the day. I assumed having rice at the dinner table was completely normal based off my experience in Costa Rica. However, as soon as I served myself, my host mom then turned to Andrea, who is our housekeeper/cook/wonder woman who runs the house, and told her, “Please make more rice tomorrow! KAHTEE likes rice because she’s Chinese!”
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| Statue of Lionel Messi |
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| El Ateneo, famous theatre turned bookshop on Av. Santa Fe |
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| 1/4 kg traditional argentine ice cream from Freddo |
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