In another city, 'neath another sky...: "A Shrine? I Thought It Was a Recycling Center."

Classes began Tuesday. We were to be at the University of Buenos Aires’ Facultad de Filosofía y Letras at 8:30 in the morning. I awoke at 6:30 and left at 7:35 in order to meet at with a couple of classmates at the underground station between where we live - not the one closest to me - at 7:45. I underestimated the amount of time it would take to walk there and only arrived at 7:50, but they were nowhere to be seen, and we had agreed that if by 7:55 we didn’t find each other, it was every man (girl) for him(her)self. A different classmate came along at that time, and we left, down, down, under the earth and into hell. Just kidding. Hell was nowhere to be found, surprisingly, and we rode the D line, switched to E, and reached our destination. We began to walk in the wrong direction until we realized that was what we were doing, at which point we turned around, continued walking, and eventually reached the school, which really looks more like a warehouse than anything. I think it actually used to be a factory, provided I understood the history professor correctly. I don't have any pictures of it yet because I don't want to seem conspicuously touristy, but I will be sure to get some at some point.

Classes were fine. There was nothing particularly unusual about them other than the fact that our Castellano classroom was more like a closet, and that Diego was great (but we’ve been over this, remember?)

For lunch we went to a café (named Socrates) that’s across the street from the University. It has free WiFi. It also has delicious orange juice, as I discovered later Tuesday when I returned to Socrates for a second time after history class. We still have yet to thoroughly explore the area and find other places to eat/internet so that we’re not spending our entire lives at Socrates, but we’ll get there eventually, I suppose.

Wednesday I took the bus to school, and it took 45 minutes. (Thursday I took the subway, and it took 60.) Clearly the former is the best choice. This would not be a problem if it were not for the fact that you must pay with coins in order to take the bus. This is like, a legitimate issue here, the lack of coins. It’s a huge problem. Like, you’ll go to an internet café and it’ll end up costing, say, $1.50, and you’ll pay with a $2 bill, and they’ll give you a piece of chocolate instead of 50 cents. Or you’ll to out to lunch, and two people will each order something that costs $21, and one person pays $22, and another pays with a $100 bill. The waiter only takes $20 from the person who paid $100, and says that she owes the other person $1 (which only come in coins - there are coins from 5 cents to 1 peso, and bills from 2 pesos on up). It’s absolutely ridiculous. I mean, I assume the government’s working on it in some way? I don’t know.

On Wednesday I also got my iPod stolen on the subway. It’s my fault; I had put it in a stupidly theftable location. Still, I can’t have noticed more than a minute or two after it was stolen - I admire his or her stealthiness, though I would admire it more if I still had my iPod in hand.

For Literature class on Thursday we had to read “El Sur” by Borges. I had previously read this for my lit class last semester, but it was really exciting to re-read it and now recognize the street names mentioned when the protagonist is in Buenos Aires.

After class, I went to the COPA office, because Daniel had emailed me, saying I had a package. It turned out to be from Wagler - chocolate and a yodeling rodent. I encourage you all to follow her example. One can never have too many yodeling rodents (nor can one ever tire of typing that phrase - try it!) But anyway, my address is as follows:

Shruti Krishnan

Corrientes 880 - 8^o C

(C1043AAV) Buenos Aires

Argentina

(My phone number, if you’re calling from the US and feel like making an international call, is 011 54 9 11 3096 5532.)

Thursday night there was a pizza dinner for the whole huge group. I took pictures:

Mia, Sarah, Sarah, Lizzie:

Wine, which is no longer there, because I drank it. This is photographic evidence. (Note: the green bottles contained in these pictures are just water, however.)

COPA people, from left to right: Diego (!), Griselda, Laura, Daniel, Patricio.

Terrence, Kendall, Cornelia, Lauren, Katie, Kristin.

Some of us went to a bar afterwards. It was quite possibly more American than anything I’ve ever done - even in the United States, unfortunately. There’s a future rant to come about our cultural imperialism (just letting you know ahead of time). There was a Celtics vs. Lakers basketball game on, if anyone cares. L to R: Sean, Lauren, Chloe, Chris, Nick, Kristin, Katie. Maura and Nora were there too, but I think they might have left by this point?

I was still a little camera-happy when I got home, so I photographed my room. Unfortunately, it seemed impossible to get a good angle.

Window, bed, suitcase, hair dryer, backpack, mirror (above), books used to prop up my adapter which doesn’t fit snug enough into the outlet to support its own weight, space heater, door into the kitchen and rest of the house (back right), dresser (front right).