Blogs

A few of my friends have blogs here and they are funny and smart and will often contain things that I am too lazy to write about. 

This is Jenn's

And this is Cassie's - I slightly take credit for this one because it was started on my bed. 

Read them! I am featured, occasionally. 

Also, phone lines are now open for a new blog name for me. All the way back in June I was feeling particularly pretentious, apparently. 

Education system is still messed up

And so I'm going to keep complaining about it. 

Anyone who knows me knows that although I am 21 years old, my common sense hasn't grown proportionally with age. That, coupled with my constant need to seek my mother's approval caused me to declare a 2nd major a little late in the game. Now I'm desperately trying to graduate in 4 years, a future which seems counterintuitive to maintaining my GPA. In order to have even the remote possibility of accomplishing this, I have to take an economics class while I'm here. 

La Chile is broken up into about 15 different "facultades" which should have similar classes, but don't. Sure you're likely to find a political science class in the Social Sciences Facultad, but you can also find one at the School of Law, the Science and Math Facultad or really anywhere else. Which means you basically have to look at EVERY SINGLE CLASS IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSITY. And since putting descriptions up on the web would be revealing top secret information, you have to visit every campus and ask for descriptions. At which point they look at you like the filthy gringa whore that you are, because apparently only exchange students need this info. Chileans automatically know what's up. 

Which brings me to the Economics Facultad. The only classes that I can take in it are smack dab in the middle of the day. Just like most other classes. Which would be fine if they ran on a semi-normal schedule. But while the rest of the school has Mon-Wed or Tue-Thu classes, this facultad only has Mon-Thu, Tue-Fri classes. Effectively making it impossible to sign up for almost anything else. 

Well, that's not quite true. There is a class at 8 in the morning. But anyone who knows my common sense issues will also know about my waking issues. Especially former roommates.

This is not my happy face.

The education system in Chile is MESSED UP

I am so used to the straightforward American system. You get to pick your classes MONTHS in advance. There is (usually) only one campus. When you arrive for your first day of class the professor is there. In the rare case that there is a room change, they actually let you know. They are able to post the hours and days your class meets so you can actually...wait for it...plan out your course load. 

This is so stressful. We have two weeks to decide whether or not we want to take a class, but the likelihood of a professor showing up during those two weeks is pretty slim. Also La Chile has a strike EVERY YEAR, which means our finals will be postponed, which means planning any sort of travel is like playing russian roulette. 

I am so ready to be flexible in terms of my living arrangements and pretty much anything else but I am trying to graduate in 4 years here, people. A little help?

Bell means war in Latin

Okay, my photos are finally up on Flickr. It took about 20 hours to post them all. About 2 hours into uploading was when nostalgia for film cameras hit me. Having a 2GB memory card and having the ability to take over 400 photographs apparently isn't always a good thing. And I still have to upload onto Facebook and Costco. Nurtz. Though probably it doesn't help that I am battling The Slowest Internet Of My Life. You may think you know what slow internet is, but you don't. That's right Sveta, possessive.

I've been avoiding posting about Argentina. Not because I had such a bad experience there that I just want to forget the whole trip ever happened, but because I spent 2 weeks there, stayed in 4 different hostels saw incredible, amazing things, and don't really have the energy to write about ALL of it. So for now I'm just going to go on a random rant about things that were different/similar to Chile/US because its 1:30 in the morning and I'm not about to attempt to organize all my thoughts.

Argentina, or at least Buenos Aires where I spent the majority of my time, is much more European-like than the rest of South America. It's very touristy, many people speak english, and everyone is white. I cannot tell you how many times I got approached for directions.

The transportation system is awful, at least compared to the one in Chile. The metro looks like a fork, so if you're at the top of one of the lines and want to go across the city to another line, you have to go all the way to the bottom, switch over in the very center of BA and then go back up. The bus system, which is much more extensive, is also rather ridiculous: it only accepts coins. This wouldn't be an issue in Santiago, where coins seem to be preferred to paper money, but in BA there is a severe coin shortage. Many stores will even have signs out front that say "No hay monedas" (We don't have coins). This can be a problem when its 2am, the metro isn't running any more, and most stores are closed.

Argentinians are very proud of the fact that they have the widest street in the world, 9 de Julio, running right through Buenos Aires. It will take two, and sometimes even three tries to cross it. Of course what they don't like to tell you is that it's actually three streets running parallel to each other. There aren't any buildings in between them, but there are several little parks as well as a giant obelisk.

Everyone in Argentina drinks mate, a type of drink made from Yerba Mate tea leaves. As the pisco sour is for Chile, this is the national drink. Vessels for drinking it are sold EVERYWHERE, and almost every vender on the street will have one next two him, as well as a thermos filled with hot water. Even their electric tea pots will have a mate setting on it, because the water isn't supposed to have been boiled when you pour it in, it's temperature needs to only be about 90º. It's drunk through a bombilla, a metal, straw-like instrument with a filter at the end. One of the guys at a hostel I stayed at made it for me and it's incredibly good. I'm surprised it hasn't spread outside of South America.

The most popular tourist attractions in Buenos Aires are: Recoleta Cemetery where Evita is buried, Plaza de Mayo where you can see Casa Rosada (The Pink House, where the president works) as well as the Pirámide de Mayo, and La Boca a very poor, slummy neighborhood that has three tiny very colorful streets where you can see tango and buy souvenirs.

Argentinians are crazy attractive. Men and women. It's somewhat ridiculous.

Alright, this shall do for now. I'll find an internet café later in the day and write more.

Chau.

My Stuff

Just got off of an 18-hour bus ride. I am now about 20 minutes away from the beautiful Iguazu Falls.

Getting to the bus terminal was kind of crazy. We had to get up really early after partying late the previous night, and get to the bus terminal 2 hours early. There were these little televisions there though, so we watched Monsters Inc. and Bones and all sorts of stuff. In a bus terminal. What will they think of next.

At some point some man started asking us about how the little TVs work. One peso for 15 minutes of television. Well worth it when you´re bored and tired and don´t want to stand around with all your luggage.

A few minutes later, my backpack was gone.

This wasn´t my purse, so I still have my passport, my camera, my iPod, and wallet.

All the presents that I bought, all my jewelry, about $200 and all my clothes are gone. Also that paper that they stamp when you enter the country.

Yeah, fuck you too, Argentina.

I haven´t had a breakdown yet, haven´t even cried. Needless to say, however, booze will be an integral part of the coming days.

First day in Buenos Aires

I will say more lovely things later, because there ARE lovely things to say. But in the meantime Ive had my money and cell phone stolen. Also the hostel is insanely hot which isnt really its fault because the city is boiling. And im really tired from walking around everywhere and tired of being so sweaty and for some reason they took my sheets and dont have any clean ones. Also cannot seem to find a functioning computer with skype and/or aim and half the pages dont work and i cant get in touch with my hostmom so she can go through my things and find the numbers for my travellers cheques.

Though really this is mostly because I havent eaten in 6 hours and because I cant find the apostrophe on this damn computer. And if I dont ever have to use Internet Explorer again it will be too soon.

Really, Buenos Aires is beautiful. I want to move here. Or at least I know I will want to move here once I stop feeling like such a cliche. Much love,

k.

I'm going to Argentina!

I bought my ticket last night. $250 dollars for a roundtrip ticket? Yes, we obviously live in the wrong country. Moving to South America as soon as education is completed. 

I was creating all sorts of plans in my head to go to Peru and/or Uruguay as well but those tickets are about 4 times more expensive and anyway, Argentina has always been the bigger dream. Although since I'll be staying in Buenos Aires, which is right near the Uruguayan border, I'll be able to take way cheaper bus rides to Montevideo and Punta del Este anyway. 

Oh man, still having trouble believing that this is my life. 

I don't know WHAT I was thinking not buying a South American guide book back home, but last night I downloaded an Argentina travel guide and a guide about 5 day trips you can take from Buenos Aires and now I'm reading up like mad. Arge-FREAKING-tina. Holy moly. 

Places that I will definitely be going to in the next two weeks:

• Buenos Aires
• Montevideo
• Iguazu Falls (yeah, that's right. who needs Niagara?)
• Tigre River
• SO MANY OTHER PLACES

And I kind of want to attend a football match but I've heard it can get somewhat dangerous in Argentina because of how passionate they are. Still, that's one of the biggest reasons I came to South America (the passion, not the football) so why not risk it?

I'm not bringing my laptop since I'll be staying in hostels and I want to minimize the opportunity of possessions near and dear to my heart getting stolen. Still, I will occasionally be popping into internet cafés to check messages so write to me about what kinds of presents you want! And do not write steak. Or men. You know who you are.