Lectures and Lions

As of Monday I officially started my courses at both FLACSO and the University of Buenos Aires. At FLACSO I am taking 4 courses, three of which I had this week. On Monday I had Argentine History and Literature in the 20th Century. Our first reading assignment was "Tema del traidor y del héreo" by Jorge Luis Borges, a famous, famous Argentine writer. We discussed the way in which history is altered by literature and perspective, which was very interesting. My other two courses at FLACSO are "Language in Action: Writing and the Urban Landscape in Argentine Literature" and "Seminar on Intercultural Exploration in Buenos Aires." Both are very progressive classes! In the first one, we will travel to various locations in the city during the semester to view the locations that the authors describe in their works! I am extremely excited for those trips :) Then in my intercultural course our first assignment is a make a local friend and ask them to be your "compañero cultlural"- cultural partner. Basically, they will be a friend who we meet with to discuss life here in Buenos Aires and local values, customs, and more. The assignment is meant to help us expand outside our "American Bubble" and find someone to help us make the most of our experience here. I think I found a possible friend for the assignment and in general, but you'll read about that further down :)

This week I also attended 2.5 courses at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA)! The reason I say 2.5 is because for one of my classes my professor never showed up! Hahaha! So I sat in the classroom for 40 minutes with my classmates and made 2 new girlfriends from Brazil and Buenos Aires and then we all left. The two classes I successfully attended were linked, one was the theory class and the other was a recitation type class called el "práctico" with a smaller group of students. Let's just say like public hospitals, public schooling is different in Buenos Aires.

All Argentine citizens have a right to a FREE public education, so the universities are huge!! Every student selects a career, which in someways resembles a major and in many was does not. Instead of having electives and certain requirements outside their career, the students only take courses pertaining to their field of study, such as social work, psychology, or economics... My first class on Wednesday (the theory portion) was in the career of communications in a class of about 90 people. We started class in one room and had to switch to another because there were too many students registered for the course. In Buenos Aires it is very very normal for classes start late and as well it is very acceptable for people to arrive places late to everything. We started class about 30 minutes late! After my práctico for the course today, a very nice girl who new I was not from Buenos Aires approached me after class to see if she could help/ comfort me at all. (I think she could tell I was a bit stressed and overwhelmed) Her name is Dolores and we ended up talking for a bit while she helped explain the school system to me! At the end of our chat, I just blatantly told her about the "compañero cultural" thing in my other class at FLACSO. She gave me her phone number and email, so I emailed her more information about it tonight! I hope she'll want to meet with me. I felt funny emailing her about it because I feel like I'm asking her to be my friend HAHA! Well you gotta do whatcha gotta do! :) Overall it was a busy week full of new and interesting experiences.

On a more relaxing and touristy note, today I went to the Zoo with three of my friends before class! It was so different from zoos in the US! We were able to go very close to and even touch some of the animals! We saw tons of different animals including lions, zebras, llamas, an elephant, monkeys, bears, penguins, and more! I fed a llama and these funny little animals that were running around everywhere! They looked like a mixture between a bunny, a kangaroo, and an dog, but none of us knew what they were. I took around 100 pictures just at the zoo today. Haha! Here are the best ones :)

Funny animals, if you know what they are please tell me :)

Huge spiders, as big as my hand!! AHH!

Me by the fake water fall!

Erin, Piper, Tara, and I with Rosie the Elephant (we named it!)

Also, on Monday night we celebrated my host dad's 65th birthday! I have now officially met all of my host siblings! The night was so fun and as usual the food was delicious! They are all so warm and welcoming. I truly have been blessed with a great family in the United States and a great family here in Buenos Aires. Miss you all!
Besos, Abbey

Luis, Me, Catalina, Carmencita, y Carmen