More BA photography.

Coolest work of art I've ever seen, made up of pillars. In the "Parque de la Memoria."

Some pescadores (fishermen) on the coast of the Rio de la Plata in Buenos Aires.

Aeroparque Jorge Newbery. If you fly to Buenos Aires, I recommend that you land here.

Sweet clock.

This is why I love Buenos Aires.

I took this video while walking through a park in Buenos Aires today:

That's right. Dance aerobics! They do it every weekend. Awesome.

Mid-Terms

If you're an MSU student, you're probably just getting into the swing of the semester, figuring out your classes and your teachers.

I, on the other hand, am taking mid-terms, or "examenes parciales" as they are called en español, and it is not enjoyable. Especially because the way most classes work here, the mid-term counts for 20-30% of your grade. I suppose it isn't too different from the way a lot of MSU classes work; there isn't a lot of graded homework, just a few papers, the mid-term, and the final. But, when everything is in Spanish, it seems a lot worse.

Also, the grading system here is not the same as in the United States. Instead of an A-F letter system, they use a 1-10 number system, with 1 being the absolute worst and 10 the absolute best. I'm pretty sure I need a 6 or higher to get credit for my classes, and thankfully they go on my transcript as "Pass" or "Fail" so I don't have to stress too much about my GPA getting lower because of a weird grade transfer.

Today marks my 3 month anniversary in Argentina. I have to say, although at times I wonder why I even try to speak Spanish, I have gotten far better at it over the past 3 months. It's hard to notice on a daily basis, but every week gets better and now I realize that I am taking classes in which only Spanish is spoken and I just took two midterms for two literature classes in which I only wrote in Spanish, and I'm feeling good about it. I didn't even bring my dictionary to the midterms, because looking up words wastes time and I know enough Spanish that I can communicate what I want to, and when I'm reading I can figure out what words mean from the context, instead of looking every third word up like I was at the beginning of the semester.

Basically, living in Argentina has been worth every minute!

What it's like to study abroad.

I have written many things on this blog, related to fun events, travels, and a little school here and there (because isn't that the way life goes? ha, ha). But I have not really described what it is like to study abroad. So here it is:

It's like the first semester of college all over again, but this time you're surrounded by people speaking a foreign language and you're living with a family of strangers (aka host family). Sounds fun, right?

But after the initial shock, the people of the family you live with are not strangers. They are concerned for your well-being, but they give you freedom to come and go as you please. They find out which foods you like and feed them to you. They teach you interesting tidbits about the culture and the language. They become your family, your extended family that lives abroad.

The language takes some getting used to, but all you have to do is give it time and keep trying. Every day I learn more, every week I notice I am speaking better Spanish than the week before. It's amazing. I almost wish I could stay here a whole year to really get fluent, but Bozeman is calling me...

Before I left for Argentina, at the Study Abroad Orientation, I kept hearing "keep your sense of humor." I thought, "Great advice. How am I going to do that when I have no idea what is going on?" But now, three months after my arrival, I understand. Your sense of humor is all in your head, in your imagination, in your way of looking at things. I now understand enough Spanish that I can laugh at people's jokes, but even more than that I feel comfortable and happy enough here that I can step back, look at a situation, and laugh. I can sit on the Subte (subway) listening to music and people watching, and laugh. And it's all very entertaining.

At this point, the less English I hear and speak every day, the better.

Every move has an adjustment period. New place, new people, new way of life, and in the case of Study Abroad, new language. Adjusting takes time. But when you can allow yourself to feel comfortable and confident doing what you're doing, life is awesome.

And when all else fails, you always have your sense of humor.

Dash Berlin in BA

As the concert-going fanatic I am, I have recently started trying harder to get into the music scene in Buenos Aires. There is literally ALWAYS something going on, every night of the week. Sometimes you have to prioritize (especially when you're in school). But, by far the best show I have been to in a long time was last Friday at Club Pacha, when I saw Dash Berlin, a DJ from the Netherlands. I have been somewhat obsessed with European electronic/trance music for the past four months or so, so it was basically a dream come true.

As is the Argentine way, Dash Berlin didn't start playing until around 3 a.m. (there was other music before, obviously), and he kept playing until 7:15 a.m. When I finally left, it was light outside...and that's how it is in Buenos Aires. It was, to say the least, amazing. I took some videos but my repeated attempts to upload them have failed, so I'll leave you with this YouTube video: