The Beauty of Chaos

WARNING: This entry is pretty whiney, and I'm tired so the writing probably makes little sense…

So Latin Americans have a bit of a reputation for being late for EVERYTHING and not really having any desire to regulate/organize their schedules. That said classes "started" today.

My first class today was at UCA and is an Intro to Poli Sci course (not sure why I signed up for it, but hey, when in Argentina...) I successfully maneuvered my way onto the right Colectivo and took it all the way out to the class and after asking about 10 people where my classroom was, finally found where I was supposed to be. I sat through the class (which started 40 minutes late) and afterwards went to try to find out where my next class was supposed to be 3 hours later. I asked the lady in charge of the schedules and she told me she had no idea but that they would be sending out an e-mail with the schedules for those specific classes (Estudios Latino Americanos...they're pretty much for foreigners, I'm taking an Economic Development class). I had no idea what to do but just went ahead and met up with my friends at the program office which was like a 15 minute walk away. I checked my e-mail for the schedule of the next class only to find out that someone decided to register me in the section of the Intro to Poli Sci class that meets tomorrow, even though I signed up for the one today. It's a different professor so I have to go AGAIN. That was the first little annoyance of the day.

After that, we went to a vegetarian buffet (a rarity in a country full of parrillas, or argentine barbecues) because one of my friends is a vegan (yeah, I know.) and then I headed back over to UCA to see if I could find out about my class.

I got to UCA and found a sheet with the course listings and Aulas (classroom) and headed to my room. Side note: I had to take my stuff to the laundromat (the one that washes, dries and folds my clothes for me for like $8, you know?) and therefore had no clothes and had to wear athletics shorts and a t-shirt today. Anyway, I get to my classroom and no one was there because Argentines like to be late to EVERYTHING. As I was walking around a security guard confronted me and told me that I needed to go home and change because I'm not allowed to wear shorts. Blow number 2. Good story, my apartment is 30 minutes away, and this was 5 minutes before class. I just didn't go to the class and walked back to the COPA office and checked my email again and then went to pick up my clothes from the laundromat so I would have jeans to wear for my class at USAL at 6, another Catholic school; better safe than sorry...

I walked over to USAL and find out the class that COPA had told me I could sign up for doesn't even meet this semester. Blow number 3. My friend was taking an Argentine History class so I decided I would go along and try it out, because I lost the lottery to get into the one at UCA, and sat through that for 3 and a half hours. It actually was really interesting and I think I'm probably going to take it.

So anyway, I probably walked a total of about 6 miles today back and forth between places, but that's mostly my fault because I didn't want the added stress of trying to find the right Colectivos that go everywhere I needed to go. Boo me. Today sucked pretty bad and I'm pretty tired, but it's over now and tomorrow's a new day with a new, wiser Spenser.

Classes I'm seriously looking at taking/am already taking: Economia y Desarollo, Argentine Literature, History of Argentina. There's still a ton more on the menu, but those are looking like the best for me right now.

In other news, last weekend I went to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes with a few friends. I enjoyed it, it's a huge pink ugly building but they have some pretty cool stuff inside, the bottom floor is all European and the top is all Argentine. They had Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, Van Gogh, Edgar Degas, and some pretty famous Argentine painters too. Pretty cool for a free museum.

Other than that I mostly just rested up over the weekend, walked around the botanical gardens (couldn't go in because it closed) with my friends and ate Dulce de Leche ice cream, and on Saturday night went to a Mexican restaurant, which had spicy food (such a breath of fresh air!) and then went to a bar/dance hall thing and stayed out until 6 in the morning like a true Porteño.

And on a last note, the food here isn't the best but I love the empanadas and the pizza is pretty good too. The highlight, for sure, is the dulce de leche, which is basically like a softer caramel. It's pretty much like Mexican dulce de leche, but they use it all the time here. They have a little pastry that's called an alfajor, which is basically two cookies sandwiched together with dulce de leche. I also spread it on my toast every morning for breakfast which is pretty much the coolest thing ever.

That's all I've got for now, I need to go to bed. I took a few pics of my neighborhood the other day and I'll try to get those up within the next day or so when I have a little more energy.