Although I have fully recovered from my sickness and feel healthy as ever, my first day of classes wasn't as successful as I had hoped.
My first class started at 8:30 AM and I even made it there early. The class was called Cognition, Thoughts, and Language and despite the fact I wasn't 100% sure what it was about (they don't have easily accessible class descriptions) I figured that it was Psychology and I would like it. And I would have...if the class hadn't started two weeks earlier. On the plus side, I really liked the professor. She had a lot of energy and was easy to understand, even if I didn't understand the material in the context of the class because I hadn't had the previous week's background information. Minor setback, no big deal. I will just drop it and either keep four classes or add another class.
My next class, which I have with a few of my friends and I'm very excited about, is advanced Spanish. It is just going to be nice to get back into the swing of learning grammar, vocabulary, etc. Plus it's the only class I will have with other foreign exchange students who are more or less in the same boat as me. This class is only an hour and a half, twice a week. I really liked the professor, and I think that the material and projects will be fun and interesting.
One thing that's very different from classes back home and is having one class for three hours once a week. The longest classes I'm used to at Monmouth is 75 minutes. However, so far the time seems to go by fast.
My last class of the day, The Evolution of Society, went less swimmingly. This class is from 7:00 PM-10:00 PM, and I have it with all other Argentine students. At the start of the class, I was feeling confident and was taking notes religiously...when he was writing on the board. After he was finished explaining the timeline, he sat down and was speaking so fast he would be two sentences ahead by the time I finally figured out what he previously said. As the minutes wore on, I got more and more anxious...the kid sitting next to me wasn't even taking notes! I could feel my face burn from embarrassment. After our break things seemed to be looking up and he seemed to be repeating things more and speaking more slowly...for about 5 minutes. I'm sad to say this kind of ruined my St.Patrick's Day, so I came home and mowed down on some North American junk food and watched Modern Family.
On a brighter note, I woke up this morning optimistic for my noon class today: Society and Culture, and I went on a run. So now I'm feeling energized and uplifted. Last night was just a speed bump, that I will confidently and successfully get over. I will start recording the lessons and studying extra hard outside of class. This experience wasn't supposed to be easy, and roller coasters are more fun to ride than elevators, anyways.
Last Saturday, Rachel and I went to a fair that doubled as a horse race. There were food stands with dishes from Brazil and Chile:
After that we decided to go see a movie and we ended up watching Taken 3. I'm not sure if that was a good choice or not but the fact that it was in English with Spanish subtitles seemed to be comforting.
On Sunday, we went with BAIS (Buenos Aires International Students) to a trip to Perú Beach. We didn't get to swim but laying in the sun making friends definitely makes up for it. Also, we discovered Clericot which tastes exactly like summer. It's a fruit mix added to a white wine of some sort. I may be addicted:
After that we took a stroll through Belgrano, where China Town is. We didn't spend much time there but I definitely want to go back:
On Monday, we took a trip to Teatro Colón, a theater house for opera that absolutely takes your breath away with its elegance:
And this weekend...the waterfalls of Iguazú!!! I absolutely cannot wait. I will be gone from Friday night until Wednesday morning, but I will definitely post all the pictures and information after I've rested and had class for that day.
-Besos de Buenos Aires
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