The Top 5 Lessons of this Semester

Hola todos,

I absolutely cannot believe that my first semester in Buenos Aires is over! I've learned a lot in the past 3 and a half months, so I wanted to share these lessons with you all! Some of them are about studying abroad, some are about Argentina, and some are pretty applicable to life in general. I hope you enjoy!

1) Less plastic, more fabric (or whatever cash is made of...)

I usually don't carry around cash with me in the States. At most, 10 dollars. Otherwise, I just use my credit card because of the convenience. However, here in BA a lot of places don't accept credit card. If they do, you don't want to use it because of the official exchange rate compared to the blue dollar rate (explained in this post). The point is, using a credit card here in BA can cost you 1.5 to 2 times the cost of cash! Carrying cash with you is a little scary at first, but discretion is key. Also, having a limited supply of money with you limits your spending, and giving tangible cash over to the cashier feels worse than a plastic card, so I find that I spend less. This leads me to...

2) Budget your money

This one is huge! I never really budgeted in the US- I just tried to save money where I could and splurged when I felt like it. Fortunately, I rarely got a surprise credit card bill (only around the time when I purchased text books). Now, however, I have a limited supply of cash to draw from every month. This has forced me to really consider what I purchase. It stops me from splurging or "treating myself" too often, and it keeps me honest about how much I have spent and on what items.

3) Look up, even if infrequently

Looking up while walking down the streets is pretty risky here in BA. You have these good intentions of looking at the city around you and checking out these historic buildings and streets but then you step in dog poop. It's happened to pretty much everyone in our group (I looked up for just a second to say goodbye to a friend when... SPLAT!). You make that mistake only once, trust me.
But it's quite a pity to stare at the ground when you are walking everywhere in the city, so even if it's dangerous, I suggest that you look up. Stop and look up. Or scan the ground ahead of you for potential dangers and then briefly glance towards the sky. The view of the top of the city is much more beautiful than the cracked sidewalks you would otherwise look at.

5) Trust your gut

Coming from life-long experience in American Suburbia, street-smart was not my primary instinct. Being in a big, urban city, not to mention a foreign one, has heightened my street-sense. I finally admitted that in a machismo society like that of Buenos Aires, I probably shouldn't walk the streets alone at night as a female, especially as a blonde. And even though that street vendor looks like a sweet little man and his choripan (yummy sausage-like meat in bread, like a hot dog or bratwurst) smells enticing, I now quiet my stomach and remind myself of my weak American immune system that can't handle slightly-sketchy street food.

3) Take a leap of faith

While here in BA, I jumped off of a moving bus. Crazy, right!? I was trying to get off of the bus to get to school when the driver suddenly pulled away from the curb and started to head into traffic. I made a split-second decision and jumped, hitting the ground running. I didn't fall (Tina-1, gravity-0) and didn't step in dog poop (Tina-2, gravity-0).
We've all heard the maxim about taking a leap of faith. Go for it, take a chance, it's worth the risk. This whole abroad experience has been one huge leap of faith. I didn't know who I was living with until one week before I arrived. I didn't know anything about my class schedule or teachers until I arrived. I barely knew the people accompanying me on this journey, and I knew little about modern Argentine culture. The only things I had going for me were my Spanish speaking and comprehension skills. And for a person who likes to plan things out far in advance, to know where she will be, with who, on what day, and what time, this, as you can imagine, was ridiculously scary.
But I made my decision to leap off of the bus of standard academia onto the street of study abroad. I hit the ground running, and have had amazing experiences and a successful trip thus far!

I have taken my last final, and I now have plans to travel in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Peru- but don't worry! I will still be posting pictures and stories from my adventures and cultural findings during my "summer" break (remember- summer months in the Southern Hemisphere are winter months in the Northern Hemisphere!). Cheers to an awesome semester, and I can't wait for the adventures to come!

Besos,

Tina the Exploradora

Mendoza- The Wine Country

Hola todos,

I recently came back from another "long weekend" vacation (when Pepperdine manufactures a 5-day weekend so that we can travel outside of the city). This time, I traveled to Mendoza, the wine country of Argentina. It was stunning, and my first trip-planning adventure. Pictures of what my group of five students (including myself) did are below!

We started out the trip on Wednesday with a 15 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires to Mendoza. Thankfully, it was overnight so we could sleep, and the seats reclined to 145° (which, despite how close it is 180°, it is absolutely not the same).

Fun fact: Tipping the person who checks your bags is not only expected, but also requested! This was a total shock, considering that in the States you don't tip the person who checks your bags at the airport, right? Additionally, they probably wouldn't ask for a tip, if one was expected.
Also, they play movies on these buses, and the volume is loud regardless of the hour. Note to self: bring earplugs!

The night that we arrived, we went for a sunset horseback ride overlooking beautiful winery fields. It also rained and hailed on us, making it a whole new kind of "unique" experience.

We returned to the ranch with soaking jeans and jackets, but we got to warm up indoors with a delicious asado, free wine, and a guitar show!

The next day, we hiked the St. Virgin Mary's trail and got to see some beautiful views of Mendoza, Maipu, and Godoy Cruz (surrounding areas).

Then, we rappelled down 10, 20, and 40 meter cliff faces! This picture is of me after killing it on the 10 meter cliff.

Of course, we were obligated to take a winery tour since we were in the wine coutnry of Argentina. We took a tour that went to two wineries and an olive oil factory.

The picture on the left is of a French Oak barrel used at Bodegas Lopez, the first winery on our tour. The picture on the right is just a sample of what we saw in the manufacturing portion of the winery. Good luck finding their products outside of Argentina: only 1% of their wine is exported!

The next stop on the tour was an olive oil factory. Their olive oils, infused with spices and flavors such as garlic, rosemary, basil, and oregano, were delicious! They also had an assortment of olive oil beauty products for us to sample.

This is the vineyard of Domiciana, the final winery on our tour.

The next day, I spent all day at a thermals spa. The water was from the Andes, and I'm pretty sure that some of the pools were sourced from natural hot springs! It was so nice to escape from school and stress, chill out in the sun, and relax.

Our final day in Mendoza was spent rafting along an Andean river. We had such a blast, and got some killer photos and video of the event.

(I'm the one in the red helmet with the sunglasses.)

Overall, this experience was a blast! It was a total success, and Mendoza is a must-see place if you are in Argentina! (It's also super close to Santiago, Chile, if you are near there!) Until next time...
Besos,

Tina the Exploradora

El Dólar Blue

Hola todos,

Here's a quick Argentine cultural lesson for you regarding the US dollar here in BA. It has two values. Yep- two. In almost any other country, the dollar is worth one value- whatever the market has set it at. Some days it goes up in value, and some days it goes down. Regardless, you always want to check the day's exchange rate online so that you can practice your rapid mental math skills when buying things or withdrawing cash.
Here in Argentina, all of that occurs too- except that it isn't supposed to. The government here in Argentina more or less fixes the exchange rate for the US dollar and Argentine peso. Every single day, I can wake up knowing that the USD is worth just over 8 ARS (Argentine pesos). That number does not fluctuate much, if at all. Cash or credit, the exchange value stays the same. So that means that I shouldn't worry about what the value is when I exchange my dollars for pesos, or how much my international (read: fee free) credit card is being charged at a store.
However, the market will do what the market will do. There is something called El Dólar Blue (do I really need to translate that for you?) which is the unofficial fluctuating dollar value. This number fluctuates much more than most currencies, but it also gives you a much higher ARS to USD exchange rate. When we arrived, the rate was around 13.5, about 6 weeks ago it peaked at 15.8, and it is currently 12.9. This means that, at the peak rate, I could have received nearly twice as many pesos from an exchange place than I would have received at a bank. Which is awesome! My dollar has more power here than the Argentine government lets on, which means that products here are fairly cheap compared to standard US prices. Unfortunately, this method of exchange isn't officially recognized, but the TV news and newspapers all report the day's blue dollar rate along with all other currency in its economics section.
The downsides: the fluctuation and credit cards. The fluctuation stinks if you wait too long or go too early. The rate doesn't change much within a single day, but week to week you could be jumping for joy and changing tons of money or scrimping your pesos until the rate goes back up so you can exchange dinero again. And credit cards, unfortunately, use the official rate. This means that if today I use my credit card, I will pay 1.5 times as many dollars (but in pesos) than if I had just used the pesos I had exchanged at the better 13-ish rate.
Ultimately, I'm glad we have the Dólar Blue because it helps my money go further and makes living here in BA less expensive as a US American. And looking back on this post, I realize how incredibly long it was. I'm so sorry. At least you learned something!

Besos,

Tina the Exploradora

An Adventure to Nowhere

Hola todos,

It has been forever since I last published a post! Between school and traveling nearly every weekend, time is flying by faster than I could have ever imagined. I promise to try and be better about posting more Argentina fun facts or information about my adventures, and I hope the following post makes up for the recent drought.
This past week, I had the extraordinary opportunity to travel to the middle of nowhere in Patagonia. Other than the clothing brand, Patagonia refers to a geographical region in southern South America that encompasses, more or less, the bottom triangle of the continent, including Chilean and Argentine territories (the orange-ish region on the map below).

A group of 21 Pepperdine University students, including myself, got together with about 10 students from the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) and flew about two and a half hours from Buenos Aires to the Comodoro Rivadavia airport, from which we took a four hour bus ride to Puerto Desado. Below is a map of our travels: we flew from the blue dot in the upper right corner to the white circle at the bottom, and then drove to the end of the red pin.

Puerto Deseado is a small beach town that never receives tourists, but has some amazing sights and animal-watching to offer. Here are some things we did in Puerto Deseado:

Saw dolphins and penguins

We saw some beautiful sights of the ocean

And scaled the face of a cliff to get even better photos

A fellow student and I also appeared on the Puerto Deseado radio show. The town almost never receives visitors, much less foreigners, so our group was quite a hit. If you would like to hear me stumble through a radio interview in Spanish, click here!

We next traveled to Cabo Blanco, a two hour drive from Puerto Deseado. The only thing in Cabo Blanco is a lighthouse, a rugby field, a stone house, and a metal shed. Oh, and perfectly picturesque beaches with stunning sunrises and sunsets and clear, unpolluted waters.

We painted the shed, reconstructed the rugby field fence, and slept on the beach one night (strongly NOT recommended unless you have a tent or a million socks...) and I saw more stars in the sky than I even imagined could exist.

Jaramillo is a small town of 400 Argentines and was our next stop between Cabo Blanco and the Comodoro Rivadavia airport on the day of our return. Here, we sanded and stained an old railway car and ate a lamb asado (cookout).

Finally, we drove back to the Comodoro Rivadavia airport, only to arrive as our plane was taxi-ing on the runway. As it was 10 pm, the next flight to Buenos Aires was at 5 am the next day, so we pulled out our homework and sleeping bags and spent the night on the airport floor.

 Somehow, the 5 am flight had 21 open seats, so our entire group was able to make it back to BA by 7:30 am- many of us arrived to campus just in time for our 8:45 am classes. (Mind you, we hadn't showered for 4 days.)

Summary:
In case this post was too long for you and you skipped to the bottom, just know that the 5ish days that I spent in a little-known area of Patagonia with 20 classmates and about 10 Argentine students was one of my most memorable experiences in Argentina thus far. If you ever want to take some time to backpack through a foreign country or region, don't go to Europe. Everybody goes to Europe. Come to Patagonia and see some of the most breath-taking views of nature! And make sure to drop by Puerto Deseado and Jaramillo and tell the locals that Pepperdine says hi.

Besos,

Tina the Exploradora

Visiting the End of the World

Hola todos,

This past week, I had the privilege to visit the southern-most city in the world, which is so far south that it is on an island south of the South American mainland. This city, Ushuaia, is more like a small, touristy town than an actual city. It is super cute and quaint, and I loved my 5 day adventure there. Here is a brief summary of what I did:

Learned to ski in the Andes Mountains
Ushuaia is one of the few places in the world where you can ski in September and October, so I was learning to ski while surrounded by the Italian women's ski team and another country's freestyle team. I'm not too bad, and I was able to hit some green and blue runs by our third and final day of skiing.

Saw a penguin
During my junior year of high school, I had to write a little summary of an article about Argentine penguins for Spanish class. Back then, I never thought that I would actually see one! I didn't manage to get a picture because it swam away from our boat super fast, but here is a picture of some penguin-looking birds that we saw :)

Rafted in the Lago Escondido (Hidden Lake)
This lake was beautiful and the view, no matter where you were standing (or sitting in a boat, as it were), was absolutely stunning. The mixture of forest greenery, mountains, snow, and lake was picturesque and seemed almost fake.

Drove through a lake in a Range Rover
It's a really good thing that I don't get motion sickness, because we drove off-road through parts of a lake and the surrounding forest. At one point, the water was almost to the bottom of the car window. Basically, I was in an Indiana Jones movie.

Visited the Malvinas War (Falklands War) Memorial
For Argentina, the Malvinas Islands, otherwise known as the Falkland Islands, are a huge topic of debate. The Memorial had a wall of names and an everlasting flame, along with a walking history of the conflict. The Memorial reminded me strongly of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC, and it was a privilege to be able to experience such a significant cultural landmark. This is not a pic of the Memorial, but of me looking at it.

Saw Chile from Argentina
Of course, it is illegal to cross into Chile without completing the appropriate documentation, so we couldn't step onto Chilean soil. However, many of the snow-capped mountains that we saw were the natural boundary between Argentina and Chile, and technically considered part of Chile.

This was my first non-Buenos Aires adventure in Argentina, and it served as a reminder that Argentina has so much more to offer than just its capital city. I have more trips planned outside of BA during the following seven months, and I can't wait to experience them and then share them with you!

Besos,

Tina the Exploradora

My First Thoughts

Hola todos,

Even though this post is entitled "My First Thoughts", these are not my very first thoughts upon arriving to Buenos Aires (because, after a 10 hour flight, my first thoughts were "Where is the nearest bathroom?!"). Rather, this is a preliminary survey of my thoughts and experiences in Buenos Aires from this past week.

1) This is a lot like Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
When I flew to the Monterrey airport, the customs were similar, the language was the same, and all of the signs were also in Spanish, then English. Also, there was a lot of greenery: trees, grass, etc. (Coming from Arizona, this is absolutely worth noting.)

2) This is a lot like Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico.

Yes, again, the language is the same. But another similarity is the overwhelming presence of trash. Street curbs and sidewalks are filthy, as littering seems to be an unenforced issue.

3) This is a lot like Athens, Greece.
A curious blend of modern and ancient architecture with decrepit buildings, all crammed together, gave me serious deja vu when I first drove through the city.

4) Hey, that looks like the Berlin Wall, before it was torn down.
Graffiti is on nearly every wall here. I'm sure that is true of every major urban area in the world, but the best part of this graffiti is that, for the most part, it has a purpose. It is either political commentary or beautiful, abstract art.

5) This looks like nothing I've ever seen before.
I know that I just listed a bunch of places that it looks like, but in no other place can you find the blend of all of these traits, with the culture, smells, and sounds of this city.

6) Holy cow, people here speak super fast with a non-familiar accent.
I probably say "Lo siento, una vez mas" (Sorry, repeat what you said) more often than is necessary, but between the castellano accent and the super fast speeds at which people talk, this is definitely NOT classroom, textbook Spanish. Fortunately, most people will slow down and use easier vocabulary for my benefit.

7) Where are my to-go coffee cups?!
Nowhere. There aren't in the Coto (think: Walmart), nor were they in the souvenir shop at the zoo. Culturally, having cafe is an experience that includes sitting down, ordering a pastry and coffee, and relaxing and talking with friends or reading the paper. Actually, the Starbucks has to-go cups, but only US Americans use them. And between the blond hair and the 'wide-eyed tourist' look, I don't need another way to stand out as a US American.

8) They eat late here. I'm hungry.
At about 7 pm, I want dinner. I eat at about 8:30 pm on an early night, and 10 pm on an average night. The struggle is real, especially when lunch is at noon. Luckily, the food is worth waiting for!

Of course, I'm still learning so much about the city and its inhabitants, and I'm so excited to continue this encompassing education every day for the next 8 months!

Besos,

Tina the Exploradora

13 Hours in a Plane (or Two)

 Hola todos,

We arrived in Argentina yesterday, and flew 13 hours in various flights over 25 hours (with a five hours time zone change)! Below is what I've done during the past two days, most of which involved driving, flying, or waiting in an airport.

7:30 am, Wednesday, September 3
A smaller group of us took a shuttle from Pepperdine to LAX, and then got in line for boarding passes. It took forever for everyone to check their bags and get passes, but both of my bags were under 80 pounds combined and I got my boarding passes without a hitch.

10 am
Security lines with 66 students. I feel like that is pretty self-explanatory. (That's the beautiful Jayci Givens in the foreground.)

12:12 pm
We boarded our flight to Houston. I got a window seat = sleep!

5:49 pm (Houston time)
We landed at IAH and lounged around during our layover. I bought dinner (expensive airport food, grr...) and charged my laptop.

8:45 pm
We boarded the flight to Argentina! Time for 10 hours of uncomfortable sitting/sleeping (and I only got 4 hours of sleep). But hey, I got to watch Captain America 2 and American Hustle.

9:05 am, (Argentina time) Thursday, September 3
We arrived at Ezezia (EZE), Argentina, got our luggage, and drove the school house, "Casa Holden".

12:30 pm
Our first lunch together was an "asado", which is a cookout-like meal with sandwiches with grilled meat. We also got Argentine ice cream/gelato after the main meal!

3:30 pm
My homestay madre, Ines, picked me up from the Casa and brought me to my new home for the next 8 months!

7:30 pm
After unpacking and getting oriented to my new surroundings Ines, and I ate an early dinner. I was exhausted from my limited sleep the past few days, so I crashed soon after.

The trip here to Argentina, and my first (partial) day in the city, were so eventful and informative, I am already planning future posts. I am so excited to continue this adventure that I have begun, and I can't wait to share all of my findings with you :)

Besos,

Tina the Exploradora