We had a good run BA…

Well, it’s officially my last day in Buenos Aires. It is so incredibly bittersweet leaving this place. I have completely fallen in love with so many aspects of this city, this country. I met so many wonderful people and did so many amazing things in my four months here. Looking back now it flew by so quickly… I can remember my first day here like it was yesterday. Then I think longer about all the things I did and saw, the day to day in the city, it seems like I have been here for ages.

I am so beyond excited to see my family and friends, I tend to miss people more than places.. I hope I can look back on my time and the amazing people I met here with happiness and fond memories and not miss them too much. I know it will be so easy to contact each other when we are all in the states and I have social media to connect me to the wonderful people I made friends with here.

Seriously, this is just a select few of the people who made my stay here so incredibly wonderful!

I demanded that my host mom learn how to work her email so we can email each other.. and I plan to hopefully send her some things by mail. I am going to miss that woman, so much. I could not have asked for a better person to live with. She welcomed Hilary and I with such open arms and shared her life with us. I went to mass with her today because it is such a huge part of her and I wanted to understand that side of her too before I had to go.  Her kindness and strength have a lot to do with her faith I think, but in general she is just a fantastic human being.

This city, even though I have lived here for 4 months, is still completely mysterious and magical to me. It is the biggest city I have ever been in and I don’t think even if I had lived here for years I could see it all. There are even places my host mom, who has spent her whole life here, has not even gone. I’ll always have a beautiful connection to Buenos Aires and I am so incredibly thankful for that. This city has been so good to me, even with all the frustrations and language barriers, I still look back on it all with so much love in my heart.

Thank you Buenos Aires for your grandness and thank you to all of the incredible human beings that I met and shared this experience with.
Besos,
Netty

 

meh

There are days when I feel like I could stay in Argentina for the rest of my life… today is not one of those days.
8 days until home… :)

Provincia de Misiones

My last trip in Argentina was my beautiful ISA Excursion to the Provincia de Misiones which included a trip to the Guarani reservation, the ruins of San Ignacio and Iquazú Falls. Pretty much… the pictures just speak for themselves so I’m gonna let them do that. The few at the end are a bit out of order, but that’s because they are my favorites and they always say to save the best for last. Enjoy!

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Working your way through the crowds at the Feria de Mataderos…

 

This past Friday some of my friends and I made our way to the very south of the city for what is known, or not known, as the Feria de Mataderos. Literally, almost every Argentine that we told our plans to immediately replied with “oh how great, I’ve never been!” With this being said there were still a lot of Argentines at the Festival/Feria so I assume it is just because we live in the very north of the city that they haven’t ventured. Well, it is their loss because although it was crowded it was incredibly worth the 1hr bus ride! Quite crowded actually… so if you aren’t a fan of big crowds I would say skip it… but really go and try it out because there were so many cool things!

I also would attribute the fact that there were SO many people there to it being a holiday when we went. We went on May 25th, May Revolution, marking the first revolution in Argentina and the first local government to be set up apart from Spain. Everyone wears Argentina flag pins over their hearts on the day and some the whole week long. Flags are hung from many apartment balconies and their just seems to be an extra sense of pride in the air, apart from the usual porteño self-confidence. My host mom physically cheered and raised her arms explaining the significance of the holiday to us over dinner.

So, we hopped on the 55, paid our 1.25 each and squeezed into a spot on the already crowded bus. As we wound through barrio after barrio, more and more people crowded onto the bus. Luckily I managed to snag a window spot and was able to look out onto the streets of the different neighborhoods as we drove by. Although the bus ride was quite long and extremely packed, I didn’t seem to mind too much and it went by quicker than I originally thought it would.

what we saw when we first go off the bus
-photocred to Monae Freeman

We finally arrived into the barrio Mataderos and simultaneously jumped off of the bus when everyone else who had told the bus driver they were going to the feria also got off. Pretty firm strategy right there, I thought…

We made our way to the beginning of the feria which had the traditional set up stands that didn’t really belong to the traditional feria, but are smart enough to capitalize on the event to sell their own items right outside of the actual booths. There were actually quite a few fun little stands but nothing especially different from every other small street feria throughout BA so we somewhat quickly walked through that part to get to the good stuff.

ignore the disgusting thing hanging from the picture on the right…
and focus on me being a complete dork in the center.
-photocred to Monae Freeman

And good stuff, we found. Literally thousands of people and thousands of stands with thousands of wonderful things to look at and buy… Good food was to be eaten, great music was to be heard and fantastic things to be bought, all of which we thoroughly overindulged in. We wandered around this fair for 4hrs at the least, I am not even exaggerating. There were so many cool things to buy and exciting things happening around us. We magnificently managed to run into friends inside the massive fair not once but twice.

running into friends
-photocred to Monae

It was great to see a different side of the city and experience a traditional southern BA event, yeah.. BUT YOU GUYS I GOT SO MANY COOL THINGS! I found a mate gourd that is quite a beaut if I do say so myself, a vintage clutch that I plan to use as a jewelry case, and more than a few souvenirs for people I love. I love ferias, how I shall miss them when I head back to the states soon. We had a great time and I’d definitely recommend it if you ever get the chance to venture down to Buenos Aires. I will leave you with just a few more pictures of the day. (all taken by my wonderful friend Monae seeing as I did not bring my camera along.)

Andrea, myself and Tiffany at the fair
-photocred to Monae Freeman

 

photo cred to Monae

 

photo cred to Monae

Silent City

Just standing on my balcony.. 2:15am. Completely amazed at how a city this big and crazy can become completely silent at the right time of night. Minus the random sound of a motorcycle driving by or a cricket chirping… the city is silent. I love soaking it in. Looking at this city and falling in love with every sight and sound is so new and refreshing. Nothing, not even a stupid purse stealing theif can bring me down lately. Being on my balcony and gawking over the beautiful city lights will, I think, be one of my very fond and favorite memories when it comes time to leave this magical place.

WEATHER

The weather has been gloomy in Buenos Aires this week, to say the least. Cloudy days, rain and storms.. sounds like Moscow in the spring. So although it is giving me a nice taste of home, I’d rather it not rain so I can get out and see more of this beautiful city. One thing I have been enjoying are the nighttime thunderstorms… lightning brightening the sky, pouring rain and the clapping of thunder. And I get to watch it all from my 15th floor window. Magic.

Monday: Weekend Recap

So Mondays for my last bit of time here in Argentina will be a weekend recap… If I have an especially exciting weekend, maybe I can work in a video or something. Also, feedback is always appreciated!

This weekend I was in a bit of a solitary mood. I’ve been missing that close contact with my best friends and family that I get so much of at home.. So I had a, hang out with just a  few people or by myself kind of weekend.
I wish I had more pictures to break it up with but most of my pictures from the weekend were blurry or boring, neither very good things.

So, here we go!

Thursday night I went out with my lovely Monae… Met up to take the bus out to Palermo Soho area for drinks and then to Club 69, clever name? Oh yeah… We found a pretty cool dark bar that was practically empty since we were out so early 12:30am… The music was decent and there was lots of cool stuff on the wall, would be a great place to take a date honestly. So Monae and I had a little date and talked about life and what not, it was refreshing and relaxing.
Then we headed into Club 69, what club Niceto becomes on Thursday nights, before 1am because that meant we got in fo’ freeeeee. Again, the place was completely deserted.. but we had fun anyways until it started to fill up…

 

Then, the show started. Geishas in full makeup and kimonos, or skimpies as some preferred, dancing on stage all night with the various break dancing troupe interlude. Only in Buenos Aires would all of this make sense together, but it was fantastic. We danced all night long as is custom here and headed home as the sun was coming up. The night was great, so club 69 on Thursday nights is definitely recommended if that sounds like your thing.

Then Friday, to be honest I spent most of the day sleeping. I can’t stay out late and miss out on that much sleep.. How people do it is beyond me. I hung out and had lunch with my host mom and her cousin, talked and drank tea… just relaxed all day and watched a few movies. It was in reality, totally what I needed.

Saturday I went to the MALBA, the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires. I had some trouble finding the place… I took a bus that I had never taken before and remembered exactly where to get off, but not exactly where to go from there. I think ahead… So I wandered in one direction and ended up walking past parks and statues that I’d never seen before, so that was a nice surprise. Unfortunately, I was venturing into a new part of town and was reluctant to take my camera, but I hope to go back soon and take some pictures. I finally realized I was walking the wrong way down the street… So I made a quick loop and headed in the opposite direction which led me right to the MALBA, how convenient. All in all, the museum wasn’t huge but big enough to keep me entertained for about one & a half to two hours, given I love art museums and spend hours in the tiny one story Boise Art Museum whenever I go, so you can gauge it with that in mind. There was a great American art exhibit going on that showcased a few artists from the 1970s and later. I especially enjoyed the works by Barbara Kruger and Nan Goldin… yeah, I think those were their names.

There was also lots of really wonderful Latin American art like Leon Ferrari which I also enjoyed quite a bit.
After that I came home and later went out to dinner to celebrate a friend, Caitie’s, graduation in the states! We went to a yummy restaurant/bar called Esquina Libertad which had good drink prices and a delicious Mediterranean picada platter that another friend and I devoured. Afterwards we had a round of drinks and some chatting at a bar close by and then I ended the night early because I was tired and not wearing the right shoes to go dancing…
Good thing I did though because I got to Skype with two of my favorites who I haven’t talked to in a while and I was overjoyed to see their faces and hear their voices… Love you, Jared and Dave :)

 

And Sunday, a day of successes and failures. Woke up a little later then I had anticipated.. which let’s be honest, is a common problem with me. Just ask my mom, here and back home… Still wanting to do something with my day I started to look online for things that were open on Sunday. My original plan was to head to San Telmo, but alas, couldn’t find anyone to go with me so I decided to make it another museum day. Then I noticed the nasty blisters on my feet that had formed from my shoes the night before, which to be honest was a surprise because I felt great in them last night. I have the stamina of a thousand … I went through so many things to say in my head right there but they all sounded dirty or politically incorrect, so let’s just say I am a champ in heels usually. So, I complained a bit to my host mom who made me put old school surgical antiseptic on them and walk to the drugstore to find band aids. Found the band aids, had issues with my credit card and practically ran home after paying in cash to make sure someone hadn’t suddenly stolen my identity in the last 24 hours. Everything was fine…

I bandaged up and headed to a Spanish art museum and the Sarmiento museum nearby in Belgrano.
The Spanish art museum only cost 1 peso! Awesome.. totally worth the peso. I am not sure if it was a special exhibit but they had a showing of the life and works of poet Alejandra Pizarnik who was absolutely stunning. Then also of the art of Santiago Caruso who painted abstract depictions of her various poems. His paintings were haunting and creepy in the best way possible and I ended up really enjoying them.
Then to the Sarmiento museum, which was about to close and therefore practically vacant, which made it extremely creepy. Not to mention the fact that I got practically shadowed by one of the security guards who followed me into every room. Because we all know I came at 6:30 in the evening to steal Sarmiento’s beloved living room chair. Needless to say it was just a bunch of reassembled furniture from his last house and information about stuff he did… I find Sarmiento somewhat interesting but not quite intriguing enough to enjoy a whole museum about. I feel bad saying that, because he was an important figure but, no I regret nothing.. Sarmiento is pretty boring.
Side note, I enjoyed the Evita Museum much more, which I visited a while ago, which is somewhat strange as it is pretty much a shrine but I learned a lot of interesting facts about the good side of Evita which I liked.

There you are! My weekend in short :) I hope it was at least a little bit interesting…

Besos,
Netty

Finally fulfilling my promises…

After a somewhat crazy, BA-style weekend celebrating midterms being over, I am officially exhausted. So I thought it might be a good time to update the blog and maybe set up some sort of structure to this whole blogging thing to keep me accountable… BUT first, as promised, Bariloche and Mendoza! These trips were absolutely amazing and I loved every single minute of them! I really wish I could describe exactly how great they really were..

If you are reading this and planning to travel to these two places at any time, here are my top 5 recommendations for each:
Bariloche:
1. Hostel Pudu- loved the staff & accommodations, great price and views as well! Breakfast every morning and really flexible with scheduling and what not.
2. Hiking Frey- take the bus that brings you to Cerro Catedral and hike Frey! We did it and it was about a 6-7 hour hike, I believe. A little challenging at the end, but really worth it! The lake at the top was beautiful, and although we didn’t stay, there is a Refugio on top in case you’d like to stay overnight.
3. Open Air Market- the market right near the center of town had tons of great stuff and I ended up finding quite a few great souvenirs/presents for myself and family. There is also a really great strip of shops right next to it as well with good prices.
4. CHOCOLATE- go to the chocolate shops in the area and try to hit up a chocolate factory of some sort. Given, the tour and “museum” weren’t that great, the chocolate was delicious! And I did genuinely learn about chocolate, so that was cool.
5. Cerro Campanario- you can ride a ski lift or do a short hike up to this view, we hiked it and it took us less than an hour but uphill all the way so be aware of that… It is absolutely breathtaking! You can see, what I remember, was a view of about 7 different lakes, one in the distance even verging into Chile. It gets windy so bring a jacket, but really a spectacular view.

Mendoza:
1. Wine Tasting- you’re in Mendoza, you gotta do a wine tasting right? Right! We did one at a place that I THINK was called Vines and it was fantastic! 70 pesos and we tried 5 different wines from the region.. plus a few more that our lovely bartender poured for us to taste. Great service and learned a lot about wine and the area!
2. Winery Tour- while you’re there do some sort of winery tour. You can opt to rent bikes and pay to get into each winery separately or pay one flat price and get bussed around. We already had one bad experience with bikes in Bariloche, which I will not get into, so we chose to be lazy and get bussed! Overall had a good time, learned lots about wines and tasted some yummy food too!
3. Parque General San Martin- this park is right in town and is absolutely beautiful! I have tons of pictures of it on my blog and Facebook because it was literally gorgeous. It was totally giant and we only had time to cover a small part of it, but what we did see was fantastic. Lots of lakes and pathways, green trees and flowers. It was relaxing and we got cotton candy which just filled me with joy and made me feel like I was 5 years old again.
4. Tour to Aconcagua- now given, I did a lot of sleeping on the bus in between sights because I was exhausted, but I definitely thought the day long tour was worth it. I love mountains and miss them a bunch, so getting to see ones that were so big that I literally felt like an ant, was once in  lifetime. They were totally gorgeous and now I can say I’ve seen the tallest peak in the western hemisphere and a bridge/steam room that the Incas constructed! Bragging rights…
5. Hostel Casa Pueblo- great hostel overall… small and homey feeling. Good kitchen for cooking and good shower/bathroom accommodations. Friendly staff who were able to book all of our tours for us and we just paid the hostel directly which was fantastic and super easy.

Alright, there you go! Ever go to Mendoza and/or Bariloche, there’s what I did and think you should do as well! Again, the trips were absolutely wonderful and I had a totally great time with amazing people by my side. My previous two posts below are full of pictures for you to check out as well!
Currently trying to formulate a weekly structure for my last month and a half or so here so that I post more often! Thanks again for reading :)
Besos,
Netty

I apologize…

I apologize for how awful of a blogger I am :/ I feel like every time I promise myself to be a better blogger, I fail. I never feel like I have interesting things to write about. I also forget how much school work being in school actually entails. I am constantly on the move it feels like and now midterms are upon me and I have so much studying to do it isn’t even funny. I feel unprepared to say the least… But I will pull through and do my best, like usual.
Enough complaining, I really did intend this post to be an apology about my lack of blogging. I find it hard to find good times to blog.. getting into a schedule is difficult with all of my sporadic traveling and randomly getting sick for a whole week. I really am trying very hard to get better at this, I promise. After this next trip and midterms I will, pretty permanently, be in the city and won’t have a million things to be doing and planning all the time. I will be living day to day in the city and can start posting about all those fun little things I do. These first two months have been mostly about traveling because that is really what I have been doing. I have been trying to travel as much as possible now before midterms and school gets serious.. and so I am not trying to jam it all into the end of my trip. I want these last two months to be my time to fall in love with Buenos Aires.
I’ve gotten to know my general areas in Belgrano, the barrio I live in… Explored a little of Palermo because of its hopping nightlife and such. I’ve somewhat figured out public transportation and getting from one spot to another with some ease. I’ve found my favorite bakery close to school, a really good cup of espresso when I need to remind myself that not all coffee comes in instant powder form, some good health stores where I can buy food that makes me feel good about myself and all restaurants in the vicinity that sell good french fries when I want to feel Really good about myself. Now  that I have gotten the hang of things around me I am hoping to venture out and see more of the Buenos Aires that I have yet to experience. Seeing new barrios and sights that I haven’t explored yet. Hitting up all the amazing weekend street fairs to buy fun things for myself and other cool people that I kind of like back home ;). Maybe attempt to go out more? … Maybe attempt to figure out how Argentines manage to go out until 6 in the morning on a regular basis and still lead functional and productive lives? That would be helpful. So, look forward to that coming, starting in about a week or two!
These next two posts might be somewhat picture heavy I’m thinking so you can hear more about my two trips that I haven’t posted about yet, Bariloche and Mendoza and  then Iguazu after this weekend. I will probably post less pictures than I did on Facebook so if you are really curious about the trips, check out the Facebook albums because there will be much more there. It’s hard to capture some of the experiences I have had in pictures or writing about them in a blog but I will try my best!

Chau & Besos,
Netty

insightful words from my Argentine lit professor

Speaking of male figures that have been immortalized throughout history, JFK was brought up and I proceeded to mention that he was somewhat of a womanizer… With which my professor responded:

“Well, what immortalized male figure in society wasn’t a womanizer? There’s Jesus, I guess…”
-Marcela Solá (giving credit where credit is due)

Meeeehhhh

This cold is squashing every ounce of fun from my life… The one night I convince myself that I am almost better, better enough to go out and see people, my body strikes back the next day by completely removing my vocal chords. So I can barely talk which would be the perfect excuse to work on my 10pg research paper that is due this next week right? I thought so too… Now if my brain could only be so functional as to remember how to effectively research and not get distracted by Youtube.
Here is to not being able to speak, bad research and hopefully only one more night of being lame and sleeping too much to get rid of this little shiznit of a cold. (you say that word is lame? i’m bringin’ it back kids)
okay cool, Chhhaaauuuu
Besos
Netty

Well… I faile…

Well… I failed. Made it to half of one class and felt like fainting so now I’m back home. Watching Even Stevens on youtube and trying to forget about how much homework I have piling up…

It has come..

Alas, it has come. My first bout of crippling sickness has found it’s way into my life in Argentina and to be honest, I’m quite surprised it took this long. If you know me, you know that I have an immune system that hates me and a quite annoying bit of hypochondria (hey, the first step is admitting it right?). I have had the occasional stomach ache or the head ache that has come and gone but I haven’t officially been sick yet. Well, ladies and gentleman, it could not wait any longer. I am officially buggered down with some sort of cold, flu or bug that I have no idea what it is and with which I will NOT allow myself to go on WebMD where I will proceed diagnose myself with scarlet fever, avian bird flu and about twelve other obnoxious diseases probably including cancer. I could barely move out of my bed yesterday and therefore missed 3 classes, the only day out of the week that I have that many… And today, although I feel hardly any better, I am going to attempt to get out of this bed and get ready. I am going to try to put something in the form of food into my stomach and make the trek to class. Wish me luck?
This song is bound to get me going… (and if you’re in BA or Latin America in general you know that this song is incredibly top 40 and overplayed but I just don’t care because it makes me smile and Michel Telo is just flat out adorable, okay?)

Back in Action

So, my much needed departure from social media turned out to be a great idea. I am feeling quite renewed and excited about being in this beautiful city all over again. Whenever I get down about Buenos Aires, it’s the little things that remind me of why I’m here. That remind me that people here are really human and not just mindless city dwellers. That remind me of this wonderful mix of European and Latin American culture that I have slowly grown to appreciate.
Such a big city, filled with person after person passing by without a smile or a hello, rushing back to work or school or who knows where can get me down at times. It’s difficult to not become hard when you live in a city full of people who have already been hardened by the harsh realities of life. The realities of a big city where there are extreme opposites living side by side. The haves and have-nots walking down the street together, one wanting or needing and the other unaware.
It is a mixture of things that are so purely Argentine and things that slightly remind me of home that help me live here in this giant metropolis.
Dancing to cumbia, reggaeton and a varied mix of North American electronic/pop in a club until 6am and having a blast. Laughing at the way my professors pronounce words in English. Watching my host mom smile and sing along to Top Hat as she tells me about dancing with her late husband to the song Cheek to Cheek. Crowding onto an already overcrowded bus and having someone smile and help you figure out where you’re going. The girl at the Confiteria slowly beginning to recognize your face and say hello like she is a friend welcoming you back every time you come in. Girls by the train station playing, what I can only assume is the Spanish version of Miss Mary Mack or Patty cake, and laughing when they all accidentally clap the wrong persons hands.
It is these things that I hold on to each week to remind me of what is important. To remind myself of why I am here, attempting to experience and immerse myself in a new culture each day more and more.
So no need to worry, I am doing well and hope to appreciate more every day because I won’t ever have this time again.

Post about Bariloche/Patagonia to come soon, with pictures included.
I’m also hoping to start posting more about the city and things that I’m doing/seeing on a regular basis.

Thanks so much for reading.
Chau, besos,
Netty

Dissapearing

As I mentioned, Bariloche was fantastic and I had a great time, but it looked and reminded me way too much of the states and of home. And, because of this, I’ve been feeling especially homesick lately… So I have decided to take this week and remove myself from social media and all my outlets to home. I need to focus on school, the people and places here in the city and immerse myself into BA culture a little more. I will post about my trip and try to make another video about a new aspect of the city as soon as my US/social media hiatus is over. I hope you all understand and respect my decision.
So chau for now and talk to you all in a week or so!
Besos
Netty

Back in the big city…

Back from an absolutely wonderful trip to Bariloche, Argentina.
And, oddly enough, feeling very homesick. So excuse me while I disappear  off of social media again for a few hours to sleep it away.
Besos,
Netty

And that’s all folks…

I’m off to Bariloche! I will leave you with this gem…

 

12 Classic Movie Moments Made Possible by Abuse and Murder | Cracked.com

12 Classic Movie Moments Made Possible by Abuse and Murder | Cracked.com.

Whaaaaattt.

Update

Just a quick update before I leave tomorrow.
Leave tomorrow? Linette, say what?
Yes, I am leaving tomorrow for another trip! (I am so lucky, I swear)
I am headed to the southern part of Argentina, Patagonia. We are staying in Bariloche for about a week for crazy cheap, compared to what I would pay for a similar trip in the states. There is tons of fun, interesting outdoorsy things to do and the cute little town to explore. Needless to say I am just unbelievably excited!

So… back tracking a little bit: Colonia, Uruguay was absolutely amazing. It was such a beautiful relaxing weekend filled with so many wonderful things. The town was really, I mean really, small… which was a great break from the big city. Everything was calmer, the people were friendlier, the prices were cheaper! It was just absolute bliss. We walked around town a lot, just looking through the artisan markets,  made delicious dinners at our hostel both nights, danced and sang by ourselves, then danced and sang with the owners. I absolutely loved our hostel, if you ever go to Colonia, Uruguay stay in Hostel Oriental! The couple that owns the place is fantastic, I mean their adorable dog Reina is worth the stay alone because she is just so precious. Colonia has a lighthouse which is really cheap to go up in so we did that, the view was spectacular. You can pretty much see the entire town from up there and the River on the other side filled with sailboats all day long. We ventured down by the beach and hung out with some cool fisherman, spoke some pretty impressive Spanglish, watched the sunset that night by the beach, which was just absolutely breathtaking. We decided to venture out that night and see if we could find this karaoke bar that we had been told about… Deceiving, it ended up being just a regular bar, that turned into a club afterwards. But I didn’t even care because I had the most amazing mojito of my life there and we ended up dancing the night away. We also met some really great locals and made quick friends, practicing our Spanish and them their English. It was a wonderful experience and one I will never, ever forget. And now, a video! Hilary, lifeoffelmstreet.blogspot.com, made this one! She’s fantastic and totally over enthusiastic about her new discovery of iVideo.. (kidding Hilary) But yeah, and please excuse the fact that I look like a complete wino in it… well, I am but still, it was my attempt at being funny? we’ll go with that.

Now that I have successfully made you totally jealous of my life, let’s talk about something important.
The serious epidemic happening in Buenos Aires, Argentina. There is something in the water, or the food.. I’ve had a few people tell me it’s in the genes now… It’s a serious problem guys and it’s happening right here.
Beautiful People. They are everywhere.
Literally, everyone here looks like they just stepped out of GQ magazine. Everyone stays in a constant stage of youth from 16 to 40… they all look 25. The girls, with their beautiful long hair and their naturally tanned skin. They have killer style, most of the time (minus the one girl we saw whose dress was completely see through, no not hot), they barely eat and they walk around knowing they’re the shit and that you are completely jealous of them.
Enough about the girls, let’s talk about the boys. I fall in love, on average, about 5 times a day here. They’ve just got something. Except when they are cat calling or staring at my friends and I, I really enjoy them. I am trying to think of a word to use to describe them. Suave, Mysterious… nope Sexy. Literally, the only word that comes to mind. Uh, i wish i had a secret camera and I could just take pictures of them for you. So instead I google searched some Argentine male models, and I’m not joking you, I actually see guys walking down the street that look like this almost every day.

This happens, in Buenos Aires…

Okay, that’s all I got.
Chau, Besito
Love Netty

I Must Be Delicious…

Bugs… how I loathe thee. Especially those pesky mosquitoes whom I want to crush one by one between my thumb and index finger. Oh the satisfaction I would receive from crushing the living souls, of which they do not have, out of them before they had the chance to bite. My poor, poor legs and feet; they have been eaten alive by these disgusting creatures. Every day I wake up, thinking I have avoided their bloodthirsty appetites for the night… I feel refreshed and somewhat proud of myself for buying that five dollar plug in bug repellant contraption that I have to keep trying to convince myself works because without which I have no hope. Then it happens.
The itch. The scratch. Then I see it, that disgusting white bump on the side of my foot. You could not have chosen a more inconvenient place to gnaw little mosquito? I roll my eyes and itch away because I know attempting to ignore it will not work for me. I have no patience for that. I itch until it does not itch anymore.
For the sake of comparison, they are like Lindsay Lohan, every time I think she has gone away and disappeared from life, she pops back up have stolen something, ingested some sort of illegal substance or having gotten some form of horrendous plastic surgery. And although I roll my eyes and try to pretend like I don’t care, you better believe I pick up the People magazine with her face on it. (pop culture is my vice)
Needless to say, my blood must taste like freaking Sangria because these bugs love me. Today I will embark on another adventure to find some sort of bug proof veil to cloak my room in. I never thought I would say I miss those warm San Diego nights when the news would remind us not to leave the house because “giant airplanes will be flying through the night sky to spray potentially harmful chemicals across the city just so that you will not be pestered by a single living insect.” God, those were the days.

Other than my legs looking like they got attacked by a feral cat… this whole studying abroad experience is moving along quite nicely. Thinking about my time here as four whole months, of which one is almost gone, makes me feel like I am going to be here for forever! I think to myself gosh, I have so much time to do and see all the things I want to see. Then I turn around and think about it as 13 more weeks… that’s it. Only 13. It takes me longer than thirteen weeks to decide on my next haircut, let alone discover an entirely new city/country!
So, although I fall into my bed almost every night exhausted and I spend almost every relatively free unused moment reading for classes so that my time here isn’t a total academic waste, I am determined to do and see as much as I physically can. You can sleep when you die, right?

So this weekend it’s Uruguay baby! Its only a few hour ferry ride away and if I can find my dramamine somewhere in my room, we should be good to go. I can catch up on reading and school work on the ferry there and home… Logical.
We shall be gracing beautiful Colonia, Uruguay with our presence this Friday through Sunday. We have a great, small group of girls going with us; just me, Hilary, Tiffany and Monae, who I am sure you will all see pictures of in the upcoming future. We shall frolic on the beach and eat sea food and I am definitely holding out for renting a moped to ride around the city with… But let’s not get my hopes up. All in all I am hoping for a fun-filled, sex and the city -esque vacation, but only if I can be Samantha… minus all the, well, just kidding I don’t want to be Samantha.
Let’s hope for a fun-filled, sisterhood of the traveling pants kind of weekend where… well, technically they aren’t together.
I’m running out of adventure, travel movies and all I can think of now is the Goonies and they get chased by a really terrifying man-woman and almost die on more than one occasion so…

Here’s to a fun-filled, relaxing weekend with some of my favorite ISA- Buenos Aires girls, let’s hope it’s as fun as watching Glee and singing along, alone… in your room, because you don’t want anyone to know you actually like Glee…
Okay, byeeeee

Besos,
Linette

don't look so excited...

Viaje a El Tigre

Here is a little video Hilary, lifeoffelmstreet.blogspot.com, and I made of our ISA Excursion to Tigre our first weekend in Argentina. El Tigre is a little tourist town that a lot of people take small vacations to during the summer. The whole town is set alongside a river and the main mode of transportation is boat (cars too). There were houses along the river with docks and we got to see the Puerto de Frutos which had a huge open air market with lots of cool things to buy. Hopefully we will get to go back and do some more shopping, because I am indecisive and didn’t buy anything… Classic Linette. But yeah, so I hope you like the video and get a little taste of what we did on our first trip out of the city!
Also, in case the annotation didn’t work in the video (because technology is not my strong suit) the song is I Wouldn’t Mind (Good Goose Remix) by He is We. Check them out at http://www.purevolume.com/new/HEISWE
I’m pretty sure you can still download this remix for free and a few of their other downloads are free too!

Okay, thanks for watching and I hope you enjoy :)

Question..

If I were to do a video blog soon what would you guys like to hear about? Leave a comment on here or Facebook and let me know!
& thanks again for reading my blog, it means a lot to me!
Love,
Netty

Oh, and then there’s this…

Heard/Saw this in a club last night… magic.

I’m in Buenos Aires!!

Hello, hello, hello!
I am so sorry for the lack of posts during my first week here. We have literally have something planned every day for ISA or the University and it has been go, go, go… Needless to say, when we aren’t out and about getting stuff done, I am, pretty much, sleeping or eating. So today I don’t have anything until 5pm so I thought I’d get started on trying to get you all caught up! I’m going to do a few different posts so they don’t get too long and boring. This first one will be about my travels on the way here and my first few days, which to be completely honestly, are a bit of a blur.
I cannot even believe I have already been here for an entire week. Things are slowly starting to look familiar and I am getting used to some of the local customs… and people staring at me like I’m an alien.
First things first, the trip here. As I posted before I left I totally hate planes, so having to get on and off four different ones was not really an experience I much enjoyed. I would compare it to my desire to go to the dentist or see Lil Wayne in concert, both of which are very low on my to-do list, in case you have never met me? I don’t know.
My airline reviews go as follows. Air Canada kicks Delta’s ass any day, and let’s just throw it all out there, any other airline I have ever flown with. That’s about it. Air Canada made me feel like a King in economy while… well Delta reminded me that I was flying economy. I mean, for one they gave me the whole can of soda with my cup. The Whole Can. Yeah, you should have seen my face when the male flight attendant, always so many jokes there but just not enough time, handed it to me. It lit up like Paula Deen’s when a recipe calls for butter… pre-diabetes.
I encountered my first language barrier in the Santiago airport where pretty much no one spoke any English, even though I was in the international terminal. I have no idea how to say things like check-in and ticket. My 5 semesters of college level Spanish in the states had seemed to have failed me. I finally found a guy that spoke fluent Spanglish and directed me in the right direction… directly back to my gate to wait for the main attendant for my specific plane arrived, because apparently all others forgot how to check in passengers and print tickets. Airlines, airports and flights frustrate me, always have and always will.
I slept and ate mostly on the flights, did some reading and filled out lots of paperwork. And by lots I mean only two pages… but they were VERY confusing.
Got off the plane, talked to some really nice Canadians in the line (surprised? me neither, they’re everywhere) and actually getting through customs with my baggage was super easy, not at all what I expected. The guy basically said “Teneis frutas?” I said “No” and he waved me through, So… that’s a cool thing that happened. Just don’t bring fruits, I guess and you’re good to go.
Next came my ride from the airport into the city. Which is really a story all it’s own. Let’s just say, my first experience with driving in South America = terrifying. We sped down the freeway at a record 110 mph… I am not exaggerating. I have never driven that fast in my life. And forget about turn signals when switching lanes, who needs em right?
After gripping my hands to the door handle quite a few times and trying to enjoy my first view of the city, we made it into Buenos Aires and twisted down streets for I can’t even remember how long until we made it to my new home. A huge apartment building of which I now lived on the 15th floor of. Terrified that I might have to walk up fifteen flights of stairs, I got to the building and buzzed the number on my little slip of paper telling me where to go. “Hola?” was the only thing I heard and yes I completely froze up. I stared at the little speaker box, my nerves tricking me into thinking I didn’t know how it worked. I finally said that it was me and she buzzed me up.
The elevator seemed to take days to make it to the 15th floor. Once I didn’t I climbed out and there was my host mom with the door wide open beckoning me in and welcoming me. She kissed me on the cheek, like everyone does here, and hugged me once I got in the door. She spoke so much Spanish so quickly that I had no idea what she was saying. I stared at her with a completely blank face and I’m sure she though I was mute or dumb. I finally was able to muster the courage to try “I’m just very tired from my trip” in Spanish and she more or less knew what I was saying.
So, I had arrived at where I would be living for the next four months and it felt so unreal. Even now, a week later it still just feels like a trip, something fun I’m doing for a little while and then I’ll fly back to little old Moscow and go on with life. It will take me a while to comprehend that this is my life now. I think having a set schedule once I start school will help a lot, but more about that later.
So, now you know all about my travels and how I survived them…
I will leave you with this, the view of the city from my fourteenth floor bedroom window.

Boise Airport

At the airport, about to board my first plane!!
Proud to say Univ of Idaho provides the wifi here so it brought me to uidaho.edu as soon as I connected :) go Vandals!
(does make me a bit homesick already though)
I hate flying, I hate planes… Dramamine in hand, let’s get this over with.

leaving TOMORROW!

Everybody… The time has officially come.

Tomorrow I will be on a plane to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
There’s a map for you, in case you are ill informed of global geography…
That little star on the map is where I will be residing for the next four months. I am so excited to start this whole journey. This is something that I have been thinking about and planning and getting ready for… for what? like a year and a half now! It’s this magical, faraway place that I have been dreaming about for even longer. And although I’ve tried to not build up too many expectations so that I am pleasantly surprised by the little things, it’s impossible to not have a few already. I definitely have images of myself dancing till I can’t stand, sipping wine in a small bar, meeting new people and seeing new things. I guess these aren’t ridiculous but a huge part of me is so nervous about my experience not living up to what I truly imagine and want it to be. I am a firm believer that every experience and opportunity is as good as you make it and that you’ll only get what you want out of them with a good attitude and a positive outlook.
But guys, I have never been out of the country. Ever. I’ve concocted a few other images as well… of attempting to speak Spanish in an emergency and failing, getting everything important to me stolen right out from under me, and visions of anti-American sentiments dance through my head. I’m try to keep these thoughts out of my mind until they actually become an issue. So let’s just stick with that mentality.

I’m really hoping that I become better at this whole blogging thing. I  haven’t had a blog since I was 12 and let’s just say, my pre-teen angst filled live journal was probably not riveting reading. So hopefully when I am out doing things new and exciting I will have more interesting posts for all of you! (directed at my, let’s face it, probably 3 viewers) But please, if you read my blog while I’m down there, like the Facebook link or comment… I want to still feel connected to everyone in the States while I’m gone and I’d love to know who is paying attention and taking this journey with me.

It is such an odd feeling, this back and forth between excited and nervous. I have a nervous stomach all day while I think about packing and plane tickets and student visas and then images of sunny, warm weather and exploring a new city where I have never been, come in and I get more excited then I can explain.

So I am about to go to sleep, my last night going to bed in the States for four months!
I will post as soon as I get there and am all set up with internet to tell about my first impressions and hopefully come up with a list of goals and things I want to do/accomplish while I’m away!

Much Love.

Feel All The Emotions…

I cannot believe it’s almost here! I leave in 21 days you guys… 21 DAYS!

That is less than a month away (in case you don’t understand modern measures of time? I don’t know.) I still don’t know when it will really hit me, when it will really all become real.
But for now, I’m just so excited!
I have never even been out of the country and pretty soon I am going to be living in… not the United States. God, I am so articulate today.

I’ll post a more detailed and insightful blog soon… but for now I just want to watch drunk Ron Swanson dance and update you all on my growing anticipation.

“It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such – such beautiful shirts before.”

Finals are over… finals are over. Wait, I’m not done yet, FINALS ARE OVER.

I feel like a humongous weight has been lifted off of me. This semester was a bit of a killer… Let’s just say microeconomics threatened to strangle me with its bony little fingers at least once and Spanish definitely punched me directly in the face on more than one occasion. The semester is over and now begins the excruciatingly long three days waiting for when final grades are due.  These three days the absolute nerd in me takes over, checking my online school account at least three times every day and recalculating my GPA every time a grade is posted to make sure I didn’t just completely destroy my entire academic career with one class. I admit, this semester I am stressing out a lot more than usual because my motivation was totally missing in action this semester. I was literally more interested in whether or not Justin Beiber is actually a 16 year old baby daddy than showing up to class on time (or let’s be honest, even at all). And yes, I have turned into one of those annoying students who never shows up or studies and still expects to get a good grade and I hate myself for it, but not enough to stop complaining. I know there are worse things in the world than me doing poorly in a class but this is my reality… my somewhat pathetic reality yes, but my reality none the less.

Also my reality right now is the fact that I get to actually go home for Christmas! I am beyond excited to see my family and friends who I miss more than anything. I have no idea how I am going to deal with being so far away from everyone I love when I am in Buenos Aires. I am only five hours away from my family at school and I miss them like crazy. I talk to my mom on the phone probably more than any grown college student should or would ever want to. Being all the way in South America, where I can’t talk to my family all the time makes me more nervous than how Twilight fans should feel around me. Maybe it will help me get over my extremely immature habit of having to run practically every life decision I make by my mother… Even just writing about my family now, I’m missing them. I am so happy I get to spend Christmas with them, but then thinking of leaving all of my friends here for so long also makes it a little bittersweet. I have a problem.
But enough of that, I am just so over the moon to be home and spending time with people I love that I haven’t seen in a really long time. Also just found out that I get to go down to the good old San Diego before I leave for Buenos Aires to visit the extended family! I could not be more thrilled! Good things keep coming my way and I have no idea why, I must have done something great in a past life because I am pretty lucky.(I like to think I was someone totally awesome like Michael Landon or Freddie Mercury, who both died in 1991 the same year I was born, I might add. Or one of the 43 people that died in Japan from a volcano erupting the day I was born, yeah I wiki-ed my birthday, no big deal)

So let’s cheers to being home for the holidays and hopefully lots of wonderful memories created once more, ones like this magic moment.

 

Hey you, thanks so much for visiting my little blog! This following post will be forever available in under my About Muah tab; just in case you simply cannot get enough of me and this awesome picture of my face and get the urge to read it again, like a billion times. I don’t judge (and definitely do not blame you…) Anyways, rambling like usual, I thought it was a good comprehensive introduction to who I am, why I started this blog and why you should probably read it like all of the time. So here you go, I hope you enjoy and decide to keep reading in the future! 

 

Hey, Linette here. So this is my blog, aka my somewhat pretentious assumption that you want to know everything about me and what I do on a regular basis. I don’t consider myself a particularly interesting individual but I’m flattered you aren’t bored enough of me yet to follow this link and read my blog. As you probably already know I am a super student at the University of Idaho- just double majoring in International Studies and Spanish, whatever that means, am I right? Ha ha ha, no. But let’s get real… this Spring 2012 semester I will be studying abroad in Argentina, pretty awesome I know. I’m like so totally excited and can’t wait to go, but I’ll for sure miss all y’all here in my Ida-home. This blog is a way for you to keep tabs on what I’m up to and, lezz be honest, acquire an insane amount of jealousy about the incredible time I’m having. I plan on speaking loads of bad Spanish, dancing my behind off and drinking way too much wine. Oh yeah, and studying muchas cosas (“tons of stuff” in Spanish for all you uni-linguists) at the University de Belgrano of Buenos Aires too. I will be residing in the Southern Hemisphere March through mid-July ish and then I will once again grace Idaho with my presence. If you’ve read this far, congratulations, you officially have a larger attention span than any given goldfish, my parents dog Milo and probably most college students I know. As your reward, I’ll share a little nugget of knowledge with you that most people don’t know; Ricky Martins real name is actually Enrique Morales. You’re welcome. This is just one example of exciting things that you should anticipate to learn about by reading my blog. If you are reading this before and any time during my adventures abroad and would like to help out, feel free to visit my funding site to make a donation or leave me an inspirational message! If I have successfully figured out this thing called the internet, there should be a link on the right hand side of my blog under Pages titled Get Money, Fuc… nope just that first one. Sooooo yeah, I never know how to end these things, so um, let’s just slap a quote on it and call it a day. (also my logic for almost every paper I have ever written)

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” –Mark Twain