Yesterday was difficult. I was on the bus going to orientation in the morning, and paranoia consumed me. Every time someone near me adjusted their weight to one side, I thought they were going to pounce. And when multiple people around me took a slight step in any direction or glanced at me out of the corner of their eye, I immediately concluded that they were involved in a master plan to swipe my belongings. Someone approached me from the back of the bus and I was so scared that I jumped, but then luckily was able to play it off as a forced reaction to the bus lurching forward at a stoplight. I realize now that perhaps I was being ridiculous. I felt like curling up in a ball and crying at random times during the day. I think Argentina is exhausting me. I knew it was going to be arduous adapting to a new country, but not to this extent.
I went to a café with a few girls and I tried my first alfajores. These are cookies sometimes bathed in chocolate with dulce de leche (milky caramel) in the middle. These ones were just covered in powdered sugar, but I want to try the chocolate ones also. There is a multitude of pastries here. You can easily find sweet shops and sweet bread cafés on every block. I enjoy these things in small doses once in a while with a mug of hot tea, but I am more of an ice cream person in terms of sweets. Good thing there are also heladerías (ice cream shops) on every street! I was in a café and I thought I was saving money by only spending 12 pesos on pasta with pesto.. But it turns out that here, you order the sauce (salsa) separate from the noodles. So I actually was just ordering pesto without anything to put it on! I ended up not saving money since the pasta itself was 20 pesos. This does not make sense to me.. I personally would not want an order of pesto by itself. Although the water here is safe, I learned that it has a decent amount of chlorine in it. This does not sound very good for you, but I don't feel like I have many options since I am opposed to buying bottled water if I can help it.
Registration for classes at universities here is a crazy and chaotic nightmare. For most of the schools, you can sit in on classes 2 weeks before you register to see which ones you like. You can try as many as you want, but when time comes to register, you should have gone to all of the classes that you are going to take so you didn't miss anything. Also, there are limits to how many extranjeros (foreginers) can be in a class, so if too many of us sign up, we get entered into a lottery. If we are not one of the 4 or 5 people that get to stay in the class, we have one day to choose a different class. My first impression was that this "cupo" or limit was unfair. My second thought was that it made some sense. If I am in a class about Argentine history and I want to really feel like I am in an Argentine atmosphere, I don't want 100 other norteamericanos surrounding me because this would take away from the culture and feel of Latin American universities. Anyway, the course list on paper does not always match the course list on the internet, which causes more headaches. To add to it all, I have very limited options of classes to take if I want all of my credits to transfer back to Madison as specific classes that will count toward my major. I think I have taken for granted the Madison online registration process that simply takes a click of the mouse. I don't understand how people here do this year after year, but I guess you can get used to anything.
My instructor told us that "semáforas en Argentina solamente sirven por decoración." Translation: Traffic lights in Argentina are only there for decoration. Isn't that the truth. Today he talked about different tourism places that we might want to check out while studying here. I would ideally love to go to Iguazú falls, Patagonia, Mendoza, Bariloche, Uruguay, las pampas, Córdoba, and somewhere where I can really see the mountains. This is a lot to expect of 5 months and I don't think I will have time for all of it. Or money, come to think of it. Traveling costs so much. Especially traveling to other countries. Brazil and Chile both require visas to enter, but luckily Uruguay does not.
I walked home from orientation today instead of taking the bus because I thought it would be more relaxing and let my mind journey to happier places. However, I would not say that it was relaxing. While the city is exciting and it is fun to people watch, I am much more of a suburban girl. There is too much noise and too much transit in the city. Less nature and more pollution. I have also noticed a duality of city life. On one hand, it is cold and distant and people walk past each other without saying anything or caring how the other person's day is going. Cars honk, people cut other people off, and street vendors' words are completely ignored. However, there are simultaneously hugs, kisses, and rapid conversations between friends and family. And just like the people on the buses, even when people aren't all talking to each other, they all make up this gigantic city. There are tons of stores with English names and t-shirts with English writing. I'm not sure if this is because they admire aspects of North-American culture or if the main intention is to attract tourists. I haven't encountered nearly as many tourists as I thought I was going to here, but maybe I pass them all the time on the streets and they are just better at hiding it than me.
I cuddled with Toto and Tango for half an hour last night before going to sleep. Sometimes I feel that animals have magical powers that enable them to make every situation seem a little more manageable. And the best part is, they love you no matter what. I feel badly for complaining so much in my blog lately. I must seek out more sources of hope and inspiration in my daily life. If I believe I will find these rays of sunshine, does that mean I'm already being more optimistic?
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