H,I,J, K, elemental (?) P

The other day, I was sitting alone having some quick breakfast on my way to class. And I started not to go, because every day, it's the same situation where there are about 7 students who have to get up early and compete for the same few slices of bread the chef puts out. I didn't feel like fighting for food that day, but when I looked in, there wasn't a long line, so I stopped in. Mind you, a normal breakfast here is, for example, a slice of toast, some coffee with milk and dulce de leche, or a croissant, dulce de leche and coffee. So it's not filling anyway. I just eat it because I'm hungry and that's the option.

So I'm sitting there having my three slices of a dinner roll with spread, and this kid sits down across from me with his "breakfast" which is three croissants. He has the nerve to look at my plate and comment: "THAT'S your breakfast? If I don't eat at least this much *indicates three croissants*, I'm starving." Now, I have NOT complained about the minimal breakfast here. I just roll with it. But he tried to take me on. I'm like "boy" don't even talk to me about breakfast. As soon as I touch down at DTW, that will be my FIRST stop on the way home (and some tacos). Do you know what we eat for breakfast in America? We eat like men. Do you know what I would give for a three egg, three cheese omlete, stuffed full of vegetables, potatoes and random fried pig parts, two fluffy white flour butter molested pancakes drenched in syrup, and a thick, creamy glass of whole milk to wash it all down? I shake my stick at your scrawny breakfast of crumpets and leisure. Don't you ever talk to me about breakfast again. You haven't met breakfast. Dismissed.

Now, obviously, I didn't say all that to him, but he definitely heard a piece of it. I couldn't believe he tried to attack my toast, as if I had a choice. Smh.

Also, I started thinking about how popular pickpocketing is here, and I thought to myself, if it happens that much, someone has to be watching it happen. Like, everyone can't be missing it. Is everyone in on it, or what? Are these people that good? And why are there still citizens who wear their backpacks on their backs and not the front? That seems like a bad idea. So, because it was on my mind, I paid attention and I caught one! So I was standing next to this kid on the bus. And I'm wary of everyone, so I was Paying attention. He was wearing his bag on his back. Strange. But he ended up not being the shady one. When he went to get off the bus, he was standing, waiting for the doors to open, when this guys who was obviously a coward, started sneakily unzipping this kid's outer pocket. The reason I knew is because we were packed in pretty tight, and every time the bus would rock back and separate the two, the kid's zipper was undone a little more. And the guys strategy was, he had his jacket draped over his hand so no one would suspect him or see what he was doing if they weren't paying attention, but I was staring. Bad idea, yes, in hindsight. But I was so fascinated by the fact that I was witnessing this in action. The guy noticed me staring and I think he probably thought I was staring critically/was going to bust him, but I was too entranced to say anything to the kid. Not that I would have probably. But, eventually the guy gave up. He kept looking at me, and finally said forget it, and the kid was getting off anyway, so the day was saved.

Also, I know that University is cheap/free in other countries, but hearing someone say it, blows my mind all over again, then I blow their minds right back. I was chatting with my partner for a project who lives in Spain, and he pays $1,000 per year to attend his university, which, he says is the best university in the area. And I'm like "wow" Every year, I pay to attend your school for 22 years. At least. Ridic. Then I added, "But I'm American, so that's normal for me." Everyone just plans to be in debt. *shrugs*

Updates:

*Every time I think I could stay here longer, something happens that makes me want to leave. The same thing happens the other way around.
*Living in a residence hall is a bad idea if you aren't a freshman.
*It's fascinating how one can learn a language, despite having an accent. Just to be able to gain an understanding of a differnt structure. Very interesting.

TB

Dale Adrian! Dale!

Right now I'm in colonia Uruguay where were having our volleyball tournament. We arrived yesterday at 7:30am and I didn't sleep the night before because of a show I had to go to for my theatre class, so when we arrived, I slept, then we had our first game later that day. The city of Colonia is really cute and super clean in comparison to Buenos Aires. It's really clam and miniature. Also, they don't have traffic lights....or I haven't seen any, at least. People just govern themselves on the road. But it works, so it's cool.

Today we had two games, and the second one was against what I'm pretty sure was a Middle school team. Now, to be honest, I'm not sure if we've won any games or not. I really can't tell. Everyone's a super good sport and were all just happy the game went well I guess. So I can never tell who won because nobody's mad or any other type of empotional.

So we get out there with this middle school team, and during the warm up, we could tell that they were good. Plus, they looked like the worked out, so they were serious. Obviously, no one was planning on taking it easy on anyone, because if you think about it, what does that mean? Am I just not gonna hit the ball a few times and let you get some points? No. Are you gonna take it easy on me because I'm in college? Didn't think so. So that was settled. I was thinking, they probably wanted it more anyway, because we're so much older than they are.

So each round, we have to switch sides, and the water bottles get transported back and forth so they're available for the players during time out and whatnot. And everyone was sharing all the waters, but I bought my own, so I would just take mine and set it out of the way. So finally the big waters got low, were on the sideline, listening to the coach, then the inevitable happened. Someone reached for my bottle, the only one with water still in it. She took a drink, but didn't put her mouth on it. "ok" someone else reaches for it, and I stand there helplessly, while my personal water passes in slow motion from sweaty mouth to sweaty mouth, dripping down sweaty chins, spit water splashed back into the bottle followed by a tired, heavy breath. And I'm the only one noticing while everyone else listens intently to the coaches directions. Finally, a team member finishes it off and the agony is over. But F if I'm about to buy another bottle. It was like 30 pesos. So I just had to wash it off when I got back. I was so disgusted.

Anyway, so the game begins, its going well, we're playing pretty much equally. Todo bien. Time goes on, and they start to get ahead of us, but we had played a game earlier and were tired, so no one could hit the ball over the net... So the coach keeps pulling us aside "I know you're tired physically, but you gotta get your bead in there" or some thing to that effect in Spanish.. So we keep getting these pep talks, pep talks. Each time we go out there, were more intense. Everyones on point. Were making all the points, the Middle schoolers are getting discouraged, were coming up. Meanwhile, the crowd on the sideline has gotten bigger, we have a huge screaming section, the middle school team's, fans grow. People have found things to make more noise with. Banging on the floor, the walls, clapping. The other university students start shouting the school song. Now we have a makeshift band/chearleading squad. We're pumped. Middle school up by two. Now it's a pride issue. We have to win. We get out there. Ball over the net, middle school girl hits the floor misses the ball. "Yeah" everyone's watching. No one can miss a second. Now were equal, one point left. Ball served from the middle school side. Teeters on the net. One of our girls goes for it, misses. There's a lot of celebration. I think we lost.

All together, it was a pretty fun weekend though.

TB

Friend Zone

The month of April. We've already had two breaks this month and we have a third longer break coming up. During the breaks, it gets really empty around the residence hall, because everyone goes back to their hometowns and the American students go to the places that we want to visit like neighboring countries and what not. The city empties out pretty well too, because if there are two breaks, and a few days of work between, I guess it's socially acceptable to skip work and just combine it into one long break.

This past weekend I decided to visit Mar del Plata, which is a beach town about 5 hours outside the city. It was really cute and laid back, and it's supposed to be a tourist area for Argentines, so that's why they chose it. The group had planned on going to the beach, but as I mentioned before, it's getting cold outside, and it ended up being cold and raining the day they tried to go to the beach. Much of the weekend was spent at the arcade, which was really fun/cool. I guess the one advantage of hanging out with guys is you have the chance to get back to the kid in you. I am so bad at ping pong, but they were patient with me lol. But I kick a** at Air Hockey, so it's all good. I took some really good photos, had a beach hot dog, slept in.

One night we went to look for the bars, and we ended up walking for about two hours not even realizing it. We finally got there and they had live music and fresh Orange Juice. We also went to a casino. And I was pretty sure you couldn't take photos in there, but I wasn't completely sure, and we're in another country, so I just tried it. Also, the security at the front saw me walk in with a camera. I started videotaping Jack, and within 6 seconds, there were three security guards trying to explain that I couldn't take photos.

Next week is the volleyball tournament in Uruguay. I'm super pumped to hang out with the team. Loves me some girl time lol. They're so cool. I need to buy knee pads and stuff. I'll probably skip the long break, because I'm trying not to go broke. I'll just stay here and study or whatever.

Oh, also, here's the full-blown make-out breakdown:
Argentines kiss on one cheek women+women, women+men, men+men
Spain is both cheeks. Everyone I think
Brazil is one cheek women+women, women+men
Chile is one cheek

TB

This is How You Know it's the Weekend

Today I am getting over a cold that seemed to come out of nowhere suddenly. It started off with a sore throat, then a fever the next day. I had to get up and get a few things, but by the time I got back, my body was finished. So yesterday I stayed in bed as much as I could. I had to get up a few times though, because I just get bored. I tried to call the doctor. I guess they come to your house and bring you medicine, or that's what I heard. But we didn't understand each other, so I thought, maybe I don't need medicine. Then Lydia gave me some. She's pre-med, it's fine. lol. Anyway, today, I feel a lot better. Just really weak and dehydrated, so I'll be working on that today while doing some hw. Tomorrow there's a holiday, so there are no classes. Some people have the entire week off. My dance school does. People are on vacation and the residence hall is really empty. Lollapalooza is this week. Lots of things going on.

I'm not sure if this is a study abroad phase, but sometimes when I'm really tired or confused or both, I have these hallucinations that my parents are here. For example, Friday, I had a meeting with an editor (!) and after I left, it took me about 3 1/2 hours to figure out the bus back home. After a while, I realized that all of the busses on this particular street only went up and down this street. It was weird. It's like, how do you choose which one of these to get one if they all do the same thing? But people had their preferences, I guess. Anyway, after I finally got back to somewhere familiar, I was exhausted and hadn't eaten and just kind of out of it and out of nowhere, my dad walked up. It's like being in the desert. Is this study abroad stage two?

Ok, this is where life gets interesting. Last week I sent out a bunch of resumes for production companies and I was doing follow up calls on Thursday. Most of them said they didn't offer internships. None of them hung up on me. That was pretty exciting. Then I called one that said that they've worked with a lot of students and I should come in and talk with them to see what we could do. So I was really pumped and set up the meeting for the next day, Friday, because I didn't have any classes, and I'm like yeah, why wait. So he gave me his e mail address and it was @newsweek. I was confused and thinking maybe he used to work there or something, but then I sent the e mail and got a mailer demon, so I called back to get the correct address and it was Newsweek Argentina. The production company I thought I was calling, has the wrong phone number posted on their website about six times. So I went to the meeting at Newsweek, figuring I could explore their art department. It was pretty cool being able to do that. At the end he gave me a bunch of copies of the magazine.

My new weekend thing is buying fresh squeezed Orange Juice and fresh peanuts. Their reminiscent of boston Baked Beans, except fresh. Usually hot. They're so good. Orange Juice is a big deal, because all of the OJ sold in stores is tang. None of it is real. So during the street fair on the weekends, you can get fresh squeezed. If you shop around, you can get competitive prices and some stands even have ice. So I did that yesterday before I collapsed.

It's starting to get cold outside. People are wearing the hats with the earflaps, but they're exaggerating. There's a weird pattern where it'll be cold/rainy during the week, then on the weekends, it's back to swimsuit weather. Very sunny and hot. It's interesting.

TB