La vida porteña: August 2011

Hola, amigos! No, I have not forgotten about this blog... just postponed writing for a bit!

I'm backing up to one month ago, the week of June 12th. It was Brittany's last week in Buenos Aires since her flight was the following Saturday night, so we wanted to plan some fun things to do! On Sunday night, Britt and I decided to try to find a milonga (form of dancing that preceded the Tango in Buenos Aires, but sort of an informal version). Since they start around midnight, we went to a place called Catedral to see what kind of event they had. Unfortunately, we found out when we got there that Sunday nights are folk music nights, so Brittany wasn't going to be able to dance tango :( We had fun watching though, and got to hear some local folk artists perform while people got up from the crowd to dance the customary dances!
On Friday of that week, I showed Brittany the touristy "El Caminito" in La Boca where we walked around watching outdoor tango shows and got catcalled "Barbies" by restaurant promoters trying to entice us to eat at their locale. After a while it got old, so we headed back to Palermo (where I lived) to check out the Museo Evita. This museum is dedicated to showing relics from Argentina's Eva Perón, First Lady of Argentina from 1946-1952 and most well-known for her social works, fight for women's suffrage, and the promotion of trade unions. What I loved most about the museum was that it showcased her fashionable outfits from her days as an actress and politician's wife. So glamorous!
After the museum, Brittany and I went out for coffee and medialunas with my porteña friend Trini, and then we treated my host mom Maritina to dinner at a restaurant called Bella Italia (and feasted on the best mozarella ever).
The next morning (Brittany's last day!) we went to the Galerias Pacifico shopping mall to take a tango lesson at the Centro Cultural de Borges. The mall was SO beautiful- it could've been a museum! There was a water fountain in the main food court of the mall, with a Michelangelo-like mural on the ceiling above, complete with a kaleidescopic chandelier made out of hundreds of tiny glass rectangles. Once we got to the tango classroom, Britt got right to work putting on her brand-new, red-hot tango heels and I mentally prepared myself to start the lesson. The class was small so I got to work on beginner things while Brittany did more detailed moves and practiced with a more experienced partner. Tango is definitely harder than it looks!! Towards the end of the class, I had made small improvements so I felt accomplished :) Afterwards, we treated ourselves to Gourmet empanadas/ medialunas from my favorite café Leonizzo, and then explored the Jardín Japones before Brittany had to be on her way to the Ezeiza International Airport for her flight back to the US.
Later that night, I helped my friend Liz ring in her 21st Birthday by dancing till we dropped at the boliche (dance club) "Terrazas del Este." In true porteña fashion, three of us made it until 6am and decided to go for breakfast afterwards! You really can't say you've clubbed in Buenos Aires until you've come out from a night of dancing to see the sun come up :) After getting home at 8am and sleeping until noon, it was time to crack down on studying for finals which were coming up! Luckily, I had the Argentina National team vs. Albania soccer match to look forward to on Monday (Argentina's "Flag Day")! It was just a friendly match before the Copa America started. After a looong study day on Sunday, Monday was a fun break since about 15 IES students went together to the River Plate soccer stadium together to watch the game. It was so fun to see everyone dressed up in Argentine blue and cheering on the team-- especially since we got to see Messi live and in action!! We were up in the nosebleeds, but we could spot the star player by his neon-yellow cleats! :)
They ended up winning 4-0 (as expected!) so it wasn't too much of a nail-biter but still a great time.
After getting home, I was starting to feel a little sick... I had unfortunately caught the IES strep throat that was going around. Just in time for finals :( I was ordered by a doctor that made house visits (totally normal) to fill a prescription and get as much rest as I could, and thankfully I recovered within a few days.
Finals went pretty well (I'm still waiting for results!) and it came down to one last final, which was for my partner university class at UCES. I had to take it to make up for what I missed while I was in Brazil, so I was planning on taking an essay final just like the rest of the class had. I showed up in my professor's office (at her second job, which was working for Argentina's National Parks) and started chatting with her about the class, Argentina in general, and overall my experience as an exchange student. She asked me if I had any questions from studying the materials, and we talked through a few before she said, "Ok great. I'll tell them you passed!" Definitely a shock, but the best final ever!!
That night was the IES farewell dinner at Club Sirio Libes, which was a beautiful mansion used for special events with arabic catering. Yumm!! I got there early to practice with the choir, but soon friends and teachers began to flood in and the program began! The choir performed "Por Una Cabeza," "Mano Blanco," (both tangos) and "Cinco Siglos Igual." Afterwards, (by my friends' request) I performed my rendition of "Ridin' Solo!" The food was great, the music was fun to dance to, and all of our wonderful memories in Argentina were coming to an end, so it was definitely a bittersweet night. The next few days were spent packing for our upcoming trip to Salta, and saying goodbye to friends that were heading back to the USA. It was really hard to see some friends leave (the boys even cried!) but we all made plans to visit each other and we're all still keeping in touch. What a wonderful 4 months in a beautiful city with incredible friends!! A small group of us left for Salta on Sunday though, and continued the adventure in Argentina. More about our trip to the Northwest in the next blog post!