May 8th, 2013 – More More Alfahore!

Went to school today and had our last politics and development class. Then we did lots of evaluation stuff for the program before lunch. After lunch we all headed home to work on that huge list of things I talked about yesterday. I went for an hour walk break with one of my friends. So nice out!! Then came back and did more work. Then ate dinner with our host mom. She also made us tea and carrot cake today and then brought us alfahores (really delicious cookies with dulce de leche) after dinner for encouragement. She’s the cutest. 

May 7th, 2013 – Sign the Bottle

Getting to school today was such a struggle. Our host mom told us that the metro wasn’t working, so we had to take a bus. We waited for the bus for half an hour, but they kept driving by and were too filled to take more people. They were too filled because the metro wasn’t working. So we ended up taking a cab to school. It took an hour and a half total from leaving our house to get to school. No fun.

At school we had our last urban planning and sustainable environments and culture and society lectures. We did some evaluation stuff in between the classes. Then we had the afternoon to work on our comparative analysis presentations, papers, synthesis and reflection papers, and readings for the rest of the week. Did you get tired reading that list? That’s what I thought.

After lunch, I walked around and took some pictures for my project, and then came home and worked for a while. I took a break by going for a walk with a friend around 6pm because it was too beautiful to stay inside all day. I got back around 7, got ready for dinner, and then met up with Lucy and her parents at a really famous restaurant called Don Julios in Palermo. The restaurant is known for their steak and other meaty dishes. So I got chicken, which was delicious, and tried some steak. Be proud! We also drank delicious wine and got to sign the bottle (bottles?) when we were done. The restaurant is decorated with hundreds of signed bottles. Then we met up with some other people and got ice cream. Great end to a work-filled day. 

May 6th, 2013 – The Star Chef Who Dips Things In Chocolate

Today was a working day. B and I woke up early and did work until lunch. We needed to get out of the house, so we walked a few blocks to this place called “Deli Wok,” which is a buffet that we have passed by every day so far on this program on the way to the subway. We decided to venture in, even though it was really expensive. We needed a distraction. The food was good…not worth the price though. Whatever, at least it got us out of the house for a little while. Then we walked around the block a few times before returning home. More work all afternoon.

We decided it would be nice if we cooked our host mom dinner. B and I made veggie enchiladas and a salad. For dessert I improvised and made some chocolate covered banana slices and drizzled some dulce de leche over top and stuck them in the freezer. Our host mom invited one of her friends over and we all ate together. They loved it. They couldn’t get over the dessert – they had never had something like that before. From now on I’m just going to dip things in chocolate and call it a day. 

May 5th, 2013 – Graffitimundo

Today I woke up around 11, got ready, and headed to San Telmo market. I spent about two hours there (it was my last chance to go because it is our last Sunday in BA…we have a retreat next weekend). Then I went to Plaza Italia, got some empanadas for lunch, and met up with a graffiti bike tour in the park. It was the perfect day for a bike tour. The tour was from 2:30 to 6:30 and we biked all around Palermo and stopped to look at lots of graffiti. We met some artists, learned about how they work, etc. It was amazing. Our tour guide was from Australia and so knowledgeable and fun.

I got back home around 7 and ate dinner. Then worked on my comparative analysis project for a bunch of hours. Such an amazing day though. 

May 4th, 2013 – Beautiful Grave

Went to our normal brunch spot in Palermo for the most amazing omelet ever. Then walked to Recoletta market and shopped around. It is an artisan market so everything was really nice and expensive, but it was such a beautiful day to walk around. We also went to Eva Peron’s gravesite, which was very interesting. Then I came back home and worked on my final project for a little while. Then we had dinner. After dinner I went out to meet Lucy’s parents who are here for a few days. We all met up at a bar, but we ended up running into Lucy’s parents on the street before the bar. Small world. 

May 3rd, 2013 – Shabbat Shalom!

Today we started with a politics and development class where we had to map out through pictures various themes that we learned about this semester. Right up my alley. Then we had learning community and we wrote songs about our program. Hilarious. School ended right before lunch.

A few of us decided to venture to Abasto neighborhood, which is the very Jewish part of BA. We went to the mall there, which is beautiful, and saw the kosher McDonalds. After we ate lunch in the mall we found a Judaica shop and I bought a few fun things. Then we headed back toward school and went to Ateneo, which is a gigantic bookstore that was built inside of an old opera house. The stage is still there and you can read in the old seats. Very cool and very famous.

Then we came home and relaxed a little. After dinner, B and I interviewed our host mom about our different comparative analysis topics. She loves to talk, and we did the interviews completely in Spanish. Our host mom then called her friend down from upstairs so we could interview her too. It was like 2 hours of debating political topics in Spanish.

After that a bunch of us went to a concert that was nearby. It was at a cultural center a few blocks away.