Clases a Belgrano

My first week of study abroad classes at UB is finally drawing to a close. It was strange, adjusting back to the 1 and 1/2 hour class-every other day schedule from the intensive month 5 hour daily classes. That being said, i'm actually really pleased with all of the classes I'm taking at Belgrano.

Lunes y Miercoles (Mon. - Wed.)

1. Español Avanzado B (which does not start until 2:30, oh yeah)
2. Narrativa de lo monstruoso (which I think is going to be a really insightful class about society's and literature's views of what is perceived as monstrous and abnormal in our society)

Martes y Jueves (Tues. - Thurs.)

1. Arte Argentino Contemporañeo (a really cool art history class which will be supplemented with visits to the AMAZING museos in BsAs and strolls around the city)
2. Cine Latinoamericano (because who wouldn't love to take a film class, right?)
3. Tango: the Art of Expression (the first class is about the history of tango and the second is an actual studio dance class. loves it!)

Martes y Viernes 

1. Historia de la Cultura = 8 a.m. (my only class with argentinos; both exciting and extremely daunting)

I haven't quite gotten the hang of the card swiping/attendance thing yet, but UB understands the fact that us extranjeros need a little lenience every now and then, so luckily the first 2 weeks of class are what  they call "shopping period." People drop and add classes constantly the first 2 weeks and attendance isn't counted until after those 2 weeks are up. Which is also great because textbook shopping here is COMPLETELY different than in the US. Back home, if the bookstore doesn't have your book they will order it for you and it will be in your hands before your next assignment is due. Here...everything's on BsAs time. You go to pick up your textbooks at the fotocopia (here, photocopies of books are wayyyy more popular than actually buying textbooks) and the person behind the desk might have your copies, or they might simple say "mañana." Everything is mañana...

And wouldn't ya know it, the first week of classes and St. Patty's Day would be the same week.

Not that we let that stop us. There were HUGE st. patty's day celebrations all over Buenos Aires last night, from Plaza de Mayo to Palermo. Me and Nicole ventured out around 1 a.m. (that's still considered early here) and first place we went was the irish pub next to Plaza Serrano. They didn't have irish car bombs (what kind of irish pub was this?) but they did have whisky and we got free beer glasses. And somehow, we ended up not being charged for our drinks, but neither are quite sure how that happened. 

After being harassed by some cute argentine guys, who were totally harmless btw (they wanted un besito (a kiss) if they could guess what states we were from) we made our way around Plaza Serrano where we found the rest of the girls and had a good ol' irish time :)

Though we definitely didn't get as crazy as the group on the pub crawl; at one point I witnessed one of the pub crawl director's chasing a large portion of the group and herding them back to the pack because they were wondering off aimlessly into the night.

The only smudge on a great first week was my little mishap this morning. After a short trip to the huge Disco supermercado a few blocks away, I was trying to open a package of cheese to eat on crackers for lunch. And being the genius that I am, naturally, I was using one of abuela's serrated steak knives. When cutting the package, the knife slipped out of my hand and reflexively, i tried to catch the knife by pinning it against something mid-fall. Unfortunately, that something was my leg, and I ended up stabbing my upper thigh. It was literally the funniest/scariest/most shocking thing to happen to me and for a pretty shallow wound, it certainly bled A LOT. The only good thing was that no one was home to witness my incredible act of stupidity. oh, my life. 

Life is full of learning moments; mine just happens to overflow with them. within the classroom, and without :)