Poco a Poco

Little by little, step by step.
1. I finally got my local cell phone to work by taking it to the company's store and explaining to them (in spanish!) what was wrong, why, and what I needed to do.
2. I acquired an adapter and charged this bad boy right back up.
3. I located on a map and then in person the most beautiful park I've ever seen in my life. no exaggeration. It was JUST like in a movie or a painting. When I got to the park, the entrance had a man in a black suit with a big hat sweetly playing the guitar. As I ran past him, there were two lovers sitting on a bench to my right, a women feeding pigeons to my left and next to her was an old man sleeping on another bench. Kids were running around playing and friends were picnicing. Seriously, from a movie.
4. My first successful collectivo ride!!!!


bus # 152 to Avenida Sucre. All bah mah self! Como una Portena.

5. My first legitimate night out to the bars in Buenos Aires where I made some new friends from my program and mingled with a group of australians. If I hadn't realized it before, I know it now... I am a sucker for their accents.

While these small personal triumphs have made me feel more comfortable in Argentina, I have felt even more empowered through simple yet significant interactions with the people here. Three of particular importance to me have been:

1. During my first dinner with my house sister, she took my salad plate that had accumulated a small puddle of balsamic from my accidental overdose of dressing, asked if I minded, and poured it over her own pile of lettuce. That. was. awesome. I loved how informally and comfortably she helped herself to my dirty plate. This sounds kind of odd and gross but it made the initial boundaries between two strangers disappear.

2. Dario, my guia T guide and a professor for the study abroad program is one of the finest people I've ever seen. I shamefully admit to a bashful giggle every time I have to address him. I feel like I'm in fifth grade again, swooning over Jonathon Taylor Thomas. Scratch that, I feel like I'm a freshman in college again, swooing over David Archuleta.

3. This last one is my favorite. My ongoing conversations with the brazilian woman that works for Mirta. After 8 years of hosting students, the novelty of having a foreigner around has worn off for Mirta and her family, but not for her. I don't know how to spell or pronounce her name, or else I would, but the way she excitedly engages me in warm coversation makes me feel right at home. She looks like Aurelia, the Portugese woman from Love Actually and I imagine our realtionship to be like the one Aurelia has with Colin Firth but in a non-sexual way, if that makes any sense at all.


Aurelia wishes me luck every morning when I leave for school.

Disorientation

After a disgruntling first day on Monday, I was looking forward to our orientation scheduled for the next day, to see a few other helpless faces. When I returned from orientation at 7:30 Tuesday night, I felt more lost and frustrated than I had when I left the house at 9am. The day was beyond long, filled with spanish everyone else seemed to understand and awkward freshman-like greetings. Although it was well organized, a room full of 180 people trying to figure out what is going on begs confusion. We had an afternoon lesson on how to utilize "La guia T", the guide to the subway and bus stations. As Dario (prounounced darEEo and NOT dario - mind you, I found this out the embaressing way) patiently attempted to explain which streets crossed each other and how to look up the right bus or "collectivo" to take, I wanted to pull a Billy Madison on his ass by throwing my guia freakin' T at him and screaming "I hate school and I hate all of you, I'm never coming back".

When I got home, I met my house sister, Mili, for the first time. She is a kindergarden teacher in the city. Mirta, Mili, and I ate dinner together. Mili complimented my spanish. Mirta laughed.

Later, I retreated to the tv/computer room, where Mirta started to rattle off DVD recommendations from their collection. She came across phantom of the opera and stopped. Es mi favorita, me encanta la musica! For the first time all day, relief washed over me. Common ground! Mirta likes to geek out to musicals, too! She just about crapped herself when I told her I had the soundtrack on my ipod. She asked me to burn her a cd.



Little does she know, she'll be receiving more than she bargained for with her new cd. Hairspray, mama mia, wicked!? shabooya!

I'm hungry and I don't know what to do

My first blog from Buenos Aires!
I have made it safely to Avenida Santa Fe, my new home for the next 4 1/2 months. I feel like I've spent so much time talking about and anticipating this trip that it's weird to actually be here. The travel went smoothly, despite a minor panic attack in Atlanta's airport, waiting to board my flight. My stomach knotted with nerves. The feeling has yet to pass.
My new home is a posh little apartment, where I have a room with two window/doors looking out on to Avenida Santa Fe. It's Thunderstorming here right now, apparently very unusual for February in Argentina. I'm grateful. I love Thunderstorms.






I've spent the afternoon getting to know my house mom, Mirta. Firecracker! She speaks no english - which I think will be good for me - but she also is quite strict about the rules in her house and I think she's frustrated that I can't really understand.
I think I already got yelled at for not closing the bathroom door properly after I was finished brushing my teeth. I can't be sure though. oops.
I can tell I have alot to learn not only about their language, but about their culture as well.
Mirta sat me down at the kitchen table, we both did our best to manage a conversation. She chain smoked 3 cigarrettes while telling me about her family, I smiled politely, only catching every 3rd word, and using "como?" more than I wanted to.
When I asked her if I could go exploring, she was excited that I wanted to get a feel for the neighborhood. Mirta gave me a 5 minute saftey speech. When she finished, she asked if I understood. "entiendes?"
"ummm... mas o menos?" I replied
Mirta grabbed my hand witih one of hers and she put the other to my face.
"ohhh pobrecita"
This is going to be rough......

So, like a true American, I put on my nikes, jorts, and tie dyed shirt and wanderded aimlessly along the streets of Buenos Aires. The trek helped me orient myself a little bit, but I have a feeling I'll be getting lost quite frequently, it's in my nature.

I finish this blog entry with my initial problem solved. After waking up from a nap really hungry, I realized I didn't know the house etiquette for food and meal times. Is it rude to ask for food? Is she serving a meal soon? Should I just secretly sneak a snack in my room? No, don't do that. Mirta interrupted my thoughts by offering me coffee and cookies. crisis averted. for now, anyways. Regardless, I'm finding that one of the biggest adjustments is going to be living in someone else's home and not feeling the liberty to be as presumptuous as I would like. I'll get over it. Despite a few intial adjustment issues, my first impression of Buenos Aires is wonderful!
The weather is perfectly humid and sticky, the fresh rain makes me smile, and the bustling city is definitely what I was hoping for.

Besos!


An outing to Ted's Bar - (woo woo Roseville!) the night before I left.
Miss you guys already.

Bridesmaid dress!

After months of looking accompanied by surges of panic that she would never find "the right one", my older sister Michaela has chosen a bridesmaid dress for her August wedding! Our quest began in August with a few fun appointments at different bridal boutiques, Michaela didn't like anything we found, everything was too "brides-maidey". go figure. Finally, after a Saturday afternoon of 3 bridesmaid dress appointments at 3 different places where I can honestly say I tried on over 50 dresses, Michaela has chosen a dress!




This is the dress she has chosen, except that the dress will be short instead of long.

Ten days of happiness in Madison

After a month and a half away from Madison, I was anxious to be back in the excitement of my college town. January 28th - February 7th served both as a homecoming from winter break and a goodbye for the semester, all in one. This period of time includes some of my best memories in Madison as it involved so many of my favorite people. Roommates, ALPs, 7B, Roseville, all of you made it great.
A quick recap of the last ten days and why my love for Madison runs so deep.




1. Joe Field's 21st Birthday party on Mifflin. Movin' our hips like "yeah".



2. ALPs drinks spotted cow at the vintage and heads to the frequency to get our groove on to James Brown's drummer and his band. Funky Monday's are. the. best.



3. 7B Irish car bombs Wando's, dominates the darts board and dance floor at Brats, closes out Monday's and devours Ian's.



4. Roseville overtakes Madison. Including but not limited to Monday's, The Pub, The Nitty, Church Key, Lucky, and Camp Randall.





Despite my reluctance to leave Madison, I'm happy to be back in Roseville as home is almost always sweet - and comes with hot dinner on the stove. My life since being back has revolved around wedding planning with Michaela (I'm in charge of arranging cake tastings!), fitness classes with my mom and American Idol. Simple pleasures.

How do these things work, anyway?

In anticipation of my upcoming semester abroad, I decided that a blog would serve as a successful medium for sharing, organizing, and remembering my experiences. A nice way to keep in touch. However, since I don't officially leave for the land of sun, tango, and steak (pictured above) until February 21st., I'll try my hand at blogging from my homes in Madison and Roseville.
I first saw the phrase "change your shoes, change your life" on a refrigerator magnet in 4th grade at my friend Erin's house. Her mom was really excited about the quote. I didn't get it. I think I get it now, or rather, I have come to interpret it in the context of my life and the world as I understand it. I think it speaks to taking control over our own experiences and creating our own happiness. Anyways, I feel like it does a good job of promoting independence, adventure, and maybe even a little rebelliousness.