Today, was the placement exam for the Universidad del Belgrano. After eating my breakfast of bread (with dulce-de-leche), a pear, and coffee con leche, Anissa and I took the subway and then walked a few blocks to the school. The exam went well, and I was places in the High-Intermediate Spanish course. After the exam, Anissa, Anna (a girl I met during the Atlanta delay), and I walked around the neighborhood of Belgrano, where the school is located. Belgrano is both residential and commercial, and is very peaceful and beautiful, with tall, leafy trees lining all the streets.
Around 2:30, we stopped for lunch at Pizza y Espuma, a very cute pizza shop. Pizza in Buenos Aires in very popular and renowned, and apparently very similar to pizza found in Italy. Buenos Aires has a strong Italian influence, as many immigrants came here from Italy when the city was beginning to grow in the 19th century. Anywho, I wanted a good flavor for my personal pan pizza, so I ordered the waitress' recommendation of her favorite flavor. The pizza was topped with brie cheese, caramelized onions, and leafs of arugula.I also ordered a water, which is not free here, another cultural adjustment. Water has to be ordered "sin gas" or "con gas", depending on if you want carbonated water or not.
The pizza was so good, but afterwords, I was so full! Ahh! Although Anissa, Anna, and I spoke in Spanish the entire time in the restaurant, it was obvious that all the staff working knew we were foreigners. Every time we'd look up, they were staring at us.We were one of only two groups eating at the time, so it was a little awkward, but funny! We asked to use the restroom on our way out, which was upstairs, and as we all ascended the stairs, all the waitstaff gathered and watched us! Later, when we were walking around, we kept getting stares from almost everyone. I was bummed out that maybe it was so obvious that we were foreigners, because we were all trying so hard to blend in. Finally, it dawned on us that it was Anissa's outfit; she was wearing shorts with tights, tucked into boots, but no other local around was wearing shorts! Ayyy! Especially because it is "winter time" here in South America, if shorts are worn in BA at all, it is certainly not now. The weather however is not bad for me at least. Today was probably 60-70 degrees, pretty overcast and cloudy, but very humid. This week is supposed to get colder though, so I'll really see how "winter" in Buenos Aires compares to winter in Michigan!
After walking around for a few hours and stumbling into a very large mall full of high-end shops and boutiques (the cheapest thing we saw was a pair of ugly pleather pants for US $50), we returned to the ISA office at 4:00 for an academic orientation. Guillermo, an ISA coordinator, told us what to expect in our classes. My class will start at 9:30 am tomorrow and end at 2:30 pm. Classes here are apparently more relaxed, and do not follow any sort of set structure or syllabus, like they do in the US. I'm interested to see how it goes!
As of now, I just finished dinner here in my host family. Cecilia made baked chicken and pasta, with a side of a sunny-side-up egg. I also noticed that the water vase on the table was indeed an Absolut Vodka bottle, which means I was not crazy or delusional the first time I thought the water was vodka! Haha, recycling at it's finest! Cecilia had dinner ready by 8:30 pm, and made the comment, "Dinner was so early today because you were both so hungry and tired from walking all day!" Haha, no matter what Cecilia says, I don't think she understands that an 8:30 pm dinner will ever be "early" for me!
Tonight, a group of us from ISA might go out around 12, and walk around some of the Plazas here. There is a lot to do in BA, and I can't wait to do it all! But for now, hasta luego!
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