Transportation Situation

*So, the entry I just posted was actually written yesterday, meaning you lucky readers get another dose of Buenos Aires updates!

Recently, due to the aforementioned heat, I’ve started taking buses instead of the Subte to class. I’m still a Subte girl at heart — it’s so fast and modern (except for the wooden cars on Line A…) and I know all of the lines by heart. However, the heat and humidity have turned all of the Subte cars into muggy, crowded nightmares where everyone is coughing and spreading diseases. It’s literally like an underground middle school locker room.

For a while I was terrified to take a bus. The bus system here is extensive to the point that it’s intimidating. There is a bus that goes literally everywhere in the entire city and even some that venture into the Province. In order to navigate the bus systems, you have to buy a “Guia T,” which shows all of the bus lines in all of Buenos Aires, collectively known as colectivos.

The Guia T is great because you can look in any quadrant in any part of the city and see all of the buses that pass through the area. But it’s not so good because it doesn’t tell you exactly where the bus stops or which direction the bus is going in. Most streets in Buenos Aires are one way, so it’s generally not so hard to make an educated guess as to where a given bus is going to end up, but you never really know what’s going to happen.

Take today, for example, I was attempting to get home from class during the beginning of rush hour. The bus I normally take was completely full, so I walked down the street and found a different bus headed in the same direction. Using my (flawed) logic, I decided that because the numbers were close to each other (106, 108), because the buses resembled each other, and because they were headed in the same direction, they were probably going to the same place. Twenty minutes later, I was stuck in Once during the height of rush hour, taking a different bus back. But, I stood on the wrong side of the street, got on the wrong bus and ended up in Constitución. The train station in Constitución happens to be connected to the train station in Retiro by a Subte line. So, I ultimately ended up taking Subte home.

It ended up taking me over an hour to get home when it’s normally a fifteen minute bus ride. And I ended up paying three times as much as I normally would. But I don’t blame the bus system. I’ve had some of my best times on colectivos. My very first bus ride, I saw an old lady shoving a cat in a bag. Just last week, I saw two babies get in a fight when one baby (with an enormous head) head-butted a nearby baby and then kicked it with no intervention from either mother. I could literally not make something like that up.

So, everytime I prepare myself to ride a bus, I may feel a strange mix of terror and amazement (really, the most bizarre people take public transportation) but at least I’m riding around with all of the weird-os above ground…

My Whiniest Entry Ever

Blogging is hard!

Every time I have half a mind to write something on here, I talk myself out of it and watch the new episode of Gossip Girl featuring Lady Gaga (a little disappointing, to be honest) instead. But just to give my loyal readers some sign of cyber-life, I’m going to whine/write about some of the things going on in lovely Buenos Aires.

Yesterday there was some big commotion in Plaza San Martín, which is a block away from my house. Several streets were blocked off and I had to go the long way to the Subte station. Why, you ask? Well, it took me a while to figure it out, but apparently the president of Israel was here and visited the Palace of San Martín. The dead giveaway: Israeli flags along all of the streets.

In other news the weather here is terrible. Like, the worst weather imaginable. Today it was like 80 degrees AND 80% humidity AND raining. And the week doesn’t look much better. People say that Buenos Aires is unbearably humid in January and February, their peak summer months. I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like in December. Ugh.

In related news, there are about 7,000 mosquitoes in my room and I am currently terrified of getting Dengue fever. So far I’ve managed to keep myself off of WebMd in order to avoid obsessively checking symptoms, but I’m sure that the pattern of welts up and down my arms are not a good sign.

There is no air conditioning here either. At school, it never works; at my house, it doesn’t exist; in Subte, it’s 100 degrees. I never realized how much of a wimp I was until this season began. Worst. Spring. Ever.

It’s making me very, very excited for North American December in exactly a month!

Highlights from October Break

My October break is starting to feel like it was ages ago so I’d better write some of it down in case I forget. Emily and I embarked on a ten-day travel extravaganza across Argentina. We stopped in Córdoba, the second-largest city in Argentina. It was dry, full of colonial architecture and nestled in the foothills of the Sierras. Next, we spent a few days in Mendoza on Argentina’s western border in the Andes/ desert region. Mendoza is known worldwide for being Argentina’s wine country so the countryside is relatively dry and pretty hot but the city was completely lush and green thanks to some of the most sophisticated irrigation I’ve ever seen. Finally, we went to Santiago, Chile for a weekend which was much like any other large city, albeit with way more avocado and seafood than Buenos Aires. Here is a map I made of our journey using Microsoft Word and very limited computer skills. I apologize in advance.

Our first stop in Córdoba was a lot of fun. It was a holiday weekend (they actually celebrate Columbus day here) so the city was pretty empty. My overall impression of Córdoba was that it is a very sleepy town where you can buy a coffee for only $4 pesos and things actually close at night. It’s the second largest city in Argentina but it can’t even really compare to Buenos Aires — it just feels completely empty. Having said that, the architecture was beautiful and Emily and I managed to find a feria, or open-air market, and do some serious damage to our stipend money. Here are a couple of photos:



Our next stop was in Mendoza where we spent a few days drinking excellent wine and enjoying some fresh air in the many parks and plazas in Mendoza. The city was very small and seemed pretty touristy, although most were from Europe or other parts of Argentina. One of the most exciting experiences we had while in Mendoza was watching Argentina play the final match of the qualifiers against Uruguay. Argentina won, which was great for morale and we got to spend the whole rest of the night hearing people sing the national anthem in the streets and shout “South Africa here we come!”




After Mendoza, we traveled by bus to Santiago in Chile, which was its own ordeal. When we got to the border, I was completely excited. We were up in the middle of the Andes and completely on track to make it to Santiago in time for a late lunch. Two hours later we were in exactly the same place. Finally, we all lined up, outside, in the freezing cold and made our way through immigrations and border security. Then we all piled on the bus, drove ten feet, waited a half hour and then disembarked to go through customs. In customs we waited twenty minutes while they scanned all of our luggage and carry-on items then packed back on the bus. After almost three and a half hours, we thought the ordeal was over, but we still had to inch our way down out of the Andes. Some of the hairpin turns were a little much and the other massive trucks and buses careening down the narrow mountain roads didn’t do much for me either.

But all of it was totally worth it for the chance to be in the middle of the Andes.

When we finally made it to Santiago, we didn’t have all that much time there. We made the most of it by going to museums and a massive artisan’s market and buying way too much stuff. The best part of Chile for me was probably the food. I ate some of the best seafood that I’ve ever had in my life and learned that Chileans use avocado in much the same way that Argentines use ham — that is to say that they put it on everything. Other than that, being in Santiago was like being in any other large city, I knew that I wasn’t going to have time to do everything so I saw what I could. To be honest, I’m not sure that I would hurry back there to see more. It’s not that I didn’t like it (I actually thought it was a really cool city and there were a bunch of things I wish that I’d had time to do), but there are so many other great cities that I’d have to see first. Also, I think I was a little biased because coming from Buenos Aires, Santiago was similar in many ways but paled in comparison to all of the things that BA has to offer.



Overall, it was a great trip. It was so nice to get away from Buenos Aires and see some cities that, six months ago, weren’t even on my radar. The trip was fast and I spent a lot of time on various buses, but I wouldn’t change that in hindsight. First of all, the buses are ridiculously nice compared to the Chinatown buses that I’m used to and second of all, as Emily put it, the rides allowed us to see parts of Argentina that we hadn’t experienced before. On each trip, the bus made several stops in tiny towns in the middle of nowhere and it was really interesting to compare these places with the style of life that I’m used to seeing in Buenos Aires. It was a nice reminder of the diversity that actually exists in Argentina, which isn’t exactly apparent on my daily walks through Plaza San Martín.

P.S. If you want to see more photos from my trip here’s a link!

A Teaser

I don’t have enough time right now to write an entry that will justify my absence on this blog for the past month. Yes, I’ve been neglectful, but I do have a couple of excuses:

1) Midterms ate up the entire first week of October.

2) Emily and I took a 10-day trip West — across Argentina and into Chile.

3) I’ve had a cold, computer problems, tons of work, had to wash my hair, etc.

Long story short, I promise that this week I will give you all a substantial update about my vacation and all of the crazy things that have happened to me since being back in Buenos Aires.  The best I can offer right now is a link to the photos that I’m finally putting up on Facebook.  It’s been a while, but they’re worth the wait.  I guess.

Life Update!

Up until now, I’ve been making an effort to make my blog entires somewhat topical and witty, so that even if you don’t really care about my daily life and what I ate for lunch, you could potentially enjoy reading them.  Well, tonight I’m not feeling particularly topical or witty so I’m throwing caution to the wind and just writing about what I’ve been doing for the last couple of days and, even worse, about my feelings.  (Also, in case you’re curious, I ate raviolis stuffed with jamón and mozzarella cheese for lunch).

So, at the beginning of the week, I was still in the midst of the six week slump and was super disgruntled about the whole Clarín thing, which I wrote about in my last post.  I countered my bad news by not doing any homework over the weekend and catching up on tons and tons of American T.V.  Right now, I’m watching twelve shows regularly this season, which I will detail in another post.  Anyway, as a result of my laziness and general bad mood, I found myself with a ton of work and midterms steadily approaching.

This week flew by.  Really, the entire month of September flew by.  It seems like yesterday was my one-month anniversary and, in just about a week, I will have been here for two months.  In my experience, this second month has been the hardest.  The first month was full of so much excitement and discovery in my new surroundings.  I used to stop on the street and actually think about how lucky I am to be able to live in such an amazing city (and then, you know, I would be run down by a motorcyclist).  But the second month, everything kind of stops.  I got stuck in my routines, I stopped making such fast progress in speaking and I started to feel like I had been in Buenos Aires forever.  I know, deep down inside, that I’ve come a long way from the person who had no idea what an alimento was in August, but I still have a sinking feeling that I’m still that same study abroad student that I was in September.

But today was a lot of fun.  In the morning we took a tour of teatro San Martín, which is this state-sponsored theater on Avenida Corrientes.  Right now Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires’ largest and most famous theater is closed for renovations (and, apparently has been for three years due to political problems).  So, San Martín is standing in as the go-to place for great, cheap theater tickets.  Because the theater is state sponsored, everything is more affordable  — even a main-stage production of Medea starring a very well-known Argentinean actress is only $40 AR ($10 US).  We got to see all three of the stages — an amphitheater, the mainstage and the black box theater — and all of the behind-the-scenes stuff like sets and lighting and makeup.

In the afternoon, my history class took a field trip to Palermo to talk about writers in the city.  We sat in a café and talked about Borges and then we walked down to the spot where his house used to be.  The original building has been pulled down, but there’s a plaque to commemorate his childhood home as well as several other buildings on the street that were around while he was living there.  Tomorrow we’re going back to Palermo again for our Tango class and I’ll bring my camera so that I can finally post some more pictures here.  I know, I know, two classes, two field trips — my life is so hard.  But, someone’s gotta do it!

Which One of These Does Not Belong: Cristina Kirchner Edition

After my last post, I thought that I would give you guys a fun little game to play to make up for my never-ending, nonsensical ramble about the Argentine media.

Below are 4 pictures, numbered 1-4.  Two are from Clarín, one is from La Nación a fairly conservative newspaper that caters to public opinion and one is from La Razón. If you learned anything from my last post you’ll know which ones are which.  If not, at least you get to see some pictures of Cristina.

#1

#2

#3

#4

As you mull over your answers, also consider whether or not we would be scrutinizing Cristina’s image so much if she were a man.  In some ways it’s so sad that, finally, there’s a woman as the president of a Latin American country and instead of talking about her accomplishments, we’re talking about her face lifts and her clothes.  It’s exactly the same thing that we saw in the last election with Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin — their appearances often overshadowed anything else.  But putting that pseudo-feminism aside, it is kind of interesting to see how different papers convey very different images of Cristina and how these despictions help them further her image.  This kind of manipulation would be much more difficult if Cristina were a man (although, according to Clarín, she might be).

Now, for the answers:

1 and 3 are from Clarín: note the dumbfounded expression in #1 and the creepy backlighting in #3.  #1 screams: I’m a puppet for my husband Nestor Kirchner! Look, I don’t even have any idea what’s going on here!! While #3 screams: I’m pure evil and know exactly how to take you down! Muahaha!

2 is from La Nación right after Kirchner’s election. Note the photoshopping and general glossiness.  I guess public opinion was on her side back then.

4 is from La Razón.  They clearly have less of a photoshopping budget (maybe Cristina can tax some railroad workers or something for funding) so this shot looks a little less radiant than #2.  But she’s still kind of glowing and she looks both intelligent and capable.  Plus, those uplifted eyes make her look like a visionary.

Media Mess

A couple of weeks ago, I started reading the newspaper here. Reading the NYT (for free, thanks to Swarthmore) is a huge part of my daily ritual at school, so I thought that starting a similar habit here would help me feel more at home and more connected with Argentinean current events. Instead, it’s left me feeling confused and, frankly, a little betrayed.

We’ll begin with the confusion. Recently the government passed a new media law, ostensibly to break up the enormous Clarín media monopoly and to open the market to smaller competitors. (Clarín is the name of a daily newspaper here. It also is an enormous media conglomerate owning everything from paper-making plants to Internet service providers.) Critics of the law claim the government is trying to buy a stake in media-related industry so that they can have more control and use media outlets as purveyors of Kirchner-related propaganda for Cristina’s re-election campaign.

And, now for the betrayal. I started reading Clarín because I had heard that it was fairly liberal and (mostly) because it was cheaper than the other leading dailies, La Nación and Página Doce. But the more I hear about Clarín and its inner-workings, the more I’m beginning to feel like a clueless, manipulated media consumer.

For example, the coverage of this new media law in Clarín has been completely brutal. The law is replacing a defunct and largely ignored media law passed during the military dictatorship in the late 1970s, which was rife with censorship clauses and limitations on new media sources. But Clarín claims that this new law is the government’s sneaky way of trying to control what can and cannot be written in newspapers. Which is kind of true — they want everything that is published in newspapers to be the truth.

While that may not sound like too much to ask, dishonesty in the press is a huge problem here. Early in Cristina’s term, as she was making her appointments, Clarín speculated that a certain appointment was more a result of the appointee’s friendship with the Kirchners than of her qualifications (she was a camerawoman appointed to an anti-Corruption task force). It’s completely fine for a publication to be suspicious of a government official and I also think it’s okay to use a critical tone toward that government official. But this story contains thinly-veiled allegations of Cristina having a more-than-platonic relationship with this woman as well as allusions to Cristina’s masculinity, a recurring theme in Clarín stories.

On the other side, La Razon, a free newspaper that’s handed out in the Subte Stations that basically amounts to pro-government propaganda, published a puff piece accusing the owner of Clarín illegally adopted two children of disappeared people (people who had been imprisoned and killed during the military dictatorship) and calling for her daughters to have a DNA test. The Kirchner dynasty is currently working on legislation to compel citizens suspected of being missing children of desaparecidos to submit to mandatory DNA testing.

And this war has brought about all kinds of hidden alliances. For example, the DNA testing legislation made the Madres, an enormously influential and famous organization comprised of mothers of desaparecidos, side with the Kirchners. Meaning, they side with them on everything. During one of their weekly demonstrations in Plaza de Mayo (they still gather there every Thursday as they have since 1978) the Madres protested oligarchies in the countryside. This appears to have absolutely nothing to do with anything, but a little background reading reveals a recently-passed piece of legislation placing enormous taxes on farmers with large holdings in the country. The government claims that this law is just trying to give smaller farmers a chance to compete (sound farmiliar?) while Clarín said Cristina is going to use the money from the tax to run her re-election campaign. What I believe? I have no idea.

But I do know that I’m not a huge Cristina fan. Maybe I’ve been brainwashed by adjectives like “boorish” “power-hungry” and “meddlesome” that pepper the Clarín articles I read on an almost-daily basis. Maybe it the fact that the terms of the law — giving the government control of 1/3 of broadcast licenses, restriction of the number of licenses that any media group can hold — actually kind of sound a little like something a dictatorship might do to limit the influence of an especially critical media conglomerate. Also, Cristina pushed the law through Congress so that it could be voted on before her party loses majority (Oh, btw, most of her party members were voted out two months ago but their term doesn’t end until the end of this year, which is why both this law and that law approving the increased tax for farmers made it through). And, just to send a little massage to Clarín — you know, just in case they didn’t already know that the Kirchners had it in for them — she sent 200 tax inspectors to the Clarín Group’s headquarters. Just to check things out.

The moral of the story is that you really can’t take everything you read in a newspaper at face value. Even now, when I like to think I know enough of the backstory to read Clarín intelligently, there are still so many more facets to this issue. I’ll probably never understand it fully. But, if you’re curious about the Argentine media meltdown, here’s a youtube video that sums up pretty much everything I’ve been trying to say in two minutes. Added bonus: You get to see Cristina in all of her mummy-like glory.

Six Week Slump

As of last Saturday, I’ve been here for six weeks. I could go on forever about how time is flying and it feels like I only got here yesterday. But, instead, I’m going to talk about being in a rut. Exciting.

After six weeks here, five of which have been spent in classes, I’m starting to become set in my ways. I no longer experiment with methods of transportation (I think that by this point I’ve walked, taken the bus and taken the Subte to almost all of my “usual” destinations). I know when I have time to do work, when I have time to stop and have a cup of coffee and when I have time to take a nap. Sometimes life feels so normal here that I forget I’m even in Buenos Aires.

As a result, I’ve become a lot less motivated. Only a few weeks ago, I was ahead in all of my work and was so stir-crazy in Buenos Aires that I decided to go to Lujan. This past weekend, I caught up on all of the fall TV premiers from last week (this probably warrants its own post later) and basically only left my apartment to go on a walk to Plaza de Mayo and to go to bars at night. So, now I’m paying for my laziness in the form of never-ending ensayos and a pending 15-page midterm paper and it sucks.

But this weekend Emily and I are planning to go to Montevideo, which should be fun. And I just bought a new bag of ginger-flavored mate. Hopefully next entry will be a little more upbeat!

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

I was having a really good Spanish day today. I watched all of the coverage of the 9/11 ceremony on CNN in Spanish (btw, how awesome was it when Obama was shaking everyone’s hand in the rain without an umbrella? What a guy, sigh.). And then I went out for a walk and a cup of coffee since I’ve been sick and cooped up in the apartment for the last couple of days.

I wandered up and down Florida, which is a huge, sort of tourist-y pedestrian street. It’s about fifteen blocks of stores and cafés and ice cream places, great for people watching:

And then I went into Galerias Pacifico, which is this amazing mall full of French architecture and fancy stores. I’ve been meaning to take a peek practically since I got to Buenos Aires and I was super blown away by the design and the ceiling murals. But, be warned, this is not a place to come unless you want to spend some serious money.

And then I went to a supposedly famous café called Florida Garden because my former favorite café in the neighborhood recently shut down. Generally, English words in the name of an eating establishment are never a good sign and point to high prices and low quality. But this place was recommended by Lonely Planet AND frequented by politicians, artists, and writers — most famously Borges back when he lived in Retiro. Anyway, it was slightly more expensive than other cafés that I’ve been to (namely Petit Paris Café, my old favorite) but I also think the food was better. I had a sandwich de miga con pavita, which is a tea sandwich with turkey and a café doble con crema, which is a double shot of espresso with a generous dollop of whipped cream. It was pretty amazing and only $23 AR ($6 US).

So, I managed to get through all of this just fine without any major Spanish slip-ups. I even gave directions to the subway that were correct and without too many “uhs” and blank stares. But then I went to a used bookstore to look around and ended up buying something (of course). And as I was paying, somehow I accidentally managed to get my book gift wrapped. I think I thought that she was asking if I wanted a bag but she actually was saying something about a regalo (gift) and I just nodded absently. Next thing I knew, she was whipping out the wrapping paper and ribbons.

I guess now I have a gift for myself. I can’t wait to open it!

My One Month Anniversary!

It’s incredibly hard to believe, but I’ve been in Buenos Aires for an entire month.  I’ll never forget that fateful August morning when I stepped off of the plane, babbled incoherently in Spanish to a Customs officer, and began my four-month journey in Buenos Aires.  Though I like to think that I’ve come a long way in the past month, the truth is I don’t actually feel that different.  It just feels like time is flying by so quickly and that before long, it’ll be December and time for me to go home.

Undoubtedly, the main reason I came to Buenos Aires was to practice/ learn Spanish.  I’ve been studying it for a while and even though I could read and write pretty well before I came here, my listening and speaking skills were abysmal.  Now, I can understand almost everything people say to me and (I hope) that my verbal skills have improved in leaps and bounds.  More excitingly, I sometimes catch myself thinking in Spanish, especially after a class filled with particularly spirited discussion.  Just now, I came back from my film class, which is basically two hours of me babbling about angles and camera placement in Spanish (I have learned so many prepositions from this class), and proceeded to write an e-mail to my (English-speaking) sister entirely in Spanish and didn’t even realize it until later.  That may be a sign that I’m completely losing it, but I’m going to take it as a sign that my command of the Spanish language is developing.

So, in honor of my one-month anniversary, I’m going to make a list.  Originally I was going to do a list of all of the things I miss about home, but I thought that would be too self-pitying.  Instead, I’m going to make a list of things I thought I’d never get used to here, but have actually learned to accept.  Here goes:

1) Eating Super LateThe Issue: When my dinner-time hunger pains begin at six (normal Sharples dinner time), I still have at least two hours to wait before dinner will actually be served.  Then, it’s 9:30 by the time I’m done and I haven’t started my homework and I have to be up for at least 3 more hours because dinner is so heavy and I internally complain forever and ever.

How I Learned to Deal: One word: MERIENDA.  Dinner at 9:00 doesn’t seem so late when you just had 3 croissants and a cup of coffee at six. Also, the coffee helps you stay up late to finish all of that homework that you procrastinated with thoughts of, “I’ll do it after dinner.”

2) Almost Being Run Over By Cars

The Issue: Pedestrian right-of-way does not exist here.  Even if you have a walk signal, prepare to be run down by taxis, buses, motorcyclists, etc. A popular move for drivers here is to swing quickly into the crosswalk while pedestrians are crossing and edge closer and closer to people until they understand that you WILL run them down without hesitation.  Add streets like Avenida 9 de Julio (pictured above) and you have a recipe for death by vehicular manslaughter.

How I Learned to Deal: You have to plow ahead without hesitation.  I swear that drivers can smell fear through their heavily tinted windows and are much more likely to pull their tricks with a hesitant pedestrian than a confident one.  Real porteños barely look twice when crossing the street.  And, while I haven’t quite made it to that level yet, at least I’m not cowering on the corner of Santa Fe and 9 de Julio thinking “I will never leave this side of Buenos Aires.”

3) MEATThe Issue: I remember my first week here; after a lifetime of pseudo-vegetarianism in one form or another, I ate meat at every meal for seven consecutive days.  True, it was tasty and I don’t really regret doing it, but ‘m sure my arteries were not thanking me.  Also, anyone familiar with the legendary bacon incident of 2009 can imagine that my stomach was not thanking me either.

How I Learned to Deal: Well, I didn’t learn to deal as much as I just accepted that people eat a lot of meat here and that there’s nothing I can do about it.  I ate a delicious cut of vácio for dinner tonight, as a matter of fact.  I just choose not to eat meat when I don’t feel like it and the rest of the time, I chow down on a lomito completo (basically a ham sandwitch with a steak on top, thank you Argentina).

4) Staying Out Super Late

The Issue: As a happily lazy individual, I enjoy my quiet time.  You know, the times when you can wear sweatpants and sit in bed and resent yourself for putting you nalgene out of arm’s reach because now you’re way too lazy to go across the room and get it so you’re just going to have to die of thirst because there’s no way you’re getting out of bed? Well, those times are gone.  Instead, they are replaced with times when you have to get dressed up and go to ten different bars and eight different clubs and pay $450 in cover fees and stumble back home at 8 AM.  Just thinking about this makes me feel like this:

(Okay, maybe that’s a bad example, but it makes me feel angry that I have to spend so much money and tired and confused and upset that I would put myself through the gauntlet of nightlife.  Because, really, I haven’t even finished the marathon- Worthstock – yet.)

How I Learned to Deal: Well, I’ve only actually really gone out Buenos Aires style once and it wasn’t actually that bad.  The key is to take it slowly at the beginning, find somewhere you can relax with friends and don’t go to an actual club before 2 AM.  And then hope you picked a damn good club to go to because you’re staying there (no way are you going to pay another cover charge on top of the first ones).  Also, make sure you have one business savvy friend to sniff out all of the 2-for-1 deals and stuff (thank you, Emily).

Okay, that’s all I’ve got for now.  You may notice a few things missing from this list (i.e. catcalling, dog poop everywhere, air pollution, etc.) and that’s because I’m still not quite used to them yet.  Maybe by my two-month anniversary…

Overall, it’s been a pretty great month.  Sure, Buenos Aires and I are still in the honeymoon of our relationship, I have yet to notice her/his flaws (don’t want to be heteronormative here, I am, after all, still a Swarthmore student).  But, I’m sure once I do, I will exploit those flaws in a passive-aggressive manner until Buenos Aires and I can no longer look at each other without feeling flames of hatred in the pits of our stomachs.  And then I will return and pick up where I left off with US, forever reminded of my youthful days with the flighty temptress Buenos Aires.