one month ANNIVERSARY

it's been over a month since i've arrived in argentina and i honestly don't know what to think. today i woke up feeling more homesick than ever, knowing that i still have roughly 4 (4!?!) months left to go. on the other hand, it's exciting to know that some of my friends are beginning their study abroad experiences, and i only have good things to say in reassurance! additionally, the past few days have been a lot of fun; i have been hanging out with a lot of different people in my study abroad program, which is very refreshing.

because of the long weekend last week, i only had one two full days of class (no class thursday or friday if everything works out...woohoo!) and then it was the weekend again for me. it's starting to get semi-stressful with classes now, i am definitely not accustomed to reading long passages in spanish.

i have also realized that since i've been here a month, there are a lot of pros and cons of living in south america. a few of us went to mcdonalds yesterday (okay, some of you might be grossed out, but milka chocolate mcflurrys? YES. also, in the mcdonalds here, they have dulce de leche as an option for your mcflurry or sundae topping. it is also much more expensive here, though i don't know why. and the employees wear jeans with the mcdonalds "m" embroidered on the back pockets. they also wear denim button up shirts and denim hats. fashion forward? where can i get me some of those jeans...), and it made me realize that mendoza (or argentina for that matter) doesn't really have chain stores like seen in china, europe, etc. there are no starbucks, but i have seen two mcdonalds and a subway here. being in mcdonalds made me realize that hamburgers don't really exist either. instead, everyone eats grilled or fried meat, mainly beef or chicken. needless to say, i immediately began craving a burger after getting our mcflurrys..... however, there are also things that i crave here. let's start with perhaps, the most obvious:


1. PEANUT BUTTER. what i would do for a jar of jiffy pb. i can't even explain how much i miss this simple american staple. it's unreal. however, they don't have "real" jam or jelly here (instead, it is more like marmalade or preserves), so it's not like i could really make and peanut butter and jelly. but i really miss it. dulce de leche is good, but it's simple sugars don't fill me up as much as peanut butter does.

2. CEREAL. jesus christ. peanut butter and cereal. maybe my two favorite foods are non-existent here. my family has cornflakes that are not really corn flakes because they're made of rice, but are yellow and taste similar to corn flakes and rice krispies that are not rice krispies because they taste like cardboard. a few weeks ago, i had what i thought would be a great bowl of frosted flakes but i almost choked when i took my first bite because it tasted like pure sugar. i even found "flakes" of just pure, white sugar in the cereal bag. bring me back to the land of cheerios and granola.

3. WATER. i have been so incredibly dehydrated and it's because you have to pay for water wherever you go. there are no water fountains in public places, which is a problem for me, since i refill my bottles at least 3 times a day at school. one of my friends almost fainted at the bus stop because she was so dehydrated!

4. WHEAT PRODUCTS. i would pay 100 pesos (roughly 25 US dollars) for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on freihofer's wheat bread. also i really miss good crackers that fill you up, such as graham crackers, cheez-its, popcorn, etc. etc.

5. DRIED FRUIT. raisins are a hot commodity....to boil and bake with, at least in my house. we have them for dessert. gotta say, the first thing i do when i get home is go to trader joe's and stock up on some dried cranberries.

6. speaking of dried fruit....SALAD. "salad" here indicates some mix of vegetables. a common one is shredded carrot and crumbled hard-boiled egg. another one involves a copious amount of mayonaise, along with carrots. i'm dying for some spinach, red bell peppers, edamame, chickpeas, kidney beans, tomatoes, and sunflower seeds.

7. GUM. thank god i was sent to argentina with 9 packs of american, orbit gum. because the gum here sucks. i think it's because they don't use fake sugar here, so they don't know how to make or use sugarless products. like sugarless gum. it literally does not taste like anything. i've gone through 8 packs of orbit in a month....#struggles.

8. CELL PHONES. i had to re-learn t9 word. texting is too slow, calling is too "expensive" and wastes minutes. my phone doesn't have a camera and it doesn't have any exciting backgrounds. i really miss the privilege of being able to shoot someone a text or take a picture within seconds. i also really miss the privilege of being able to call anyone in the US. i can't just call a friend or my family as i'm walking to class, unless i want to spend 500 pesos on a long distance call.

9. JUICE. i don't drink a lot of juice at home, but it's everywhere here. juice boxes are cheap, less than 75 cents, but the juice is more like sunny d than tropicana. also, no one mixes juice with the carbonated water everyone drinks here. it would be like drinking sugar water here. "heavy" juices are the most popular: orange, peach, multi-fruit, etc. apple is common as well, but i miss pomegranate/blueberry/cranberry juices! especially since they always taste so good in the summer!

making this list has made me realize how much we take for granted in the united states. it wasn't until we were in mcdonalds and realized how much more expensive it is here, that i had this realization (yes, i was sitting in mcdonalds when this happened). in the united states, all of these things/food products are simply given to us. fast food is cheap and everywhere. people don't think twice about upgrading their phones or sending thousands of texts per month on an unlimited plan. eating healthy is considered "fashionable". but here, eating vegetables is a privilege. eating at mcdonalds is a privilege. simply having a cell phone is a privilege. i've realized what a simple lifestyle people live here, nothing seems to bother them and everything always works out. just one of many epiphanies i'll have here for sure. i miss home, but this realization has put everything in perspective for now. besos a todos. xoxo

la cumbre, part ii

after "breakfast", which consisted of bread, bread, and more bread ( i ate the fruit i bought at the market the day before), we set off again, this time to find el christo redemptor. you know how in rio de janeiro there's that big statue of jesus christ with his arms spread? well, there's a smaller version in la cumbre, on a 10 minute hike up a mountain. so we stopped at a store and stocked up on snacks because, per usual, we thought we would be timely and get back into town just in time for a late lunch. we hiked up to see mr. christo and spent some time just looking at the town of la cumbre from a different perspective. then, on a whim, we decided to go back and find the artesenal fair. 

everything looks better when you're up higher in elevation!

la cumbre, que linda!!

praising the baby j

this trip should have been named "failures" or "struggles". because we didn't find the artesenal fair again. we took a taxi back to the restaurant and figured that we would just walk the rest of the way, what we thought was only a few kilometers. fail. we walked probably 5 or 6 more kilometers and didn't find it. we found a few touristy stores out in the boonies, but no locals selling their stuff. at this point, we figured we would head back to town for lunch, take an afternoon bus back to córdoba and hop on another 10:30pm bus to be back in mendoza by 8am the next day (monday). since we were lost (again) in the la cumbre countryside, we ended up walking all the way back to town, which was probably about 12-14 kilometers away. by the time we got back, we only had time to buy bus tickets, get our bags from the hostel, and grab snacks at the small grocery store. we hopped on a bus to córdoba at 5:30pm, with the plans of getting back to the city by 7:30, plenty of time to spare before our overnight bus took off. well, whattya know, we hit a ton of traffic and didn't get into córdoba until around 8. we got off on a random corner and walked into the first restaurant we saw. we had dinner and then figured that around 9:30, we would try to find taxis. after struggling to find taxis on a random street corner with all of our backpacks and bags hanging off us (practically screaming "rob us"), we finally made it to the main bus terminal and onto the bus. after a few glasses of wine, everyone was sleeping, and we arrived safely in mendoza the next morning! i got back to my host family's house around 8am and slept another 4 hours til noon. all in all, it was a fantastic trip and a lot of great time spent with friends and new acquaintances in the hostels. not to mention, we did a ton of walking and exploring, which made the whole endeavor worthwhile. enjoy the pictures, and i'll be sure to post more when we head to a bodega (vineyard!!) this weekend!!

just foolin' around while trying to find the art fair that doesn't exist....

córdoba and la cumbre

wow, this weekend flew by! i don't have class on tuesdays, so i had an extra-long weekend to travel around and spend a few days with my host family!! this weekend my friends and i made the 10.5 hr bus trip to córdoba, the second largest city in argentina (after buenos aires of course) for a day and then traveled another 2 hours to la cumbre (which may be one of the the smallest cities in argentina, with only about 7500 inhabitants). we started off our journey on thursday night after class, around 10:30pm. our bus left mendoza promptly, and after being circled in the bus terminal by a sketchy man who was obviously out to rob/mug us, we were on the road to córdoba! we arrived in the city at 7:15am on friday morning and because it was pitch black out (it's still winter here!) we got two taxis to take us to our hostel, which we had booked via hostelworld.com the night before. so we get to the hostel; tired, hungry, and ready to put our stuff down. however, hostelworld.com had not confirmed our reservation with the actual hostel, and it was already full. the lady at the front desk was nice enough to call another hostel a few blocks away and give us cab money to get there. we arrive at the next hostel and get a room for the six of us. by this time it's only about 8:30 in the morning and we were all about ready to rip each others heads off from frustration, hunger, and lack of sleep.

hostel, round 1

our room, sahhh cozy!

church

in the streets of córdoba, finally

around 9 or 10am we made it out of the hostel, to a cafe, and then into the city of córdoba! it was beautiful, and incredibly refreshing to know that we had a whole day in front of us as well as the fact that we were over a day's drive back to mendoza. we walked around the city like the american tourists we are, stopping at many of the churches that are located in the city and window shopping.

pedestrians only street

beautiful architecture

we stopped in a museum fo free which featured mostly eva perón, but also several photos of argentinian miners

and dresses from various centuries

main plaza

as we struggled through the day, we decided to make the best of it and create a point system for all of the crazy slash stupid things that we did. for example, if one of us talked to someone in spanish in broad daylight, 5 points were awarded to that person. if you spoke in english to someone on the street, 10 points were docked. in the restaurant where we ate lunch, cat got 2 points because she ate a thing of chorizo (basically like a bratwurst) in one bite....

beautiful churches line the streets of córdoba. this one happened to be one of the most colorful!

for dinner, we picked up some fresh vegetables from the fruit stand right next to the hostel and had pasta and sauteed veggies for dinner, along with malbec, the most quintessential wine of argentina. we also met a bunch of people in our hostel, many of whom are visiting mendoza in the upcoming week! we had to be out of the hostel by 10am the next morning, so after an early wakeup, we finally were back on the streets of córdoba. after walking around for a few hours, we decided to take an afternoon bus to la cumbre, a small town about 2 hours away. we didn't have time to grab lunch before our bus at 1:30pm, so we drove to la cumbre on empty stomachs....bad idea. by the time we got there, everyone was starving. the only thing that kept us sane was the atmosphere...the air was much cleaner and fresher, as we found ourselves actually in the middle of nowhere. we barged into a restaurant (one of the 10 in the town) with all of our bags and had the best meal i've had since i've been here.

la cumbre! the downtown block

tired, hungry, thirsty, and delirious?

the best pizza i've ever had

asado and ensalada mixta

we found our hostel after lunch and after relaxing for a bit, decided to go exploring and find an artisan fair, which was supposed to be close to the town of la cumbre. we stopped in town and grabbed some gelato before heading out into the farmland. by this time it was around 5 or 6pm so we figured we'd have an hour or so to find the fair and look around before it got dark. of course everything went wrong. we started walking, and thinking that the fair was just around this corner on a dirt road, were being goofy and delirious from lack of sleep. after walking for 45 minutes, we figured that around every corner we would find the fair. we finally got to a fork in the road where there was a sign for "el camino artesenal", the artesenal road. we took it and spiraled downwards and then into the mountains. it was still light out, and even when we asked for directions, the lady told us it would still be open and that it was "just a few more minutes ahead". famous last words. we kept walking until we got to a little shack literally in the middle of nowhere. we had been walking for the past hour and a half and it was getting dark. we stopped in the shack, and discovered that the owner sold all sorts of canned vegetables, olives, dulce de leche (mixed with coconut, chocolate, and anything else you can imagine), and books. we asked him to call us a taxi, but eerily, his telephone wires had been cut that day. so we walked in the dark back to a random restaurant about a half mile from the shack in the pitch black. the lady there called us a "taxi". 10 minutes later, this free candy car without a passenger side window rolls up. all 6 of us pile in and are praying for our lives because the driver is so sketchy. somehow we drive back to town (which we later learn is 10km away from the shack we first went to) and make it back to our hostel.

our hostel, round 2!

view from the front porch

porch area

after gelato, before getting lost...

little did we know, we were spiraling into the mountains of la cumbre..

...and it was getting dark...

running back to the restaurant

after showering and wondering how the balls we made it back to la cumbre alive, we went out to dinner to fill up on real food. we went to bed by midnight and i was passed out in my bed before the lights were off. the next day, we went exploring!!

the hunger games and a long weekend

i've been in argentina just barely over 3 weeks and i think i'm really starting to get the hang of things. i got on the wrong bus again today but quickly realized my mistake and got off before it was too late like last time! other than that, i bought a pair of boots at a shoe store (zapatería, for the more spanish-inclined). when i got home, i realized that the zipper was broken on one of them. so i trekked all the way back and returned them for a new pair.....maybe my first realization that i can actually communicate in spanish! also reinforcing is the fact that two women today (at separate times) asked me where the bus was going today. i'm not only speaking more confidently, but i'm starting to look more mendocinian? baller. the downside to becoming more acclimated to the culture here: i still have not gotten used to the meal times. the past few days i have been so hungry, despite eating a "big" breakfast. (i should also mention that my dad just served me dinner in bed because i have been doing homework/blogging all night. the menu?? potato quiche, spinach salad with pears and parmesan and pickled something...capers maybe? yum.) the past two nights i have gone to bed hungry (fried calamari and plain noodles just don't fill me up) and woken up ravenous. i guess it's just something i'll have to get used to. however, when i returned my shoes today, i stopped at a kiosco to buy a granola bar. i also bought the argentine equivalent of m&ms. i was really hoping for hershey chocolate quality, so i was disappointed when i started eating. the chocolate here isn't that great, but the argentinians know it. cadbury, which is pretty good chocolate in my opinion, is ridiculously overpriced. also, i am really starting to miss peanut butter. and really good, filling, salty things like wheat thins and pretzels. people here don't really eat fiber, found in wheat bread/fruits and veggies, so i think that's why they must snack all day long. however, my host mom has stockpiled a ton of fruit, so i have that to eat when i get hungry. however, when you get back from a run and need lunch, wonder bread, ham and cheese, and sugary corn flakes don't do it every day. this quiche is delicious though!

onto this weekend. we have a three day weekend coming up (monday is a holiday to commemorate general san martín) and my friends and i wanted to go to chile. however, even i keep forgetting it's winter here, so the passes going to chile are closed due to snow (duh). we really wanted to go to viña del mar (can you say beach time?!) but decided instead to go to córdoba for a few nights. no spanish class on friday means that we can leave early friday and spend 3 nights there in hostels, hike around and sightsee. it's a 10 hour bus ride (más o menos), and with no class on tuesday (for me!) i have a 5 day weekend! hoo hah go u bears. i promise to charge my camera and have pictures ready to upload on monday night. besitos a todos!!

more from saturday's cooking lesson

here are a few (stolen from a friend) pictures from saturday's excursion at arrayanes...

waiting outside while the potatoes and flan were cooking...winter here is beautiful!

traditional empanadas, filled with carne, hard-boiled egg, and an olive (the traditional mendocinian way)

flan with dulce de leche

the most prototypical meal you will find here....bistec con salsa de chimichurri y papas fritas (beef with chimichurri sauce and potatoes)

beginning of the 4th week

other than getting lost on the bus, this weekend was a lot of fun! on friday, a bunch of us played a huge game of ultimate frisbee in the park...can you tell who's argentine and who's gringo in the second picture?? it was a good way to end the first "official" week of classes with a competitive game with almost everyone from the ifsa program! on saturday, there was a cooking class offered through ifsa. again, almost everyone trekked into downtown mendoza to restaurante arrayanes, an institution that teaches anyone who is not argentine how to prepare the most appreciated cuisine of mendoza. and by that, i mean we learned how to make flan (ingredients: simply 10:1 eggs to milk ratio, and sugar), empanadas, how to properly grill beef, chimichurri sauce, and potatoes. the class was taught all in spanish, but afterwards, we enjoyed the fruits of our labor by eating everything we had made for lunch!! it was delicious, and i'm definitely bringing back my folder full of recipes! more pictures of this to follow....

sunday ended up being one of the most relaxing days here. after waking up at 11:30 (a new low), i ate lunch with my family for the first time in awhile. we constantly seem to be on opposite schedules with my classes, and my family's work schedule/school hours, so it was nice to have a meal with them in the middle of the day. i walked around the park for a few hours with another kid from ifsa and we spoke spanish the entire time--progress?! then we got a bunch of other kids together and colloquially kicked a soccer ball around in the park afterwards. i went out to dinner with some of my friends, and then went back home early ("early" being 10:30pm). and then i skyped with emma and sophie HAAY GUYS!!! i will post my favorite pictures of us being super mature right now. 

spot the americans...