We had orientation today and all I can say so far is I LOVE IT HERE! I may not come home next month.....Mel, I guess you can have my room ;) I got up at 9:15 (8:15 in the states) and had breakfast. Breakfast here is very quick and small. I had milk and a piece of bread. Belen, my host sister, came over this morning to give us money that she had exchanged for us and she couldn't believe how in America people have eggs, waffles etc. for breakfast. Here, its a very quick meal, usually you don't really sit down. I told her most people don't usually eat all that for breakfast but I don't think she could wrap her head around it. We got to UCEL at 10 and had orientation. There are 3 different buildings, one for the normal classes with a cafe and classrooms, another is the library and there's the chemistry building. After learning about Rosario and our International Relations leaders we got to go on a tour of the buildings. In the chem building they were converting wheat to oil and of course since I'm a science nerd I was talking to those students and they were showing me the process! It was so cool. Then we met the ambassadors. They are current students and alumni who will take us to soccer games, tango classes and basically go anywhere with us! We also met with the other Americans that are here! There is a group from Shenandoah University that is leaving Saturday. I met a girl who is on the soccer team there and knows one of the boys from my high school! The other group is from Iowa, they've been here since March and they're leaving June 22! It was great talking to them (in English) about things we needed to know and stuff to do. We went out to lunch with some of the other Americans, 3 of the ambassadors, Marcos (my professor from West Chester), Eliana and Melina (our international relations people). I had a delicious pasta dish, it was basically ravioli but it had ham AND cheese in it! SO GOOD! We then went on a city tour and saw everything. We went as far as the river, Rio Parana, and got to see the city from there! We got back to UCEL and Mama Maria picked us up and we walked back to the house. She had to go and give a massage (we think thats what she said haha) so now here I am telling this to you all. I'm probably gonna take a nap before dinner and then we're going to a party tonight because the kids from Shenandoah are leaving Saturday so the ambassadors are throwing a party with all the Americans! I have classes at 11-1 and 3-5 tomorrow and I will try to put up some pictures and stuff later or tomorrow but here are some things I've noticed so far....
Driving:
-They have a lot of the same brand of cars here. Chevy, toyota, mercedez benz, volkswagen were some of the ones I saw. Also, they all seem to be stick shift! Even the bus that the tour was on was a stick shift.
-Even though they have lanes people don't drive in them, they kind of just drive wherever they want and there are no speed limit signs which I found weird.
Some other things I noticed:
-When you go to a restaurant or even in the house you never drink from the bottle, even though everything is bottled. You pour your drink into a glass but you don't fill it all the way, only about half.
-They're a lot more touchy. Nobody shakes hands you always kiss someone on the cheek, even if you've just met them. When I woke up this morning I got a "Buen Dia!" and a kiss on the cheek. Its interesting.
-For those of you who know some or any spanish, when you say the double L it sounds like ya. "Me llamo Emily" sounds like Me yamo Emily....NOT HERE! The double l sounds like sha "Me shamo" It has been confusing me so much because I'm so used to certain words and I thought I didn't know a lot and then found out its different here. Calles (streets) are pronounced cashes....its weird and confusing and making me mad hahaha!
-Also, Argentina has a lot of European influence. When you leave somewhere you don't say aidos to the people which is what we always learned in spanish classes at home. Aidos is for when you're leaving and won't see someone for a very long time, months or years. Ciao is what you say for a see you later type of thing! I would have never guessed ciao would be spanish but whatever I like it :)
Here is a picture of the city from the river.....
Thats all for now, ciao!
