First Full Day

What a crazy day today has been! I think I'm beginning to experience a little bit of culture shock from everything. Mary and I started our morning much too early - just by the time I managed to get into a deep sleep, my alarm was going off for me to get ready for the day. It was so cold that I didn't want to get out of my bed (side note-the weather is bipolar here. When I arrived yesterday, it was 80 degrees and people were wearing shorts and tank tops, but today it was about 50 and I've been wearing my winter coat!) So we got ready and checked out of our hotel room. We had breakfast in the hotel while we waited for the other students to arrive for orientation, and we tried to study a little bit of Spanish for our placement test. Orientation began at 9:30, which involved going over the expectations of the program, looking at our class and excursion schedule for the next 3 weeks, and being formally introduced to our professors. After a break for café con leche (coffee and milk) and snacks, we took our Spanish language placement test. I was very nervous going into it because I hadn't studied much Spanish since the fall 2011 semester, but I felt confident taking the test and managed to score a 90!

After we finished our test, the student coordinator took us on our first tour of the city! We walked down the main street, Córdoba, and learned that the drivers in Argentina are seriously crazy - they blatantly drive through stop signs, they drive two cars wide down streets meant for one car, and they honk to tell others that they're going! Pedestrians definitely don't have the right of way here - that's something I'll definitely have to get used to! We found the two buildings where our classes are held - in the morning, our classes are in a beautiful old building that the international program rents out, and the afternoon classes are held at the site for international programs for the Universidad de Rosario. What's really strange is that the classes switch what times they're at - on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I have my ESOL Culture and Community class in the mornings, but it's in the afternoons on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My Spanish class has the opposite schedule. So after we found the school buildings and made friends with a stray dog (there are stray dogs everywhere, and this one kept running into traffic and jumping at the cars! We were all so sure he was going to get hit by the crazy driving), we went to a restaurant called Zona 36, which is 1 of 3 restaurants that I have a lunch ticket to eat at in between classes. I had a chicken fillet with a puree of potatoes and ham - it was delicious! I made the mistake of ordering agua con gas (carbonated water) because I didn't realize that the agua sin gas was also served out of a bottle and was totally safe to drink! I don't drink carbonated beverages, so it was a little hard for me to drink something fizzy that had no flavor to it.

After lunch, it was time for Mary and I to be united with our host moms! The coordinator of the home stays walked us back to the hotel, where my host mom, Eugenia, was waiting for me. She gave me a big hug right away and helped me take my luggage outside to her friend Norma's car, and Norma drove us to Eugenia's apartment. We moved all my things inside, and she let me get settled in my room. She even had a cute little gift of St. Ive's lotion and soap waiting for me! I have a Vera Bradley tote bag for her, but I haven't given it to her yet. After I unpacked most of my things and met the cat Teresa, Eugenia wanted to talk in the living room. She showed me how to use the internet (I do have internet access in my home stay; it isn't wireless but Eugenia doesn't use it so I'm free to use it as much as I want/need to). I got on the computer to check to see if the internet worked, and I got on Facebook and my email to find some encouraging messages from my parents and my friends. I think the lack of sleep, the vulnerability of being in a foreign country, and how overwhelmed I felt from having to understand Eugenia's fast Spanish made me cry when reading the messages. I think Eugenia was worried about why I was crying, because she kept asking me, "Porque triste?" (Why are you sad?) and I couldn't give her an answer. She started asking about my family and about Indiana, again in fast Spanish, but I got to show her the photo album that I brought with me. I tried to explain to her about Kappa Delta and about Greek families, but I don't think she understood how they could be my sisters but not be related to me. Eugenia kept trying to say my name like we say it in the U.S., and I told her some people call me "Rach" so she's been trying to call me that as well. At home, some of my friends call me "Raquel," (and I've taken to calling myself that as well...embarrassing) and it's weird to me that the pronunciations are almost switched - not something I expected.

After we talked, Eugenia took me on a walk through the city so she could show me how to get to the school from her apartment. I live about 3 blocks up and 2 blocks over from the school, so it isn't a long walk at all. We found the site first because it's closer, and then Eugenia tried to tell me where the other building was in relationship to it, but she was totally facing the wrong direction and I pointed out where the building was since I had been there earlier today. Eugenia then called me "la mapa humana" (the human map - I had told her earlier that my friends from home call me the human GPS) and we walked back home, only to leave again minutes later to go to the grocery store to get yogurt for my breakfast and food for tonight's dinner. We stopped at a store that sells meat and a store that sells wine too, so I'm not really sure what we're having for dinner - it's currently cooking and I left the kitchen after I tried unsuccessfully to light the gas stove. And now here I am, updating my blog and I've just KEPT WRITING. Eugenia just came in and commented that I had written a ton.

I think that's everything about my day so far. I'll try and post some pictures soon - I've been taking my camera around the city and taking many pictures, but I can't figure out how to post them on my blog yet because Google switched to Google Argentina...and all the controls are in Spanish. There is a lot to see in this city and I've been enjoying every minute of it, even the parts that are hard and push me in my knowledge of the Spanish language. Many of the words and phrases I'm using are things I remember learning in middle school Spanish, so it's very interesting to me to see how early this essential vocabulary was taught. Also, even though I keep crying when I read the encouraging notes from home, it's not so much because I'm sad but because I feel very supported, which is very comforting. So they're much appreciated!! Thanks for all your prayers and support while I'm here - it's definitely making this transition manageable. :)