visas y clase

Aug. 5^th.

I got up at the crack of dawn to do part 2 of the visa process. The immigration/migration office is in a very odd spot, behind some train tracks in the middle of nowhere (if that saying can even be used in Buenos Aires). I made friends with an older lady who I asked for directions, she was also headed there. I was the first from my program to arrive. I stood inline outside with a ton of other people. It was a very odd experience. And it was freezing. I had to give up my prime spot in the head of the line to go back with the rest of the group. We all were sent into the building and I quick snagged a seat. Good thing I did because I would be sitting there for about 5 hours. Sometime in this time our FLACSO go to person told me that I would have to come back since my passport number was typed incorrectly on the paper. An interesting thing about Spanish—and I assume any other language that isn’t your first one—is that when you get upset your skills or at least mine go down the drain. I was trying to understand why I had to leave when THEY got my passport number wrong. Couldn’t they just fix it and let me go through the process? In the end, they let me do it since it was only one number off. As it turned out, I was the first in the group to arrive, and the second to last person to leave. The past couple days I have been getting less and less sleep. If I were to live like a true Argentinean I would get up at about 11 or 12 am and then I can justify the 11pm class and 12 dinner. But that lifestyle doesn’t quite make room for 6am visa processes, and exhaustion after trying to understand/communicate in a different language, and navigate a city of 12 million people. So at this point my eye is twitching due to my body’s response to this experience.

To backtrack a bit: My first academic experience in Buenos Aires. Yesterday I attended my first class at the UCA (Universidad Catholico de Argentina). It is a class titled International Politics in Latin America. I got there okay, except for the drizzle on the way over. I gave myself a time buffer since I knew I would need it. And indeed I did. They post the room numbers for each facultad wherever the office or where they feel like it. There must be some rhyme and reason but I have yet to figure it out. I found the room numbers and found my class. At this point I had about an hour to spare. I read their school magazine, and discovered a conference on liderazgo or leadership! Another girl from my program then a girl from Canada joined me waiting for the class. We were all waiting outside the room, which looked like there was a class still going on. At 8.37, we were a bit confused. Our class was supposed to start at 8.30 but there was still a class inside. As it turns out, the professor started the class 30 minutes early…?! As all of us walked in late, he mentioned that he usually doesn’t do that but today he felt like it. As a little compensation he let us out about an hour early. I thought the class was interesting, but I doubt I will be very productive at 8-11. He made all the international students introduce themselves…and despite my arguments I had to start. I am excited to get to attend more of my classes, but if I had such a hard time in the private school, I don’t know how I will do in the public one that they have warned us about the hands off approach.

I am going to try and get nap number 2 in for today before dinner. So far the food has been delicious. I am enjoying these flavors much more than the Mexican cuisine. More Italian influence. A couple of my favorite meals have been pizza with cheese and onion, and this garbanzo thing you put on top of it and the French fries/milonesa/fried egg. The only thing I haven’t liked has been a pumpkin mash thing.