Frescas a la Muerta: Ashley- Locals, the "vos," and other nuances

Hello, hello! I've seen so much since the last time I posted that I'm not quite sure where to begin. So far I've been able to learn that the locals have their own pace and style of doing things. For example, the drivers are absolutely crazy. I've taken taxis a few times when I'm out late, but I may be better off walking. Nobody regards any traffic laws and they all drive within inches of one another. I don't know how I haven't yet seen an accident, but I suppose everyone here is accustomed to this daredevil-ish driving. Another cultural difference is that everyone goes out late and stays out (and on their feet) until the next morning. I know that's not too unusual for college students, but when we do that in the states we stay in bed until one or two in the afternoon. Not here. They get up and go to work or go to class after only a couple hours of sleep. I think I'll have to learn from Lauren and embrace the nap. So far, going out has been fun for the most part, but I still prefer house parties. I went to a club with some Brazilian girls from my hostel on Monday night where the drinks were expensive, the music was American and dated, and all the people were foreigners. Even though that wasn't great, I went out again on Wednesday with Aaron's friend Luis (Aaron is my sister's boyfriend who lived here for a month and a half) and it was great. We went to a huge club that used to be a church and danced for nearly five hours without rest. Last night I went to a party for exchange students at some guy's apartment in Recoleta and had a great time and met a lot of cool people. But, back to the locals. Besides being bad drivers and very able partiers, they seem stylish, a little proud, but very straightforward and helpful if you need it. To address Jimmy's question about the "dudes" here: they're pretty upfront about what they think...when you walk down a street it's pretty common to hear things like "hola linda, dios mio, que hermosa" followed by kissing noises or whistling. From what I can gather, this is pretty standard for South American men (and Italians for that matter, a large part of the local population). But, if you just ignore them or make it clear that you're not interseted they don't pursue you.

Another way that the people here are unique is the Spanish. It's SOOOO different here. They use the "vos" form instead of the "tu" (you), which is more informal. It's really easy though; with the exception of the verb ser (which becomes sos) you just add "as" or "es" to the stem of the infinitive with no stem changes or anything of the sort. I think this conjugation is growing on me. Also, instead of the "ya" sound that we all learn to use when we read "ll" in Spanish, they pronounce a sound somewhere between "sh" as in shoe and a very soft "j," as is used in French. Also, there is a lot of flux in the intonation of the accent, which I think may be a result of the the Italian influence. It can be hard to understand people, but I'm getting used to it. Hopefully I can understand Lauren and Cara when we get back to Norman!

Besides going out and trying to figure out the Spanish, I've walked around the city a lot. I made friends with some girls from Brazil and Holland and we've been going to see the city. The other day we walked around San Telmo (the old barrio) which has preserved a charming antiquity with it's cobblestoned streets and small boutiques. From San Telmo we went to Boca, which is well known for it's brightly colored corrugated buildings. The Boca Juniors Stadium is located here among a plethora of shops selling overpriced t-shirts and other memorabilia. Boca isn't too bad, but I wouldn't want to live there and I probably wouldn't be found walking around the area at night.

I also had a chance encounter with another exchange student at my school who was looking for another roommate to go check out apartments with. I went with her (Joyce, from Brazil) and her Peruvian friend, Miriam, yesterday and we found a fairly spacious, functional, CHEAP apartment in Caballito. It's only about ten blocks from the school so it will be easy to walk and the owner of the apartment seems really nice and really helpful. It won't be ready to move into for another two weeks, but it's such a great deal that I don't think any of us care.

I don't start classes until March 23, but I've enrolled. We have to enroll in four classes so that if one or two of them are just too difficult we can drop them without worrying. At this point, I'll be taking History of the Americas III, Latinamerican Literature II, Introduction to Human Rights, and an art class about the city during the presidency of Alvear. It should be pretty interesting.

For now, I have a few more pictures! I miss you all!

La Casa Rosada en La Plaza de Mayo. This is the presidential building. Many speeches have been made from the balcony and many protests have occurred here. Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo is a group of women that started a silent protest during the presidency of Isabel Peron (Juan Peron's third wife and vice-president during his term in the 70's who took over as president when Juan died). During her time in office there was very little tolerance and a very active military. Many people (mostly those in opposition parties) disappeared and became known as los desaparecidos. Las Madres started in protest against this atrocity. Also, an interesting note on Juan Peron: his first two wives died fairly young of cervical cancer; it appears Juan had a nasty strain of HPV.