¡Soy una viajera terrible!

Since the Dartmouth LSA Buenos Aires program is brand new as of this year, they were smart and decided to partner up with a national study abroad organization called Academic Programs International, a company that specializes in sending students to other countries to study abroad. They already have an established program in Buenos Aires, so Dartmouth just tagged along with their program this year (and possibly even in the future). Because of this, API offers a two-day orientation program plus a bunch of organized activities to the students on the trip- for free. So, throughout the next ten weeks, we will be traveling to Iguazu Falls, Córdoba, El Tigre, and on tours around the city by bus and by bike (among other activities such as tango and cooking lessons). Yesterday was our bus tour around the city, and it was a fantastic introduction to Buenos Aires! Gaby, our API Buenos Aires staff member (who is an incredibly sweet and helpful local), acted as our tour guide around the notable barrios (neighborhoods) of Buenos Aires.

We visited many barrios and Gaby crammed so much historical information into 3 hours that part of this blog post is going to be a photo blog, and I am too lazy to type everything up (sorry!). If you have some time or are interested, I would recommend looking it up because the history of Argentina and landmarks in Buenos Aires is very interesting! For example, did you know Argentina was named after "argentum" (silver on the periodic table) because settlers originally thought the land was filled with silver?

Teatro Cervantes

La Plaza del Congreso

A beautiful synagogue in La Plaza del Congreso

The National Bank (left) and the Pink House (right), Argentina's version of the U.S.'s White House

Catedral Primada de Buenos Aires where San Martin, the "hero of Argentina", is buried (left)

La Pirámide de Mayo, located in La Plaza de Mayo, is the center of Buenos Aires' political demonstrations (and has been huge historically for demonstrations throughout Argentina)

Tango dancers in La Boca

Our group in front of the Puerto Madero bridge, the most recently developed (and wealthy) barrio in Buenos Aires

So you might be asking yourself, why is Amelia a terrible traveller (the name of this blog post)? Well, after returning from our day of touring around the city, we finally met our host families! I met Freddy, mi padre nuevo, and Tamara, mi hermana nueva, at the hotel where API had been housing us the past night. They helped me with my bags and we left for my new home in Palermo, the trendy barrio close to shopping, parks, and the Buenos Aires Zoo (lucky me). Freddy is about 65 years old, works as a photographer, and speaks very little English. His daughter, Tamara, is a biologist who usually works at the university researching tadpoles (COOL!), but because of Argentina's poor economy is now working as a clinical researcher. Freddy's wife, Cecilia, was visiting her mother in Sante Fe for the weekend and would be back in the morning to welcome me.

After we arrived at the flat and I set my bags down in my new room, I realized I had locked my suitcase but could not remember where the keys were. I then realized I had left my keys in my purse, along with my wallet and camera, at the hotel. So, effectively, I did not have access to any of my things except for a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt. As I was flipping out, racking my brain as to how to ask in Spanish if there was a locksmith near the flat that would be open at 9pm (no Spanish class had ever taught me how to say locksmith), Tamara took a phone call from Gaby, who had found my bag at the hotel and had taken it back to her house. Needless to say, I felt pretty embarrassed about the whole situation but Freddy and Tamara were very understanding. The worst part about the entire thing was that I could not brush my teeth and did not have any contact solution, so in the morning my breath was lovely and my eyes hurt like heck. So please, learn from my foolish mistake and always carry a toothbrush in your pocket!