Mi Casa: My Apartment

Some of you may be wondering, what is Laura really doing in Buenos Aires besides getting caught in flash floods, eating great meat, hanging out at the beach, and banging her frying pan in protest? Well this blog is dedicated to explain just that. As of last week I moved into my own one bedroom apartment in a sub-section of Buenos Aires known as Palermo. Palermo is the up and coming trendy area of Buenos Aires, and some of the locals have even given certain areas names such as Palermo Hollywood and Palermo SoHo. I live on the border of Palermo Chico and Palermo Alto. My neighborhood is a maze of cobblestone streets lined with trees shopping boutiques, pizza parlors, novelty shops, food stands, and my favorite homemade ice cream shops. Because of the intertwined streets and numerous parks the normal hustle and bustle of busy city life is minimized because cars can't easily pass through. Having said that, it really does feel like a neighborhood where I'm living, and I've already been welcomed by the local butchers, baker and fruit stand employees. A ten-minute walk from my apartment will bring you to two of Buenos Aires' most famous tourist sites, the Recoleta Cemetery where Evita is buried, and the Botanical Gardens and the Zoo. I am also five blocks from the subway line that takes me to my University. I would never have found such wonderful apartment without the help of my Rotary Counselor Willie Cittadini, of whom I owe an extra "Muchas Gracias" for his support.

As for school, I'm currently attending postgraduate classes in International Relations at the University of Belgrano. Later on I will write more on my classes, because last week was my first. For now I think the subject matter is very interesting and also very relative to my international experience here, and has helped my understanding of the Argentine people. Practices for the women's soccer (futbol) team begin tomorrow and our first tournament is two weeks from now. I'm interested to see the different styles of play because many of my team members come from various Latin American countries, where different styles and techniques have been created because of different playing terrains. Obviously the long-passing style adopted by Americans playing on flat grassy fields wouldn’t' t fair so well on the concrete streets of Columbia where their games are typically played. One would expect to find a style consisting of short passes and more one-on-one attacks. The truth is although futbol is the number one sport in Argentina, there isn't a lot of support for female teams and players, and so I am very lucky that my University offers such a program. As well I will be working with the English Department to help tutor the students who are taking classes in English, and I hope to start an intercambio or exchange program where students who are learning English can meet and converse with the student's who are there to learn Spanish.

For now my living and school situations have been settled, but I will say that neither one was an easy process. I consider accomplishing these two things big triumphs because there were many small failures, miss-communications, and of course cultural differences along the way. Having had these two things fall into place, I'm eager to start what I believe will be my new life in a foreign country. The two pictures included are of an overview of my apartment and also the view from my balcony. Que disfruten!!!!! (Enjoy!)