I started classes this week. I only need 3 to complete my International Studies credits, Universidad de Belgrano recommends we take at least 4, and currently I am signed up for 5! So this week is supposed to be about shopping around and deciding which is the most fun/difficult/boring/offered at the best hour/taught by the sexiest professor.
Pensamientos Politicales de Latinoamerica (Political Thought in Latin America)
The teacher has an attitude. The first day of class he's slouching in his chair and smuggly asking us why we're interested in taking his class, rolling his eyes at everyone's carefully crafted spanish response. He's appalled that we don't know who San Martin and Mariana Moreno are... Americanos estupidos! And he checked the time on his cell phone at least 3 times before class was over! HOWEVER, as much as I'd love to drop his like a hot tamale (a food which lamentably doesn't exist in this spice-free country) I am fascinated by the subject and was genuinely engaged in the discussions he raised.
Espanol Avazado A (Advanced Spanish A)
That's right baby! I'm officially an advanced Spanish speaker! I give all the credit up to the amazing teachers I seem to be encountering and level of comfort and fun that I've found with my classmates. I already love this class!
Gender Studies
Interestingly enough, the subject I was most excited about and my only class in English, left me feeling lackluster after the first day. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions. But the professor polled the class for who had taken a gender or a history class before, and surprisingly very few had! (It's times like this when I'm grateful for the colorful GED requirements that sprinkled the cupcake of my mind with little Liberal Arts tidbits!) Unfortunately, because aparently nobody else in the class has taken a previous interest in SOCIETY and probably just wants an easy class in English that they can blow off, the professor basically told us she'll be babying us the whole way through. YES! That's exactly why I came all the way down to South America!
Arte Argentino Contemporaneo (Contemporary Argentine Art)
Love the teacher, love my classmates, love the topic, SO excited to go on field trips to art museums and cultural hot spots in the city! I was actually really impressed with myself listening to her intorductory lecture today. Almost all of the places of interest in Buenos Aires that she mentioned, Museo de Bellas Artes, Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Pilar in Ricoleta, and Ave de Mayo between the Casa Rosada and Congreso, I have already been to! I guess I have been here almost 6 weeks now... good to know I have been aimlessly wasting my time!
Tango: el expresion de Buenos Aires (Expression of BA)
This is easily going to be my favorite class! Aside from the fact that the teacher is super chill, like he gave us his facebook and personal cell phone number and said he'd go with us to buy tango shoes to make sure we didn't get ripped off, the subject itself is just... I'm mean come on! How ould you be bored in such a class?! We didn't do any dancing today... but Thursday it's on! Today was all about learning the different rhythms and musical styles that arrived from Spain and Cuba and Africa to set into motion this sexy new mode of poetry, song, and dance. Even learned some dirty lunfardo, tango slang... probably won't be using it this Thursday when I go back to La Viruta to snatch a glance at Jonito the suave instructor. But its still very enriching to know!
Today as I strutted the familiar streets home from UB, I grabbed a $1 empanada from Chantillez, the best confiteria on the face of this grand earth, and reflected on how far I seem to have come. I can understand every single one of my Spanish classes almost perfectly (although phone conversations are still impossible). I can have in depth discussions with my host family, (except when they start yelling, then I geniuinely don't know whats going on). And I can recommend cafes, shops, classes, tango spots, modes of transportation, and tv shows to my newby friends who just dropped in with heads still spinning. Not too shabby!
Now I've got my mornings and Fridays entirely free and I'm on the lookout for something productive to fill them with. While I used to be afraid of the streets of BA, now I want to go out and volunteer in them. I just feel like I should give a little back to the country that has been harboring me this past month and a half, you know? I also stopped stalling and sent an email to Teatro Colon about voice lessons (long shot I know!) and a couple smaller theatres and studios that offer acting classes and such. That would be a REAL test of my skills(...imagine a cold reading or improvisation with locals in Spanish :O) I don't know what, if anything, will come of it but at least I've got all 8 tentacles out there with suctions cups at the ready!
Oh ps! Yesterday was the 58th anniversary of the death of Evita Peron.
"Tu vida es nuestro ejemplo.
Tu nombre es nuestra bandera."
No comments:
Post a Comment