What a Wonderful Weekend

Another week flew by right before my eyes! It doesn't help that now I have schedule and things to do everyday, making time go faster. The weekdays this week were spent in class, eating ice cream, and running around town. I had a bit of an emotional tank this week but the highs of my weekend pulled me out of the funk. I decided that next time I find myself on one of these lows, I am going to write a list of all of the wonderful things I love about Mendoza. 

Anyways, the highs; the fun part! Friday I was invited to make empanadas at Magda's, a friend from my Portuguese class, house. Two other girls and four French exchange students were also along for the ride. Magda's mom is Chilean and therefore likes spice; she made us French fries and give us pica to put on top of them. I cannot explain how happy I was to have my mouth feel like it was engulfed in flames. We made over 75+ empanadas and chased them down with some caipirihna (google it). On the way home, I thought to myself nights like these are the reason I need to learn Spanish. 

Saturday there was a picnic for all of the exchange students at la Universidad de Congreso. I am not technically taking classes there but I went anyways. I now have this theory, supported by this event and my exchange in Denmark, that anytime you put a large group of expats together, circles of singing, cheesy childhood games, masses of food, and soccer will follow. We sang, we danced, we laughed, we bonded, and most importantly, my team won in soccer. The goalposts were chairs and I was wearing sandals but it was great! I ended up with bruises all over my feet and a dead leg but it was so much fun.

Sunday is easiest to explain in a bulleted list...

5:20 Wake up, get ready, and head to the bus terminal

7:00 Take bus to Lujan de Cuyo, find remis (taxis) and head out to Cerro Colorado

7:45 Arrive at Cerro Colorado, hop a fence and embark on by far what has been the most difficult hike of my life; there were times when we were "hiking" at approximately a 45 degree angle on loose gravel and dirt. Needless to say, there were very breaks to catch our breath.

11:00 Summit the Cerro (words can't describe how beautiful it was; look for pictures below), scarf down lunch, and take too many pictures.

11:45 Head back down the Cerro; I fell eight times but who's counting.

14:00 Reach the base of the Cerro and catch an incredibly kind couple in a pickup heading out - ask for a ride then hitchhike in the bed of the truck all the way to Cacheuta (25 Kilometers).

14:30 Reach the Thermal Springs, which were really just heated pools in the mountains. Relax and tend to our aching muscles.

18:30 Take the bus back to Mendoza.

19:30 Head home and lights out.

26,085 steps accumulated by the end of the day.

I cannot describe using words how amazing this day was; it has been by far one of the coolest days of my life. I have very few adventures that can compare to this one. It is incredible the emotional journey you take as your ascending a mountain and how proud you are of yourself when you reach the top. I need to hike more.

Monday was just like any other Monday until I was taking the micro (bus) home. After class, I hopped on my normal bus with two other girls from my program and we were just talking as the micro pulls up to the stop. A man, probably about twenty years old, is trying to get on but the bus driver doesn't see him and begins to pull away. The man starts yelling at the bus driver, who then stops to let the man on. Once inside the bus, the man starts yelling at the bus driver puta de mierda que estas haciendo la concha de la lora. The bus driver doesn't really listen and starts driving. This infuriates the man, who then decides to take a couple of swings at the driver. The driver defends himself and tries to move away. They continue to yell at each other when the man starts swinging at the bus driver again. This caught the attention of the preventador at the stop, who runs over and calls the police, who arrive within thirty seconds. The two continue to yell at eachother, including the bus driver announcing that in his twenty eight years of being a bus driver, no one has ever hit him. We were all forced off the bus and unfortunately I didn't get to see how it ended because the replacement bus came too quickly but I am still in shock over what happened.

Well I have had an interesting week...

Besitos

Classic top of a mountain pic.

Thumbs out.

We look like we could be siblings.

When the Thermal Spas are actually just hot tubs.

Categories

Well, I am reaching a point in my year where I am feeling kind of settled and finding topics to blog about is getting harder and harder. I think I am just going to walk you through the random thoughts I have about a variety of things.

Classes: They have started but not really; they were supposed to all start by this week but I have only had one actual class. The class, Portuguese, was a ton of fun and I walked out with a huge grin across my face. I understood more of this class than the two other classes I have attended even though the teacher spoke entirely in Portuguese. I know that it is because she was speaking slowly and the vocabulary was really simple but I didn't leave the class with an impending feeling of doom and I felt like I could also accomplish something. Moving on, I am also going to take Social History of Argentina, Drawing I, and my stupid Spanish class.

Climate Differences:I keep forgetting that I technically live in a desert; it is so dry. Yesterday, it rained, and when I say rained I mean there were probably three raindrops that actually hit the ground. With the aridity of Mendoza, there is a lack of green. Everything is kind of brown, crunchy, and dusty. But hey, at least its warm; high 70's in the middle of winter. I'll take it.

Hobbies: I have started drawing again and I love it. I have already spent more money than I should have on art supplies but it is keeping my spirits lifted. My drawings are kind of shitty but that's okay, who am I trying to impress but myself? I wish I could say I have been writing a lot but my time has gone into drawing. 

Homesickness: I would be lying if I said I wasn't on an emotional roller coaster; some days I am flying high, other days I have an unnerving feeling of dread. This past week has been mostly on the upswing, I have been keeping busy, forcing myself to say yes to things, planning random trips (like to the orchestra last night), and just trying to exist. Part of what is causing my homesickness is my need to get the most out of every second; the need to always be moving or doing something productive. I have kind of come to terms with my inability to do that here. After having a conversation about it with my mom, I wrote a thing... It is called just be.

what is driving your

existence inhale exhale

swallow scratch you are

in control of this body gulp

breath relax relax relax

step forward step back

what is your end goal

turn left no i mean right

focus you are meant for

perfection control focus

control what are you

doing breathe please

my love i am begging

you to breathe

stop thinking

just be.

Friends: This is kind of a touchy subject; there are a lot of people that I like in my program but I question whether or not we would be friends if we weren't some crazy Americans in Mendoza. It is really difficult to go from the genuine friendships I made over this past year to situational friends. Do not take this as me not loving them to bits, but its just a different kind of friendship. That being said, their motive for doing things is also quite different than mine. I decided early on in this experience that I want this year to be about finding myself; my hobbies, my passions, what I love, what I hate, who I am. That kind of thing, take a lot of doing things alone, which is something I am really bad at, but I am trying.

Food: Argentine food is very delicious but also very repetitive. I eat a ton of Milanesa (essentially a chicken nugget the size of your face), salad that consists of lettuce, tomatoes, and shredded carrots, and empanadas. When I eat something other than these three things, tears come to my eyes, especially if it is a vegetable. Sidebar - I actually did start crying when I saw a cucumber the other day.

Street Harassment: part of me knows I need to just accept the fact that I am going to be stared at, honked at, blow kisses at, winked at, hit on, ect. but I can't. Every time it happens, it drives me insane. I generally respond with the nastiest stink eye I can muster up; I don't know what else to do. Anyone in my audience of three have ideas?

Mail: well, this might come off as me begging for you to take the time out of your day to write me a letter or postcard, but please do. Ever since I was a wee young lass, I have loved getting mail. International postage from the US only costs $1.15. Please. Please. Please. Send it to:

Amelia Tjaden

C/O Carlos Anta

Montevideo 230 10°3
(5500) Mendoza, Argentina 

All for now - besitos.

Finally got the geotag.

It's for the tourists.

El Mercadito and coconuts that look like lemons.

What I did and what I felt.

What I did:
There is something to marvelous about the flow of time when you are not at home; a moment can be an eternity, a flash of lightening, or both at the same time. I have nicknamed this the time paradox of traveling and can only hope to understand it one day. Moving on, some of my classes started this week and the rest of my classes start Wednesday, I think. I am going to take a drawing class, Social History of Argentina, Portuguese (hopefully), and either History of Mendoza or Geography of Argentina. It should come to about 16 American credits.

Last Sunday, a group of us took taxis out to Cerro Arco Mirador, which is an 1870 meter hill with radio and television broadcasting stuff at the top. Key word: hill. According to the Argentinians, it is too small to be considered a mountain but man alive, we were huffing and puffing by the time we got to the top. It took about two hours to go up, twenty minutes at the top for a snack, then an hour trek back down. 20,000 steps later but the views were completely worth it. Scroll to the bottom for pics or somethin'.

Thursday a group of us went to the Mendoza Wine Fair and overindulged on unlimited wine. Essentially, you paid 300 pesos (20 USD) to try wine from 50+ different bodegas and get a sandwich. I definitely drank too much wine but it was totally worth it. Apart from the wine hangover, Friday I was struck down with food poisoning/travelers sickness/the flu, call it what you will, but three and a half days later I am still feeling the effects.

Bright and early Saturday morning a group of four people from my program and I left for a cabin in the mountains. We were staying in Valle del Sol, which is a town so little that there isn't a full grocery store and fruits and veggies are brought door to door by delivery trucks. Being away from the city for a few days was great. I have recently discovered that I need to get away from/ live outside of the constant movement and noise of a city otherwise I will go crazy. Anyways, between getting off the bus and walking to our cabin, we attracted a crowd of village dogs that followed us all the way to our cabin and proceeded to be our friends and remain in our presence for the remainder of the weekend. Because I was still sick, I spent the majority of the time at the cabin curled up on the couch, watching the Olympics (which I haven't gotten to do enough anyways). I did venture out onto the deck every few hours to lay out in the sun. Imagine the brightest Minnesotan sun you have ever seen and then triple that; the air temp was about 45 degrees but because the sun was so bright, it was warm enough to be in sports bras and athletic shorts during the day.

Sunday I was feeling a little better and decided to go horseback riding. Originally, the owners of the cabin were going to take us to their friends' ranch but that didn't work out so instead, we rode the sad looking horses, from dirty men on the side of the rode. I also have never had good luck with horses and I think the horse I was on knew that; he tried to run me through a tree with long thorns poking out from the branches. Long story short, I almost got a free ear piercing but the thorn protruding from my ear didn't go deep enough into the cartilage.

Sunday night our cabin was greatly affected by La Zonda; winds that come from the pacific and reach over 40 kilometers per hour. We could hear the winds come down from the tops of the mountains before they would hit our cabin. I tried to stand outside in them but lasted mere seconds because I was scared of being blown off of the deck or being hit with something flying through the wind. The winds shook our cabin and even shook the couch that I was sleeping on. The next morning, walking through town, trees were blown to bits, windows were broken, debris was everywhere. It was quite the experience.

What I felt:
About a week before I left, I had a conversation with Ezra's dad about the mixed emotions I was having with leaving. I explained that I was excited to go to Argentina but I really didn't want to leave. He told me that these bittersweet goodbyes mean that I might be able to settle down one day. I didn't think much of this comment until I had hours to sit on the couch with travelers sickness; during my couch lounging and over the course of the last two weeks, I have realized I was starting to settle into my life in the Twin Cities. After months of struggling with reverse cultural shock, I was finally content with being a Gopher, I had a boyfriend I cared (still really care) about, my friend group was filled with people I knew were genuinely my friends, and I was incredibly happy.

Two weeks ago I packed my bags, said my goodbyes, and I started my journey into the Southern Hemisphere. I anticipated an easy adjustment, fast friends, and the simplicity that was my exchange in Denmark. Instead I was met with loneliness, culture shock, and a seemingly endless struggle. My homesickness constantly has me inches from tears and has given me an appreciation for my Minnesotan life that I don't know I would have ever found without it. I miss home, my mom, vegetables, quiet spaces, Ezra, large bodies of water, English, my friends, being able to disappear in a crowd, reliable internet connection wherever I am, my car, all of the works.

Having been on both sides of the orientation process for outbound exchange students, as well as having been an exchange student, I feel like I should know what I am doing and be able to overcome these things quickly but that hasn't happened. It is like everything I learned about going abroad has flown out the window and I am left shaking in my boots. I have already recognized some of my behaviors as harmful to cultural adjustment and I am working to change them, but nothing provides an instant fix and that is what hurts me.

All of this has caused so many doubts: should I have waited another year? Did I chose the right place? Will I ever make friends? Will my friends still be there for me when I get back? What if my classes are too challenging or I can't understand and I fail, then all of this was a waste?

I apologize for the emotional dump but sometimes this kind of dump is the only way I can understand what is going on inside of my head.
Besitos.

We were all half naked but the Argentinians were bundled up in sweaters.

Somewhere near the top.

Step one: twirl wine in glass. 

Step two: sniff wine. 

Step three: pretend to know what you're doing.

The view from our cabin.

Not captured: my ear bleeding profusely.

 Street dog or new best friend?

Rubia. Rubia. Rubia.

I am not sure how but it has already been a week; I completely forgot how fast time moves when you're not paying attention. My week started off with two and a half days in Buenos Aires for orientation and basically just being a tourist. We saw all of the big attractions: La Boca, La Casa Rosa, El Cemetario de Recoletta, ect. Maybe I was just too tired and not paying but besides the language, Buenos Aires felt like another big city that I had yet to explore. Mentally, I wasn't aware I was in Argentina until I landed in Mendoza.

I have now been in Mendoza for three and a half days and I am incredibly happy with my choice so far. Before coming here, I had only seen mountains twice in my entire life. The first time I saw them here, I started crying because I was so amazed by their beauty. I'm sure the people on the program with me thought I was nuts but I couldn't contain myself. I was so happy I wrote a thing:

Your jagged edges cut across the sky and divide the earth from the clouds.

Your size astounds me and I am captivated by your enormous peaks.

You are like a wall blocking the horizon

and a thief that steals the sun as it descends behind your face.

I long to be among your many cliffs and crevices;

I can only begin to imagine life free from the constraints of this reality,

Where time is no longer a question and life is only about survival.

So far in Mendoza I have seen both of the universities I will attend and started picking classes. I won't have a set schedule until September 9th because I have shopping period where I can attend whichever class I want, then decide if I like it or not. I have a list of about twelve classes picked out and I need to narrow it down to four or five. Classes start Monday (kind of)!

I went out for the first time in Mendoza and my night was decently interesting. The kids from my program met at a bar and went crazy with the happy hour deals; drinks we 2 X 80 pesos (2 X $5 usd). When I say drinks, I mean fancy things like mojitos and daquiris; it was great. Then we all headed to a private party at a different bar for just the international students at our university. I would estimate there were 30 people from the US, 30 Mexicans, and 30 Argentinians. At three in the morning, I was invited by numerous people to go to a boliche (night club) and spend the rest of the night dancing. I took a taxi home instead. The drinking culture here compared to in the US or in Denmark is so different; we have been warned by our counselor that "it is a marathon, not a race."

I have been fighting culture shock and the battle is incredible. In the US, I live a very busy, structured, and fast pace life; I never cease to be doing something. The culture here is the complete opposite of who I am; they cherish down time, everyone is late for everything, and no one is ever in a hurry. There is this phrase, ocio productivo, which means productive laziness. I am having trouble adjusting to this but I am digging deep into myself and I will overcome this. I feel like this is something I have to learn/teach myself and therefore I have added fifteen minutes of nothing to my daily schedule.

Something I haven't figured out how to deal with is the lack of political correctness and the street harassment. In Buenos Aires, there was a store that sold electronics named Asian Kiosco; if that isn't politically incorrect, I don't know what is. Terms of endearment include gordito, flacito, and negrito (fatty, skinny, blacky). As for street harassment, I do not look Argentine and my blonde hair makes me stick out like a sore thumb. I get kisses blown at my by gross old men, boys yell rubia, rubia, rubia (blondie, blondie, blondie), I get stared at, the list goes on and on. For my mom, this is a cultural thing and I am not in any physical danger. However, that doesn't mean it doesn't drive me insane; I am not an object, I am a person.

On a much more positive note, the food is amazing. It is a lot of meat and bread, but it is well prepared meat and bread. With almost every meal, there is lettuce, tomatoes, and shredded carrots so I am not completely missing my veggies. I am offered dessert for almost every meal. I would try to explain how delicious dulce de leche and alfajores are but I think you would stop reading my blog from utter jealousy. That being said, my goal of learning how to run outside has already started because with this delicious food comes a lot of calories. I don't understand how Argentines are so skinny; maybe it is all the mate.

Well, I can't think of anything else.
Besitos.

Autobuses y La Boca, Buenos Aires.

*tears steaming down face*

Post-crying pic.

The view from the top floor of my University.

Twenty Two Hours Later

What people don’t tell you about travelling is that leaving never gets easier. Saying goodbye, whether you are departing from your home country or your host country, is incredibly difficult. For me, this round of goodbyes was heartbreaking and soul-crushing. I’m sure all of the other goodbyes I have said have hurt just as bad, if not worse, but these goodbyes are fresh like open wounds. I have come to terms with the goodbyes I said leaving Denmark but I have yet to accept that I won’t see some of the people I love for a year. I have cried more tears than a grown woman should have (but then again, am I really grown?). I am trying to focus on the fact that I have another amazing adventure ahead of me and soon I will be on an enormous upswing.

Moving onwards and upwards, my first flight was a quick shot to JFK with a layover in the most desolate airport I have ever been in. My seatmates on the flight here were pretty interesting; in the middle seat, there was a young, Israeli father with his infant daughter traveling to Buenos Aires to sell meat. To his right, the lady in the window seat was a Minneapolis native, traveling to New York to spend a week with her Brazilian mistress, whom she has only met once.  Needless to say, the conversation went to some interesting and colorful places.

I am now five and a half hours through my eleven hour flight to Buenos Aires and I am somewhere high above Venezuela. So far on this flight I have my first ever experience with culture shock (I felt at home right away in Denmark and didn’t experience difficulties adjusting). Much to my surprise, I froze, like didn’t know what to do, mind halted, utter confusion, indecipherable words leaking from my lips, kind of froze. I was putting my backpack into the overhead compartment and didn’t know what to do with everything in my hands so I put it on the floor. Next thing I know, three different people are picking my stuff up and holding it out to me. I gather my things, say thank you, and turn back around to tell the guy in the aisle seat I need to get in and I completely stumbled through words I do know how to say in Spanish and climb in. I sit in my seat in utter disbelief of my reaction to the entire situation. I am still very confused but I wish I had experienced culture shock on my previous adventure so it looks like I am in for a treat. Also on my flight, I made a friend. I do not know her name but she is an Argentine teenager with a septum ring who offered to show me around Buenos Aires. The warmth I have already received from this culture is incredible; I have never experienced anything like it.

Other interesting plane things: an enormous jolt of excitement erupted inside me when the first lights of South America appeared out of the darkness. I saw the lights of Caracas, Venezuela and screamed a little on the inside. The differences in infrastructure between North and South America are so apparent in the way the lights appears. In the US, there are distinct lines and streets; a person could map out major roads just from the light from taillights on cars. In Venezuela, there were random blobs of light that would disappear into vast expanses of darkness. Also, as I was flying over the Amazon, there was absolutely no light pollution. The stars were amazing. I could see the stardust and clouds in the various galaxies.

There is this psychological concept (don’t ask the name because I don’t remember) that says something like if you say you are going to do something publically, you are more likely to do those things; something about accountability, something about peer pressure, I am not entirely sure. Anyways, I have created a list of things I want to accomplish in Argentina and I am going to use psychology to help me do so. This list reads as follows:

•        Achieve a high proficiency in Spanish.
•        Become more in touch with my emotions and be able to express them more freely.
•        Teach myself self-discipline.
•        Learn how to run outside.
•        Focus this entire journey on my growth and personal development.
•        Write as much as I can, whether that be in journals, blogposts, or short passages in my phone.
•        Limit how much I party (not in the sense that I am never going to do it, but I have already decided that I want my year to be more of a journey into myself and the small corners of Argentine culture rather than a year of crazy partying *cough* Denmark *cough*).

I left out the obvious ones like not failing school and making lifelong relationships but I am assuming that my devoted blog readers (my mom) can fill in the holes. Throughout my year, this list is sure to grow and every so often I plan to reflect on how I am doing con mis metas (with my goals).

The next few days are going to be a whirlwind tour of Buenos Aires; it is technically an orientation to Argentine culture and study abroad in general but the itinerary they gave us doesn’t have much orientating. We see all the major parts of the city and have about four hours of actual orientation. We are in Buenos Aires until Wednesday afternoon then board a plane to Mendoza! After that, I have no idea but I can’t wait to be back in a world/period of my life where I have no clue what I am doing or what is going on and being incredibly happy to be there.

Side note: if you have Instagram, I created an account where I will/should post at least one picture every day. The username is AdventureAmeliaTjaden. Yes, I am aware how cliché that is but it’s Instagram, okay?

I am going to refrain from communication with home for a while so if you don’t hear from me, don’t worry, I am doing just fine.

Love you, mean it, talk to you later!

Hasta luego Minneapolis.

Sun disappearing behind the clouds.