Though the past week and a half has been fun, filled with meals with friends and small events, nothing particularly blog-worthy happened. So, to procrastinate writing my ecology paper, I thought I'd give you what a typical boring day looks like for me instead.
Most of my classes are in the afternoon or evening, so I usually start the day by telling myself to get up at 8:30 but getting up at 10 instead. I lay in bed waking up slowly and enjoying the coziness before throwing on a jacket and sweatpants (my room is usually chilly) and heading into the kitchen to make breakfast. I alternate between toast and cornflakes for breakfast, often with a piece of fruit and a glass of drinkable yogurt. Sometimes a coffee if I'm in the mood. I try not to put dulce de leche on my toast every day in an effort to be healthy, but I usually fail because dulce de leche addictive.
In the few hours before lunch, I usually either get some work done and do chores, like cleaning my room, hanging laundry, or going grocery shopping. Actually though, I love grocery shopping. Because I'm taking three science classes (Ecology, Contaminant Control, and Health and Quality of Life) and two IFSA classes (Castellano and a literature/film class), the amount of reading I have per week is significantly less than my peers. As such, my homework involves a bit of reading, watching some videos, preparing for an upcoming exam or presentation, and writing an essay. Currently I'm avoiding working on a research paper on an issue in conserving la Puna and los Altos Andes, two biomes, to give you a sense.
Sometime between 12:30 and 2, depending on the day, I go out of my room again to eat lunch. Because our lunches aren't covered by the program, I've been preparing large batch meals and eating them throughout the week. Then, on the weekends, I cook up a new dish for the next week. Most recently I've made a couple curries and stews, since the weather is getting colder. If I'm lucky, I'll have made lunch plans with friends and treat myself to a meal out. Today, I met up with Lauren and Michaela after class at el Banco Rojo, a hole in the wall place in San Telmo (off the beaten track for me) for some deep fried empanadas and a pita sandwich.
If I don't have an afternoon class, I somehow manage to pass the time until the evening. I must not do work all afternoon since I'm really never that productive, but I also don't just watch tv all day, so I really don't know where the time goes. If I do have class, I head out to class right after lunch, either walking five blocks to the D-line Subte stop Pueyrredon if I'm going to IFSA or walking the 11 or so blocks to my USAL classes by Facultad de Medicina.
Sometime between 4:30-7 I have a snack to hold me over until dinner. If I'm at home, this is usually either some baked good that I've cooked up over the weekend (currently, apple cinnamon bread) or toast. If I'm out, I'll go to a cafe with friends and have a coffee, maybe with a baked good from there or more likely an empanada or toast that I've brought with me.
My classes are mostly lecture based, with the exception of Castellano and Contaminant Control. My literature class is supposed to be discussion based, but Diego, the profe, usually ends up just telling us about whatever text we read. Contaminant Control is made up of students who are retaking the course, so we spend a lot of time doing practice problems on the board. Since I'm a chemistry major, the problems are really basic to me and I usually study for another class simultaneously. For Castellano, there are only eight of us in the class, and it's very conversation based. Our profe, Celina, is amazing -- sarcastic, hilarious, and really focused on our speaking ability above all else. It's by far my favorite class I've ever taken.
After class, I take the Subte back to Pueyrredon (only one stop from USAL, I know it's lame) and walk from there. Even though it's only a 20 minute walk from USAL, we pretty much always get out after 8:30 and I really don't like walking alone in the dark. By that point, I'm usually starving and eat as soon as I get home. My host mom is supposed to feed me dinners every day except Saturday, but she doesn't normally eat with me. Sometimes by chance Martina, the other boarder, will eat with me just by happenstance. Dinner usually consists of a main course and a vegetable, per my request at the beginning of the semester. I get roast chicken and potatoes fairly frequently, as well as Milanesa (a thin piece of chicken or beef breaded and fried like schnitzel) and fried rice. The vegetable is usually just salad, but she's started giving me canned peas with egg recently.
Because I can't help myself, I'll usually finish washing my dishes and treat myself to a desert, retiring to my room to watch netflix or skype some lucky party in the US. Since I have no willpower, I usually go to bed sometime shortly after midnight. A pretty exciting day, right?!
