I may have lost track of exactly how many weeks have gone by, but it's only because of how insanely close I am to the end of my stay! It's hard to believe that in two and a half short weeks, I will be on a plane back to the US. With this impending deadline and most of my classes accounted for, I've started checking things off my Argentina bucket list again. After all, there's only a few non-rainy days left to see and do everything!
A few weeks ago, I went back to Tigre with my friends Liz and Julia. We went to Puerto de Frutas again, got ice cream and churros, and took advantage of the beautiful day by going on a boat tour of the river. Though it was a bit chilly with the wind, the sun was shining on the water and some of the houses we saw were beautiful. My understanding is that many of them don't have road access, and are only connected to their neighbors and the town via the waterways.
Last weekend, a group of friends and I took a tour of la Casa Rosada, the Argentine equivalent to the White House. Sort of. No one actually lives in la Casa Rosada, although one president (Roque Saenz Peña) took up residence for a short president when the daily journey between office and home became too much for his failing health. Now the building houses the President's and Vice President's offices, a fancy room where presidential addresses are held, and various other offices and conference rooms. We only got to see the Vice President's office at a glance, the presidential address room, and some less important halls and such, but being free the tour is definitely worth it. For those wondering, the President lives in a special residence in Olivos, outside of the city. He apparently helicopters in to work every morning.
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| Plaza de las Palmas |
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| Sala de los científicos |
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| View of Plaza de Mayo from the balcony |
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| The Peróns |
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| Room where the presidential addresses are held |
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| Entrance hall with busts of various presidents |
Before the tour, I took advantage of my lack of work and things to do in general and visited the Congress building. The plaza out front is currently under construction, so the view was less impressive, but the building is very beautiful.
Aside from visiting monuments, the latest big event in my life was my last real Castellano class today. To celebrate, I baked a chocolate and orange tart, which (not to toot my own horn) was delicious. The class also got together to buy a parting gift for our amazing professor, Celina -- two tickets to La Omisión de la Familia Coleman, a play that we saw as a class but she had to miss. It was an emotional moment, but with another theater visit on Sunday and our final presentations next week, we haven't had to say goodbye yet.
Since I only finished my USAL classes last week, and I still have two papers and a presentation to go, this is all the exploring I've done in my renewed enthusiasm. However, I'm looking forward to seeing a soccer game this weekend and visiting the ex-ESMA and Barrio Chino next week. Plus, my friends and I have been using the necessity of food to explore some cool restaurants -- check out our yummy eats on my food photos page.
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