The End of a Chapter

As of right now, I'm sitting in EZE. I've bought all my souvenirs, I've said all my goodbyes. I've packed all my things, I've finished all my school work and exams.


So I guess this is really over?


Like I've said, I will never forget this experience. A lot of people have asked me "So how will it be when you get back? Overall, how was the trip?"

I mean…. It's been awesome (can you really fit 4 months into a couple of words?!). But how will this trip affect me when I get back? Honestly, I don't know. I don't know when I'll know. I'm curious to see the lasting legacy of my trip abroad when I return home. I feel like it'll be one of those things where months or years from now I think: "Hmm, that's probably why I went to Argentina" or "Wow I understand this experience so much more now because of (insert situation here)".

I want to take the opportunity again to thank everyone in CEA and all of the beautiful people I met. Thank you to Joao, the artist, for showing me your work. Thank you to Nahuel, for teaching me something new every day and touching my heart so much. Thank you to Rachel for being an incredible roommate, we couldn't have done it without you. Thank you to Graciela for being an amazing mother to me here in Buenos Aires. Thank you Andrea, for being so welcoming (and Jack, for introducing me to such a great gal). Thank you to Scott, for being an incredible friend for me and always listening.

Gracias a todos. I really love all of you so, so much. I know for some of us this is goodbye forever, but I hope that for most of us it's just a "see you later". For whatever it may be, I wish you all the best in all your endeavors.

______________________________________________________________

This chapter of my life has come to a close. Now I look forward to finishing my last semester at Texas A&M University, and moving to Denver in May.

For the longest time, being a kid in a working class family with a single-mother, I always dreamed and fantasized about how amazing life would be when I was older, how all the hardships I had to endure as a child would some how become "worth it" later on. I remember thinking through all the crap and hardship, "When will it finally be MY time?!".

I've realized this semester, I'm living it. This is my time, and I look forward to seeing what else is in store.

Con un fuerte abrazo,
Julietta Anna

My final days...

It really seems like just yesterday this girl from the suburbs landed in Buenos Aires. I cannot believe that the semester has flown by so quickly. I've been trying to keep my days filled with activities in order to get as much out of this city as I possibly can with the little time I have left.

Many things had surprised me about Buenos Aires, and the people who call this place home. For starters, I imagined living in a tiny apartment and sharing my room with Rachel. To my surprise Graciela has a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom apartment, and for the first time in my life I had a room to myself (it was a little strange a times I'll admit). Also having a mother who is a cleaning lady, I never thought I'd be on the other side. My mom has a maid who comes and helps clean once a week, it was really awkward and uncomfortable for me at first because I was used to being the help not having the help. Honestly, I'm still not used to it.

What surprised me the most though, are the people who live here. Buenos Aires is not just a city of Argentines, but of migrants from all over the world. I encountered so many other languages and cultures in my time here, and had the chance to not only learn about Argentine culture but culture in Colombia, Germany, France, New Zealand, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela, and so many other places. One of the things I love most about the Argentines is how much they take advantage of their political voice. In the States, talking about politics is almost always to be avoided. Here in Argentina, it's inevitable. But here's the catch, everyone has an opinion, and most the time (like 90%) it's an educated opinion. That's one big aspect of the culture I wish I could take back with me to the U.S.

In my last couple weeks I got to really experience what spring is like in the city of fair winds. The flowers are bright and vibrant, there is always a light breeze, and the weather just calls for you to be outside. I honestly can't even count how many parks I've just sat and laid in. Last week I had the opportunity to even learn some basic steps of the Argentine Tango!

This city is also always full of surprises. For instance, last Saturday I had plans to go on a graffiti tour. It was one of the top things of my list of things to do before I left BsAs. I left my house with about 45 minutes to get there when I only really needed 20-30. As I got onto the bus, A FREAKING FIGHT BROKE OUT ON MY BUS! A FIGHT! Imagine just sitting down, minding your own business, daydreaming out the window and I hear these two men getting in a yelling fight. From what I could gather (since I wasn't paying attention to what was going on) Male #1 tried robbing Male #2's girlfriend. And Male #2 was not happy about that. Their yelling match got so intense they started pushing one another, it eventually got bad enough that my bus driver pulled the bus over and kicked all 3 of them off the bus. Then while I was on the bus I realized I took the wrong #39 (this one bus # has 3 different routes, and I almost always pick the wrong one) and was left about 15 blocks away from where my tour was supposed to begin. Because of the slight altercation on my bus, I had 10 min to walk 15 blocks. I literally RAN all the way there, and just barely missed my tour. Bummed, I began to walk back to another bus stop because I knew some friends were going to have bottomless mimosas in the same neighborhood. When I got on that bus, I ran into 4 kids who live at the Residencia! How crazy! Honestly I was still so phased by my original bus ride, I didn't even care to freak out over the fact we just randomly ran into each other- I had to tell someone my story.

Tomorrow will be my last day in the city. I will wake up, go to class, and then by the end of the day I'll be headed in a taxi on my way to the airport. It still doesn't even feel real that it's all coming to an end.

You will always have a special place in my heart Buenos Aires.

Thanksgiving Break in BsAs

Since my school CEA hands out transcripts through a university back in the States, I get the same time off as everyone back in the States. CEA gave us a whole week off for Thanksgiving and I had the opportunity to get to know this wonderful city a little more intimately. We also have a new roommate in our house from Germany named Marcus, and I got to show him around a bit as well.

This past week I...

Strolled through Bond Street

Enjoyed dessert at El Ateneo 

Went to La Boca for souvenir shopping!

Celebrated Mama's 63rd birthday!

Went to a free Bossa Nova concert in Recoleta

went to the MALBA

@ MALBA

Went to see the flower!

Celebrated Thanksgiving with my BA family!

Went to the Ecological Reserve

With some rain at the beginning of the week, it really put a damper on my plan of doing nothing besides lay in various parks...But rain is good, so I enjoyed some more so peaceful days in the city of fair winds. I only have 2 weeks left!!! It's all so surreal. 

La Pluma Negra

Within my first few days being in Buenos Aires I told myself I wasn't leaving the city until I bought a piece of art here. The artwork in Buenos Aires always catches my attention, just begging for at least a couple minutes of my time.

One Sunday afternoon after a wonderful brunch at Magdelena's and bottomless Mimosas, my friend Logan and I headed to feria Recoleta. It's at artisan fair that takes place in Plaza Recoleta. There, I stumbled upon La Pluma Negra.

The owner behind the work is named Joao David, who is originally from Portugal but lives in Buenos Aires. Most of his artwork is done by zen-doodling and pen. I fell in love with his work, and he sells them at very fair prices. I got a couple 8x11.5 pieces for 30 pesos each (coming to about $4.25 USD). Honestly, I'm probably going to buy a couple more this next week.

You can follow him on facebook here.
You have a tumblr? Follow him here.
(And you should because Joao's work is incredible!)

Besos,

Julietta

Cementerio de la Recoleta

City of the Dead

This past Friday CEA took us to the famous Recoleta Cemetery. This cemetery is 14 acres big, containing 4,691 vaults. This cemetery is for the dead elites of Buenos Aires; containing graves of many notable people like Eva Perón, former presidents, Nobel prize winners, military figures, ect. It is listed as one of the world's best cemeteries.

Inside we found the city of the dead, where anyone who was anyone is buried. The origins of the cemetery are at the entrance, newer ones the further you go out into the labyrinth. One could walk for days in there. All around are grand mausoleums of stone and bronze serving as symbols of Buenos Aires' golden age when it was one of the richest cities in the world. Each grave was a piece of art, the living legacy of the dead citizens in the city. Every corner we turned stole my breath away.

Inside the city of the dead, we learned some interesting stories about some of the graves inside.

Tomb of Liliana Crociati de Szaszak

Liliana was 26 years old when she passed away. She was in a hotel with her husband, just beginning their honeymoon together. An avalanche struck the hotel and killed her. She is dressed in her wedding dress in the statue. Her father had known something had happened to his daughter when her dog, Sabu, died the same night she did. On her grave there is also included a beautiful poem from her father.

The Tomb of Rufina Cambaceres

Rufina was a 19 year old beautiful socialite of Buenos Aires. One night as she was getting ready to attend a show, she collapsed without warning onto the floor. She was pronounced dead, and was put to be put in her coffin and placed in the family mausoleum.

A little while later a cemetery worker had noticed that the coffin had moved inside of the crypt. Expecting a grave robbery he discovered something much, much worse. Found inside the coffin were scratch marks all over, and Rufina, really dead this time, hands and face bruised from having tried to break out of the coffin.

Doctors now speculate that at the time she may have had a condition that had slowed her heart rate down so slowly that the doctors at the time would have thought she was dead. Now we have technology that can detect it, unfortunate for Rufina.

Mrs. Tiburcia Dominguez & Mr. Salvador María del Carril

This not so happy couple spent 30 years of their married lives without speaking to one another. The hatred they lived with for years was taken to their graves after the widow stated in her will that their statues were to be facing opposite directions. A true homage to their marriage. A little funny, and quite unfortunate.

If you ever visit Buenos Aires, I strongly urge you to visit this incredible cemetery...

Cat's that roam the graveyard, I'm convinced they're spirits from the graves

Looking into the mausoleum 

For 5 years and a pretty penny, you can be buried here too!

Absolutely breath-taking 

Con todo mi amor, besos! 

Madres de Plaza de Mayo

The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo is an association of Argentine mothers whose children were "disappeared" during the Dirty War of the military dictatorship, between 1976 and 1983. They organized while trying to learn what had happened to their children, and began to march in 1977 at the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, in front of the Casa Rosada presidential palace, in public defiance of the government's state terrorism intended to silence all opposition.

Many of the disappeared were believed to be abducted by agents of the Argentine government during the military dictatorship and were often tortured and killed before their bodies were disposed in rural areas, the river, or unmarked graves. The ones who disappeared were often in opposition to the government, or generally considered a threat to the dictatorship. Most women captured at the time that were pregnant were kept in concentration camps until their babies were born. Once born, the children were given in illegal adoptions to military families (or anyone is positive association with the dictatorship). The mothers were generally believed to be killed. Many of these disappearances have gone unaccounted for, and many of those responsible for these tragedies have yet to be punished.

I had briefly heard of the mothers before coming to Buenos Aires and it was a topic I frequently asked locals their opinion on. When I had first heard the story, the dictatorship seemed like it was so long ago.

This past Thursday I had the opportunity to see & march with the mothers.

It wasn't until I saw the mothers in person and received a little more in-depth story did I realize how fresh this wound from the dictatorship still is for the Argentine people. The current democracy has only been around for 30 years, most people in Argentina still remember life during the dictatorship.

Something that has really impressed me about people here in Buenos Aires is their knowledge on current events and politics. Not only can almost any porteno tell you about the current events in their politics, but they can give you their opinion on it as well (and they usually will). Back home not only would I say the majority of people are really uneducated but also apathetic to what is going on in our politics and current events. Whenever you hear any story from the dictatorship it's really no wonder why the Argentines love taking advantage of their political voice… because they still remember a time when they were forbidden to.

It was an honor to march with the mothers, even if it was only for a short time due to the poring rain. It was probably the first time in my life I ever participated in a political rally, but I wanted to show the mothers that I support their efforts for answers and justice on the disappearance of their children.

If you want to learn more about the mothers,  click here to visit their website

Did I mention it was POURING rain?!

The mothers, dedicated to their children

The Typical Mistake

Me & my awesome Professor, Blake

I've mentioned before that my communication's class is by far my favorite of the semester. Makes sense… it's intercultural communication and that just so happens to be my major. My professor, Blake, does an incredible job not only engaging us intellectually, but challenging us as well. His class is always forcing myself to reconsider how I view the world in which I live.

This week instead of having our regular classroom lecture, Blake had us come visit him as guests for his radio show here in Buenos Aires, "The Typical Mistake" on Radio Palermo. TTM is an all English-language radio show here in BsAs since 1999. My prof is the co-host on this show and his friend, Guillermo, is the show host/founder.

Who listens to an English-speaking show in Buenos Aires? Well, more people than you would think (unfortunately I don't have concrete numbers). Most of the audience is made up of Argentines who want to practice and integrate English into their lives, but TTM also has a growing set of listeners from all over the world.

Our topic during the show was about mass media. And the question asked was, does mass media drive culture? Or does mass media reflect culture?

I took a popular culture comm class last semester at Texas A&M. This class definitely changed the way I looked at the world by learning how we are affected by popular culture. From my previous professor I learned this: "Popular Culture serves as a mirror to society, reflecting standards and commonly held beliefs. PC serves as a resource to our lives, crossing across most barriers that divide us. To take a rhetorical perspective on popular culture is to pay attention to the persuasive nature of signs as we become detectives of meaning. "

I reflected back on this class as we sat and discussed mass media on the radio. And I though, "Does American popular culture really reflect me as an American?"

Let's look at how PC defines beauty. The reputation of the US abroad is that we are a nation of obese people. Yet in our mass media how many obese people are represented? Our advertisements and music videos are covered in half-naked photo-shopped women. This ideal image of "beauty" our pop culture portrays is so perfect that its nearly impossible for us to recreate without spending an abundance of money on clothes, cosmetics, or even surgery. I feel as if our media drives culture more than reflects it. If our media reflected who we were, magazines would stop using things like photoshop. Instead they drive this image of what they define beauty to be, and convince us that with their product/service alone can we obtain their definition of "true beauty".Is this image of beauty really a reflection of me??? And don't even get me started on the racial aspect of this beauty concept as well. (seriously, where's my hispanic disney princess?)

That's jus' me though.... What do you think about the relationship between culture and mass media?

Here is the link the hit "Like" on The Typical Mystake's facebook page.

Radio Palermo

Jamie and I getting silly during the break

Me & the sound board guy