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

Malena Canta El Tango

Yesterday CEA took us to ‘La Esquina de Homero Manzi’. This Resto-bar was the symbol of urban culture in Buenos Aires during the 1940's (aka the Golden Age of Tango). Here we got to enjoy a delicious steak dinner and a tango show.

Tango was actually born in the brothels of BsAs, meant to be an "acting out" of the relationship between the prostitute and the pimp. It has since then transgressed to be a living cultural artifact of the city. Tango is not only a dance but a genre of music as well (both instrumental and lyrical).

Tango was used as an instrument of speech for the Argentine people. Throughout the history of tango, it's fortunes have always been tied to economic and political conditions in the country. Tango is almost always nostalgic for a better time. As political oppression developed in Argentina, lyrics were a beacon of light to the political feelings of the working class. Eventually the dance and the music went underground until it's rebirth in the 1980;s

Watching the show also reminded me how much I missed partner dancing, hopefully I will have the opportunity to take a tango class before I leave the city. I was mesmerized as I watched all the stories unfold on stage. Not only where the singers telling a story, but the dancers and musicians as well.

It was one of the first opportunities we really had to get dressed up, and every girl took advantage of the opportunity. It was really nice to have us all together for a big CEA family dinner.

If you ever come to Buenos Aires, I highly encourage you to check out Tango.

Con todo mi amor,

Julietta

A very blurry CEA familia

La Banda

Here is a video featuring the Tango classic: "Malena Canta El Tango"

Perspective

A couple of days ago I wrote a post talking about my life and my reflections on the all the events in my life leading up to now. I wondered how these life events affected me and how they are doing to continue to affect me in my future.

Well, I am someone who also calls them-self a Nerdfighter and am an avid follower of the Vlogbrothers. On catching up with my Youtube subscriptions I saw that John Green made a vlog titled perspective, kinda touching on some of the same ideas I had in my post. Except in this case it is written and said by John Green who's a real writer and way better with words than I am. So if you didn't read my post, don't and just watch this video because it is John Green.

Ni Una Sola Palabra de Amor

"A tape with recorded messages was found inside an used answering machine. Through these calls we get to know the incredible story of Enrique and Maria Teresa: a woman expecting a call from a man who will never respond. Ten years later, over this completely real audio, this short film gets made." 

The answering machine was purchased at an Argentine Market. Check it out, I included the version with English Subtitles

October is over...

I've been here for 2 months. Wow. I feel like I remember first landing in EZE just yesterday. I have a month and 2 weeks left after this, time is really flying by.

This past month has been a really fruitful one in my life. This is also one of the happiest I've ever been in my life. For awhile I was thinking that my happiness had to do with my location: that maybe one of the reasons I was so happy was because I was in Buenos Aires. I think now I realize that my happiness had to do with the fact that I actively kept choosing happiness every day I've woken up…

This is one of the first times in my life I came to a new place with absolutely no one. No friends from high school or college, no family, no boyfriend, no one. I tried not to show it, but that absolutely terrified me. I've only been here for two months and I already have a long list of goodbyes I'll have to make come mid-December. I truly cherish all the friendships I've made here and hope I can continue them back home in the states.

Looking back now it's crazy seeing how all the dots have aligned in my life so far. How one choice in my life effected so many others. Right now I'm here for a reason, and I can think of every event that has lead me here but I still really have no idea where it is heading. I keep pulling this image of the falling dominoes all aligned in a certain pattern. Every life event I've had so far Is one of those dominoes, where will the next one take me? This has been my biggest reflection this past month, about how crazy the Universe is in all it's infinite wisdom.

I'm also wondering what it will be like when I go home, have I evolved? Has this experience ever changed me? How will my life back in Texas be affected by this experience when I go back? I have no idea how my the legacy of my study abroad will effect me when I'm back in the States. Isn't life just beautifully frustrating in that way? I'm trying to learn to embrace the uncertainty.

Besos y abrazos,

Julietta

This month I...

Went to 5 different museums in BsAs!

Went swimming in Uruguay

Had wine tasting class

Chilled with T-Rex at Technopolis

Brought Halloween to the city of fair winds (Cat & Hippie)

Excursion #2: Uruguay for the day!

Colonia de Sacranento, Uruguay

I'm officially half way through my study abroad and have been in Argentina for 2 months! I can already feel I'm going to be completely torn when my end date arrives.

Friday October 18th CEA took us to Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay.

CEA strategically planned this excursion for the student's documentation purposes. See, I paid a $160 entrance fee to Argentina (which should last me about 2 years) to stay in this wonderful country for up to 90 days at a time. Since my program is longer than 90 days, this trip was planned to leave the country and then come back to comply with Argentine immigration laws. I've recently made it a goal of mine to go to every country in Latin America, so I was glad this trip was included to help me achieve that goal. (4 down, 17 more to go!)

Colonia is a quaint town right across from Buenos Aires. We took an hour long ferry (Buquebus) ride across Rio de la Plata. Colonia is one of the oldest towns in Uruguay at is famously known for it's historic quarter: "Barrio Histórico" that we spent the majority of our time in.

Colonia de Sacramento has had historic tug or rope rule between the Portuguese and the Spanish. It was originally discovered by the Portuguese, then taken by the Spanish, then taken back to the Portuguese, then again to the Spanish, and this tug of war goes on from 1680 until 1828. This flip flop of rule is evident in the architecture of the city, as half of the roads are Spanish-built and the other are Portuguese-built.

On this day was also Scott's 22nd birthday . Scott is one of my new friends I've made here during this trip. A Chicago native who is a senior Political Science/Philosophy major at Penn-State. One thing that particularly intrigues me about Scott is his genuine passion and unquenchable thirst to know and learn Latin American Culture. I had met Scott when he had only been in BsAs for 2 weeks and I was extremely impressed with his Spanish fluency. I love that whenever we aren't at school Scott is actively engaging with me in Spanish dialouge, and I have no doubt that Scott will see success in anything he pursues in life. Scott is 100% authentic, and that is just not something you come across by very often. I was blessed to be able to celebrate his 22nd with him.

Scott, Ariel, Maia, and I

I ate lunch with Ariel, Maia, and Scott. Our cultural guide, Nahuel made a joke in Missiones that we looked like a family with an adopted/love child (can you guess which is the one who doesn't match??) Scott ordered us a Urguacian wine named Tannat and he was surprised with a birthday cake courtesy of CEA.

After lunch we were granted 4 hours of free time to roam and explore Colonia. I'll admit I didn't really explore the city as much as I could have. Honestly once my toes made contact with the soft, warm sand I didn't want to leave the beach.

Scott, Logan, and I quickly went out in pursuit of finding the beach. I teased Scott because every wall he saw he wanted to concur (#rockclimbingjunkie). Nahuel ended up leading us to a small portion of beach and I immediately started thinking of ways in my head I could get out into the water. I didn't look up the weather that day and didn't know we would even be going to the beach so I didn't pack my swim suit for the trip. 

Looking out into the rio I saw small archipelagos of "rock islands" and created my own path to explore and colonize on one of these rock islands that we ended up naming "Rock Island" (original, I know). I'm assuming Scott grew jealous of me being queen of my island as I laid and soaked up the sun that he found a way to join me. Soon after followed Logan and Maia. Not too far from Rock Island was another chunk of rocks that we concluded had to be concurred as well and populated quickly. The only problem was that we would have to swim out there to reach it and we forgot our swimsuits.

Scott and I exchanged a look and knew there was only one thing to do… swim out there. Maia, Logan, and even Eleanor joined our expedition. The girls and I stripped down to our sports bras and panties and swam out into the river. It was one of those "is my life really becoming a really cheesy movie" moments. Also one of my most fun moments of this entire trip.

Uruguay, hopefully I can pay you another visit soon.

Con un fuerte abrazo,

Julietta

My Life through GIFS

My life through a series of gifs. Check it out here, and here.


When I realize I actually have to do school work this semester

When I successfully navigate public transportation

When any male comes up to me at a bar/boliche

Whenever we spot obvious yanki girls

When I feel like no one understands me even though I'm speaking Spanish

When I remember water isn't free at restaurants

When I first tried Mate

Whenever blood sausage is put in front of me

Empanadas

Whenever there is an Asado

That one time I got drunk off of nothing

When I'm treated like a Spanish dictionary

When I got a room with a balcony

Public Trans during rush hour

whenever anything cool happens

wine drunk

When I take pictures of things I'm not supposed to, and I get caught

Agua con gas