As September Ends | UD Abroad Blog

Submitted by Kimberly Tomlinson on the 2012 fall semester program in Buenos Aires, Argentina…

As September is ending, I am excitedly anticipating the coming month of October! The last few weeks have been event filled and I cannot express how thrilled I am that the weather is finally (consistently) starting to change for the better! Our group adventures have been numerous and primarily outdoors over this last week or so and I am absolutely loving it!

On Friday September 21, it was the first day of spring and here in Buenos Aires it is also el día del estudiante which is a celebration geared primarily at primary and secondary school aged students because it was a day to picnic in the park and just generally spend some time outside. The best part of the day was that the greeting-dujour was “Feliz Primavera” (Happy Spring) and everyone (strangers included) were eager to say it to anyone and EVERYone. The spirit of the day was really positive! Even though the temperature was a LITTLE chilly for my taste I truly enjoyed our time celebrating the start of a new season. Amidst the springy celebration, we also went to El Museo de Bellas Artes in Recoleta. Unfortunately, the museum was only open on the bottom floor the day we went, but it was enjoyable just the same! The following day we decided to go to the movies. We saw Buscando a Nemo (Finding Nemo) in 3D! Honestly it was absolutely amazing! Maybe because we already knew the whole story (and the lines in English…)the Spanish version was even better! (Nadaremos nadaremos en el mar el mar el mar…) So fabulous.

The weekend of September 21 was an additional long weekend for us not only because of El Día de la Primavera/El Día del Estudiante but also Monday the 24th was a feriado (holiday) due to the Bicentennial Anniversary of the Battle of Tucuman. My favorite thing about this holiday was that it has never been celebrated before. It worked out quite nicely for us, however, because it gave us an additional day for studying for those pesky midterms!

I won’t go into the details of my midterms (mostly because I haven’t received many grades back yet and do NOT like speculating about their results) but I am beyond thrilled that those two weeks are FINALLY over.

This past Friday, the 28th my GSE group went on our first big outing together. We went to Uruguay! I am sooo excited to have another stamp in my passport! Half of the group was planning to stay for the weekend in other locations in Uruguay, but the rest of us were simply going for the day to the colonial city of Colonia. I was a little leary about the prospect of going to Colonia, I mean we had heard there was not much to do (which is true) but it was a most incredible day! Beyond words!! Honestly, we didn’t do much, just wandered around the city a little bit. However, it was so relaxing to be in a place like that. We enjoyed the scenery, lounged in the grass, and just had one of the most beautiful, relaxing, and enjoyable days in a long time. It was peaceful to be away for the city even just for a day!

I have been learning all sorts of new things here that are beyond language and the classes I am taking. There is a very serious divide within the city between those who support the presidenta and those who do not. As a form of protest to the government, and Cristina specifically, when she has public addresses those in opposition to her and her policies bang pots and pans outside their windows, or honk their car horns or just generally make a lot of noise. A few weeks ago, on September 13th, she had a public address and to protest, there was a very large, citywide protest. I have gotten various sides of her story and policies both from people’s personal views and my own research. Essentially, the fear of the people is a loss of democracy with her rule of the country. So needless to say, out of curiosity and interest in the topic of the protest, we went to investigate for ourselves. I honestly need to learn a LOT more about the subject, but am just sooo fascinated by the passion that everyone was (and is) expressing in regards to her and her government. (I highly suggest Googling! Cristina was in the US last week, see if you can find some of the US articles reporting on the bizarre protesting at her hotel involving pots and pans 😉 )

I am greatly looking forward to the coming month because it involves many adventures including a day excursion to Tigre, a weekend to Iguazu Falls, and the thing I am most excited for, my boyfriend’s visit this coming weekend!