School's out!

Today I had my last class of the semester/turned in my final paper/did my final oral presentation and am now officially done! It feels sooo good knowing that I can just relax and try to have as much fun as I can for the rest of my time in Buenos Aires. I'll use my classes as my excuse for not having blogged in a whole month...I'm sorry!

Here are some highlights from the past month:

1. THE WORLD CUP

I've never been much of a sports fan but I have to say I have officially been converted into a world cup fanatic! It's probably because everyone here is obsessed with the world cup and with the Argentine team. It's really amazing seeing how much spirit literally EVERYONE has. I even know lots of people who have had classes canceled if they conflicted with an Argentina game. This weekend, I went with some friends to Plaza San Martin to watch the game against Mexico (which we won 3-1). They show all the games in Plaza San Martin on a giant screen and there are tons of people all decked out in their Argentine colors and it's very exciting. After the game, everyone was SO excited and gathered in a different Plaza in front of the Obelisco, a giant monument, and had a giant party in the street. It's really incredible to see how much spirit the country has and it made me realize there isn't really an equivalent thing in the States.







As of right now, Argentina has made it into the quarter-finals! Very exciting! Their next game is against Germany on Saturday, July 3rd at 3:30 Argentina time (11:30 west coast time) and I highly encourage everyone to watch. I will be!! Some things to look out for:

Lionel Messi - pretty much the star of the team and considered to be one of, if not the best player, in the whole world cup. He is a god. Watch a game and you will understand.
Gonzalo Higuain - another amazing player and has scored the most goals out of anyone during World Cup 2010, across all the teams. He's also REALLY good-looking.
Diego Maradona - coach and ex-super star soccer player. He's pretty crazy and has been in and out of drug problems/other scandals but is very entertaining.
The world cup song!! I'm obsessed:

World Cup song

2. ROSARIO

A few weekends ago I went on another small trip with my program to the city of Rosario.
Rosario is the third largest city on Argentina after Buenos Aires and Córdoba. (I'm planning a trip to Córdoba for next week with my friends before they go home.) Rosario was a lot of fun and it's always nice to go on a trip where everything is already planned for you! We took a walking tour of the city and had some nice meals with our program and hung out a lot at the hotel. It wasn't anything super exciting but really nice to hang out with friends and see something other than Buenos Aires.

3. Trip planning

So my program ends on July 10 but I am not coming home until July 24 because I'm traveling! Plans are still somewhat loose but I'm planning to go to Uruguay and Peru (Machu Picchu!) from July 14-23 with my Tufts/Bay Area friend Molly that was studying abroad in Santiago, Chile this semester. Then on the 24th I come home from Buenos Aires.

Also, songs in Spanish that I am now obsessed with/my friends sing all the time and are played everywhere:

Colgando en tus manos

Mi niña bonita

That's all for now!