This and That

Time for an update. I just had my first day of class for the week (swine production at 8am and goat and sheep production at 1pm). Tuesdays I have oil seed production (which lasts four hours!! ugg!!) and Wed and Fri I have Spanish. Starting this week I'll be taking German at the University of Buenos Aires. I tested into level 6 which is two levels before graduate level. I've been studying a lot on my own and speaking with all my German friends but I seriously doubt I'll stay in that high of a class. I wasn't happy about getting up for an 8am but truthfully it's time to get back into a normal routine and sleep cycle. I'm trying to stay better organized this semester (as always). I enjoyed 10 days at home in July and had the opportunity to go to my cousin's wedding. Then my mom and sister came back with me for a short visit. We went to Iguazu falls (amazing) and after my mom went home my sister stay an extra week and we went to Chile. Overall I'm feeling pretty content right now. I like life in Buenos Aires and I have a lot of good friends already as the semester starts off including some really awsome flatmates. I can't wait to see what this semester has in store for me as I'm continually amazed by the new things I keep learning that I somehow missed the entire first six months. I'm actually thinking about going to veterinary school at the University of Buenos Aires because it would be free (vs around 100k dollars in the United States) and would allow me to experience more time abroad before I (eventually?) settle down. I have felt a little cut of from the states this week but perhaps that is a good thing.

Going home?

As some of you may know, my finals were canceled (temporarily) due to concerns over H1N1 flu. With no reason to stay in Buenos Aires I tried to switch my ticket to come home early. As I still don't have a student visa and my tourist visa runs out on the 12th it would also be better to leave before my scheduled return date on the 14th. Anyway, with no available seats (aside from Business class seats for US$4000 extra) (Also, what kind of business would spend $4000 extra??!?) I'm stuck hanging out in the airport and trying to get on a flight flying standby. So I'm going to attempt to come home tomorrow but I'm very doubtful about my chances of getting on the single flight leaving tomorrow. If that doesn't work I can either plead with a governement official for an extension, pay a 300 peso (about 75dollar) fine, or go to Uruguay for the day (about 65 dollars for the boat trip)... Either way I'd really like to go home a little early to have some extra time in Illinois before I start my second semester. That said, Buenos Aires is definitely not a bad city to be stuck in. There is the flu epidemic, but I'm trying to be more higenic and I feel like if I take precautions it's nothing to be to lose sleep over.

Escarlatina/Scarlet Fever

As some of you may know, last year I suffered a bout of scarlet fever, which sounds bad, but is really an out of control strep infection (which can cause cardiac damage if not treat, i.e. after weeks). This week all of the same symptoms began to appear so I took a trip to the local public hospital. After waiting a nightmarish three hours and missing my name being called out twice (of course they switched my first and last names since no one has "Benjamín" as a last name and probably called out "nay-al" very quietly before skipping me) I finally went to a private doctor and for the nominal sum of about US$24 found out that I had a bad strep infection that was on its way to scarlet fever (already had the rash) which is what I knew all along. Nineteen hours of sleep and some amoxicilina later I feel more or less better. Now, if I could just magically have my 12 page paper on (still don't have the subject yet) AND were ready for my forage midterm retake AND had my oral presentation ready for my economics class, everything would be perfect. Thank God for mate/coffee/tee. At least they are finally putting up walls around my bed so I'll have a room soon (although 10pm seems a little late to be working on that, but beggers can't be choosers). Hopefully I'll load some pictures of my new house soon. Best Regards y un abrazo a todos.

Ok I finally did it

After living between a hostel and a friend's love-seat for the past ten days (not comfortable!) (after living with a host family the first four months) I finally moved into my very own room in a shared house today. Then after a nice very large cup of coffee I went on a crazy organization spree sorting through all my emails and doing everything on my to do list. Thus the creation of this blog. I used to be against blogging but I think it will be a good way to keep track of my adventures in South America.
My room is not really a room yet (I don't have walls yet), just a bed with dividers in a larger room which will be subdivided into a smaller room and hallway starting tomorrow. Anyway, life in Buenos Aires is great. I'm actually seriously considering going to vet school here now that my Spanish is improving to a level where that would be plausible. Hmmm, no tuition versus $100,000 dollars if I went to U of I... I really think the U.S. should provide free public tuition and professors should get paid less. I'm not sure how ever increasing student tuition fees which are increasing at an ever increasing rate are compatible with the ideals of the American Dream. Anyway get excited about reading periodic updates on my life in Buenos Aires and maybe even pictures.