SUBE card success and other general life updates

So two days ago, I went with a group of other IES students to our appointments for criminal background checks, because honestly why wouldn't you wait two weeks after someone has been in your country to make sure they're not a bat-shit crazy person or packin a violent prior criminal record? Makes total sense.. We arrive at the building and it all moves surprisingly quickly, I fill out a form, pay $30 pesos and get fingerprinted. I asked if the woman wanted my toe prints too and she cracked a half smile. Afterwards, we went to Cafe Tortoni, which is this beautiful, very famous coffee place in Buenos Aires. It's apparently the oldest one in the city. We were the definition of American tourists as we walked into the cafe, which is actually more along the lines of a small concert hall than a little cafe, and sat at the tables they set up for us. I usually don't like feeling like such a straight up tourist but when the coffee is that good and free, I'm gonna set aside my pride.

On the walk back to the IES center, a few of us saw a Correo(post office) on the street and decided to see, on the off chance, if they had the terribly elusive Sube cards. There was no line, the nice woman behind the desk had Sube cards and within 15 minutes, about 10 of us walked out with our cards in hand and damn near pissing excitement. It was amazing.

Yesterday afternoon after I walked home from class, I decided to take out the camera (my hardcore point and shoot Nikon..) and wander around Recoleta, the barrio (neighborhood) where I live. There's a good amount of street art here of varying degrees of complexity and form. Ranging from a simple political message written in hasty capital letters to a neon stencil of Charlie Brown on a skateboard, to a street-long elaborate mural with different kinds of nature and wildlife depicted. I wandered down a cobblestone side street called Calle Bellini, with no one on it. The buildings were lovely, many with bright colors and it seemed like the street the rest of the city forgot. Some of my favorite stencils were a skeleton, Charlie Brown and Britney Spears.

In other business, this week has been much nicer weather-wise, highs in the mid-70s and partially cloudy. I can roll with that. All but two of my classes have met, with the last of my IES classes meeting today and UMSA (the local Buenos Aires university I'm taking a class at) starting Tuesdsay. About UMSA-I'm mildly freaked out. I know that the Spanish spoken will almost certainly be way faster than my little mind can keep up with. But as long as I don't tragically and epically fail, I'm hopeful it will be a cool chance to meet some Argentinian students and improve my Spanish. I need to pass this class, not set the curve. Which they actually don't have here. No grading curve, no Ctools, no office hours and usually no syllabus. Yeah, I'm super pumped.

Also, St. Patty's Day is this Saturday. A little piece of my heart breaks knowing I won't be in Ann Arbor for the shitshow that will take place. There's nothing quite like seeing the whole place go green, drink with your friends without a huge amount of societal shame, crash for a few hours and then live to rage again.
But, I'm here in BA and interested to see what St. Patty's looks like in South America.


Over and out.

-j