Lunch, in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Even though I’m beginning this next entry with Lunch, I should mention that here in Argentina, or at least in Buenos Aires, there are really four meals in a day — breakfast, a mid-day meal, lunch in the mid-afternoon, and dinner at no earlier than 8pm. But, I don’t really participate in mid-day meal since I’m already grazing throughout the day. First, lunch in the city is rarely done at home since people are usually out all day working and running errands. For this reason, you can get something quick for lunch practically everywhere. Women sell baskets of milenesa – lettuce and tomato sandwiches with thinly-sliced breaded and fried beef – warm flat bread on grills set-up on the street, and you can get empanadas — sort of like a tiny pie/sandwich small filled with meat, cheese and/or veggies —  in just about every pandería or bakery. And for dessert, they usually also sell facturas or pasteries for about 2 pesos which is about 50 cents. Unlike most of us on campus, porteños do not typically eat lunch while walking to their next destination or while sitting on a public bench. While there are of course lots of options for eating outside at restaurants, most porteños feel it is dirty to eat in the streets because there isn’t anywhere to wash your hands. And, unless their bringing something from home, most city-dwellers will go out during their hour-long lunch break to a restaurant close by. They do sell more traditionally-American frozen lunches at the supermarkets here, but they are actually much more expensive than grabbing a couple empanadas or a freshly-made sandwich from down the street.

In general, I’ve been avoiding American-style food while I have this giant opportunity to eat so many things I didn’t even know existed. But, American food is a popular specialty here. In addition to the McDonalds (here pronounced MacDonald’s’), Burger King, and Subway, they just opened up a Wendy’s about 15 blocks from where I’m staying. And, the other day we went in there to get some comfort food: French fries and a frosty to dip them in. Food like that is more expensive here than it is in the US, even with the exchange rate. A typical “meal” from McDonalds is about 2 dollars more that what you’d pay in the US. I will say that the fast food places here are more of an upper-class outing than you’d find in the US. You find them in mostly wealthier neighborhoods, they have much nicer seating areas, there are separate café and icecream kiosks inside, and one in my neighborhood even has an arcade/gym area. And, while I can’t remember the last time I bought fast food in the US, sometimes comfort food is necessary after a long day of classes in Spanish.

Yangshuo, China

Panama City, Panama – Blog 4

This weekend we traveled as a group to several locations around Panama. Between these excursions and my experiences in Panama City, I have learned a lot about the language barrier. More specifically, I have discovered that how Panamanians respond to those who don’t know Spanish is very different from how people in the United States respond to individuals who don’t know English. Overall, I have noticed that the people here in Panama are much more understanding and willing to help those who struggle with the native language.

One example that comes to mind when I think about this from a North American standpoint, I think of a situation that occurred in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that made national news. The owner of Geno’s Cheese Steaks refused service to individuals who did not order a cheese steak in English. While this seems like a simple situation, it has a meaning from deeper than what it appears to be on the surface. It shows that North Americans are far less tolerant of people who don’t know the native language, in our case, English.

To compare this idea to Panamanian culture I think about the conversations I have had the last few days. At restaurants, servers have been extremely patient with me in terms of getting my order correct and helping me learn the words in Spanish. For example, I really don’t like onions so to order my food without onions I now understand I just have to say sin sebolla (without onions). I was able to pick up on this quickly because the people have been so helpful. During our two most recent excursions the Panamanians have been really understanding and have taken their time explaining things to us to make sure we understand. While this was not something I previously knew about Panamanian culture, it doesn’t come as a complete surprise. Panamanian culture is built around relationships and helping others, even complete strangers. Thus, it is not hard to believe that Panamanians are far more tolerant than North Americans when it comes to language barriers.

– AJ Bucci

Panama City, Panama – Blog 3

Yesterday, a group of us decided to go explore the city. Early on we decided to try to walk to the coast line to take some pictures. Since we had no idea where we were going or how to get there, we had to ask for directions many times along the way. This is when I reinforced something I had learned early on about Panamanian culture. I quickly discovered that people were very friendly and willing to help.

The next thing I noticed was the general charm that Panama City offered. Here you can find anything from an old restaurant to a brand new sky scraper. We even saw a building with a twist design. I had never seen anything quite like it before. When we finally made it to the coast it did not disappoint as we took some beautiful pictures.

While the people and the buildings were great, they did not provide the most valuable lesson on this little excursion. What I learned most was what it feels like to be a foreigner in someone else’s country. As we walked around the city many people stared and even pointed at us, because we truly were foreigner visiting their country. Though this may seem simple, it really was a valuable lesson. I was, for basically the first time in my life, able to put myself in the shoes of those who immigrate or simply visit the US from other foreign countries. Because of this experience, I have gained a greater respect and understanding for what foreigners experience when they come to the US.

– AJ Bucci

 

Arrival in Seville, Spain

Ok, so I have been in Spain for 4 days now and it proves to hold a bright and successful future. Even though I came to Spain with minimum ability to speak, read, or write the Spanish language it has been a blast. Sometimes people say “its not what you know, its who you know.” Well, case closed. When traveling abroad, make sure you have a friend or meet a friend that can become your personal translator and everything will become much easier. I am in Seville, Spain on a back-to-back summer study abroad program and so far I am having the time of my life even though I cannot communicate with the locals or my host family. My roommate Cameron has provided me with more than enough information that I could learn by simply reading out of some English to Spanish dictionary. Overall, my journey in Spain has begun. We have been in Madrid for 2 nights and experienced a taste of the crazy night life during the futbol game for the Spanish President’s cup. It was something that one can simply not describe but can only experience. Along with Madrid, we spent a night in Toledo. Hands down it was one of the most beautiful cities that I have ever been to. Every turn you made or every sight you could see was a Kodak moment. Now, I am in Seville. The real adventure has started and I am soon off to my first class of the program. Beunos noches!!

Ok, so I have been in Spain for 4 days now and it proves to hold a bright and successful future. Even though I came to Spain with minimum ability to speak, read, or write the Spanish language it has been a blast. Sometimes people say “its not what you know, its who you know.” Well, case closed. When traveling abroad, make sure you have a friend or meet a friend that can become your personal translator and everything will become much easier. I am in Seville, Spain on a back-to-back summer study abroad program and so far I am having the time of my life even though I cannot communicate with the locals or my host family. My roommate Cameron has provided me with more than enough information that I could learn by simply reading out of some English to Spanish dictionary. Overall, my journey in Spain has begun. We have been in Madrid for 2 nights and experienced a taste of the crazy night life during the futbol game for the Spanish President’s cup. It was something that one can simply not describe but can only experience. Along with Madrid, we spent a night in Toledo. Hands down it was one of the most beautiful cities that I have ever been to. Every turn you made or every sight you could see was a Kodak moment. Now, I am in Seville. The real adventure has started and I am soon off to my first class of the program. Beunos noches!!

Breakfast, and other dearly missed foods in Buenos Aires, Argentina

If ever traveling outside the US, I recommend packing a small food item that may be hard to find while traveling in other parts of the world. If you’re traveling to Argentina, fill your carry-on with peanut butter and Tobasco sauce. While peanut butter can be found in the city of Buenos Aires after a little investigation and a few visits to barrio chino (china town), it will be expensive. In addition to straining my grocery budget, peanut butter has become one of my American vices that I cannot give up. And perhaps distance truly does make the heart grow fonder because I seem to love peanut butter so much that I sometimes run out when traveling outside of the city. This is why I should’ve brought a suitcase full of it, which I could’ve filled later with premium Argentine leather.

In addition to bringing the peanut butter, which they call mani here, I recommend that you eat at fine breakfast buffet/diner establishments all day, every day, the week before you come. My first two weeks here I nearly cried every morning to discover the absolutely non-American breakfast my host family had set out for me. First, let’s take a moment to remember those breakfasts your mom used to make up for you on Saturday mornings. Remember the bacon, eggs, pancakes with syrup? Remember the blueberry muffins and biscuits with gravy? Remember toast with peanut butter and orange juice? Take a picture of that grand breakfast. No, not a mental picture. Before you leave, beg or pay your mother to make that wonderful breakfast and take a framed photo of it with you! You will never see such delicious American breakfasts here in Buenos Aires, or the rest of Argentina. Instead, you will be served a cup of instant coffee and a slice of toast. I convinced my family to buy some cereal, but in general breakfast here is very small and sometimes completely obsolete from porteño life. Porteños are the people who live in the federal capital of Buenos Aires. It’s derived from the word puerto or port, which has been the purpose of this area ever since the Spanish conquistadores arrived. But, back to breakfast, I should also tell you that even the on-the-run breakfast eater will suffer, as I have not found one bagel in this city. They do sell bagel-looking breads on the street and in some panaderías or bakeries, but they are not bagels. I’m not sure anyone here even knows what a bagel is supposed to taste like.

While you’re making a list, don’t forget to add Tobasco sauce. It took about a month for me to realize Argentines do not eat spicy food. In fact, the most-used spices here are salt and oregano. But, I didn’t even realize the absence of spicy food until one of my classmates went around asking everyone if they had smuggled some hot sauce into the country so she could have it for her homemade American breakfast. The blasphemy of hot sauce on scrambled eggs aside, I began to really miss spicy food after that and began to look for some options. I still cannot find hot sauce in the city, but did find some in a grocery store in Uruguay where they seem to have all the nice luxuries porteños dream of like spicy food, ocean, and US dollars. But, even with the exchange 20 pesos uruguayos: 1 U$D, that bottle of Tobasco cost me about six bucks and it was worth it.

Bordeaux Ecole de Management a.k.a. BEM

There are two types of colleges in France; there are grand écoles and universités. The universités are public and very affordable. I’ve heard that it costs a 1000 Euros ($1300 to $1400 depending on exchange rates) or less to attend a université for a whole year. The grand école students look down upon the université students because they feel that their more expensive school is better. I think there is some merit to this because the grand écoles are ranked higher than the universités. As one would expect, a better school comes with a bigger price tag. I’m not sure if the pricing is similar for all grand écoles, but Bordeaux École de Management, a.k.a. BEM, is a private school and the students pay 8000 Euros ($10400 to $11200) per year.
The structure of schooling at BeM is quite different from anything in the U.S. and I hear it’s even different from other schools in France. This structure might be changing due to the merger of BEM with another private school. The current structure goes as follows. The school year is divided into ten sequences, four from September to December and six from January to June. Each sequence lasts three weeks and you can only take one class per sequence. For an exchange student this setup is ideal, but I don’t think I would like it for U of L. In the three week sequence you have 45 hours of class time, but it is not split evenly between the weeks or days. It is purely up to your professors to decide how the class will be divided. I say professors because you typically have more than one for each class; it tends to be split between three professors. You could have 27 hours one week, 12 hours the next week, and only 6 hours the last week; with the final exam usually on the Friday of the third week. Now there are positives and negatives to this set up. On the negative side you can have 6 hours of class a day for four out of five days on those heavy weeks. On the positive side, when they load up the hours in one week you usually get several days off on the next week. There have been times where I would have off from Wednesday of the second week to Tuesday of the third week. Another great thing about having the sequence set up is that with only 10 possible sequences there tends to be many one week breaks throughout the school year, especially during the spring. I was there for four sequences from January to April and in that four month period I had four one week breaks.
If you decide to go to BEM, I hope that they will have fixed the one issue that seemed to bother all exchange students, their wifi or lack thereof. They do have free wifi for all students to use, but the problem is that it doesn’t work very well. It seems that their wireless routers cannot handle heavy traffic, because it seems to work fine in areas where there are many students on computers. For the most part, I stopped carry my laptop to school because the wifi never seemed to work. One professor even said once “if you have wifi you should try to download the document I posted.” It’s funny that even the faculty knows the wifi is bad. I’ve also had professors try to pull up web pages during class and not be able to. The worst is when a professor assigns a group presentation early in the day before lunch and you have to work on it during the day to be presented later in the same day, and you have trouble researching the material needed to do the presentation.
All in all I really enjoyed BEM and the wifi is the only complaint that I have. I would definitely recommend going there for your study abroad experience.

Shopping in Bordeaux

If you come to Bordeaux, make sure you do all of your shopping early. I really had a hard time getting used to how early everything closes. All of the Grocery stores close no later than 10pm and most aren’t open on Sundays, except for a few which close by 1pm. The retail stores close by 8pm or earlier every night. Whatever you do, do not get hungry late at night. I have only found one place to be open past midnight that serves food and it is called Royale. It is located just to the east of Place de la Victoire on Cours de la Marne. It’s not like in the US where you have many 24 hour fast food restaurants and some 24 hour grocery stores as well. You can sometimes find an epicerie, which is same as a corner store, that’s open on Sundays and sometimes find one open late but they are few and far between.
Another thing that I had to get used to, was how specialized all of the stores are. Your neighborhood markets only stock, food, alcohol, toiletries, and kitchen and bathroom supplies. You can get bread in the market but if you want fresh, good, real French bread you have to go to the boulangerie. A boulangerie is literally a bakery, but they specialize in bread, bread, more bread, and a few pastries and sandwiches as well. You can also find pastries and chocolate at the market, but they will not be as good as the ones from the patisserie or the chocolaterie. For those of you who smoke, you can only buy cigarettes at specialty shops/cafes called Tabac stores and they are not open on Sunday, so plan ahead. Tabac stores have red diamond shaped signs and they also sell lottery tickets, stamps, newspapers, and metro tickets.
There are exceptions to many rules, and Auchan is the French exception. Auchan is similar to a Target or maybe even Walmart. They have almost everything except otc medicine, Tabaco, and maybe one or two other things I’m forgetting. There is an Auchan in downtown Bordeaux near the Meriadeck stop of Tram line A. Auchan and a few other markets don’t provide free disposable bags for your groceries. You have to bring your own bags to these markets, or buy the reusable grocery bags that the store sells.
If you have a cough or maybe an upset stomach you cannot go down to the market for cough syrup or Pepto. You have to go to the Pharmacie for anything related to medicine, and be prepared because it seems that they are ALWAYS busy!