¿En Serio?

So, I had class at 8:30am this morning, as I do every Friday morning. Only today's class was a little bit off compared to others.

First of all, class started with a survey. One of our professors (we have 5) handed out these surveys for us to complete. Our first concern was "should we really fill these out? we don't even really go here." lol. But we decided to just fill them out anyway. That's where the humor started. We all take surveys at in our college classes at the end every semester but I can guarantee it has never been as ridiculous as the one I took today. Here are a few examples of the RIDICULOUS stuff they had the nerve to ask. Of course it was in spanish, but I wrote them out in English.

1.) On a scale of 1-10 how happy are you with your life? (1 being not happy, 10 being very happy)

{If I hated my life, I'd be sad they reminded me of it. lol}

2.) Who is God to you? [the question itself isn't horrible but some of the choices were] {I only typed up the choices I thought were funniest}

a. my friend

b. the reason for all of the evil in the world

c. some guy who never existed

3. Who are people you'd prefer not to have as neighbors? {again I only included the most interesting choices}

a. illegal immigrants

b. people who are crazy

c. people with AIDS

d. immigrants from Africa (I swear this was a choice!!)

On top of this, there were an immense amount of questions about religion on the survey which, in my opinion, is just ridiculous. My friend Lauryn and I were laughing about how this survey was so severely politically incorrect. And the craziest thing about it is that the students taking the survey didn't look at it as ridiculous at all. It's really an eye opener to see this occur in a "professional" environment.

The other thing that made this class funny was the construction going on. Our building is currently being worked on and it seems to only get worked on during our class times. Our teacher had the nerve to try to teach over the noise which happened to be right under our classroom. So, we waited for about 10 minutes and we switched classrooms to a very mildew smelling room. My professor made me laugh because as soon as he sat down, he continued where he left off without warning. It was hilarious.

That was my class today and I thought it was definitely something to write about.

My First Opera Experience

I got to experience my first opera yesterday and it was absolutely amazing (not to mention it was free). I went to see Madama Butterfly in this really nice theatre.

Madama Butterfly is about a soldier from the US buying a house in Japan. With the house comes servants and a geisha wife named Butterfly. The marriage is not supported by anybody who is related to Butterfly, including the souls of her ancestors (yea, I know, weird). So, the soldier marries Butterfly anyway and a little while later has to return to the US. He is gone for three years and in that time Butterfly gave birth to his child and never told him. She just waits for his return. Upon his return, Butterfly finds that he has an American wife so she kills herself before he can do anything about it.

It was super long, dramatic and too drawn out, but I really enjoyed myself. haha. It was a great experience. It was in Italian so they had the spanish subtitles for us to read and it was really cool. Lucky me and this free stuff!

Life has its ups and downs

SO sooooo sooooo sorry, I've been super busy/lazy and haven't written in such a long time, but no worries because I am going to update you about my life right now!

So, I'll start with the reason I stopped blogging in

the first place. All of my drive for excitement in life plummeted the day I was robbed at gunpoint. It was a little less than a month ago, May 8th. Two girlfriends and I were headed to a very touristy part of Buenos Aires. But, in order to get there, you have to go through a really rough neighborhood (talkin North Philly Badlands/Beirut tough). Needless to say, we never got to the touristy part. Three boys ran up on us and pointed a gun at us for all of our things. After having a gun stuck in my stomach, I kinda forgot to care about anything I guess. BUT, I'm back! lol. Those idiots only got 5 American dollars from me anyway. Stupid fools.

Less than a week later, on May 14th, I went to see a play about some revolutionary lady named Juana. It was decent and it had lots of fighting (which I LOVE) and

it kept me entertained.

Then, the day after, the 15th, I went to my first professional futbol (soccer) game and I had the time of my life. I went with 3 guys and 2 other girls and we were so loud and excited. I jumped and chanted with the crowd. It was an amazing experience because the crowd was not quiet the entire time. They played music and chanted and set off mini fireworks and flares. The spirit was just what I needed to fall back in love with Argentina.

My friend Lauryn celebrated her 21st birthday on the 19th of May which was a Wednesday but we all went out to a Brazilian restaurant/club with her and had an AMAZING night. I think I got in around 4am. The food was yummy, and the band was GORGEOUS. I think I wanna travel to Brazil some day because they are beautiful people those Brazilians. lol.

Hmmmm, what else? OH DUH!! Argentina celebrated their bicentennial from the 2oth until the 25th. And it was GREAT! There were about 5 parades. Tons of stands, entirely too many people, huge crowds, free stuff, face paintings, fireworks, and so much more. We went to the opening of the world renown Teatro Colon. Ugh, it was just so great to be able to experience such a historic moment with the Argentine people. We watched futbol (Argentina vs Canada) on the big screens they had set up all over the city and celebrated right in the middle of the crowd. It was a great experience. SOOOOOOO thankful! And I got my face painted!

I've also had a ridiculous amount of midterms that have been kicking my ass, but I'm living through them. Plus we get retakes here. What a college right? Another sign that I am back to my normal self is that, while heading to one of my midterms, my friend and I got off at the wrong stop, began walking, and then turned around and got back on the subte. It was absolutely hilarious and I laughed for like 10 minutes (yes, that loud laugh that I know you all love so much).

Thursday the 27th of May I went to a play (for free) with my program for my theatre class and it was ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE. I wanted to die the entire time I watched it. BUT, I survived. It was about a dance marathon but it was super boring and abstract and, well, just not for me.

This past Friday, 28th of May, I went to a bunch of art galleries for free. It's this thing they have here called Gallery Nights where the galleries are free the last Friday of each month. It was a good experience and I got lots of free mini pieces of art. yay me! and yay for free! lol

soooooo, there's your update. :D

A practically free weekend...

My weekend was pretty much a free weekend of lots of fun stuff.

Friday, I actually just chilled and watched movies in

my room, so that was clearly free. lol

Saturday, I went to a free horse race! It was so cool. We walked right by the stalls where they keep the horses.

The weather was gorgeous and actually felt pretty hot.

Then, that evening I went to a free circus. It was more like cirque du soleil and it was effin amazing. The people came flying in from buildings. Fine, they weren't flying they were ziplining but still cool! lol.

The circus was kind of a story about these angels flying around and then a guy who isn't an angel but he wants to fly so they kill him and he becomes an angel so he too can fly. It was amazing. I don't think any picture could express how great it was.

Sunday, went to two street fairs. Of course I bought stuff, but they are just gifts for other people. Oh, and I bought 4 more flowers for my hair. lol.

Oh, amazing weekend meng!

Coge coge coge... OMG that means to have sex! haha

So, last Thursday, I went to yet another free play with my theatre class. It was called El Pasado Es Un Animal Grotesco meaning The Past is a Grotesque Animal. This was quite the interesting play. First of all, the entire thing was done on a turntable stage that was divided into 4 different rooms. The play was just about the lives of a group of people but it was narrated by each of the four actors. It was done quite well but sometimes it was confusing.

The reasoning behind my title is because much of the play was done in Argentine dialect spanish which can be a bit different from most. The one narrator was talking about one of the characters and his partner (which actually was a dummy so he was humping a dummy on stage! lol). THe narrator said over and over, coge. To Puerto Ricans, coge means to take and to Argentines, coge means to have sex. So, I'm listening to the narrator and I'm like what did the character take when SUDDENLY it hit me what coge meant! lol. It was quite hilarious.

All in all, I had a great time and it was humorous.

Colonia, Uruguay!!!

AHHHHHHH MOST AMAZING TRIP!!

Soooo, with my program, we got a FREE trip to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. How was it you ask? AMAZING. I had soooo much fun and it is such a gorgeous town.

Sunday, April 25th at 9am, our ferry left for Colonia and arrived at about noon. By the time all 75 of us got through customs, it was about 12:30. So we walked to our hotels and unloaded. After this, we walked to a restaurant that was closed down for us (our director is kind of a big shot).

Then, we got an amazing little tour of the town which is so small and beautiful. They have an amazing lighthouse and beaches all over. It was love at first sight! After our amazing lunch and tour, we got free time. My friend Diana and I wandered around the town for hours taking random pictures.

I couldn't even believe how soothing it was at the top of the lighthouse.

After our long walk and exploration, we walked to a beach and just sat on the rocks to watch the sunset. I must say it was the most amazing feeling to just sit there and leave all life's worries behind.

That night was a quiet night for us, we just stayed in and chilled with the others in the program. But it was just so great to sit around and enjoy all that was happening around us. We did run into a parade of music and when we asked what was the purpose of it, the people answered "just to dance". When I heard that, I smiled and danced along with them. It's so simply really, just dance and everything will be better in life. Stop the worrying and just dance.

Monday, April 26^th, we woke up early to eat breakfast at our hotels. Then, around 12noon, we left for our director’s house. It was about a 20 minute drive because he lives in a HUGE house that he made into a bed and breakfast. There’s a lemon orchard that he owns and PLENTY of land. He has an outdoor pool and lives about a 10 minute walk from the beach. We had an asado (barbeque) at his house and enjoyed entirely too much food. Afterwards, we all hung around and just talked or went to the pool, etc. Diana and I chose to talk to some of the people who work for the program about bad words. Lol. It was quite enlightening.

After this we all went our separate ways but most to the beach. We returned from the beach to have a dessert and say our goodbyes. Then, we loaded up the bus to catch our ferry home to Buenos Aires. Oh man, that trip went by entirely too fast!

Sweet Serenity~ Praise Jesus

Much Ado About Nothing

Last week, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend another play, for free of course. It was an adaptation of Shakespeare's Mucho Ado About Nothing, they called it Mucho Ruido y Pocas Nueces.

My opinion? ummm, interesting to say the least. First of all, the theatre was very small which was appropriate because the setting was a countryside home. The set was nice but a little too elementary. I would've expected a bit more of actual art rather than trees that looked like a little kid made it. But, I did like how they transitioned many of the scenes. It was definitely clever blocking. And they used the stage space so well.

The actors were pretty funny. And, even though some of the jokes confused me, they still made me laugh. There were these 4 men in the play who were absolutely crazy. They would randomly dance and yell out to other characters during the play. These four men were ridiculously dressed and absolutely hilarious.

The synopsis of the play is as follows (from sparknotes):

L eonato, a kindly, respectable nobleman, lives in the idyllic Italian town of Messina. Leonato shares his house with his lovely young daughter, Hero, his playful, clever niece, Beatrice, and his elderly brother, Antonio. As the play begins, Leonato prepares to welcome some friends home from a war. The friends include Don Pedro, a prince who is a close friend of Leonato, and two fellow soldiers: Claudio, a well-respected young nobleman, and Benedick, a clever man who constantly makes witty jokes, often at the expense of his friends. Don John, Don Pedro’s illegitimate brother, is part of the crowd as well. Don John is sullen and bitter, and makes trouble for the others.

When the soldiers arrive at Leonato’s home, Claudio quickly falls in love with Hero. Meanwhile, Benedick and Beatrice resume the war of witty insults that they have carried on with each other in the past. Claudio and Hero pledge their love to one another and decide to be married. To pass the time in the week before the wedding, the lovers and their friends decide to play a game. They want to get Beatrice and Benedick, who are clearly meant for each other, to stop arguing and fall in love. Their tricks prove successful, and Beatrice and Benedick soon fall secretly in love with each other.

But Don John has decided to disrupt everyone’s happiness. He has his companion Borachio make love to Margaret, Hero’s serving woman, at Hero’s window in the darkness of the night, and he brings Don Pedro and Claudio to watch. Believing that he has seen Hero being unfaithful to him, the enraged Claudio humiliates Hero by suddenly accusing her of lechery on the day of their wedding and abandoning her at the altar. Hero’s stricken family members decide to pretend that she died suddenly of shock and grief and to hide her away while they wait for the truth about her innocence to come to light. In the aftermath of the rejection, Benedick and Beatrice finally confess their love to one another. Fortunately, the night watchmen overhear Borachio bragging about his crime. Dogberry and Verges, the heads of the local police, ultimately arrest both Borachio and Conrad, another of Don John’s followers. Everyone learns that Hero is really innocent, and Claudio, who believes she is dead, grieves for her.

Leonato tells Claudio that, as punishment, he wants Claudio to tell everybody in the city how innocent Hero was. He also wants Claudio to marry Leonato’s “niece”—a girl who, he says, looks much like the dead Hero. Claudio goes to church with the others, preparing to marry the mysterious, masked woman he thinks is Hero’s cousin. When Hero reveals herself as the masked woman, Claudio is overwhelmed with joy. Benedick then asks Beatrice if she will marry him, and after some arguing they agree. The joyful lovers all have a merry dance before they celebrate their double wedding.

So, it was a good play and it was FREE!! Later this week I'm off to another one! yay me!