La Primera Semana en Córdoba!

Hola!! So i've been here in Córdoba about 10 days now so it's time for my first post! It's safe to say that I LOVE IT HERE!!!  The people are extremely nice and always willing to help me.  To start from the very beginning, the flight here was an EPIC disaster (which is not new to me when it comes to flying).  I first drove from Madison to Chicago, then flew from Chicago to Dallas.  I thought I was going to miss my flight in Dallas because the flight took longer than anticipated.  We actually flew parallel to the tornados in Oklahoma! Of course they did not tell us that until we landed because they didn't want people to panic, but I have never been on a flight with that much turbulence before!  Pretty terrifying.  The man across the aisle from me was actually throwing up the entire flight so that was unfortunate.  Anyways, I made it to my next flight on time (Dallas to Santiago, Chile) so I was really happy about that.  However, once we got on the plane, we sat there for two hours before it actually took off because there was a maintenance problem.  I only had one hour between my flights from Santiago to Córdoba, so I knew as soon as they said there was a problem, that I was going to miss my next connection.  I texted my roommate in Córdoba telling her that I was not go to make it on time, but I could not communicate with her after that point because I didn't have cell phone service or wifi.  Once I got to Santiago, they told the group of us who missed our connection to Córdoba that we were going to have to fly to Buenos Aires, SWITCH AIRPORTS (about an hour taxi ride), and then fly from Buenos Aires to Córdoba. And Buenos Aires is definitely not on the way to Córdoba!  I made friends with a group of random Argentinians and followed them around the different airports because they seemed to know what they were doing.  This is where I learned how to say "Qué lío!" Which is slang in Argentina for "What a mess!" And it definitely was a mess to say the least.

When we got to the airport in Buenos Aires, I was told to take a taxi to the other airport with this 70-year-old man from Wisconsin who did not know a word of Spanish.  He was in Córdoba to hunt some sort of bird and was supposed to meet his group at the airport.  So together we were running through the airport in Buenos Aires trying not to miss our next connection, looking like a couple of idiots.  This was probably one of the most hilarious/stressful moments of my life because he had a cane that he kept pointing at people and yelling at them in English as we ran through the terminals.  Probably did not help better anyone's view of the U.S. but it was still hilarious.  I pretty much learned his life story because we were together for like 6 hours and he was quite the talker.  He kept calling me his "hero" for helping him.  No one in AIESEC had any idea where I was during this whole ordeal because the airport said it was "private information."  My group waited for me for 8 hours in the airport! I tried sending a message from an Argentine cell phone in Santiago, but I later learned that it never reached them.  QUE LIO!!! It took me about 30 hours of traveling but I finally made it!

The night I arrived they had a "Fiesta de Bienvenida" for me so I did not get to sleep until about 6:00 AM the next day. But I guess that's Argentina for you!

A few comments about Córdoba so far-

1. The food- OH MY GOD I HAVE NEVER EATEN SO MUCH MEAT IN MY LIFE!! Argentinians eat meat at pretty much every single meal.  I think it would be impossible to be a vegetarian here.  We went to a restaurant one night and I ordered vegetable ravioli, because I thought it wouldn't have any meat, but boy was I wrong!  The ravioli was covered with ground beef.  We also went to McDonald's one night and I wanted to order a salad, but they don't offer salads.  The only thing without meat on the menu was ice cream.  I'm not saying that I don't like the food here, it's just a lot heavier than I'm used to!  I have never loved something so much as Dulce de Leche yogurt.  It is honestly heaven in a container.

2. My friends- I hang out with mostly Argentinians here.  There are only two Americans, just me and a girl from Texas.  So different from study abroad- but I love it.  My Spanish is getting better everyday!  I hang out my roommate Pam, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend's cousin a lot.  Here is a picture of the four of us as well as a picture of just me and Pam...

So far only 3 of the 30 (?) or so trainees are here (including me) so far. The rest will all be coming in the next couple weeks.  Here is a photo of me and my friend Carlos at Mercado de las Pulgas.  He is from Baranquilla, Colombia and he is working at a different NGO in Córdoba for 6 weeks.  He is great and I see him almost every day!

I also have a "buddy" through AIESEC named Irupé and she shows me around the city and helps me with everything that I need.  I went out with her and her friends last Friday night and it was really fun!  We left to go out at 2:30 in the morning (I was yawning and about to fall asleep at this point) and we got home at like 6:00.  I don't know how they do it because I was exhausted!

3. My job- I work at Banco de Alimentos Córdoba, which is the main food bank in Córdoba and surrounding provinces.  It is about 40 minutes outside of the city in "el medio de nada" (the middle of nowhere) and there are like 10 million stray dogs and horses running around everywhere when I walk there from the bus stop.  I'm a Marketing/Fundraising intern, so I'm going to be helping the company with their social media, fundraising events, administrative tasks, as well as finding more companies to donate food/money.  Two days a week I also visit other NGO's to audit the organizations to make sure that they meet the standards to receive food donations from Banco de Alimentos.  I love the people that I work with! They are soooooo nice!  Here is a picture of the Banco that I stole from their Facebook page... 

4. The cars- I have an extreme fear of crossing the street here!  I have never seen so many crazy drivers in my life!  Drivers have no fear of coming within centimeters of other cars and the majority of people do not wear seat belts.  I, on the other hand, wear a seat belt and hold on for dear life!!!!  I think I actually said a prayer once because I was so scared.

5. Fútbol- This weekend I went to my first Argentine soccer game.  It was between Belgrano (the team from Córdoba) and San Juan.  Soccer here is definitely the equivalent of Football in the U.S. in terms of fans and how important the games are to them.  It was really fun but in the end they lost! :( SO sad.

Next weekend we are going to Entre Ríos to visit Pam's family and the weekend after that me and the other girl from the U.S. (Jess) are going to Mendoza! My dentist (of all people) told me that I can't go to Argentina without going to Mendoza, so we decided to make a trip out of it.  I can't wait!

Hasta pronto! :)