Ya No Soy Turista!

Last week was busy.  Actually it was just Wednesday that was really packed, which was compounded by the fact that I went out on Tuesday night (knowing full well how many things I had to accomplish in the next two days!).  So I got home Wednesday morning at 3:30 (bad decisions, bad decisions, bad decisions), slept for a few hours before getting up and going to Immigration: not nearly as scary as they made it sound; we only had to hand in paperwork and wait for them to process it.  And it cost half as much as expected!  Also on the list of things to do: buy tickets for Cordoba, register for classes, hit a few fotocopiadoras to get some readings, read said readings, go to a bookstore to buy books for a lit class, and buy tickets for Eric Clapton, who's coming in October (the one thing on the list that I am still unable to check off).  Oh, and I almost forgot.  Our room-swapping plan was rejected, since USAL suddenly decided all of the U.S. exchange girls had to be rooming with a native Spanish speaker instead of each other.  So I still get to move to Katia's room, on the condition that we speak in Spanish rather than English, but Callie and Katherine have to move to another floor.  I don't understand why USAL didn't issue this decree before we all settled into our rooms?  Maybe before we arrived?  I'm excited to finally have a roommate, but I'm not excited to be moving into the third room I've had since arriving here.  I'll be happy tomorrow night, when I'm all settled in for good (I hope...)

So last Wednesday and Thursday marked the end of our trial period with classes, and we had to finally register.  I actually had no trouble: I knew exactly which courses I wanted to take, and I'm pretty excited about almost all of them.  My history class is a bit dry, but that's to be expected, I suppose.  I'm taking two political science classes: History of the Political Processes and Ideas of Argentina, and of Latin America.  I'm also taking an Argentine lit class, and a Spanish course that is a seminar of the History and Culture of Tango.  The first day I tried it out, it completely intimidated me (not hard to do), but after last week, I love it!  It's fascinating material: cultural history, not the economic data and dates and presidencies of my other history class.  And it's a very small group: I think we're going to end up with only three people registered, so it's intimate and surprisingly easy for me to participate, something that's usually absurdly stressful for me.  I'm excited for the semester.

Thursday night Maria and I left for our second trip: Cordoba!  It was an incredible weekend, which I'll be glad to recount tomorrow.  Like last time, here's a quick overview:

• Days away from Bs As: 3
• Nights in hostel: 2
• Nights on overnight bus: 2
• Different hostels stayed in: 1
• Mind-blowing meals: 3
• Number of doors that stuck, making me think I would be stuck in a bathroom forever: a shockingly high 3
• Churches visited/viewed: +/- 5

I think that'll do for now.  Pictures and details to come.