So I was actually planning to post something along these lines at the beginning of the week, and then this ended up being the topic of discussion in my class today (the class is called Buenos Aires, the City and its People). I feel like many of the posts on here (with the exception of the posts about trips, classes, and the Jewish community...so I guess the one remaining post...) are not completely accurate in that I have overrepresented the cosmopolitan side of the city and made it sound like a European city that happens to be in South America. It kind of is...but it certainly has South America problems as well.
People refer to the worst neighborhoods here as Villas de Miseria. These are essentially shantytowns, and, while most are located outside of the city, the most infamous is located a train yard from Recoleta, the city's most expensive neighborhood (http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_31 Sorry...no English translation, but it does have pictures.). These areas have limited access to electicity, no access to natural gas (which the rest of the city is fairly dependent on), and limited if any running water.
The city also has a pretty significant homeless problem that makes this issue looks miniscule in New York and Philadelphia. In United States cities, the issue of homelessness seems to be limited mostly to older males (of course this is not a blanket statement, but they are the most visible in urban environments). Here, however, it is almost just as common to see families. Nearly every time I buy a subway pass, there is a homeless woman or man standing next to the counter holding a baby and asking for change. People here, however, seem much more willing to leave money with the homeless population. I'm not sure whether it's because people here are just more friendly than New Yorkers in general or whether it's because everyone understands how this could happen after the severe economic crisis in 2001.
There is also a very distinct style of subway entrepreneurship here. People of all ages (I have seen everyone from kids who couldn't be older than 7 or 8 to men in their 80s) sell pretty much whatever they can find to sell on the subway. Today alone I was offered stickers, childrens' books, gum, packages of tissues, matches, and sunglasses. The salesperson walks around the car and leaves one item on each person's lap for them to examine, usually gives some spiel about the quality in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, and walks around a second time to collect either the item itself or a few pesos in exchange. This only happens during the day and at night...never in the morning or evening when the subway is packed during rush hour.
In our class today, we discussed a reading in which the author contrasted the experience of tourists and residents here in Buenos Aires. The tourist is more likely to see the cosmopolitan, European looking Buenos Aires, and the resident is more likely to see the reality of the city. Over the past 2.5 months, I definitely feel like I have transitioned from tourist to resident. The author also stated that anyone who calls this the Paris of South America after getting to know the city has not spent much time in Paris. Even though I've never visited Paris, I can also agree that this does not seem like the most accurate description.
My goal here is certainly not to be a downer but instead to share a more realistic view of what life in this city is actually like.
This week also includes a few firsts for me...my first parcial (midterm), my first trip to Rosario (and almost certainly my only trip there...I am going this weekend with my study abroad program), and my first time being on the same contient as a violent coup attempting to overthrow a country's government (http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/09/30/ecuador.violence/index.html?hpt=T2).
Chau,
Jacob
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
How I came to have one class this week
On a normal week here, I have 4 classes that each meet once a week for 3-4 hours. Two meet on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, and one on Thursday. This is definitely a more relaxed academic schedule than I am used to, and that was exaggerated even more this week.
Universidad del Salvador--
The cancellation of my social psych class was actually announced in advance to permit the celebration of "día del estudiante". This falls on the calendar just after día de la mujer, día del niño, día de amigos, and día de la secretaria, holidays to honor women, children, friends, and secretaries respectively. Next up are the days of third cousins, great aunts, aquantainces, and postal employees (just kidding).
Universidad de Buenos Aires--
As of Tuesday evening, the students were still on strike (see previous post for details). This classroom lacks heating and air conditioning, so it is a bit much to expect a notification by email (or text message, shoutout to Penn Public Safety) about the status of that day's classes. I showed up on time and sat in the classroom for 30 minutes with 2/40 of the other students in the class until it became obvious that neither the professor nor the other students were coming. Oh, and we were supposed to get our take home midterms that day...go figure.
Universidad Católica Argentina--
The professor of my UCA class emailed us the day before citing a personal problem/conflict and cancelling class. This was the second week in a row this class was cancelled (the week before was for school-wide olympics, apparently). This also means that our midterm is pushed back a week.
My fourth class, however, is my Spanish/Argentine Culture class run by the study abroad program, so it is less subject to the whims of the Argentine university system (or lack thereof). I definitely am getting the real academic experience here, which includes classes cancelled at the last minute and even without any notice (we are still responsible for the work by the way). It certainly makes me realize how lucky I am to be at Penn!
In other news, tomorrow morning I am getting my Argentine student residency.***
More to come soon!
***Subject to unannounced changes in appointment, any strikes that may happen between now and 10 am, and my navigation of a bureaucratic nightmare of an office.
Universidad del Salvador--
The cancellation of my social psych class was actually announced in advance to permit the celebration of "día del estudiante". This falls on the calendar just after día de la mujer, día del niño, día de amigos, and día de la secretaria, holidays to honor women, children, friends, and secretaries respectively. Next up are the days of third cousins, great aunts, aquantainces, and postal employees (just kidding).
Universidad de Buenos Aires--
As of Tuesday evening, the students were still on strike (see previous post for details). This classroom lacks heating and air conditioning, so it is a bit much to expect a notification by email (or text message, shoutout to Penn Public Safety) about the status of that day's classes. I showed up on time and sat in the classroom for 30 minutes with 2/40 of the other students in the class until it became obvious that neither the professor nor the other students were coming. Oh, and we were supposed to get our take home midterms that day...go figure.
Universidad Católica Argentina--
The professor of my UCA class emailed us the day before citing a personal problem/conflict and cancelling class. This was the second week in a row this class was cancelled (the week before was for school-wide olympics, apparently). This also means that our midterm is pushed back a week.
My fourth class, however, is my Spanish/Argentine Culture class run by the study abroad program, so it is less subject to the whims of the Argentine university system (or lack thereof). I definitely am getting the real academic experience here, which includes classes cancelled at the last minute and even without any notice (we are still responsible for the work by the way). It certainly makes me realize how lucky I am to be at Penn!
In other news, tomorrow morning I am getting my Argentine student residency.***
More to come soon!
***Subject to unannounced changes in appointment, any strikes that may happen between now and 10 am, and my navigation of a bureaucratic nightmare of an office.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Los Iamim Noraim
I feel like I need to make a high holiday post here, since I have spent a lot of time in services, eating, or in transit over the past few weeks to observe Rosh Hashana and Iom Kipur (as the spell it here...the letter "y" is pronounced like "sh" or "j"). I know I have mentioned the Jewish community here, so I hope there isn't too much overlap with other posts, but it's hard to remember everything I have put in here.
But first...a surprisingly spot-on article from Charleston's very own Post and Courier about Buenos Aires. This really gives a great description of the city and is worth reading.
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/jun/20/streets-of-buenos-aires/
When I arrived in Buenos Aires, Victoria (my brother Joseph's girlfriend...who happened to grow up here) connected me with one of her high school friends and her family. They have been incredibly helpful in giving me suggestions for things to do, connecting me with people at Hillel, and, most recently, inviting me to spend Rosh Hashana and Iom Kipur with their family. I joined their family for meals, slept at their house, and went with them to services...their hospitality was really incredible, and they were able to answer all of my questions about Buenos Aires and its Jewish community.
Before coming here, I was under the impression that the Jewish community was past its prime, that it was still here but rapidly shrinking due to an aging population, secularization, and people moving (mostly two Israel and the US). While all of these things are happening, I have in no way gotten the impression that the Jewish community here is on a worse trajectory than the US. There are 20+ conservative synagogues (and a conservative rabbinical school) as well as 40+ orthodox ones. While people tend to have family in the US, Europe, and Israel, there doesn't seem to be a burning desire to leave the country. All of the synagogues here have a lot of security, but this is very understandable, since two bombings in the early 1990s at the Israeli Embassy and the city's major Jewish center killed over 100 people. Anti-semitism here, however, really seems to as rare as in the United States. Despite being a majority Catholic country, this tends to be a pretty open place (to an extent...gay marriage is legal but abortion is both illegal and not appropriate for dinner table conversation).
So, what were the high holidays like at an Argentine conservative synagogue? Pretty darn cool. The synagogue that this family goes to is one of the only ones in la zona norte, an upper middle class suburban area to the northwest of the city. The others, which I think are limited to a Jabad house and small sephardic and/or orthodox congregations, serve a different demographic, so this is kind of the catch-all place for people who don't want to travel into the city (also, the reform movement doesn't exist here). This congregation, called Lamroth Hakol, has grown so much in recent years that they can't fit into their building despite a recent renovation and expansion. Services for the first day of Rosh Hashana and Iom Kipur were at a convention center nearby. The 1478-seat room was almost completely full, especially for the evening services (I think a lot of people still have to work during the day on Jewish holidays/Shabbat here...evening services tend to be bigger) and was well over capacity with 300+ people standing to hear the final shofar blast at the end of Iom Kipur.
The services, which were mostly Hebrew but also included some Spanish readings, were led by the congregation's rabbi, two cantors (one of whom also performs regularly in operas), a 4-person back-up choir, a cellist, a violinist, a pianist, a flautist, and another musician who alternated between alto saxophone, guitar, and percussion. It was a little bit of a performance, but somehow it's more engaging to listen to 12 people leading a service together than 1 cantor like the services I am used to.
With no travelling on the agenda for this week, it should be more relaxed and routine, and I will be sure to post any exciting updates here.
¡Gmar jatimá tová, buen año, y que seas inscrito en el libro de la vida!
Jacob
But first...a surprisingly spot-on article from Charleston's very own Post and Courier about Buenos Aires. This really gives a great description of the city and is worth reading.
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/jun/20/streets-of-buenos-aires/
When I arrived in Buenos Aires, Victoria (my brother Joseph's girlfriend...who happened to grow up here) connected me with one of her high school friends and her family. They have been incredibly helpful in giving me suggestions for things to do, connecting me with people at Hillel, and, most recently, inviting me to spend Rosh Hashana and Iom Kipur with their family. I joined their family for meals, slept at their house, and went with them to services...their hospitality was really incredible, and they were able to answer all of my questions about Buenos Aires and its Jewish community.
Before coming here, I was under the impression that the Jewish community was past its prime, that it was still here but rapidly shrinking due to an aging population, secularization, and people moving (mostly two Israel and the US). While all of these things are happening, I have in no way gotten the impression that the Jewish community here is on a worse trajectory than the US. There are 20+ conservative synagogues (and a conservative rabbinical school) as well as 40+ orthodox ones. While people tend to have family in the US, Europe, and Israel, there doesn't seem to be a burning desire to leave the country. All of the synagogues here have a lot of security, but this is very understandable, since two bombings in the early 1990s at the Israeli Embassy and the city's major Jewish center killed over 100 people. Anti-semitism here, however, really seems to as rare as in the United States. Despite being a majority Catholic country, this tends to be a pretty open place (to an extent...gay marriage is legal but abortion is both illegal and not appropriate for dinner table conversation).
So, what were the high holidays like at an Argentine conservative synagogue? Pretty darn cool. The synagogue that this family goes to is one of the only ones in la zona norte, an upper middle class suburban area to the northwest of the city. The others, which I think are limited to a Jabad house and small sephardic and/or orthodox congregations, serve a different demographic, so this is kind of the catch-all place for people who don't want to travel into the city (also, the reform movement doesn't exist here). This congregation, called Lamroth Hakol, has grown so much in recent years that they can't fit into their building despite a recent renovation and expansion. Services for the first day of Rosh Hashana and Iom Kipur were at a convention center nearby. The 1478-seat room was almost completely full, especially for the evening services (I think a lot of people still have to work during the day on Jewish holidays/Shabbat here...evening services tend to be bigger) and was well over capacity with 300+ people standing to hear the final shofar blast at the end of Iom Kipur.
The services, which were mostly Hebrew but also included some Spanish readings, were led by the congregation's rabbi, two cantors (one of whom also performs regularly in operas), a 4-person back-up choir, a cellist, a violinist, a pianist, a flautist, and another musician who alternated between alto saxophone, guitar, and percussion. It was a little bit of a performance, but somehow it's more engaging to listen to 12 people leading a service together than 1 cantor like the services I am used to.
With no travelling on the agenda for this week, it should be more relaxed and routine, and I will be sure to post any exciting updates here.
¡Gmar jatimá tová, buen año, y que seas inscrito en el libro de la vida!
Jacob
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Montevideo, Uruguay
In an attempt to work around the high holidays, leave room for upcoming midterms, and still get a lot of traveling in, I took a little weekend trip over to Montevideo, the capitol and largest city in Uruguay. With about 1.5 million residents in the city (though it felt like a lot less) and another 500,000 in the surrounding area, Montevideo is a lot smaller than Buenos Aires. It's a colonial city, so it feels a lot like the older areas of Buenos Aires (the pictures I have posted look very similar to the ones I took in San Telmo, I think). Montevideo is about a 25 minute flight across/down the Rio de La Plata from Buenos Aires (or a 3 hour ferry ride).
The first thing that struck upon arriving was how dependent this place is on Argentina, and specifically on Buenos Aires. When people in Philadelphia refer to going to "the city", they are 100% talking about New York and not Philly...I think it's a similar situation with Montevideo and Buenos Aires. The Montevideo airport actually has a special section specifically for flights arriving from the Jorge Newbery Aeroparque, the smaller of the two airports in Buenos Aires. The city of Montevideo seemed to be a bit more expensive than Buenos Aires, but the actual city didn't feel quite as nice. Most of the wealthier areas in the city tend to be along "la Rambla", which is a big boulevard that runs along the coastline.
Another big surprise was how empty the city was. While about 4 million additional people come in to Buenos Aires to work during the week, the city is by no means empty on the weekends. There is ALWAYS a tremendous amount of activity, restaurants are full, and there are tons of cultural events. I think Montevideo lacks a lot of that...the old city has a decent restaurant/bar scene, but it's confined to a few streets, and everything outside of that seems extremely spread out. I really enjoyed walking and biking through the city's different neighborhoods and getting a feel for what life is like in a city that is NOT Buenos Aires.
Despite the unfortunately cold weather, I was able to:
-Explore the old city, eat at el Mercado del Puerto, go to Museo del Carnaval (Carnaval is HUGE in Montevideo)
-Go bowling and see an Uruguayan casino
-Rent bikes and ride along "la rambla" and through a few other outlying neighborhoods
-See a play at one of Montevideo's theaters
Definitely a good trip! Check out the pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2055306&id=1495500074
The first thing that struck upon arriving was how dependent this place is on Argentina, and specifically on Buenos Aires. When people in Philadelphia refer to going to "the city", they are 100% talking about New York and not Philly...I think it's a similar situation with Montevideo and Buenos Aires. The Montevideo airport actually has a special section specifically for flights arriving from the Jorge Newbery Aeroparque, the smaller of the two airports in Buenos Aires. The city of Montevideo seemed to be a bit more expensive than Buenos Aires, but the actual city didn't feel quite as nice. Most of the wealthier areas in the city tend to be along "la Rambla", which is a big boulevard that runs along the coastline.
Another big surprise was how empty the city was. While about 4 million additional people come in to Buenos Aires to work during the week, the city is by no means empty on the weekends. There is ALWAYS a tremendous amount of activity, restaurants are full, and there are tons of cultural events. I think Montevideo lacks a lot of that...the old city has a decent restaurant/bar scene, but it's confined to a few streets, and everything outside of that seems extremely spread out. I really enjoyed walking and biking through the city's different neighborhoods and getting a feel for what life is like in a city that is NOT Buenos Aires.
Despite the unfortunately cold weather, I was able to:
-Explore the old city, eat at el Mercado del Puerto, go to Museo del Carnaval (Carnaval is HUGE in Montevideo)
-Go bowling and see an Uruguayan casino
-Rent bikes and ride along "la rambla" and through a few other outlying neighborhoods
-See a play at one of Montevideo's theaters
Definitely a good trip! Check out the pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2055306&id=1495500074
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
The time we had class in a parking lot?
As I mentioned in the last post, the students at UBA Ciencias Sociales took over several of the classroom buildings and went on strike. I wasn't sure if I was going to have class today or not, but the best (only) way to find out is to show up. This is a place where most classrooms have no heat/air conditioning, they walls are grey from cigarette smoke, and you are lucky to find a desk that isn't broken, so, obviously, there is no formal notification system as to whether classes are happening or not. I showed up to class today, luckily armed with my camera, so here is a little bit of what I saw.
When I walked up, I saw very quickly that entire block of the Ciencias Sociales building had been closed off to cars, and there were several groups of desks that had been brought outside the building. I had no idea what was going on, but I took some pictures anyway...I apologize for the lighting, but it was the best I could do at the time.
My class meets in the same complex, but in a different building/a section of the building that is not connected and has its own entrance. Rougly half of the students showed up to class, and when the professor walked in (30 minutes late, of course), she opened the floor to discussion about whether or not we would have class. This was the first time that I had the situation explained to me completely.
The students are protesting the condition of UBA's facilities. Everyone was very passionate and talking very quickly, so I didn't catch every word, but it involved something about a student being injured by a falling piece of glass or window (I think?). They are not happy that the buildings are in such poor condition when the state is allocating money to some private institutions instead of working on UBA construction projects. It sounded like there was a centralized location where a lot of Ciencias Sociales classes would happen that was under construction but stopped because of lack of funding. Classes are now spread out all over the city, and it can take over an hour to get between two buildings. The students who took over the building didn't want to disrupt classes, but did want to get their point across, so they set up places for classes to meet in the street and in the parking lot (shown here):
Our professor made it clear that she was sympathetic with the students and willing to discuss with them how to proceed before making a decision about class. One girl was very emphatic in her opinion that class needed to take place outside to show solidarity among the studend body; another said that we should have class either way, but if there is a choice, that it should take place in the street (clases públicas was the term used here); and, lastly, one older member of the class said that he had been at UBA for many years and nothing was going to change, that we should go on having class either way and not worry about it. After 20 minutes of discussion, the professor made the decision to take the class downstairs and outside.
At the front of the Ciencias Sociales building, my professor approached a guy with a megaphone who appeared to be running the show. He made a loud announcement ("PROCESOS URBANOS CON LA CATÉDRA HILDA HERZER"...Urban Processes with Professor Hilda Herzer), and everyone in the street cheered at this official announcement that another professor was sympathetic. We were led back to a circle of desks in the parking lot and proceeded to have an abbreviated class.
Here is how our (dimly lit) makeshift classroom looked:
There really seemed to be a sense of camaraderie among the students, and everyone was (smoking and) passing around mate, a very strong hot (warm...not spicy) herbal drink that is traditional here, in an attempt to combat the cold. They shared it with the professor, her helper, and all of us exchange students, which was pretty cool. At the end of the class, everyone applauded for the professor, and she applauded back, congratulating the students for standing up for a cause they cared about.
When I walked up, I saw very quickly that entire block of the Ciencias Sociales building had been closed off to cars, and there were several groups of desks that had been brought outside the building. I had no idea what was going on, but I took some pictures anyway...I apologize for the lighting, but it was the best I could do at the time.
My class meets in the same complex, but in a different building/a section of the building that is not connected and has its own entrance. Rougly half of the students showed up to class, and when the professor walked in (30 minutes late, of course), she opened the floor to discussion about whether or not we would have class. This was the first time that I had the situation explained to me completely.
The students are protesting the condition of UBA's facilities. Everyone was very passionate and talking very quickly, so I didn't catch every word, but it involved something about a student being injured by a falling piece of glass or window (I think?). They are not happy that the buildings are in such poor condition when the state is allocating money to some private institutions instead of working on UBA construction projects. It sounded like there was a centralized location where a lot of Ciencias Sociales classes would happen that was under construction but stopped because of lack of funding. Classes are now spread out all over the city, and it can take over an hour to get between two buildings. The students who took over the building didn't want to disrupt classes, but did want to get their point across, so they set up places for classes to meet in the street and in the parking lot (shown here):
Our professor made it clear that she was sympathetic with the students and willing to discuss with them how to proceed before making a decision about class. One girl was very emphatic in her opinion that class needed to take place outside to show solidarity among the studend body; another said that we should have class either way, but if there is a choice, that it should take place in the street (clases públicas was the term used here); and, lastly, one older member of the class said that he had been at UBA for many years and nothing was going to change, that we should go on having class either way and not worry about it. After 20 minutes of discussion, the professor made the decision to take the class downstairs and outside.
At the front of the Ciencias Sociales building, my professor approached a guy with a megaphone who appeared to be running the show. He made a loud announcement ("PROCESOS URBANOS CON LA CATÉDRA HILDA HERZER"...Urban Processes with Professor Hilda Herzer), and everyone in the street cheered at this official announcement that another professor was sympathetic. We were led back to a circle of desks in the parking lot and proceeded to have an abbreviated class.
Here is how our (dimly lit) makeshift classroom looked:
There really seemed to be a sense of camaraderie among the students, and everyone was (smoking and) passing around mate, a very strong hot (warm...not spicy) herbal drink that is traditional here, in an attempt to combat the cold. They shared it with the professor, her helper, and all of us exchange students, which was pretty cool. At the end of the class, everyone applauded for the professor, and she applauded back, congratulating the students for standing up for a cause they cared about.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Rosh Hashana Urbano
Yesterday, the Buenos Aires Jewish Community came out in full force to eat, play music, sing, dance, show off artwork, and disrupt traffic. This giant street fair was called Rosh Hashana Urbano (Urban Rosh Hashana...interesting title), and it took over 2 full blocks and most of the Plaza Armenia, a square park in Palermo SoHo. I decided I had to check it out. I was really surprised not to see any security guards or anything around, since I am basically interrogated every time I try and enter a synagogue, but I was told that the security was hidden and actually watching everything...not sure whether that puts me at ease or scares me more.
Afterwards, I spent a while walking around Palermo and saw, among other many exciting things, a dog wearing a t-shirt and jeans. This is just proof that all porteños (including dogs) dress fashionably.
Yesterday also brought what was probably my most frightening experience so far. On my way back from a dinner at Hillel, my bus was pulling out from a stop when there was an extremely loud bang. Thinking it was a gunshot, bomb, or collision, I jumped out of my seat...only to realize that no one was phased at all by this. Everyone on the bus probably thought I was crazy....or just knew that I was definitely not from Buenos Aires. I was riding with someone I had just met at Hillel, and as we were walking to our new bus (which conveniently arrived almost empty about 34 seconds after the bang...good work, route 152), he explained to me that one of the tires had exploded. Go figure.
Assuming that the students at UBA have removed their barricade, tomorrow should be a normal day of classes. More to come later this week!
Afterwards, I spent a while walking around Palermo and saw, among other many exciting things, a dog wearing a t-shirt and jeans. This is just proof that all porteños (including dogs) dress fashionably.
Yesterday also brought what was probably my most frightening experience so far. On my way back from a dinner at Hillel, my bus was pulling out from a stop when there was an extremely loud bang. Thinking it was a gunshot, bomb, or collision, I jumped out of my seat...only to realize that no one was phased at all by this. Everyone on the bus probably thought I was crazy....or just knew that I was definitely not from Buenos Aires. I was riding with someone I had just met at Hillel, and as we were walking to our new bus (which conveniently arrived almost empty about 34 seconds after the bang...good work, route 152), he explained to me that one of the tires had exploded. Go figure.
Assuming that the students at UBA have removed their barricade, tomorrow should be a normal day of classes. More to come later this week!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Mostly pictures today
Not too much to report in the last week...I definitely have my routine now, am well into classes, and can understand most of what goes on around me. In the past week, I have visited the Buenos Aires Zoo, had my first exposure to Argentine cinema, come very close to touching a wild and potentially rabid dog my subway station at rush hour (never seen that happen before...), and visited the national library among other things.
I will go ahead and add some pictures and save the text-heavy posting for a time where I have something really exciting to say:
This might be the most miserable polar bear on the planet. I think the lowest temperatures here probably don't reach the average temperatures where it lives.
This is the Argentine National Library, which is conveniently about 10 blocks from my house. It looks a lot like a Louis Kahn building...I looked up the architect, and it turns out that the guy who designed it was the pioneer of the brutalist movement in South America (the style that Louis Kahn created/contributed to).
This was the only picture I was able to get inside the library before getting yelled at by a security guard...whoops.
Many of my friends didn't have class today, as the students at UBA in many of the facultades (departments) went on strike. This is a picture of the entrance all decked out with the signs about today's strike. I'm not 100% sure what it was about, but it had something to do with the allocation of educational funding. Facultad tomada means department taken (as in taken over). I tried to get a picture of the inside (there was literally a barricade just inside the door), but the students I asked were not so happy/willing to comply.
Note: the graffiti is not part of the strike...that's always there.
I will go ahead and add some pictures and save the text-heavy posting for a time where I have something really exciting to say:
This might be the most miserable polar bear on the planet. I think the lowest temperatures here probably don't reach the average temperatures where it lives.
This is the Argentine National Library, which is conveniently about 10 blocks from my house. It looks a lot like a Louis Kahn building...I looked up the architect, and it turns out that the guy who designed it was the pioneer of the brutalist movement in South America (the style that Louis Kahn created/contributed to).
This was the only picture I was able to get inside the library before getting yelled at by a security guard...whoops.
Many of my friends didn't have class today, as the students at UBA in many of the facultades (departments) went on strike. This is a picture of the entrance all decked out with the signs about today's strike. I'm not 100% sure what it was about, but it had something to do with the allocation of educational funding. Facultad tomada means department taken (as in taken over). I tried to get a picture of the inside (there was literally a barricade just inside the door), but the students I asked were not so happy/willing to comply.
Note: the graffiti is not part of the strike...that's always there.
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