Buenos Aires: Primer día de clases

Hola todos,

Today was my first day of classes at la Universidad de Palermo: I had Latin American Art History in the morning and Latin American Literature at night. Both classes are at pretty terrible hours-- the first starts at 8:30am and the second ends at 10pm. (Obviously I go home in the middle. Siesta time!)

I liked both classes a lot-- especially art. I learned that for a long time after colonization, both the paintings and the literature in Latin America basically mirrored the European works, and uniquely Latin American arts developed after the revolutions. We're going to skip over most of the colonial stuff and look at the things produced before and after. Everything except the Mexican stuff (I took a Mexican culture class last term) is completely new to me. It's cool to study unfamiliar things from an expert, unfamiliar perspective. =)

Yesterday was el Día de San Martín, el Libertador. It was like Independence Day. Here, everything is open for longer on holidays (and on Sundays) instead of shutting down, and everyone went out. =) As far as I know, there aren't any Día de San Martín traditions, but most people had the day off-- a 3-day extended weekend.

I went with some friends to the Cultural Center at la Recoleta. The Cultural Center was like an art museum. I loved it! There were several photo series' there, and they were really great. There was a feria outside (basically a craft and performing arts fair), and I got some fresh-squeezed orange juice and watched a tango dance there. Fresh-squeezed orange juice, especially when you've walked and walked and walked, is an amazing thing! =)

Here are some pictures from yesterday:

These almonds were 3 pesos (about 75 cents). They weren't as delicious as they looked! They were a decent snack, though, and looked so good that I had to try them!