Tomorrow I will be starting my second week of school (national holiday today, sha-wing). And I feel that I have bit more of a handle on things. Most of my first week went very well, but some of it can be rated somewhere
between "intimidating" and "crap-my-pants". I am currently taking 6 courses and 5 of them are located in the relatively foreigner-safe confines of the program headquarters. The professors are very nice and fairly easy to understand and the material is mostly very interesting. The classes are 3 hours and once per week. Overall, I am very pleased. UBA (U of 
Buenos Aires) on the other hand, was absolutely mind-numbing. This class that I take is called "Compared legislation" and its offered at the poli sci building, roughly a 15-minute walk northwest of my apartment. The class is Tuesdays at 7 p.m and consists of 2 parts which last for a total of 4 hours--so a nice refreshing class right? yea. So I leave about 25 minutes early so I would have a little time to spare in case I got lost accidentally. As I approached the street that the building was allegedly on, I saw nothing that would even indicate whether or not I had arrived at the correct place; the building is m
elded with other buildings next to it and looks no different than anything else on the street--so pretty easy to find.I finally roll in and head upstairs to the 4th floor where again, my class allegedly was. The school or building, appeared to be an alternate stage for The Blackboard Jungle: there are posters EVERYWHERE political graffiti all over the place, and people lighting-up their cowboy killers in the hallways (which is funny because smoking is banned in most public places here). I eventually take a seat in the hallway outside the classroom door and wait for the previous class to end. A minute later, a man who looked about 30 asked me a question...I had no idea what he said. He asked me again, and then i just told him that I didn't even know. Very smooth on my part. Finally the doors open I seat myself in the rather quaint classroom. About 5 minutes later, the professor (woman) and her posse of assistants walk in to begin the class. The next few minutes proceed as follows:
(I am very nervous and and time passes slowly)
Professor introduces herself
Professor says something else
We introduce ourselves
I discover I am the only foreigner
People give me goofy looks
Something else about a project and communications are mentioned...am I in the right class?
We need to get in groups of 3 to start our semester project
I am panicking
I am so nervous that I am laughing out loud
Nobody is looking at me
I bite the bullet and ask a girl to work with me--and to my astonishment, she said yes.
That was like the scariest few minutes I had spent in a while. All I have to say, is thank god I met that girl, because she explained a great deal of what was happening in the class. She also subsequentially explained to me that the class is a communications class, not just comparative government--Albion shouldn't mind this small detail. We got another guy to work with us, and he
seemed pretty nice too. So that class concludes and there is some lag time until I have to go to the lecture part of class. We end up going downstairs to a lecture room that looks like it was full 
of pews rather than desks. A few minutes later, the professor shows up and begins class. He opens his mouth and I have literally NO IDEA WHAT IS HAPPENING. His spoke incredibly fast. So for the better half of 2 hours, I sat in my seat feeling like Forrest Gump's dumb brother trying to piece together what was being said. I managed to comprehend some things and take a few notes, but I definitely lost the battle. The prof seems like a nice dude, hopefully I can tune in better tomorrow evening. That's basically what happened in a nutshell. In other words, it is the complete opposite of Albion in every way possible. Darwin is starting to ring a bell here.
Anyway, I will try to get some pics of the school. As dumpy as it is, it is nonetheless an interesting place. Below, I have some pics taken from the ecological reserve and the waterfront (Puer
to Madero) in one of the best/prettiest parts of the entire city. I have some cool skyline photos. This area is essentially the same angle of the picture to this blog--except during the day. And the pink house "Casa Rosada" is the equivalent of the White House. In Please enjoy!(Hooters is not a "cultural" aspect in case anyone is confused)
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