Better late than never

So, I haven't posted in about two weeks. I guess it's a little bit ironic since this is the first time all semester that I've had wireless (and access to my roommate's laptop) in my room, but what can I say, I've been busy. And I should be busy right now, but I'm going to blog instead of writing my paper about graffiti. Sometimes, I think I'm only actually productive when I'm procrastinating.

I don't even know where to start.

I really have been busy, and yet I have no idea what I've been doing. Lots of time in class and lots of time writing papers, I suppose. Just finished three of them in the last week. I think I have about five more to go between now and December 3rd. Not ideal, but what to do. They're just annoying assignments. Most of them have a creative aspect which involves some sort of coloring or collaging. Don't get me wrong, I love coloring. And I really love collaging. It's a passion of mine. But it's not really legit, is it? I don't think I should be graded on my colored pencil-usage now that I'm a junior in college. Maybe that's just what I've been conditioned to believe, though. Dun dun dun. Education is actually a meaningless social construct oh dear! (Yes, I'm in that sort of mood. It's probably because I've been denied the opportunity to color in the last eight odd years or so and I just can't handle it.)

Oh, and in case you were wondering about my health (just in case), I seem to be quite healed and am no longer suffering from the phlegmy cough of death. That lasted far too long. Not sure exactly when it went away, otherwise I would have thrown it a farewell party. It was super awkward to be hacking relentlessly during lectures about TB in South Africa. Not that I have TB. I don't. But I am having some sort of allergic reaction to something or maybe I sunburned my lips or I don't even know but they are really itchy and flaky and gross. Whine. Whiny whine whine whine.

I haven't really been experiencing much of the night life here because I've been so busy/stressed/maybe a little lazy. We'll call it an end of the semester slump. But I did go out two Saturdays ago to the annual museums' night when all of the museums are free and open until 3am. It was cool. Odd to be walking around museums in the middle of the night, though. People just don't sleep here. Annnnd that was the last time I went out. Yup. Crazy college girl abroad in a city famous for its nightlife... Way to go me. Tomorrow is Max's birthday though and I'm going out for sure. Seriously. We're having dinner at Hooter's to start the night off right. Oh man I love Americans.

I did just return from a three-day retreat type thing in the countryside. We went to La Plata (capital of Buenos Aires province) on Thursday and walked around/had a lecture about architecture. It was very nice- I suppose that if Buenos Aires is New York, then La Plata is DC. Kind of. That's how it was described to me at least. We then drove for about 2.5 hours to the countryside- Magdalena. Stayed at a ranch for two nights. Played some really cheesy camp-type games. Ate some decent food. (They did have homemade dulce de leche which really tickled my fancy.) I fed a 15-day old cow (whose mother was taken away so she could produce milk for human beings thanks very much!!) and petted some horses. I also went on an hour-long run along this straight gravel road at sunset... might be the highlight of my time in Argentina so far. Oi. I need to get out more.

What else to say? It's not that I dislike Buenos Aires. I mean, it seems fine. Maybe I just haven't really figured it out yet. I think I might be near the bottom of my s-curve, as we IHPers like to say. Hopefully I'll be heading upward soon. As soon as possible, please. But hey, I speak about 15 words of Spanish now as opposed to zero when I arrived. That's good, right? My host family still thinks I'm dumb though. They keep trying to speak to me in Spanish... but I don't speak Spanish! And we're not taking Spanish classes so I'm not learning a whole lot. I kind of feel inspired to take Spanish I this spring, but it meets four times a week at 9am. Realistically, that's just not going to happen.

I'm going to write my paper now. And I'm going to get excited about Buenos Aires. I'm not homesick- just a little burnt out. Nothing a few days without a paper due can't solve. (As soon as I finish this one, I won't have anything due until Monday...when I have three due. Oh, and case study presentations this Thursday. Aggg. Not going to think about it.)

Holla to my brother who's in Italy this week!