The Argentinian Lifestyle
One has simply got to love the Argentinian hospitality and friendliness. It’s almost impossible to invite your tutor to a coffee when you’ve just arrived to the city because they’re going to insist on paying for you. Getting lost anywhere is just as unthinkable, since at least three people will walk up to you to ask if they can help you find your way. Don’t you dare walk past someone you know, only waving hi without greeting them properly with a kiss on the cheek. And if you ever need anything whatsoever anytime no matter the time of the day or the year or how crazy your request might be – you can rest assured that the “Porteños” will help you out. Continue reading
Although there are a ton of things to do in the city of Buenos Aires, and we don’t even know where to start working through our list, we thought that getting out of the big and noisy city for a day couldn’t hurt. Tigre and La Plata seemed to be the perfect locations for our day-trip-plans, since both cities can easily be reached within an hour by public transportation from the Retiro bus/train terminal in BA. Being an exchange student has its perks, such as not having any classes on Fridays, and so we went on our little day trips the past two weekends. We didn’t regret visiting either one of the two places, but one of them definitely outran the other. 
The classes of our “Cuatrimestre” here in Buenos Aires started three weeks ago, and after some first impressions of the faculty, professors, style of the classes, and the tutor program of the university, it’s safe to say that the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) is nothing like what we’re used to from home. Turns out that our home base Maastricht University (UM) is not only a lot more organised and on time when it comes to course selections or time schedules of tutorials, but you would also never imagine to have pre-drinks at the SBE faculty in Maastricht – something that’s not all that unusual here at the UBA.
After a little more than two weeks here in Buenos Aires, we’ve already established a routine of going to certain places on certain days of the week: Jobs with all the exchange students every Tuesday, Salsa on Wednesdays, Party every Friday & Brunch with the girls on Sunday. Besides those set dates, our first days in the city were also filled with special events and shows, so that we had something going on every single day of the week. I should mention at this point that our amazing tutors from the university are truly doing a great job at keeping us busy with fun international meet-ups, Raggaeton-parties and all kinds of activities. While we’re still getting used to our new sleeping rhythm of going to bed between 3-5am, getting up around 1pm, then napping from 9-11pm, before going out again, going to class hasn’t been much more than a minor activity on the side, that sometimes feels like a little punishment for having so much fun and getting so little sleep the rest of the time. 
One month of travelling through Brazil has come to an end, millions of pictures were taken, countless acquaintances with amazing people and unforgettable memories have been made and, though I am excited about what’s waiting for me in Buenos Aires, I’m leaving Brazil with a heavy heart. How will I manage without the tremendous hospitality of these people, who went above and beyond to make my stay in this country as unforgettable as possible? How will I ever find something that could replace my beloved Açaí for breakfast, Tapioca for lunch or Mandioca in any form at any time of the day? How will I not get bored without the constant excitement of visiting places such as Rio de Janeiro, Ilha Grande, Parati, or São Paulo? Buenos Aires sure will have a tough time reaching the bar that this country set so incredibly high.
Rio de Janeiro, the city of the many rocks to climb onto, the amazing views, the Copacabana-beach-morning-runs and the Ipanema sunset views. The city of the endless possibilities for activities, the beautiful beaches and crazy nightlife, where the thought of getting robbed is constantly in the back of your head, although all the beauty and excitement quickly makes you forget about those downsides, home of Christo and Sugar Loaf Mountain. Rio de Janeiro, the city I fell in love with, the very second I arrived.
After an initial culture shock and the following acclimatization in São Paulo, I took a 4-hour bus along the cost that would bring me close to the first stop on my little island hopping tour: Ilhabela.
After only 4, activity-filled, days in Buenos Aires, I packed my backpack and was off to Brazil for one month of traveling through and exploring this country that has always been on my travel wish list. First stop after Ezeiza, the international airport of BA: SÃO PAULO. I heard from many people and read in some blogs that you can’t really spend more than a couple of days in this city. It being the Brazilian capital of skyscrapers, banks and big companies with fancy security guards outside, comparable to Frankfurt in Germany, the city was not supposed to offer much for tourists and travelers. But somehow, I managed to spend a whole week here …
I got to the city exactly one week ago, spent four nights at Juampi’s place (thanks to Caro for the set up), had my first Asado (typical Argentinian BBQ), met loads of people through my host, saw the most beautiful sunset on my first night, worked out with my gym buddy “the cat”, practiced my language skills on an advanced level with Juampi’s super fast, slurred Argentinian Spanish, went out every night and sure wasn’t bored for even a second during these first couple of days in my soon to be called home: BUENOS AIRES.
lenacatherine 