intro intro

Hey and sorry this is coming in late. My internet has been up and down here. My name is Paz Pet er sso n (legally, it's "Pascal," but I've never been called that). This right now is my first blog entry ever, so it still feels a bit strange. If I understood correctly, I'm trying to introduce myself, so here I go: I'm in Buenos Aires right now, typing on my laptop in my room in a neighborhood called "Recoleta." I'm staying in a homestay, which for me means living with a single, recently-widowed older woman. This is not what I expected when I signed up for a homestay, but I've sort of come to love her over the past two weeks. The other housing options for NYU students here are residences, with other international (mostly American) students living in them. I chose a homestay because above all things, I'm here to learn Spanish.

Relating that to my concentration--I'm trying to study international politics regarding environmental and social change. That's the best way to put it at this point. Spanish fits into that as a second language which I'll know, and be able to use in many different parts of the world.

It feels strange to write so much about myself, but I guess that's sort of the purpose of this blog. Being in Buenos Aires is great, for me at least. Things are definitely different, in terms of daily customs, etc., but it's still a big city, and a real city, like New York. Not that they're similar, but big cities always have something in common that has to do with how accessible everything is--most little things you could want, you could probably get if you looked hard enough. Having been here for only two weeks, I'm sure I haven't seen or done enough of Buenos Aires to describe it very well...hopefully I'll get there though!

Back to the point of this entry, my books: Horizontalism (by Marina Sitrin), Motorcycle Diaries (by Ernesto Guevara) and I bought a travel book about Argentina, but I'm not sure if that will really count, because it's not something you read from front to back. I also plan/hope to get one or two books here, later on in the semester, when my Spanish is better.My classes:

Spanish Intermediate II

Argentina Today (topics, taught in Spanish for people at my level)

Reporting Buenos Aires (English)

Economics and Politics of Latin America (English)

Also, I am going to sort of audit a class taught in Spanish about the Latin American short story, but I can only go one day a week (out of two) because of schedule conflicts. I'm going to try to keep up with the reading in the class, which is mainly about monsters in Latin American stories. I think it's very cool and interesting, and would much rather matriculate, but I don't speak well enough to write essays in Spanish, etc.I hope I've answered all the questions. Oh yeah, I am a junior. Bye everyone, 'til next time!

-Paz