I've been in Buenos Aires for 5 days now and I'm almost now starting to feel like I know where some things are. It's a very large city which makes it intimidating, and the lack of street signs doesn't help any. Of course, even if you know what street you're on, if it crosses another major street, it is likely that its name will change on the other side and the street numbering will also start over. As you might imagine, this makes finding your way in the city a bit difficult. The subway is actually the least confusing, at least when you're on it... figuring out your bearings once you surface is a different story. Still it is starting to make some sense to me and I'm starting to recognize street names and sites.
Another part of finding your way is figuring out the culture. So far it has been my experience that the porteños (the name for citizens of Buenos Aires) are rather reserved, unless of course they are trying to sell you something on the street. They might give you a kiss on the cheek when you meet but even that feels a bit distant. This has made the city seem like a very cold place in a figurative sense in addition to the cold temperatures. As a result, I'm not exactly in love with Buenos Aires yet, though in fairness, I haven't had much time to visit the most interesting sites since I've been busy with homework and fighting back a cold. I have 3 more weeks here to see what Buenos Aires has to offer and I'm keeping an open mind but... well... I can't say yet the BsAs is a place on my to-visit-again list at this point...
P.S. For those of you following my blog from the Global Crossroads study abroad blog of the University of Minnesota who are interested in the backstory, here´s a link to my earlier posts about my trip to Argentina.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
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1 comments:
Maybe you'll have the chance to get to know some locals better over the next 3 weeks :)
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