The Extraordinary Education System of Argentina

So as I previously mentioned, our ticket out of Buenos Aires for our spring break, aside from hundreds of pesos for 22-hour bus rides, was taking our midterms.  I was "lucky" and only had three midterms; a Spanish test, a Cultural Icons take-home essay, and my Arte Argentino test at Universidad del Museo Social Argentino, one of the two Argentine universities I am currently taking classes at.  The classes I am taking here translate as "Pass/Fail" back at GW, so as long as I pass the class I get credit for it in some fashion.  However, the question now is what defines "passing." 


I'm not saying that I've completely thrown all attempts of an education out the window while living here.  In fact, I'm quite enjoying some of my courses.  "Íconos Culturales como mercancías globales" is essentially a combination of Argentine history and Sociology.  We're studying the most important figures and traditions of Argentina that make up the state's national identity, such as the image of the "gaucho" or Argentine cowboy, tango, Evita/Eva Perón, etc.  While I find the readings fascinating (and also difficult as they are all in Spanish), the class itself only meets once a week for 3 hours straight, which is brutal under any circumstances.  My Spanish class is sometimes an excellent use of two hours when we review colloquial phrases or elements of Argentine culture, but rather a bore when spent reviewing where to place accent marks. Both of these classes are through my study abroad program, so I suppose I can't expect too much variation in class from the teachers. 


My tango class, which I am taking at Instituto Universitario Nacional del Arte, has been cancelled for the past month due to strikes.  Unlike UMSA, IUNA is a public university, and the public universities here are notorious for constantly going on strike.  When I asked a fellow tango student during our first resumed class why there had been strikes, she told me "all the strikes go back to money."  The public schools in Argentina have very limited funding, as evident from the quality of the buildings the schools are housed in.  Despite the fact that many students and professors are protesting against the state and the schools it provides, they continue to hold classes in parks or on the sidewalks outside of the buildings.  To me, it proves how dedicated the students in Buenos Aires are to their education, that they will both fight for better conditions while at the same time continuing their rigorous studies. 


And when I say rigorous, I mean it.  The art history class I am taking at UMSA is HORRIFYING.  I accredit my terror to the speed at which our professor speaks, the amount of prior knowledge our fellow students have regarding the subject, and the lack of handicap that we as international students receive in the classroom.  The expectations the school and professor have for us are exactly the same as for the Argentine students.  While it is refreshing to not be treated as a completely incompetent Spanish speaker, it is also a huge blow to what I thought was my fairly solid grip on the language. 


For a little background information, the Argentine education system is quite different from the U.S. version.  Students attend primary school until they are about 11 or 12, then move on to secondary school, which is essentially middle and high school.  After about their third year, students must chose a "track" of classes to follow for the rest of their time in secondary school.  Each track is specific to a certain area of studies, such as "computers," "architecture," "graphic arts," etc.  Essentially students here chose their major when they are 15 years old.  After they graduate from secondary school, they continue on to university, which is usually still in the same city they went to primary and secondary school in, as they will continue to live with their parents throughout their time at university, and well after.  The concept of a "college campus" is an absolutely delicious idea to the 14 and 15 year olds I work with when I volunteer in English classrooms at one of these secondary schools for my English Teaching Internship - a life without their parents seems so foreign, and this is why all the college-themed US movies they see are even more ridiculous than they appear to us.  


Anyways, despite feeling quite inadequate in the university, I was reassured somewhat when I received my midterm grade - a wonderful, fabulous, outstanding FIVE. No, that's not a 5 out of 100.  And no, that's also not a 5 out of 5.  That's a 5 out of 10, which is the standard grading scale in Argentine schools, meaning it's a passing grade, but not outstanding.  Personally, I think what constitutes a "good grade" varies from university to university, but I have heard that anywhere from a 7 to a 5 as being the "average" grade, and that very very rarely do students receive an 8, even more rarely a 9, and never a 10.  Moreover, having heard from fellow IES students who are taking classes at Argentine universities, I am one of a handful to have passed, so I have to be thankful for that at least.  The question now is whether or not a passing grade in Argentine standards will also count as a passing grade when transferred back to GW...


But I can't be too preoccupied by this thought right now, as all I can think about is that Cory and Dennis will be visiting in a week!

Spring Break 2010 - Córdoba

We got to Córdoba by 11 AM (on Wednesday), checked in, showered, then did the church circuit.  Córdoba is the second largest city in Argentina and has a huge number of universities there so it's a pretty young city.  There's also a huge jesuit complex, and some really beautiful cathedrals and churches (as I still don't have a camera, I will try to steal pictures from Sadie).  We also went to a cool modern art museum, then went out for dinner and had probably the best pasta I've had the entire time I've been here.  The next day (Thursday) we made the trek to Villa General Belgrano, a little town founded by ex-German soldiers that (we were told) still has a very prominent German influence and appropriately hosts Oktoberfest.  After a two hour bus ride, we arrived in a somewhat gimicky, but very quiet ski/chateau-esque town.  Apparently they too take to the Spanish tradition of the siesta, as we got there by 2 in the afternoon and there were probably less than twenty people on the streets.  So, we found a place to get some lunch and kill some time (very few places with actual German food, though that's not surprising), and then headed into the Oktoberfest park.  To get in you have to pay an entrance fee, then buy a beer mug from a vendor, then pay to have that mug filled at every different beer stand you go to.  It may have been because it was a Thursday, but for what ever reason, the park was deserted.  We saw no laederhosens (or whatever they're called), no traditional German dancing, just a big empty stage set up with a bunch of empty chairs.  We asked some of the bartenders where everyone was, and they said that it was too early in the day and that the real show started at 10 that night.  Of course, the last bus back to Córdoba was at 8:30.  So, even though it was a bit disappointing, we still thought it was hysterical that we practically had control of the entire park, but could only entertain ourselves until about 6 at which point we called it a day, bought some alfajores for the ride back (in Córdoba the traditional alfajores are filled with not just dulce de leche but also fruit preserves, specifically one called "membrillo" which Sadie and I deduced to being something similar to a "quince"), and were content enough with our awesome German mugs. 

 The next day totally made up for the failure of Oktoberfest though.  We took the advice of the people we met during breakfast and went to Alta Gracia, home of one of many Che Guevara museums in this country.  This one was based out of his childhood home, and was super informative and much more legitimate than many of the other museums I've visited here.  For example, did you know that Che Guevara had asthma as a child?  Well, now you do.  After, we walked around a bit and found a big park next to some old mission ruins, so we got lunch and then walked around the old church and museum a bit - we actually joined in on an elementary school field trip for the museum tour, although how they didn't realize we weren't part of their group is a mystery to me as we weren't wearing the white and blue frocks that all the primary school children wear in this country.  We got back to the hostel, played an epic game of Monopoly 21st edition (they use credit cards instead of money!), and then almost missed our bus back to Buenos Aires when the information desk guy told us the wrong terminal number.  Oh, and then right outside of Cordoba our bus broke down for 3 hours so we had to switch buses at 3 AM.  But, if that was the only major snaffu in our travels, I'm completely okay with that.  

Other than me having a little cough that turned into a nasty cold by the time we reached Córdoba, it was a completely excellent and totally successful trip.  It's made me way more confident in my solo-traveling abilities (relatively speaking), and I learned a lot from all the people I met.  It also, as was expected, made me want to travel much more, though I also now realize that while I liked spending only a few days in Salta and Córdoba, I think I'm enjoying the time I've spent building a deeper relationship with Buenos Aires, and if I do any serious, multiple-month-long traveling in my future, I'll probably need to spend a large chunk of time in at least a few places, so that I have some vague sense of a home to return to at the end.  Once again, I have to thank my parents, who I'm really looking forward to seeing in two weeks, for letting me take this wonderful adventure, and now, with only a little less than half of my time here left, I'm excited to see what the rest of the semester will bring about, and hope that I have the energy and drive to make the most of it.  

Spring Break 2010 - Salta/Jujuy

The last week of September we had our midterms here, and while many people who have studied abroad assured me that "classes in other countries are a joke compared to US university courses," I would have to politely disagree with all prior advice I was given.  THEY WERE HORRENDOUS!  Perhaps this is due to the fact that they were all in Spanish, or maybe that I was taking a few of them at universities outside of my study abroad program, but either way, I am dreading the day when we find out what our grades are.  Sure, I only need to pass, but even that seems like a challenge now having talked to fellow US students who have also gotten their midterm grades back.  I guess we'll just have to see in this upcoming week, and pray that finals will go more smoothly...

On the bright side, I got to finish my terrifying midterm week with an absolutely AMAZING trip to Salta, Jujuy, and Córdoba for my midsemester break.  I traveled with just one other person, my friend Sadie, having realized after our trip to Iguazú Falls that smaller numbers is much more desirable, especially for a trip this long.  I'll start with Salta and Jujuy, which are two provinces in Northwest Argentina very close to Chile, Peru, and Bolivia.  The capital of Salta is also called Salta, and this was the first somewhat "major" city I've been to outside of Buenos Aires (not counting my excursion to La Plata, the capital of the province of Buenos Aires, for the day, which was more depressing than anything else really).  There's a different feel about the town and the people up there.  For starters, it's got a much slower pace - the majority of the people there follow their Spanish traditions and take a siesta from about 2-5 in the middle of the afternoon, which took some transitioning.  Also, they have a different way of speaking.  I don't believe they use the "vos" pronoun or conjugation, and they have a sort of light, sing-songy way of speaking.  The biggest thing I noticed was that all of the locals we talked to a) immediately knew we were from Buenos Aires, or at least that's where we learned our Spanish, and b) thought Salta was the best part of the country and that Buenos Aires was "too much." It really put into perspective the fact that the country was nationalized more or less against it's own will, and that all of the different provinces have their own identities and opinions about the rest of the country.  

The first day we got there (Friday afternoon), we checked in, dropped off our stuff, and found a travel agency that did rafting trips.  Originally we were only going to do rafting through them but then we realized that their prices for the other excursions we were interested were about half of what the hostel would have charged us, so we booked three trips with them.  The first was to Cafayate (on Saturday), the wine-producing region of the province, known for their Torrontes grapes which make a super sweet white wine.  We toured one vineyard and even got to try wine ice cream, but for me the best part was the drive up there.  Our tour only had me, Sadie, two other girls and our driver, and we were all squished in a 4-door sedan, but that was okay because we got to stop anywhere we wanted to to take pictures.  To get to Cafayate we drove through La Quebrada de las Conchas, or the Gorge of Seashells, so named because it's a bunch of mainly sandstone rock formations with marine-life fossils embedded in them.  They were absolutely gorgeous, especially on the drive back, though our "English-speaking tour guide," was not very informative, nor did he speak much English, so we ended up acting as translators for the other two girls in our car, which turned out to be pretty funny. 

The next day (Sunday) we went rafting, which was fun, but we were pretty hungover from the night before because we decided to eat dinner at the hostel (for free (and it was spicy!) - this place was such a steal) and met a bunch of people traveling all over South America and went out with them.  We met a guy from Boston who was living in Bs As for a month and half, two guys from France (one who was also twenty, which we've now realized is really young amongst hostel users, but who's planning on working on a Disney cruiseship for 6 months so he can travel all over the world once he's done), and a really nice girl from Australia who we're actually gonna try and meet up with when she's in Bs As again.  Interestingly enough, almost everyone we talked to was headed on their way to Bolivia, being that its only a two hour bus ride away, and the entire night people kept telling us how amazing it is, which made Sadie and I very tempted to just try to sneak over the border as apparently it's quite easy, but we resisted the urge.  Anyways, rafting was fairly easy compared to all the other times I've been, and we got the chance to do some extreme sports off of one of the dams in this man-made lake we visited after rafting, like bungee-jumping and something called "puenting," though I'm still not really sure what it is.  I did not go bungee-jumping because I didn't think the height was large enough for how much it cost - I know, sounds silly, but if I'm going bungee-jumping, I want it to be worth every penny. 

Monday we went to Humauacha (I'm sure I've spelled that wrong) which is north of Salta in the province of Jujuy, and along the way we stopped at a bunch of little villages populated by people of Incan and Spanish ancestry and who speak Qichwa (also probably spelled wrong), which was lovely as well as we got to see this range of mountains called "Las Montañas de Siete Colores" which was absolutely gorgeous.  Also, in Humauacha, I ate the most amazing "locro" which is a stew traditionally eaten in the winter there, with corn, garbanzo beans, Spanish chorizo, and sweet potatoes.  When we got back to the hostel, we met up with a bunch of other kids from IES who had just arrived after having been in Mendoza for the weekend, so we got to chat with them for a bit but they all had excursions early in the morning so we went out with some other friends from the hostel (a lovely couple called Dorris and Valter (like Walter) from Holland who were hilarious and a kid from Colorado who's here doing work for his non-profit that bring lacrosse gear to villages).  The next day (Tuesday) we walked around Salta more, hiked up a trail to get a better view of the city, then went to the MAAM museum which is home to three perfectly preserved sacrificed Incan children that archeologists found on top of one of the highest mountains in the Andes. After saying our goodbye to all the wonderful people we met at our hostel, we packed up our gear and got on a 10 PM bus headed to Córdoba.