Una Familia Celeste! (Literally Translated: A Blue Family)
Hola Amigos!
Another week has already flown by down here in Córdoba, and we’re less than eight weeks away from the return trip. Everything seemed to happen all at once for our classes this past week. It was like all of the professors realized we hadn’t really done anything in the past month, so now it’s crunch time with 3 weeks left of classes. I can hardly believe that I’ll be completely done with all of my classes and just left with my internship come November 23rd.
This past week consisted of studying for the most part because I had a quiz and a presentation on Wednesday, followed by a midterm on Thursday. It seemed like everyone was really stressed all last week with all that was going on, and we came the conclusion that it was not because anything was particularly challenging, but rather that we’ve become accustomed to not having a ton to do for school work. I’m already slightly nervous about the adjustment back to UST classes next semester! The one positive aspect about the increase in difficulty that I’ll be facing next semester is that my courses will be in English rather than Spanish. One fun thing I got to do this past week in the middle of all the studying was play volleyball with my speaking partner Marcos and some of the people he works with. It was a nice break from the books, and some much needed physical activity.
Friday night, we met up with a couple of our friends and went to Creambury, an ice cream shop, of course haha. They had never tried the “tabla de helado,” so we thought it was necessary to show them. Here’s a pic of it if you’ve forgotten what it was from one of my previous blogs:
. The next morning, we met up with the people from our program and our speaking partners to play a little pick-up game of soccer! It was a lot of fun, but playing on super thin turf laid over concrete gave me some nasty blisters on my feet. On top of that, we were messing around and I tried to do a bicycle-kick, only to land on my ankle and have it swell up. I always seem to injure myself playing sports for fun, but it was a blast either way
Oh, I forgot to mention that over the past month and a half we’ve been voting for the people who speak the most Spanish from our group for prizes at the end, and Sarah and I won! She won a free dinner for two and a book, and I won two tickets to a concert of our choice. It looks like we’ll be having a free date in the near future
Last night, I got to experience my first Belgrano game. There are two main soccer teams in Córdoba, Belgrano and Talleres, and their fans are some of the craziest I’ve ever seen. It is all out hatred for the other team, making it a very interesting rivalry. Now, they are in different divisions so they never play each other, but that doesn’t stop the other team from heckling and taunting the other before/during/after a game. My family and my speaking partner are all “Hinchas,” their word for fans, of Belgrano, Las Piratas Celestes (Blue Pirates), so I was slightly influenced by them in my decision to become an hincha myself. Marcos, my speaking partner, invited me to the game with his brother and one of their buddies. Before the game, my host dad gave me a crazy looking hat to wear with my Belgrano jersey. This he said would be my ticket to get into the game haha. The atmosphere of the stadium was electric, and the passion in their singing for the home team is incredible! When everyone began jumping up and down, you could feel the stadium moving under your feet. As the home team enters the stadium, everyone throws tons of shredded paper everywhere. Here’s a pic of the aftermath in my seat:
Even with all the excitement, Belgrano and their opponents, Colón, played horribly. To top it all off, there had to be the worst referees in the history of soccer calling the game. That’s one thing that doesn’t change anywhere in the world, hatred for the referees. People here even have songs they sing directly at the refs when they make a bad call, which was frequent enough last night that even I began to catch on to the songs! We ended up losing 1-0 because of a horrible penalty call, but it was still a fun night. We also ate some delicious choripan after the game, and nothing beats choripan at the stadium. I’m excited to go to the next game, and hopefully the result will be more favorable!
The week ahead is a free week in terms of PECLA classes, which are half of mine, so I only have my internship and my UNC class. Sarah and I thinking about going to the zoo one day and maybe horseback riding another, weather pending! Also, we’ll be going camping with Marcos and some of his buddies this weekend, so that should definitely be a fun time! I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween and stayed safe while out trick-or-treating
Chau Suerte!
Danny



















