January 13, 2007

Lara Heskestad and Cristal Reyes

Today we went to three cemeteries , Chacaritas, The British Cemetery and the Recolecta.

During our visit to Chacaritas, in our search for the grave/monument of Carlos Gardel, we found a section dedicated to famous athletes, musicians, and artists. Although we ran out of time and were not as lucky as our fellow students who found Gardel´s grave, we came across the grave of Benito Quinquela Martin, a painter whose artwork we have studied and admired for so long. His gravestone was detailed with a replica of the village he so famously depicted in his pieces, La Boca. It was colorful and truly representative of his artwork, further, it stated that Martin was ¨Ël Hombre que invento un puerto¨ (translation= The man who created a port, aka, La Boca). There were other famous individuals buried there as well, such as sports athlete Adolfo Pedernera, but we focused on those who we knew best. We noticed quite a contrast between the graves of non-famous Argentines and the wealthy, well-known. The ones pertaining to the wealthy were more aesthetically pleasing while the others were meager and simple, depicting to us a prominent socio-economic statement.

This observation was evident once again in the British Cemetery. It was explained to us that many Jews were removed from this cemetery and placed in neighboring cemeteries allowing that location to be predominantly non-Jewish. After walking around for a brief period of time, we noticed several tombstones with common Jewish names and Stars of David. We then realized that the Jewish tombstones were for the most part, on the outer sides of the cemetery, giving the British and other Protestants a bigger emphasis.

During our lectures we have heard various comments over the lack of the preservation of Argentine history. We found a veracity to those statements when comparing and contrasting the British Cemetary to Chacaritas. We noted that the British Cemetery was named, ¨El Jardin de los Recuerdos¨ (translation= Garden of Remembrance) and featured stately, marble graves with intricate etches and dedications. The average (for lack of a better term) graves in the Chacaritas cemetery were not as well kept and decorated- supporting the idea that maybe the Argentines have not shown such a concern for their past….

The last stop of our day was La Recolecta cemetery which is popular for the graves of Evita, Sarmiento and other well known individuals. Walking through this cemetery was overwhelming due to the size and quantity of graves, as well as the abundance of people visiting that day. The tombs, although beautiful, were crowded together in rows – creating a tunnel sensation when walking through. In a way, this overcrowding made the graves seem less important and more of a tourist attraction.

At night, we had the feast of our lives… well in Argentina, at the Gourmet Porteño, a buffet with everything you could ever imagine.. sea food, steak, chicken, sea food, pasta and even sushi!! It was a delicious, much needed break after walking around in the fierce Argentine sun. We all gladly headed out, fully fed, satisfied and eager for our next adventure.

The End. (For now) :)

January 12, 2007

Terace Thomas and Josh Mirrer

January 12, 2007

Our schedule for today wrote in italicized letters that we were all supposed to have met at 8:30AM for breakfast in the hotel and then be in the lobby by 9:00AM. But as can be expected some students do not eat breakfast and some students were just rolling out of bed at 8:50AM, but everyone was in the lobby by 9:02AM.

Today was a jam packed day as we had two lectures. Our first lecture was at 9:30am-11:30am at CEMLA, and our focus topic was on History of Italian immigration in Argentina: regional origins, periods of immigration, institutional organization, etc. Our second lecture by Ana Weinstein at 2:00PM-400PM at IES was on the topic: The history of Jewish immigration in Argentina. All semester long we had learned about the Jewish immigration into Argentina but life always teaches that we cannot learn everything at once. One of the most new and interesting fact that the lecture taught me was that through the Jewish immigrants that settled down in the outskirts of Buenos Aires their establishment of healthcare and education system for their community also benefited dwellers around them as it become open to them.

The lectures today were incredibly informative. Both were essentially history lessons, but it was incredible to discover how interconnected the world is. In world history courses we never learn how global events such as wars, economic collapse or persecution are completely interrelated. We were never taught to think that way. However, after WWII, Italians emigrated to Argentina to find a new start and move away from the destruction. The Jews of Eastern Europe escaped vicious anti-Semitic tendencies and violent pogroms by immigrating to this South American nation.

I feel our education is cut short in the United States and it continues to be blanketed by the media. We learn very little about how our world works, which can only become increasingly dangerous as globalization brings us ever closer; advancing our global community through the 21st Century. Despite our nation´s desire to improve international relations, we continue to ignore information that is out there.

For dinner some students and I ate some empanadas and pizza. We ordered the empanadas at Solo Empanadas, a food chain in Argentina. I had chicken empanadas and ham and cheese empanadas. It was great!

Along with our schedule for each day that is arranged by our professors we have an obligation to do journal entries each day in Argentina. We did not have a journal entry for today but all our journal entries that we have written thus far were due at 9PM tonight. And then the fun begins! Actually it started before because almost everyone had handed in their journals in by 7:30pm. Ah! What good students we are :)

Now to skip to the night life…

The Argentinian night life is incredible. Very much like going out in Barcelona, the festivities do not begin until 1AM. When I say 1AM, I mean the clubs open up at that time. People don’t actually start showing up until 2-3AM. The club we went to was called Asia. Once you pay the 40 peso cover charge ($15.00) you enter into a club that shares an environment not much different from the clubs found in any major city. Walking into almost complete darkness shaded by strobes of green, red and white light (a veritable dancing Italian flag), the atmosphere of Asia is filled with the pumping beat of American pop, rock and techno.

January 11, 2007

Maria Gonzales and Jamie Sherman

...Our First Trip to CEMLA, the Plaza de Mayo, and a Visit to a Milonga...

Today we all met early in the morning and trundled off to CEMLA for a lecture by Alicia Bernasconi on Italian immigration, mostly focusing on its history and the reasons Italians left their homeland for Argentina. We learned about the government´s population policies during different eras (e.g. the periods when immigration was almost completely unrestricted vs. those that were completely government controlled), as well as the ideologies behind restrictions and immigration patterns. After this, some of us returned to the hotel for some extra rest, while the rest of us searched for lunch. Of course, we stumbled upon more restaurants with excellent empanadas, which seem to have become a staple of our diets here.

After this, we walked to the Plaza de Mayo (which is not a short one, to be sure), and observed the weekly march of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo (Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo), who march every Thursday with photos of their family members who were of the desaparecidos (the disappeared) during the Dirty War. After this, we returned to the hotel to get ready for tango lessons. After a bit of trouble finding the milonga (tango bar) where we had made reservations, we entered the crowded bar and had a wonderful time learning the basic steps of Argentine tango. Of course we worked up an appetite, so we hit a steak house on the way back, where Carla mis-translated and ordered me (Jamie) kidney. That’s right. Kidney. After I turned very red with embarrassment and some laughter from the waiter, we sorted it out and I got the most amazing steak I have ever tasted. Everyone enjoyed their meal, and we ended the day with a cab ride back to the hotel and some much-needed rest.

The most poignant part of the day, by far, was the march of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. These elderly women, some of which have a hard time walking in general, don their white headscarves and, as they’ve done faithfully for 30 years, march around the statue in the middle of the Plaza de Mayo. Even after so many years, they still talk with each other and ask questions about their disappeared loved ones. They hold banners, pickets, and sometimes even just hang the photos around their necks as they trek around the plaza, and in each of their eyes we saw a distant but very much unforgotten sadness. It brought a solemnity down on all of us watching…although it was irritating to watch some of the tourists running up in the old women’s faces and photographing or videotaping them. It is true that publicity is what keeps their cause going and what keeps their hope alive, but it’s hard to see how this annoyance doesn’t really phase them.

In a close second came the trip to the milonga to learn to tango. It was really quite an experience, and since girls outnumber boys on this trip, some of us danced with Argentine men and really got a cultural experience with those who knew how to dance already. It was interesting, but very crowded, so a few of us plan to return for intermediate lessons so we can learn more and show off our skills.

January 10, 2007

Chelsea Boska and Vladimir Alexandre

Trip To Ranelagh

This morning it was the first time that it rained for real here in Buenos Aires since we got here. It cooled down for a bit, which was a pleasant change. We were supposed to go for a walking tour in Ranelagh, but instead we went to our tourguide´s house and listened to her lecture on the history of the British neighborhood and British assimilation. Her house was beautiful, and it was interesting to look around at when she talked, because it was a traditional house. Her lecture was very interesting to listen to, because it told about how the British settled in Ranelagh, and how the Argetntinians accepted them into society. What was particulary interesting was how they assimilated, and kept their Britishness, while still being recognized as Argentinians. Though they spoke spanish outside the home, they preserved their Britishness by teaching their children, and retaining english schooling and clubs, etc. Argentina allowed this, because they respected the fact of maintaining identity within groups, and they were a significant group. It was surprising that the support for the British even strengthened after the Malvinas war, because the Argentinians recognized all of their citizens as Argentine, despite where they came from, and supported the British Argentine citizens, seeing they supported Argentina over their roots. The houses were also fascinating in themselves, seeing as they were passed down from generation to generation, and though one would think all of them would be modeled after English architecture, many were actually modeled after Spanish styles.

After the lecture we went to lunch at the golf club, where we ate a full course meal. The food was good, with the traditional breads at the beginning of the meal, and fantas, cokes, and water to drink. People got an egg dish or crepes for an appetizer, and chicken, pasta, or steak for a main course, and most people got icecream or fruit for dessert. It was nice to eat in the club, overlooking the vast golf course, and have further conversation with everyone together.

After that we were supposed to look at some traditional chalets, but instead we headed back to the hotel.Upon getting back to the hotel, some people went swimming at a public pool. This pool was enormous, with actually more than one, with waterslides, and including a children´s park, tennis courts, and a workout center. It was gorgeous, with tons of trees and lawns. For a public pool, it was very clean, with a body inspection required before you could get in the pool. The water was very shallow, which is not like American pools, and it was hard to see lifeguards, if there were any. IT was a good experience to go to in order to compare and contrast to American pools, because it ended up being very different.

At night a group of us went out to pizza down the street from the hotel. Pizza is very different here, with less sauce and a variety of cheeses, and olives on all of them. They are also extremely cheap. We learned what it is like to be American in another countrty when we realized how much louder we are than everyone else. After some people went to get dessert, and some just went back to the hotel.Today was a day of a bunch of different experiences, which taught us about Argentinian culture in the past and in today. It also exposed the difference between our two cultures, and sort of put out there what it is like to be an American in Argentina.

January 9, 2007

Carla Emanuele and Harmony Dougher

La Estancia! Y muchos bugs! -- Our visit to an Estancia

We went as a group at around 9:30 am to leave on a bus trip to visit an estancia. The trip was about two hours long but it wasn’t bad. It was interesting to watch our surroundings change from city into a more rural setting and wide fields as we drove further away from Buenos Aires.

The many fields had cattle or horses grazing and the grass was high. The trees were tall and very spread out. The fields seemed dry but occasionally you could note a small stream running through them.

Once we reached the estancia, the driver had to get out to open the gate before we could drive in. The road leading into the estancia was long, we assume to provide some sort of protection to the property. We were given a tour of the house, which dated back to the 1800s and the early 1900s. We saw all of the insides of the houses and the outside and were given a more detailed description of different rooms. The woman told us about their collection of 50,000 books and stacks of newspapers dating back to the early 1800s. She also showed us the kitchen and different bedrooms. The house had a rustic look. It was dark and cold on the inside compared to the hot and muggy outside. The woman told us about the different people who came and studied from different universities, such as Princeton and Harvard and used their library for research.

After the tour, we were given some free time while the woman and her family prepared lunch. We split up and walked either to the pool or to the van, to avoid the massive attack of insects. We were all surprised at how clean the pool actually was and had a lot of fun playing games, joking around and sun-bathing. We were served lunch at 1pm which began with empanadas, followed by salad and vegetables and finally, a variety of meats. Dessert was a custard-flan type of thing complimented by a chocolate sauce served in hand-made bowls.

After the estancia, we drove to a church-the Basilica of the Virgin of Luján, the patron saint of Argentina. the basilica is very large and gorgeous on the inside, although teh virgin herslef is only 2 feet tall. There was plenty to see, and plenty to buy right outside. There is an endless row of street vendors, dressed in lab coats for some reason.

After the church, we split up and had dinner at different places. One group went to the shopping center on Florida Ave, while another had dinner at a nice Peruvian restaurant. Another group had dinner at a little café behind the hotel and it was a hilarious experience. Let’s just say, bad ravioli and bad drinks but a lot of laughter. All in all it was a good day. Very hot and full of bites, but entertaining and very informative. The pool was also a nice touch for those of us that went!

January 8, 2007

Jamin Patel and Paul Barker

...McDonald´s and the Brits...

Starting the morning without any assigned obligations this morning, we woke up at our own time and ate breakfast at the hotel. Getting into a group of seven, Josh, Jamin, Paul, Harmony, Lara, Gabbie, and Linsey, all decided to explore the streets and head over to Florida Avenue, a major tourist shopping and street show attraction. We stopped at a number of different stores admiring the leather work and different styles. The most fascinating store was Ashanti leathers, which had everything from bags and wallets to belts and jackets. The materials were specialized such as antalope, lamb skin, and Pinchoeo, a native animal of Argentina. We spoke to one of the sales representatives, Fernando, whom we spoke about our trip and the purpose to study immigration and assimilation of the British, Italian, and Jewish people. Fernanado in addition to our description spoke about how he is half Indian through this maternal side and half Portugese through his paternal size.

Realizing how much more immigration was present on top of our focused research was very interesting. But finally realizing how much money we could spend at the store and the fact that we were all college students we decided to walk back to the IES building a few blocks from our hotel. At IES we checked our mail and did other things on the computer until it was time for our lecture to begin.

At two p.m. our lecture started with Professor Klaus Gallo who spoke about the British. Gallo spoke about how the British were necessary to Argentina and focused on the hardships Argentina faced when the British rule ended. A lot of the sports that came from the British such as soccer, tennis, golf, and rugby, helped Argentina unite as a country as their own teams developed with more and more Argentinian players rather than British players. The economic success of Argentina came from the British trade and protection. Since British capital was a desired necessity to become an industrialized society, Argentina was kept out of war to provide the British with food and goods, allowing Argentina to industrialize and mancufacutre things like refrigerators, washing machines, and railroads.

After the IES lecture with Prof Gallo, we went back to the hotel where we made plans to eat dinner later that night. Our group decided to eat dinner at a McDonald´s whereas the other group decided to go to the Kosher McDonald´s in Once. The students that went to the Kosher McDonald´s thought it was rather awkward food because of the lack of cheese and absence of chicken nuggets. Also the group obeserved a greater number of orthadox Jewish customers and were surprised how many actually came to the McDonald´s. We wondered why the US has never established one. The regular McDonald´s on Flordia Avenue shocked us when we saw the decor, service, and quantity of the food. We were amazed how the fast food restaurant in the States differed so much; this one was more of a sit down causual restuarant than a fast food place. Leaving from the McDonald´s we headed back to the hotel at approximately 12 am and called it an early night.

January 7, 2007

Gabbie Haenn and Claire Horvath

Our First Sunday in Buenos Aires...

On Sunday we had nothing specific scheduled for our group. Many of us decided to go to the Flea Market at San Telmo, a common place for many Porteños to do on a Sunday (since most other places are closed). We did not go as a big group, but most of the class ended up there at some point in the day.

I went in a group with Josh, Jamin, Lindsay, Harmony, Paul and mysel to the market. First we decided to walk around Florida Street which is the main shopping area near our hotel. It is a very long road that is closed to cars and contains many shops geared toward both tourists and Argentineans. There are places to buy touristy items such as wool and cashmere sweaters, leather, and postcards. Most of the shops we went into had at least one if not more salespersons who spoke english to us.

After we got an idea of the things we might like to buy later on in the trip we found a subway station, called el Subte here, to take us to San Telmo for the market. This was my first time navigating el Subte and I was pleasently surprised at how easy and cheap it was to use. Each stop is listed on an electronic scroll inside the train car so you always know when you need to get off the train.

When we arrived at the station near San Telmo we encountered some interesting trees that all of us stopped to admire and photograph. They are sometimes called los borrachos (the drunks) because their trunks are swollen at the bottom and they bend in such a way that they look like drunks with stomaches full of beer. Our IES guide Sebastian told me earlier in the trip that they explained the origin of fish. The myth goes that all the fish in the world were contained in the trees (which are full of water) and that one day a man cut down a tree and all the fish spilled out onto the Earth.

Back to San Telmo... We finally arrived at the market where the streets were lined with people, vendors, and entertainment. The streets were closed off and then a central square held many stands selling antiques. Art, food, and clothes were also being sold.

After wandering around for a bit we all decided to get some food. We found a small store that sold only pizza, tortas, and empanadas. We ordered empanadas that were muy ricos (very tasty). These empanadas were of cheese and onion, beef, or chicken. We walked back to el subte while stuffing our faces.

When we arrived back at the hotel everyone went their own ways. Some people wrote emails, others rested, and others wrote in their journals. Josh and I decided to go for a 30 minute run. Our 30 minute run turned into about an hour of twisting and turning through the streets of el micro centro, the area around our hotel. On our run there were three significant things we learned about the city: 1. Men have no shame about looking at women when they pass and are often rude about it (by my American standard). 2. Josh’s red/orange hair attracted the most attention of all. (Two people called out to him about it). 3. If you go running in a city that you do not know well you should always run in a circle… or leave some breadcrumbs.

When we finally returned to the hotel, sufficiently tired and sweaty from the humidity, we had to go straight upstairs to get ready for dinner at a nice restaurant called El Marisol (the sunflower). We had planned on going to another restaurant at first that some of our group had passed earlier that day, but were unable to find it again. El Marisol was suggested, and we put in our reservations. There were a number of us, about 15 or so, and we had a 45 minute wait before a table could be ready. We walked about 5 blocks over to a common park to pass the time. Another useful fact about Argentina: parks are the place to go with your significant other if you want… well, not exactly privacy, but there is apparently an unspoken rule that you steer clear of shadowy forms on the grass at night.

We arrived at the park, found that it was nearly time for our reservations to be up, and hiked back to the restaurant. Since we had been planning on going someplace different to begin with, some of us were a little underdressed--the place was pretty classy. The staff ushered upstairs to the higher level, which consisted of a table of about 6 elderly people, and us--the hoard of loud American teenagers.

We found out pretty quickly that the food was going to be expensive, but it looked quite delicious as well. Some of us shared meals, while others decided to indulge and go all out. The food WAS delicious, but…the experience itself was kind of odd. For example, there were at least two waiters hovering around our massive table the entire time, and we stayed for at least an hour and a half. From what we could see, none of the other tables got this kind of attention, though the only other group there with us left within a half hour, leaving us to (basically) our own devices. The staff was quite attentive, which was… nice, though it worked against our plans of not spending oodles of money. The second someone emptied their water glass, they would instantly come over and refill our glasses for us, opening bottle upon bottle of water- not looking so good for our bill. They also cut up some of our food for us, a service that was not really necessary, but was a good depiction of what kind of service they were giving us, or perhaps the size of the tip they were expecting. This seems to be a common trend in Argentina- once the restaurant finds out that we are American, theyll either treat you practically like royalty, or give you the worst service of your life. Fortunately this was the former kind, and a delicious meal was had by nearly all who went.

Funny quote of the evening:
Gabbie: “Paul, Im giving you tango eyes. Theyre coming from my chicken.”

January 6, 2007

Lisa Apple and Lindsay Sabatino

Tour around the city of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is one province out of twenty-three in Argentina, and the city of Buenos Aires is in the province, but not the capital (see the comment for explanation). The northern part of the city is more upscale and has a lot of European influence, which can be seen through the architecture of the buildings. The southern part of the city is more closely linked to immigration. Touring the city gave us a good chance to become acquainted with it, learn were places are located, and learn the history about it. We were able to witness how each immigrant group impacted the city shaping it to the way it is today. Palermo is the first section we saw. The biggest park in Buenos Aires is located in this section. There were a lot of people running on the streets, which is not common in the area we are staying. The elite also tend to live in this area.

Belgrano is a section that the British gradually took over following their failed attempts tried to take over the country in 1806 and then again in 1807. The first English settlers were the liberated prisoners from the invasion, but now this is a very upscale area. The buildings of a mixture of styles including Tudor houses from the English influence. The side roads are made of laid bricks and stones. The people we originally lived in this area have now moved to wealthy private districts or back to England.

Once is a more Jewish (from Eastern Europe) section of the city. This is more of a commercial district. The Jewish people now do not necessarily run the business, but instead own the buildings. Yiddish is spoken in this area.

The downtown area of BA is also very commercialized and inspired by Paris. We stopped at Plaza de Mayo and walked around for a while. The buildings around this area are the Cabildo, or the Old City Hall, and Metropolitan Cathedral. The Metropolitan Cathedral contains 5 side alters and 1 main alter. Protests take place in front of Casa Rosada, including the Madres de las Plaza de Mayo.

We headed to La Boca next. This is mainly an Italian section. We were able to walk around this area as well. The tenement houses in this area were not supplied for the Italian immigrants but they had to build them. They are very colorful because they painted the houses with left over paint from the boats. They used only what they could. During the time of exploring the streets of the area people could hear music blasting from stores and playing from the streets. There was also Tango being danced in the streets. Things were being sold on the streets as well, such as paintings of the city, clothes, or jewelry. Italian flags were also hung everywhere through out this section. People are very proud to live in this section. They paint pictures on buildings to depict important events in their history.

After lunch we visited two very different art museums both in La Boca. The first, the Quinquela Martin museum, has art from both Martin and other La Boca artists. The art displayed ranged from portraits, landscapes, scenes of La Boca, sculptures, and art by modern artists who had won a competition.

Martin´s art, displayed mainly in the upper floor of the museum (in the same space where Martin used to live and work), reflects the harsh realities of life working in the port at La Boca. Many of his paintings depicted a working scene where brightly colored boats and dark, faceless workers stood out against a backdrop of the water and the often dark sky. Interestingly, some of Martin´s art also had spiritual and religious tones. Three paintings in particular (which were displayed near one another in the museum) reflected this theme. “Annunciacion” (which showed sunlight streaming through a parting in clouds as a sailor looked out at the port), “Ternura Espiritual” (depicting a sort of boat graveyard and a weeping willow draped over a deteriorating boat), and “Reencarnacion” (a painting of flowers growing inside a boat full of holes).

After spending time in that museum we went to another. In this museum (which is actually the home of the artist Celia Chevalier) we had the opportunity to speak with Chevalier and she explained the thought process behind many of her paintings. She told us that she paints Argentina the way it looked when she was a child. Specifically, she paints the Argentina she remembers from the summer of 1952. Chevalier explained that she chose that date because historians consider that the year Argentine society began to decline. She paints to help preserve the society she knew. Chevalier pointed out to us several interesting details about her paintings. For example, the red car that appears in each one of her paintings. She told us that her family had this car until she was nine (when it was sold) and that by including the car in each one of the paintings it strings the paintings together and makes each painting part of her journey through Argentina.

After we finished speaking with Celia Chevalier we left La Boca and returned to the hotel.

January 5, 2007

Seth Gorenstein and Brian Kelly

Our First day in Buenos Aires

In the morning, after waking up early for breakfast, we visited AMIA, the Jewish aid organization. There we learned about the difficulties the Jewish community faced in Buenos Aires. We also explored the neighborhood around AMIA while waiting for our appointment. After being shown around AMIA, we returned to the hotel, and found a place to change our money. We went to a small cafe around the corner from the hotel for lunch, and then returned to our rooms to settle in. Later in the afternoon, we went to IES for an orientation. It covered general policies, the trip itinerary, and the cell phones everyone on the trip had to buy. That night, we split up for dinner. One group of people went to a steakhouse in the neighborhood Palermo Hollywood, and another to a pizza restaurant a few blocks from the hotel, while my group ate at a cafe a block from the hotel, near a park. After dinner, we went back to the hotel to continue settling into our rooms and to get ready for another full day. - Brian

Simply entering AMIA was an experience in itself. First, all of our passports were confiscated by Professor Ortuzar-Young per inspection by AMIA security. We then waited alongside the building as we were admitted one at a time. Security was stringent...I noticed white road barriars flanked the building´s entrance. My request for a photo of the building was denied by one of the two armed guards. A man with a ear piece waited stoicly and admitted one of us every few minutes. And watching each of the Drew students disappear into the unassuming building only upped the level of anxiety. Once I was finally admitted, I went through a metal detector, and then entered the complex´s open foyer. Despite Buenos Aires´ vocal and prominent Jewish community, the amount of security at AMIA made sense because of the deadly 1994 bombing that wiped out the original complex and claimed 88 lives. To stand in the beautiful new complex and to experience the tight security firsthand made me feel the aftershocks of the bombing--something that I had only read before--much more real. - Seth

January 3-January 4, 2007

Jeremy Tang and Joel Santana

And so it begins

Airports are funny places. As all of you know, the recent airport scares tracing back to the events of 9/11 have caused airport security to become drastically more stringent when it comes to security. For those who travel internationally, you know that you should arrive at the airport a good three to four hours before the flight is meant to leave, because checking baggage into the airport is one of the biggest airport pains. So naturally, these are the annoyance I expected to greet me at the airport on my ride to JFK – too bad life is rarely that simple.

We have all been waiting for this event the entire semester and the day had finally arrived for us to leave for our DIS in Buenos Aires. On January 3rd, 22 of us (professors included) headed to JFK International Airport, and we planned to meet past the security checkpoint at 7:00 PM. The flight itself would leave at 10 PM that night, we would sleep on the plane finally wake up refreshed in Buenos Aires at 10 AM Buenos Aires time (for those who don’t know BA is 2 hours head of EST, so it was a 10 hour flight). Our buddy, Murphy’s Law, decided to have other plans for us.

For those who don’t know the concept of Murphy’s Law or just want to be reminded of what it is, it’s the concept and idea that everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Now I’m not a pessimist or even believe that Murphy’s Law can be applied to everything in our lives, but we all got a fun dose of its treatment on the 3rd day of the new year whether we wanted it or not.

After a small personal debacle, I arrive at the airport at 7:03, which is not terrible considering that I was not the last one to arrive at the airport and Sandra (our professor) was stuck in New York traffic. As I was waiting in line, I noticed some familiar faces and started to observe why I was moving one space perhaps ever 10 minutes. American Airlines was heavily understaffed (there apparently was also a downstairs check in that some of us were at but were scooted upstairs to the other painfully slow line), and for some reason no one had the urge to open up another check in counter or two. I wasn’t going to let Murphy ruin what I’ve been waiting for the entire semester, so I just dealt with the slow line. About 30 minutes of waiting, I get a nice phone call from Chelsea, who had been near the front of the line, and the transcript of the conversation went something like this:

Chelsea: Hey guess what?
Jeremy: Hey, I don’t know, what?
Chelsea: Well our plane is delayed until tomorrow morning…8:30 AM.
Jeremy: This is a joke right?
Chelsea: Nope no joke, I’m being serious.
Jeremy: If this is a joke, this is a really bad one, like the one where I will kill someone bad.
Chelsea: Well we [Chelsea, Lisa, and Joel] are calling people and telling them. Check your bags in though just so you don’t have to go through with it tomorrow. Bye

Murphy 1, us 0

I turn to Cristal, who was a good line behind me.
Jeremy: So uh, Cristal…our plane is delayed…
Cristal: Oh no…until what time?
Jeremy: Until 8.
Cristal: But that’s in an hour and our flight leaves at 10 I thought.
Jeremy: I know. I meant 8 AM.
Cristal: WHAT!?!?!?!
Guy Behind her in line with Spanish Accent: Excuse me, what’s been delayed?
Jeremy: The flight to Buenos Aires.
Guy: But I just checked the flights before I got here.
Jeremy: Well, I’m not sure if my friends are joking…
Guy: This is not a very good joke.
Jeremy: I know.
Guy leaves and comes back about 2 minutes later: You are right…this is ridiculous.

Nothing spreads faster than bad news. Within minutes, the word had spread that the plane had been delayed and needless to say there were a lot of mad people. A man at the front was arguing with the check in counter and you could hear snip bits of the conversation that included:

Man: UNBELIEVABLE!
Check in Lady: Sir, calm down, I’m doing the best I can…
Man: WELL AMERICAN AIRLINES SUCKS! CAN´T YOU WORK ANY FASTER!
Lady: I will not take that tone and attitude from you sir!
Man: I WANT TO SPEAK TO YOUR SUPERVISOR!
Lady: If you talk like this, I’m sure he won’t want to see you!
Man: I WON’T FLY AMERICAN AIRLINES AGAIN!
Lady: That’s fine, you can take your business elsewhere. I don’t think we’d mind losing a customer like you!
Man: HOW SLOW ARE YOU WORKING!
Lady: If you yell at me anymore I will work slower!
Man: WELL YOU’RE DOING A GOOD JOB!

Now the man’s wife was trying to calm him down but of course he’s a guy and he would never give into a situation like this. He’s the customer and he’s always right in these situations. Gotta love America. So on top of this, we’re down one more check in person on the already painful line.

Murphy 2, us 0.

So I let Cristal cut me and after a bit of time we finally get to the front and make our way to the teller only to have her walk out on us because she was being summoned to work at the check in counter across the way at the other American Airlines desk.

Murphy 3, us 0.

We finally check in our bags and the check in lady was extremely nice and helpful to us. She even reminds us that we need our pj’s and toothbrush from our luggage bag which we take out (I think I need to point out that Cristal has 2 luggage bags: one for shoes and the other for her clothes and she needs to sit on her luggage to close it). She gave us our food vouchers and told us to wait by a group of people to get our hotel vouchers.

Murphy 3, us 1. Ha, what now! Murphy doesn’t like it when we have some spark of hope…he makes us pay.

We get yelled at for pressuring the guy who’s giving out the vouchers, which is slower and more painful than waiting for check in. (In his defense, he also had to deal with the man from above and a good handful of irate customers who wanted to place him on a stake and burn him without a moments notice.) Cristal and I decide to run and meet the rest of the group because they said we didn’t need the hotel vouchers and were waiting for us (they are in terminal 8, we were in terminal 9 so it was a walk.)

What the heck, I’ll give Murphy a point here for deception so Murphy 4, us 1.

We were the last ones to join our group (we were greeted by sarcastic applause but I understand) and we went to the food court. (I learned that Josh and Gabby decided to go to Josh’s home in NYC and rest for the night there; the rest of us are not as fortunate and must rough it out in the airport.) So the food court was about to close anyways which means that there is barely any food available. We pick what we want (there were debacles about food vouchers, but it was all sorted out in the end. Apparently the food court doesn’t like vouchers too much and will do anything in its path to ensure that we get as little benefits as possible from our vouchers), and after we were finished, we went back to terminal 9 to get to our hotel. Now we had to travel on the monorail system over one stop to get to hotel shuttles (called the Jamaican Rail). Sandra decided to call the hotels (we couldn’t find the shuttles at first), and honestly we were growing impatient and were willing to sleep at the airport. Luckily Sandra called the hotel because American Airlines had overbooked the hotel and there were no more rooms available.

Murphy 5, us 1.

Now another hotel made a deal with us: If we go back to the check in counter and get new vouchers, we can squeeze into their hotel. (It’s around 11 or 12 at this point for those of you are interested.) Good deal right? We get back onto the Jamaican Rail system. Now you think one stop over and we’re there right? Yeah you guessed it.

Murphy 6, us 1.

If you don’t know JFK really well, I’ll summarize its layout. It’s a huge international airport with 9 terminals all looped around a center. Now this creates a circle for those who have trouble envisioning this, and the Jamaican Rail system also moves in a circle…but in a one way direction. So we have to go through about 7 or 8 stops before we finally reach the terminal (terminal 8 and 9 share a station), walk back to terminal 8 and finally make it back to the ticket counter. We get our new vouchers and American Airlines tells us that there will be a shuttle to pick us up right at the entrance closest to us in 10 minutes.

Murphy 6, us 2. You remember what I said about Murphy being a sore winner?

We wait outside, and it’s kind of chilly out, around 50 degrees or slightly higher (really warm for us around this time of the year). We talk and some of us move inside to where it’s warm. We talk some more, laugh about how this will be a fun little memory to tell our friends later, and see the same limousine pass by us about 10 times…. Wait a sec… We check our watches and it is almost 1 AM in the morning.

Murphy 7, us 2.

During this time, Sandra has been going back to the ticket counter and asking what’s going on and the lady assured her that the shuttle was coming. Boy, were we gullible. Sandra called the Ramada Inn (our false savior) and it turns out that they have no idea what we’re talking about when we said that a shuttle was supposed to come pick us up. Their reasoning: they had no more rooms in their hotel, so why would they bother sending a shuttle? Logical, yes. Were we happy…of course not. From that point on a few things happened pretty quickly and they happened like this in particular order.

Sandra was yelling at the check in lady and her supervisor to find us hotels to sleep in (there were hotels available, and they would take our vouchers with an extra $200 on top of it, like the Marriot, but we’re college students and money is something we like to keep), and we were not allowed to sleep in the airport (again we’re college students, we’d sleep anywhere but they just wouldn’t let us). Now we were not the only victims of this fiscal. There was an elderly couple who was suffering every moment with us and was just as mad as we were. Have you ever been to NYC and seen one of those crazy guys on the corner warning you that the world will end any time soon? Well the wife of the couple decided to jump on top of the counter and make a show as she displayed her anger her audience: the 20 of us, the check in lady and her supervisor, and various arcade machines strewed along the terminal. Afterwards, she came to us and preach to us and here is some things she said.

Lady: AMERICAN AIRLINES LIES TO YOU! THERE IS NO SHUTTLE COMING! THEY WANT TO JUST SHUT US UP SO WE WON’T CREATE A SCENE!
Us (at least in our heads): Yeah we know…leave us alone…we’re tired
Lady: AMERICAN AIRLINES IS A BAD COMPANY!! I’M GOING TO SUE THEM!

Now what makes matters interesting is that the check in lady decided to call the cops and they strolled on by to see what was going on. The lady decided to inform them about our situation.

Lady: AMERICAN AIRELINES IS HORRIBLE!
Police: I can’t do anything about it. They’re not breaking the law, but you can write a complaint about it.
Lady: I HATE AMERICAN AIRLINES!
Police: Madam, if you don't calm down and stop jumping on counters, I'm going to have to arrest you. You can complain on this side of the counter.
Husband of Lady: Well at least there are beds in jail...

Nothing terribly interesting transpired, but Maria decided to throw in her two cents into conversation (in her defense she tried to make the situation clear), and eventually it became an argument between people and the cops were not too happy with us. We finally manage to get some rooms at the Ramada Inn somehow, just to show their good will, they send a shuttle, which actually came.

Murphy 7, us 3. Yes we got a spark of hope again!

Unfortunately there was only room for about 8 of us, we some of us volunteered to go stay behind and let the others go (I’d like to spend this moment to note that every guy and I mean all 8 of us volunteered to stay behind despite our disgruntled attitudes, and 8 girls happily ran to the shuttle.) As we were waiting for the shuttle to return, we find out some more news. There were no more rooms at the Ramada and we needed to find another hotel.

Murphy 8, us 3.

After some talking, the Fairfield Inn finally agreed to take us and the rest of us hopped into the shuttle when it arrived. Now it was the rest of us and then there was a poor woman in the corner (I’m pretty sure she worked for the inn and just was there to make sure the driver didn’t get hurt on the way back or something). We finally get our rooms and at 2:30 AM. We probably went to sleep within 15 minutes of that and all was well. We got a wonderful wake up call at 6:00 AM, meaning we got about 3 hours of sleep and trudged on over to the lobby, where we proceeded to raid all of the breakfast foods we could (hey they were free, we’re college kids, you get the picture), and get onto the shuttle to JFK.

Murphy 9 for the 3 hours of sleep, us 3.

We get to the airport and smile as we don’t have to check in our bags. We march on over to the security check point at terminal 8 and get through without much trouble. Now you would think we were out of the woods. The gate is right there, the plane was going to leave in less than an hour. Nah, that would be too nice. Maria ended up getting caught up in security and Sandra asked a guard who told us we were in the wrong terminal. Sandra decided to wait for Maria as the rest of us marched on out of the terminal and made our way back to terminal 9. Harmony gets a call from Josh and asks where we are. Harmony said that our flight is at terminal 9, Josh begged to differ. Apparently he was in terminal 8, at the gate, and they were boarding.

Murphy 10, us 3.

We had to go through security again and managed to get through quicker than we thought, and found the rest of our group. We managed to get onto the airplane, and 10 hours later, we were in Buenos Aires, starving and tired. We managed to survive the taxi ride to the hotel and before we knew we were finally checked in. Despite our fatigue of traveling, our stomachs demanded food, so we traveled to the corner and ate at the Plaza Café where most of us tried our first Argentine beer (meal and drinks courtesy of Sandra). We finally settled in after our long day and wished for the best (see I told you I wasn’t a pessimist.) Maybe some of the other blogs will show whether or not Murphy followed us around.