Universidad Blas Pascal

Monday, August 4

Since I slept late, I overslept! In any case, there was still time to get ready and to eat.  I went out to the shop right oustide of our house with Jero to buy my Red Bus card. Then we went out to the bus stop (also in front of the house-very convenient!) and got on the bus to Universidad Blas Pascal. Jero left me there, as he had to do some other things. 

I found the room I was supposed to be in, and I met Yasmin, a girl from Austria. She is studying Spanish at her university and came to Argentina to study abroad. Next came Elsa and Lucile, from France.  I spoke with them in french.  I was ecstatic that I'd have a chance to practice down here! Then Paola came in. She's from Monterrey Mexico like my mom! Then Valentin from France came a little late. Laura Salcedo and Rocio Ardizonni, staff of the Center for International Relations of UBP (CRI) started the orientation meeting and Edgar came in too (He's also from Mexico).  That's our little group.

After the orientation meeting, we took a campus tour.  It's a small university.  Here are pictures of the Green building, the Library, the Violet Building, The Red Building (Computer labs), The Residential Dorms and the Gym.

There are castles near the front of the school.  According to the story, the university was once a house of a very rich family. However, the daughter of the family had Polio and was bound to a wheelchair all the time. Since she couldn't go out to play, her father built her these castles and a bridge so that she could play.  It is said that the ghost of that little girl still plays among the castles at night. Oooooh!

Then we met our tutors, and we all ate together at a welcome lunch. Our tutors are university students both from UBP and the National University that are "employed" to be our guides and our friends. Yamil is a my tutor. He's a student at the National University. During the lunch, I couldn't find a common interest.  I hope he doesn't get tired of me. At this lunch I also got to meet a lot of exchange students that have already been here for a while.  A whole lot of them are from Quebec. More francophones! They tell me I look like a famous canadian singer. I also met Tatsuki, Keisuke, Yui and Kanna from Japan! And they speak very good Spanish! When I met them, I introduced myself with "Konnichiwa, watashi wa Marcos-des. Hajimemashite." (Hello, I am Marcos. Nice to meet you.) They were impressed and asked how I knew Japanese. I confessed that I watch a lot of anime, and we all connected!

Patio Olmos

Paseo del Buen Pastor

It was amazing to see all of these different cultures all connected  by the Spanish language. The French people also speak very good Spanish, although every now and then, they stress the wrong syllable. The Canadiens almost don't speak Spanish, they mainly speak French amongst themselves, and me since I look like that singer and I can speak French.

After the meal, we took a city tour.  We saw a lot of things from the bus, and we got off to visit the Cathedral in the middle of town. I want to visit Patio Olmos and Paseo del Buen Pastor, but more on that later.  We returned to UBP again, and from there, I used the wifi to try and contact my mom, my host mom, and Caro, my Argentine friend who was at Samford last semester. The wifi wasn't working for me, and my phone battery was dying, so I decided to go to the bus stop and try from home. Buses 12 and 15 can take me home for sure... and 15 just drove by... Oh well, I'll wait for 12.  wait... 12 is about to leave! I run down the street waving for it to wait for me. I get on and then it stops in front of the university!  oops. Oh well, now I know for future reference. Once I got home, I contacted home and talked with Caro. She was in town and wanted to meet me. So I got ready and went out to meet her...

The Cathedral

Inside