Yes, you have read right, it seems the never-ending story finally terminated. After not having heard anything from the university’s exchange coordinator for international relations during nearly two months, I was slightly running out of time as my tourist visa only allowed me to stay 90 days. So I went again to the international relations office to personally see the exchange coordinators and explained them I would become illegal in the next couple of days. Magically they were just about to finish the missing documents needed and then told me I should go to Mar del Plata the next day, city where the “oficina de migraciones” would finalize my visa application. I wasn’t quite prepared to that, but being spontaneous is kind of essential when living in Argentina, so the next morning I took the “colectivo” to Mar del Plata, which costs 50 Argentine pesos (I eventually received my student’s certificate and now get 20% reduction on nearly every price concerning travels through Argentina) and takes two and a half hours for the trip (this time can be used, for instance, to catch up on sleep, since the omnibuses are extremely comfortable – by the way, Latin America’s bus system is really a plus compared to Europe, much more flexible and offering a very dense network).

In Mar del Plata we (I went together with a Brazilian guy) took a “remis” to the migration’s office and stayed there for about 5 hours, of course all the time mostly waiting for nothing to happen. But at the end everything seemed to be ok and after having paid the 600 pesos I received my student’s visa, allowing me to stay 90 days more here in this amazing country Continue reading →

Last week was probably one of the most awesome ones in my student’s life: the annual event “las olimpiadas interfacultades”, where all the different faculties of the UNICEN meet in Tandil to determine who is THE BEST – by competing against each other in many different sports: among others football, volleyball, basketball, rugby, chess and a cross country. My faculty “Facultad de Ciencias Exactas” had won the 4 past events in a row, so there was no other possible goal than going for the fifth victory and show the world that the “teclas” (Spanish word for your keys on a keyboard or mobile, but rather used like “nerd”) are in fact really good athletes

During 4 days (when we obviously again didn’t have classes) both the women’s (las turulecas) and the men’s teams (los gallitos) fought to the death, supported by an incredibly loud crowd making a way better atmosphere than the “Eintracht Frankfurt Ultras” And finally, after some dramatic matches where we almost always had the better end on our side, we can call ourselves again the Champions of the Games, sending the “Facultad de Económica” (los leones eternos subcampeones) again to the second place! Continue reading →

So unlike the title could suggest, until now everything is fine for me. I really enjoy to be here and get quite used to the everyday life and how all things work. Beyond that, all the guys I have met (especially my pension mates) are amazingly friendly and helpful, I think we’re having a lot fun The only thing where we definitely will never agree with each other is the question on how to drink red wine: they seriously cool it down with lots of ice cubes and dilute it with sparkling water. But on the other hand I must admit that they really know how to prepare the food, especially everything that has to do with “carne”, e.g. the “asado”, national dish of Argentina (and with the preparation considered to be an art), which we eat nearly every week-end (no meat in Europe can be compared to that!).

Regarding the main reason why I am here, everything is going very well. Even if everything is taught in “castellano”, I understand most of the topics during class (mainly because the professors tend to explain everything slowly and in a very clear way). And the practical exercises (mainly written format) have not been that hard until now. So it is working much better than expected. Furthermore, the professors and assistants are really open and friendly to me and already offered me their help and particular courses if some day I need it or have any questions. I think they’re somehow interested in the rather exotic student attending their classes , and want to know everything about the high school system in Germany and the topics I have already taken there. The same holds for my classmates. Nevertheless, last week a quite impressive event happened at the campus. Continue reading →