Winter 2007

Issue 3
Into the Ju
Jung
ngle:
le:
Navigating Nicaragua

Tunneling the
Bosporus
Inside
Buenos Aires
CONTENTS
F
FROM THE
P04
U
UNDERGROUND
Li d
Lindsay Trice
T unearths facts and arti-
facts, digging deep into the brewing
controversy involving one of Turkey’s
largest public works projects and a
historical archeological discovery.
P06 MUS
MUSIC
D
DJJ Curro Riera chats with Café Abroad
correspondent Jacqui Davis about life
behind the turntables in Seville.
GABORONE
G
P10 M
MEDICAL CLINIC
St
Steven Fr
Friedman returns to Botswana P08 F
FOOD
where the sophomore already has
been prescribed a double dose of Ordering a meal in a small restaurant
Ordering
O
Africa. Friedman visits remote villages along China’s storied Silk Road can be
and reflects on the partnership be- as much of an adventure as the sight-
tween the Hospital of the University seeing. As Sarah Markenson explains,
of Pennsylvania and its HIV/AIDS Chinese food takes on an entirely differ-
ent meaning in its native land.
health clinic in Botswana’s capital.

P09 F
FILM
B
BOSAWÁS
P12
B
BIOSPHERE RESERVE Po er up
Power p the DVD player and plug in
the popcorn maker for a little cinemato-
“I awoke k at 2 a.m. to shouting. A fer- graphic predeparture orientation cour-
de-lance, the deadliest snake in the tesy of Jamie Andrew.
western hemisphere, had slithered
into camp and one of the indigenous
guides had almost stepped on it,” COVER SHOT
writes Scott Travers, a University of Transportation into Bosawás, Nicaragua. With
Florida junior and aspiring herpetolo- the closest road miles away, traveling is done by
gist. If this sounds intense, wait ’til you river using large dugout canoes or “pipantes.”
hear about the crocodile. Here on the Rio Coco it is deep enough for the
“provero” or pole-man to take a break and
observe some of the scenery. Photograph by
Scott Travers.
SSTELLENBOSCH
P14 S
STUDY CENTER
Having led programs on five conti-
Pre-Departure Playlist
nents, Bradley Rink is well prepared
to set up a new study center in South
Africa. See Africa through Rink’s eyes
and experience his passion for the Music > Café Abroad
continent’s culture and spirit.
Popol Vuh – “Morning Sun” (Germany)
Pumice – “Eyebath” (New Zealand)
S
SOUTHERN Shonen Knife – “Jackalope” (Japan)
P15
P
C
CONE CAPITAL Neu! –“Hal logallo” (Germany)
Yura Yura Teikoku – “Soft Death” (Japan)
Gett some rest before you arrive; the
G
nightlife down here starts early and
ni Fela Kuti – “Go Show” (Nigeria)
ends earlier. Welcome to one of the
en
world’s hippest cities – the kissing
w
capital of South America. Café
ca
Abroad Team Buenos Aires offers to-
A
tal cultural immersion in 3,000 words.
ta
Lesson one: pucker up.
Le

2 Café Abroad InPrint Winter 2007

 www.cafeabroad.com

few staff members from last semester are now applying for jobs and
PUBLISHER
Mark Travers

MANAGING EDITOR
Dan Schwartzman
ART DIRECTOR
Adrian Antonio
STUDENT CONTRIBUTORS
Jamie Andrew, Maryland Institute of Art
Samantha Bradley, Central Michigan U.
Julie Jane Capel, North Park University
Jasmin Chang, Northwestern University
Jacqui Davis, Indiana University
Daniel Franken, Georgetown University
Steven Friedman, U. of Pennsylvania
Destiny Graber, University of Georgia
Nicole Katze, Wittenberg University
Dina Magaril, Middlebury College
Sarah Markenson, St. Louis University
Jessica Rettig, Georgetown University
Scott Travers, University of Florida
Lindsay Trice, Georgetown University
Abby Wambaugh, Long Island U.
Nicole Wong, UCLA
FACULTY CONTRIBUTOR
Bradley Rink, CIEE Stellenbosch
Café Abroad InPRINT is a student-
generated magazine distributed to 300
university abroad offices.
To receive InPRINT at your school, or to
request additional copies, email us at
inprint@cafeabroad.com.
A graduate programs and we’ve been asked to write letters of recommen-
dation. So far I’ve found this experience to be both fl attering and hum-
bling for two reasons. First, why would anyone want our opinion? Our publisher
isn’t old enough to rent a car. Second, why would anyone from an MBA program
want our opinion? We wouldn’t get accepted even if we cheated on the GREs.
Regardless, we were happy to oblige. We might as well help our friends suc-
ceed and go places in their young careers. By the same token, we’ve spent the
past year living vicariously through students’ adventures as budding world trav-
elers.
It’s always a little surprising when the phone rings and it’s someone from an
esteemed organization who’s called to hear our opinion. And it’s starting to
happen too frequently to shrug it off as a fluke. Still, at this point, we prefer to
be the ones doing the listening instead of the talking.
To this end, issue 3 marks the creation of InPRINT’s letters section, where
we’ve devoted an open forum for our readers to share their thoughts about any
aspect of the international education community. We’ve started this edition
with three upbeat comments, because, after all, our egos are fragile. But in the
future, we hope to inspire students and educators alike to voice a diversity of
opinions with Café Abroad. Email letters@cafeabroad.com.
“Behold I have set before thee an open door.” – Book of Revelation
Dan Schwartzman
managing editor
Letters letters@cafeabroad.com
Hey Dan, Dear Dan, Hi Dan,
Congratulations to you, Mark, and the rest of the Congratulations, guys! Your site looks great. This is a wonderful looking site - you have an
CA team. I was visiting a campus last week and saw You are making a useful contribution incredible team.
a big stack of Café Abroad displayed prominently! I to the field. I wish you continued success.
Congratulations,
also hear from my Italian colleagues that there are
five students helping with Perugia, Italy.
Regards,
Angel Cardec
In bocca al lupo, as we would say! Annagene Yucas, Ph.D. Associate Director
Director Office of International Studies
Best,
Study Abroad Office University of Central Florida
Mark Shreve University Center for International Studies
Associate Director of US Relations University of Pittsburgh
The Umbra Institute

Café Abroad welcomes student sub-

missions. Send stories and photographs Cartoons
to freelance@cafeabroad.com. Find
more detailed submission guidelines at
cafeabroad.com.

4 Bayshore Road
Long Beach Township
New Jersey 08008

www.cafeabroad.com

Advertise with Café Abroad

As a newsmagazine, online network

and city guide, Café Abroad is po-
sitioned as the next development in
study abroad. If you’re interested in
promoting your organization to the CARDINAL - By Abby Wambaugh
study abroad community, contact us Cartooning from New Zealand
at advertising@cafeabroad.com. DIRECTIONS
Join the global café of ideas.
© Café Abroad 2007
www.cafeabroad.com 3
 A Public Works Mission Impossible in Istanbul?
By Lindsay Trice
ne hundred and fifty years
O ago the Ottoman Sultan
Abdülmecid dreamt of an
underwater tunnel to link the European
and Anatolian sides of Istanbul, an
ambitious aspiration only now finally
being realized as “The Marmaray
Project.” Since it broke ground in
May 2004, this engineering marvel
has encountered every imaginable
challenge. Earthquake fears have called
for creative construction measures.
In 2005, the project unearthed the
remains of Portus Theodosiacus, the
4th century Byzantine port now being
called the archaeological find of the
century. Add a healthy dose of politics
to the mix, and it’s not hard to imagine
why the $3 billion project has been a
hotbed of controversy. With a current
estimated completion date of 2012,
two years behind schedule, it’s been
reported that the delays will cost the
city an added $1 million per day.
But the project plows forward –
a necessary endeavor to serve the
sprawling mega-city of 15 million
spanning Asia and Europe. Istanbul is a
crossroads of East and West, located on
the long-traveled path of the Bosporus
(also known as the Istanbul Strait),
which connects the Black Sea with
the Mediterranean Sea. The city has
grown up organically over thousands
of years, with new generations building
4 Café Abroad InPrint Winter 2007
layer-upon-layer over the history of
past empires. And Istanbul is growing:
an estimated 500 people per day
move from the country to the city.
Transportation methods cannot cope
with this volume, and are limited to an
aboveground tramway, a small subway
system, a vast network of public buses
and taxis, and a ferry system over the
Bosporus. With public transportation
overloaded during peak hours, most
people drive their own cars rather than
cram into crowded buses. The two
bridges that connect the European side
to the Anatolian side cannot handle this
traffic, and there is no room to build a
third bridge. The inevitable result is
bumper-to-bumper traffic, a veritable
free-for-all that ignores most traffic
laws and incites ample use of horns.
Auto exhaust floats into the air, settling
on and eroding ancient mosques and
palaces, and drivers, passengers and
pedestrians become increasingly
frustrated as they attempt to navigate
the city’s labyrinthine and sometimes
intensely vertical streets. The Marmaray
Project encompasses and embodies
the cynical hopes of Istanbulites for a
solution to the worsening problem.
Named for a combination of
“Marmara” (for the Sea of Marmara
located at the mouth of the strait) and
the Turkish word for rail, the Marmaray
Project includes plans to rebuild 37 new
rail stations above ground, construct
three new ones below ground, and link
all of this with 48 miles of new railway,
including an eight-mile tunnel beneath
the Bosporus to connect the European
and Asian sides of the city. Eventually
this system will be integrated into
a planned railway through Turkey,
Azerbaijan and Georgia, and will allow
passengers to travel from London to
Beijing without any transfers. Agatha
Christie’s famed “Orient Express” will
be reinvented. The rail will have the
capacity to carry 75,000 passengers per
hour on approximately 440 vehicles
built to travel up to 100 kilometers
per hour (60 mph). Additionally, it will
be more environmentally friendly,
running on electrical energy rather
than imported fuel. If construction
proceeds as planned, the percentage of
Istanbulites who use rail transport could
increase from 3 percent to 28 percent,
putting Istanbul’s percentage just a
fraction behind Tokyo and New York
City. Furthermore, it could alleviate the
gridlock and pollution caused by the
12 million people who travel into and
around Istanbul each day.
The tunnel under the strait will be
composed of 11 sections of 440-foot-
long steel and concrete tube, each
weighing up to 18,000 tons. This will
be constructed 56 meters below sea
level, beneath 180 feet of water and 15
feet of shifting soil and silt, making it the
deepest immersed tunnel in the world.
Additionally, Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbas
has said another tunnel (and possibly
another bridge over the Bosporus) will be
built in the future to handle vehicles with
rubber tires, though there is no timetable
set for the project. Already, Marmaray
is a challenge for the most talented of
engineers. However, it has seismologists
equally fatigued. Construction of the
tunnel runs only 12 miles from the active
North Anatolian Fault.
Since a.d. 342 the North Anatolian
Fault has witnessed more than a dozen
earthquakes that have claimed more
the 10,000 lives, and it is predicted
that there is a 77 percent chance that a
quake of more than a 7.0 on the Richter
scale will hit Istanbul in the next 30
years. The city still has memories of
the two quakes in 1999 that killed
18,000 people. As quakes occur in the
current westward pattern, the stress
on the fault line is transferred farther
down the line and inches ever closer to
Istanbul. In the event of a quake, the
soft sandy soil in the strait above the
tunnel would turn to something akin to
quicksand. Engineers have taken into
account these statistics and responded
by injecting grout up to 80 feet deep in
the soil where the tunnel will run. The
tube itself will have two independently
waterproof layers: a steel shell, popular
in the United States, and a concrete
layer, common in Europe. The tunnel
should be long and flexible enough

MARMARAY NIGHT SHIFT: Workers toil around the clock at the Yenikapi dig site in
efforts to finish the tunnel by 2012. The blue bins seen above temporarily hold an-
cient and priceless artifacts recovered while digging. Photographs by Lindsay Trice.
to withstand an earthquake of large
magnitude thanks to joints constructed
of rubber and steel. Furthermore, if
a quake hits and the tunnel cracks,
floodgates will slam down and stop
water from inundating the underground
train stations.
Having worked out the complex
engineering equation with construction
well underway, builders then ran into
the next problem. While excavating
Yenikapi, the area about a mile from the
historic Blue Mosque on the European
side, where the underground tunnel
New York University
Monday morning.
● Have coffee.
● Fill out NYU study abroad application.
● Submit and go to class.
6 months from Monday.
● Wave goodbye to family.
● Board plane.
● Be there.
apply now and experience abroad
www.nyu.edu/abroad/where
NYU StudyAbroad. Be there.
will start, they uncovered Portus
Theodosiacus (known in historical
records as Eleutherios harbour), the
huge Byzantine port that had been
lost for 1,000 years. Multiple teams
of archaeologists have uncovered an
awe-inspiring number of artifacts, with
some dating back to the 6th century b.c.
There are shells, bone fragments, horse
skulls, pottery shards, a passenger ship
from the 9th century, a commercial ship
from the 11th century, dishes, coins,
leather sandals, hairbrushes, candle
holders, anchors, rope, the stone pier,
and sections of city walls dating from
the reign of Constantine I – all of which
have been preserved thanks to the deep
layers of oxygen-poor sand. Once
uncovered, the artifacts must quickly be
coated with polymer to prevent them
from drying out and dissolving into dust.
As the archaeologists work to uncover
the 4th century port, contractors
labor in specific areas, trying to keep
construction of the 21st century railway
hub somewhat on schedule. Tensions
between the camps are understandably
high, and the Yenikapi site has had to
be redesigned, forcing the delay of
the entire project. A witch’s brew of
conflict, the site itself has been closed
to reporters for some time.
Meanwhile, there is the lingering
question of Turkey’s bid to join the
European Union, which has been
held up for years in large part due to
questions about Turkey’s commitment
to democracy, and its track record with
human rights issues. By showing respect
for its heritage and ancient cultures
through the careful preservation of
Portus Theodosiacus, Turkey gains
favor with the EU. But the railway can’t
remain unfinished for much longer. And
the engineering project also represents
Turkey’s ability to modernize and
westernize, boosting its standing in the
international community.
Upon completion of the project,
Turkey, a country predominantly in Asia,
will be as directly connected to Europe
as the United Kingdom, negating that
geographic argument to exclude the
country from the EU. The country
remains caught between the past and
future, and the East and the West: it
can’t ignore the archaeological find of
the century, but the tunnel must be
finished. At the moment, the outcome
remains uncertain, and the cars continue
to turn the streets into parking lots. In
the middle of the Bosporus, huge oil
tankers regularly pass the small shaft
that is the only surface link to the
already submerged sections of tunnel.
As this tug-of-war between history,
technology and politics persists, only
time will tell if Turkey will be able to
successfully forge a path of historically
sensitive modernization.
Lindsay Trice is a junior at Georgetown
University double majoring in government
and theology. She is studying at Bogaziçi
University in Istanbul, Turkey, bringing the
university's population of Ultimate Frisbee-
playing redheads to approximately one. Her
goals for the semester include learning enough
Turkish to order from the menu, and becoming
a world-class backgammon player.
New York University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution.
www.cafeabroad.com 5

By Jacqui Davis
nown for traditional culture,
K Seville’s nightlife is likely to first
evoke thoughts of authentic
music or dance. These notions are not
unwarranted – there are several places
in the city to catch a colorful fl amenco
show. Still, the image of very traditional
performances sharply contrasts with the
abundance of free-flowing DJs spinning
Europe’s ever-popular electronica
throughout Seville’s distinctive
discotecas.
The popularity of electronica in
Europe has been strong for several years,
and continues to expand. Nightlife in
Spanish cities like Barcelona and Madrid
has been synonymous with the genre
for years. The visceral sound long ago
spread to Seville, where it pervades
the vibrant dance scene. Its long-time
establishment has allowed homegrown
talent to come of age under the bright
lights and ascend to the turntables
throughout the city.
I recently interviewed DJ Curro
Riera, one of the city’s best local
DJs. Curro, native to Seville, says his
electronica influences incorporate a
variety of styles, mixing into his sets
techno, electro, house, trance and even
breakbeat.
Café Abroad: Why do you think
6 Café Abroad InPrint Winter 2007
electronica is so popular in Spain and in
other European countries?
DJ Curro: Well, music is universal.
But throughout the years, Europe has
been the origin of the most important
names in music history. Beethoven,
Bach, Mozart, The Beatles, The Rolling
Stones, U2… They call Europe “The
Old Continent,” and for centuries it has
produced diverse cultural movements.
And music is culture. It’s also fun, and
that helps, right? You don’t have to be
a student or a lawyer or a judge to enjoy
it.
CA: How would you describe the
difference between the genres of techno,
breakbeat and house?
DJC: Each style transmits a different
energy and has a very distinct sound.
Although, nowadays it is difficult to
speak of the different styles, since
electronica evolves so rapidly. It’s
almost impossible to classify the styles
that existed five or six years ago.
CA: Which do you most work with?
DJC: I have worked with all of them,
but the one I least use when spinning
is breakbeat. However, it was actually
what sparked my interest in electronica
in the first place. My beginnings were
with techno and house, which I use
today, but with a new twist.
CA: When did you first take an interest
in electronica?
DJC: 1997… 1998… I don’t
really remember.
CA: How long have you been a
DJ?
DJC: Really, you could say that I
haven’t been spinning long. I used to
work in a record store, which is where I
learned. This store is associated with the
two most important DJs in the city, who
are very well known throughout Spain:
Javy Unión (and) Lady K. It’s called
Unión Records and it’s one of the oldest
in Spain in terms of electronica. I spent
countless hours there comparing the
differences between American, German,
British and Spanish discographies.
CA: Who have been your main
influences?
DJC: Without a doubt, Lady K and
Javy Unión are those I followed most
closely. But there are other artists who
influence you, and I have been influenced
a great deal by an artist from Barcelona
who I knew personally and had a lot of
good times with: DJ Sideral. Sadly, he
passed away just over a year ago. He
was very well known in Spain and his
pieces were of the most bold and
innovative. And, outside of Spain,
the influence of music that comes
from Berlin or Detroit, which is
the birthplace of techno. In the
United States, there are true
electronica legends.
CA: What makes your sound
unique?
DJC: I tend to be quite archaic
and play various styles in the same set.
But that’s something that you acquire
over the years as you learn more about
yourself and what it is that you really
like and how you like it.
CA: Have you collaborated with many
other DJs? Any big names?
DJC: Well, I’ve been lucky to work
and perform with great Spanish artists
such as my friend Javy Unión, Oscar
Mulero, Christian Varela, Lady K, and
other international artists such as Richie
Hawtin, Gaiser, Luke Slater, Sven Vath,
Stefan Goldmann and Carl Craig. It’s
great to work with artists of this level in
a club or a big festival. However, there
are other lesser-known artists who
SEVILLE SPINNER: Pictured above working the turntables at Bauhaus club in his
hometown, DJ Curro is a rising star in Seville’s popular electronica movement.
I enjoy working with just as much, if
not more: Fonsi Arjona, Ramiro López,
Javier Algarra, Octavio Gares… there
are so many!
CA: Who has been your favorite person
to work with?
DJC: With those who are my friends,
clearly! I couldn’t choose just one.
CA: Who are the best or most popular
DJs in the area?
DJC: I always say Javy Unión, who is
the one I grew up listening to. But aside
from him, there are many others. There
is a lot of talent in southern Spain.
Octavio Gares, Gonçalo, Isaak Lozano,
Fonsi Argona, Oskitin, Peter Paul,
Brunetto, Bread & Butter, the people
of flumo.com, Nomadas Urbanos, Dub
Elements… there are a lot.
CA: Where are the best places to work
as a DJ in Seville?
DJC: Seville has really become a
strong city in terms of electronica,
so it’s not difficult to find artists of
an international level in local clubs
like Emporio, Kafka and Aduana. Still,
the best in my opinion is Bahaus. It’s a
restaurant that transforms into a club
at night and over the last few years has
become known for it’s innovative and
daring electronica. It’s a small but very
charming club with the best music in
the city.
CA: Do your plans for the future
include spinning?
DJC: Yeah, I will continue for sure.
I also hope to begin working as a
producer and try to develop my sound.
Apart from this, I have other projects,
which I’ve just started, such as the
creation of a new promotion company
called 954 Producciones with which
we’d like to contribute something more
to the scene of our city and support the
diverse cultural expressions, which she
(Seville) offers.
For DJ Curro’s show dates, visit www.
myspace.com/Curroriera954 or check out
his crew at www.union-prod.com.
Jacqui Davis is a recent graduate of Indiana
University who spent Spring 2007, her final
college semester, in Seville, Spain. She has
now returned to the city for the year, teaching
English in a Spanish high school and working in
international marketing.
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www.cafeabroad.com 7
By Sarah Markenson
T
he myth that cats and dogs are used
in Chinese food is actually quite
accurate in Beijing. An abundance
of stray cats and dogs roam the streets,
offering a protein source that many
cooks take advantage of. And, although
it’s rare to see a dog dish at an upscale
restaurant, many “hole-in-the-wall”
places may serve dog.
When I was traveling along the Silk
Road recently, my friends and I ate lunch
at a small restaurant in Jiayuguan. We
knew we were going to have difficulties
the moment we walked in the door.
Because it was lunchtime, the place was
packed as most establishments are in
China. As the waiter made space for us,
the people stared at us with blank faces.
It was as if we pushed the pause button
on a movie. They gawked at us out of
simple curiosity; obviously we were
from out of town.
The menu in Chinese characters
was impossible to read, but we knew
enough spoken Chinese to order
noodles. We also asked for pork chow
mein (ju rou chow mian). The waiter
seemed to understand and left to
enter our order. Soon he returned with
a bowl of noodles for each of us. My
friend looked into the broth and asked
for clarification that the meat was pork.
The waiter look confused and then said
in agreement, “Ah, gourou.” Gourou in
Chinese means dog. With this response,
my friend pushed the bowl aside, as if to
say, “that’s not what I ordered.” Coming
to his senses, the waiter assured her, “Ah,
jurou! Jurou!” and eventually convinced
my friend it was pork. As she ate the
noodles, the waiter stood tableside
and chuckled with a smirk on his face.
I believe we ate dog and noodles in
Jiayuguan.
Before I arrived in China, I enjoyed
what I thought was Chinese food: P.F.
Chang's, Panda Express and other
Chinese buffets. But dishes like Panda
Express’ crab rangoon – scrumptious
cream cheese and crab filled snacks –
are unheard of in mainland China.
The Chinese food that most
Americans eat in the United States is
8 Café Abroad InPrint Winter 2007
quite different from the Chinese food
I have tasted in Beijing. Keep in mind,
too, that Americans link together
Cantonese, Mongolian and Szechuan
food all as Chinese food. In reality,
these ethnic foods have very different
fl avors and ingredients. American-
style Chinese food generally consists
of chicken or pork dishes served with
rice, such as sweet and sour pork or
General Tso’s chicken. And, while the
westernized favorites are all available
in Beijing, Chinese people generally do
not eat them.
Instead of appetizers like egg rolls
or spare ribs, the Chinese enjoy cold
dishes before a meal such as tofu and
seaweed, cabbage salad with peanuts,
pig ears, and pickled cucumbers. Dinner
consists of a vegetable such as eggplant
or Chinese broccoli, a meat dish that
contains pork or beef, noodles and rice.
If one is eating alone, then just a bowl of
noodles or fried rice with beef usually
suffices.
Chow mein is one of several famous
foods in Beijing. Another favorite is fried
noodles, which ordinarily come very
spicy, but if you just ask for no spices
(bu la), then they are very tasty. Fried CHOP SHOP: A Beijing chef carves up a Peking Roast Duck (above). Considered one of
noodles are thicker and more square – China’s national foods and prepared since the Yuan Dynasty, the dish consists of thin
like egg noodles. strips of crispy skin and tender chunks of moist meat. (Below) Stacks of dried lizards
Peking Roast Duck is probably the provide a crunchy treat at a street vendor’s display.
most famous of Beijing’s cuisine. Here,
roast duck is served with slivers of
cucumber, garlic pieces and a thicker,
richer soy sauce that is all wrapped in a
small, thin Chinese pancake very similar
to a French crêpe.
For an inexpensive snack, try
dumplings in one of two different styles,
jiaozi or baozi. Baozi is a wheat steamed
bun with pork and cabbage inside, while
jiaozi is a thinner style of dough. If you’re
still hungry, street vendors also sell live
crickets, dried scorpions, lizards and
rabbits.
Beijing is a cosmopolitan city and sound good. It might be different than Sarah Markenson is a sophomore at St.
any type of food can be found here, your typical American steakhouse, but Louis University majoring in international
although Western food is usually you’ll find something you like and will studies and economics and participating in
eventually consider tasty. Just beware the foreign service certificate program. She is
much more expensive and not quite
studying at The Beijing Center at the University
up to par. While in China, try to find a of the special, particularly if you are
of International Business and Economics in
noodle restaurant or dumpling place traveling with a pet that has strangely Beijing. Her interests include yoga, traveling
and order a few different things that disappeared. and religious studies.
By Jamie e Andrew
t's inevitable:
vitable: you’ll
ou’ll gett on the plane,
pla
I eat thee plastic-wrapped
pasta and
nd
p astic-wr
d crane your neck
n
d chicken
chic and
around the
seat in front of you to watch the movie
you can’t really hear. Your destination of
choice is laid out before you like some
sort of smorgasboard for you to sample
with glee. It’s easy to romanticize the
idea of traveling and living abroad. But
often the reality on the ground proves
much different than when you still had
your head in the clouds, imagining the
adventure before you embark.
Get beyond the thought of living in
a movie and, instead, dig into a visual
feast upon your arrival overseas. These
two films – one new and one old – delve
into an age-old topic that never tires
among travelers: the way we process
being abroad, and then integrate the
experience into our lives upon return.
So, clear your Netflix account, grab
some snacks, and find your way to the
living room couch. It’s the least you
can do to prepare for your abroad
experience.
* * *
There is something about being in
a foreign country with the one you
love that tends to change everything.
Whether it’s for bad – realizing that
your boyfriend is an embarrassingly
pathetic French speaker – or for worse
– learning that your girlfriend has dated
many sex-obsessed men – is revealed in
Julie Delpy's new film, 2 Days in Paris.
When Marion (Julie Delpy) visits her
parents and stays in their apartment
in Paris with her neurotic boyfriend
Jaack (Adam Goldberg), family drama is
Jack
inev
nevitable. Even a redeeming quality,
inevitable.
like being well read, is not enough
to excuse Jack’s
Ja grating personality
personality.
He is a bumbling hypochondriac and
hopelessly incapable of adjusting to a
new setting. So why doesn't Marion just
lose him? Quite simply, she too is nuts.
The two are a perfectly terrible pair.
After a slew of altercations with
aggressive ex-boyfriends who attempt
to mark their territory, Jack gets furious
and accuses Marion of infidelity. He
hates Paris and he has no way to fit into
Marion’s life in this foreign setting. His
lack of language skills even prohibits
him from communicating with his
girlfriend’s parents. Still, Jack dutifully
makes an effort to adapt and to make
the relationship work.
Meanwhile, Marion is frustrated –
reconciling her American boyfriend
with her home proves to be no easy
task. Jack can’t even complete a
shopping trip to the market – he
squeamishly runs home after a quasi-
fetal piglet is shoved into his face.
Instead, Jack causes Marion to see Paris
with fresh eyes, and not necessarily for
the better. For example, in one scene, a
fl abbergasted Marion almost strangles
a racist cab driver.
2 Days in Paris pokes fun at the
clichés and stereotypes that exist in
many relationships and, ultimately, asks
a humorous question.
Can two insufferable people be
meant to suffer one-another?
* * *
Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise
allows Americans
Americcans to see the U.S.
through the fre
fresh
resh eyes of a foreigner.
Released in
black and w
i 1984, and shot entirely in
white
white, the film’s
film’s protagonist
protagonist,
Eva (Eszter Balint), is a young Hungarian
woman who comes to America,
presumably, in search of a better life.
From the opening shot, when
Eva walks down New York sidewalks
with a paper shopping bag and a tape
deck playing “I Put a Spell on You”
by Screamin' Jay Hawkins, the film is
entrancing. Eva speaks very rarely, and
after sleeping in her cousin's one-room
hole of an apartment, she moves to
their grandmother's tiny house in the
snow-suffocated suburbs of Cleveland
and works at a diner.
To escape the cold, Eva, her cousin
Willie, and his friend, Eddie, drive to
Florida in a borrowed car. The camera
captures familiar sights that seem
strangely foreign: boxy suburban
houses, vacant parking lots lined with
telephone poles and blue lights fl ashing
from lonely televisions.
The film’s feeling of displacement,
even for a viewer looking out at the
eerie landscapes of her home country,
mimics the experience of traveling
abroad. When you travel, it not only
changes your conception of the outside
world, it also transforms the way you
look at the place you call home.
Jamie Andrew is a senior at Maryland
Institute, College of Art who studied abroad
in Florence, Italy last spring. She is desperately
trying to find a way back to the Mediterranean,
temporarily or otherwise. She considers herself
a slight music, gelato and wine snob.
www.cafeabroad.com 9
By Steven Friedman
s the plane touches down more
A than 28 hours after leaving
Philadelphia, it feels surreal to
once again be back in Africa. This time
I am with my sister, Lisa, a fellow Penn
undergraduate. As we make our way off
of the two-propeller plane, the pleasant
winter air of Botswana’s capital city,
Gaborone, greets us. This flight ferried
us on the last leg of our trip, from South
Africa into Botswana. The Gaborone
airport is small and rustic, and our bags
are dropped off behind the wings of
the aircraft for us to carry into the main
airport hangar.
This marks my second venture to Africa,
as part of the University of Pennsylvania’s
expanding partnership with the Botswana
health community. Four years ago, Merck
& Co. pharmaceuticals and the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation approached
the University of Pennsylvania School
of Medicine and asked it to join the fight
against HIV/AIDS in Africa. They needed
doctors to help in Botswana, a country
10 Café Abroad InPrint Winter 2007
where 30 percent of the 2 million
residents are infected with the virus.
While Botswana is one of the
wealthiest and most stable countries in
Africa – thanks in large part to extensive
diamond mining – no medical school or
medical training program exists. As the
chief of the Infectious Diseases Division
at the Hospital of the University of
Pennsylvania, my father was asked to
examine the existing medical care in the
capital and come up with a program for
improvement.
Since his initial trip and the
establishment of the Penn in Botswana
program in 2001, the partnership has
grown by leaps and bounds. In March
2006, I made my first journey with my
father and met many of the medical
students, residents and doctors who
were working in Botswana. The Penn
personnel all live in communal housing
in flats a few minutes from the hospital.
My father and I were housed with Dr. Dick
Root, a retired HIV/AIDS specialist from
the U.S., and his wife, Rita. While Dr. Root
worked with my father in the hospitals,
Rita and I became fast friends.
On one of the slower days at the
hospital, the ever-adventurous Dr.
Root and Rita offered to drive Eva, their
maid, out to her village of Mochudi to
see her kids and family. (It is commonly
accepted practice in Botswana that
foreigners employ local maids to help
maintain their houses and fl ats.)
I tagged along on the hour-long trip,
venturing far outside of the capital, to
the outskirts of Eva’s village, where
she lived in a remote housing complex.
Eva’s compound consisted of a small
farm plot with a two-room mud-walled
building. It had no running water and an
outhouse.
Eva lived in the small house with
her three young children, her sister, her
sister’s three young children, and their
65-year-old mother, who looked after
the children while the mothers earned
enough money to survive, as maids. The
whole visit was extremely moving.
One week later, I returned to the U.S.
Tragically, that beautiful day in Mochudi
turned out to be one of Dr. Root’s last.
His died in a safari accident the week
after I left. His death came as a shock to
the entire program, and was a great loss
for me personally, for the program, for
the patients he helped daily, and for his
wife and kids.
Venturing Back
As I return to Botswana nearly a
year and a half after Dr. Root’s death, I
found the Penn in Botswana program
had flourished, with the introduction of
an undergraduate presence. I was also
reunited with Eva, who was still working
as a maid. In the time since my last trip,
Rita and other Penn personnel had
helped Eva build a full-fledged cedar
block house with a tin roof, in place of
her mud structure.
I had anticipated a joyful return to
Eva’s village, looking forward to seeing
her new house. But, just days before my
arrival, Eva’s older sister passed away
from complications related to HIV/
 AFRICAN SKIES: Majestic sunsets and beautiful scenery belie an unforgiving natural
and social environment in Botswana. Eva’s house in 2006, before the new additions
were added (left). Photographs by Steven Friedman.

AIDS. Under somber circumstances, my
mother, sister and I ended up driving Eva
from the capital to her village in order
to prepare for her sister’s funeral.
Eva’s kids, who I had met and played
with 18 months prior, were excited to
greet me and were surprisingly upbeat,
given the recent death. Many ran out to
meet our car as we arrived on the dirt
path. Dr. Root, Rita and I had only met
Eva’s immediate family members. As
I returned with my sister and mother,
all of Eva’s extended relatives were
assembled in her new house to grieve
the loss of her sister. I was slowly
introduced to her aunts, uncles, great
aunts, great uncles, and distant relatives
and friends. I received an incredibly
warm welcome, especially when it was
noted that I was a friend of the incredibly
generous “Ma Rita.”
But, beneath the joy of meeting
the entire family, the occasion was
a sad one. The death of Eva’s sister
spoke to the real and continuing need
for the HIV/AIDS care component of
Penn’s program. The breadth of the
Penn in Botswana partnership has
expanded to include undergraduate
exchanges, research collaboration and
connections with many of the other
graduate schools. And Penn is still at
the core of the program, working to
help improve the treatment of critically
ill HIV/AIDS patients. In the United
States and the rest of the developed
world, Eva’s sister would have survived
for many more years or even decades,
but that level of quality care has yet to
reach Botswana.
Many experiences during both trips
to Botswana have remained on my
mind. A particularly poignant moment
this journey occurred as we drove with
Eva to her house. She told us, with tears
in her eyes, that just a few days earlier,
she sat down with her sister’s three
kids and told them that she was now
“their mother.” Eva said the children had
looked at her, with blank stares, nodding
with sullen understanding.
Hopefully, through hard work and
continued collaboration, the Penn in
Botswana partnership can reduce the
necessity for these conversations, as
more medical workers are trained to
eradicate a disease that has truly been a
plague on this continent.
Steven Friedman is a sophomore at The
Wharton School and the College of Arts and
Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. A
whiz kid with computers, Friedman is the chief
architect of Café Abroad’s online student
network.

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w w w . c a f e a b r o a d . c o m 11

down
for my pants, which I
had thrown on the ground the
night before when I was too tired and
lazy to hang them up on a clothesline. I
picked them up and put them on under
my sleeping bag inside my hammock
without looking at them. Instantly, I
By Scott
Sco ott Travers
T regretted that decision.
several scientific
colleagues, I was
selected as part of a
herpetological study
in affiliation with the
University of Florida and
the St. Louis Zoo.
We were charged with documenting
herpetological diversity and testing
for the presence of chytrid fungus –
a pathogen that causes declines and
potential extinction in the amphibian
population. The job also required
working closely with the local
indigenous Miskito and Mayangnan

Lrise o
ying
yin
ng in my hammock
at 5:30 a.m.,
warm,
wa
off the riv
our campsite.
ccamp
a.m I feel a
rm, steamy
stea breeze
river below
psite. The
T vapor
My pants began to shake, and then
I felt something crawling all over my
legs. Looking down, I saw my white
pants had turned black and were
literally writhing! A nest of army ants
people in aims of training them on all
aspects of the study.
I spent the majority of the summer
with four indigenous Miskito and
Mayangnan guardabosques, who
seeps into o the surrounding
su had taken residence there overnight protected and provided for me as guides
jungle,
j l fil i the rays
filltering r of sun and they seemed quite agitated that and cooks. About twice a week, we
that illumina
illuminate dense canopy
te the den I had invaded their new home. No would hike or canoe to a new campsite
overhead li like a mosaic of many sooner had I realized what was going where we would set up a study.

with
shades
shade of green. The forest
is at its peak activity in this
early
ear hour and the chorus
of birds and insects adds
to the enchantment. In
the distance I can hear the
prominent
pro roars of two
howler
how monkey troops in
a disp
dispute over territory. An
obnoxious
obnoxio squawking grows
louder, signaling
sign the arrival of
a pair of macaw
macaws. I peer through the
trees, trying to get a glimpse of them.
As they fly by, one of the guardabosques
(indigenous guides) shouts in Spanish,
“lapa verde” – the highly endangered
great green macaw – the rarer of the two
species that occur at Bosawás Biosphere
Reserve in north-central Nicaragua.
My favorite time of day in the
rainforest is early morning, before the
oppressive heat and humidity have
intensified. Lying here, gently swaying
and suspended, I cannot help but smile.
This is one of the first opportunities
I’ve had in weeks to relax and take in
the sights, sounds and smells of this
majestic place.
I’m also smiling because, in this
peaceful moment, I’ve remembered
a similar morning that began equally
tranquil and quickly turned to turmoil.
On that day, still drowsy, I reached
on than the intense pain started. It
felt as if someone had just jammed a
thousand little needles in my body, and
simultaneously pulsed an electrical
current through those barbs. The ants
were biting and stinging every inch of
my body. Half jumping, half falling out
of my hammock, I got to my feet and
ran screaming through camp, ripping
off my clothes as I headed for the river.
As I took off naked into the forest I
could hear my guides laughing in the
background, and the only words I could
make out in my panic were the guides
yelling after me “GRINGO LOCO!!!”
I always hung up my clothing on lines
after that morning.
Here in the rainforest, there are
few moments when I actually feel
comfortable due to the constant heat,
humidity and bugs. It’s a never-ending
battle against the sweating, itching and
a general sense of discomfort. The sun
rises a little higher and the first drop of
sweat drips down my brow. My stomach
starts to rumble. It’s time to get up;
there’s work to do.
Last summer was the first of two
in the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve,
where I spent two months surveying
the incredible diversity of reptiles and
amphibians in this remote portion of
north-central Nicaragua. Along with
My stomach rumbles again and I
think back to one month ago, when
the guardabosques wrestled a collared
peccary, a type of forest-dwelling
pig, out of a crocodile’s mouth. The
crocodile got one of its legs, but that
three-legged peccary was a glorious
feast for us.
Hunger is always an issue out here.
It’s not that there is a lack of food, but
more a lack of diversity on the menu.
We can only pack what is necessary for
these month-long excursions, and there
is no room for luxuries. This leaves the
food and cooking supplies to the bare
essentials: beans and rice. Occasionally
our cook will reverse the order and make
rice and beans, or get really creative and
make “gallo pinto” – beans mixed into
the rice. And sometimes if we are very
lucky, we will get some meat in our diet
by encountering wild game.
This section of Nicaragua along with
the adjacent area in Honduras and the
Caribbean coastal plain to the east
comprise a region romantically known
as “La Mosquitia.” And, although the 1.8-
million-acre Bosawás Reserve, entirely
located in Nicaragua, is protected, much
of the greater region is not.
The largest tract of protected
tropical rainforest north of the Amazon,
Bosawás is one of the last few places in

12 Café Abroad InPrint Winter 2007

the Americas that can be considered
truly pristine broadleaf rainforest.
However, the second biggest piece of
protected rainforest in the Western
Hemisphere is surprisingly neglected,
and when I mention the name Bosawás
to most people, they respond with a
clueless gaze. Instead, I tell them to
look at a map of Central America and
put their finger in the dead center. Right
in that section – where there seems to
be a giant gap without civilization – this
is Bosawás.
It’s one of the last strongholds to
highly endangered animals such as
the jaguar, Baird’s tapir, giant anteater,
and harpy eagle. The local indigenous
communities have an excellent
understanding of how their ecosystem
works, and by using this knowledge along
with traditional land-use techniques
they manage to coexist with the forest
and wildlife around them.
However, the future is not secure
for Bosawás and for many of these
species. There is a continuous threat of
poor “mestizo” farmers encroaching on
these indigenous territories, bringing
with them devastating slash-and-
burn farming techniques. Therefore,
it is essential to promote further
study in this biodiverse area. Only by
better understanding the ecosystem
and assisting all of its inhabitants can
conservation efforts succeed in their
aim to preserve the indigenous culture
and protect the wildlife that call
Bosawás home.
ROUGHING IT: A 200-foot waterfall is one of the many natural wonders that remains
Scott Travers is a junior at the University
hidden in the Bosawás Reserve (above, left). The author poses with the guardabosques,
of Florida studying wildlife ecology and
before venturing out into the unknown (top, right). The guardabosques clean a collared
conservation. His interests include herpetology,
peccary or “saino” that they wrested from the jaws of a crocodile. Notice the missing
surfing and travel. Therefore, his life goal is
front leg; the crocodile was not left with an empty stomach (middle, right). Educating the
to find a job that allows him live in a tropical
local kids on the differences between the fer-de-lance (the deadliest snake in the area),
rainforest surfing all day while catching frogs
and its non-venomous mimic, Xenodon rabdocephalus (above). On page 12, a red-eyed
and snakes at night. Anyone hiring?
leaf frog and a blunt-headed treesnake steal the headline. Photographs by Scott Travers.
www.cafeabroad.com 13
 Bradley Rink joined CIEE in April 2003 as program director for
returned to South Africa in 2006 to become resident directorAfrica, Middle East and Eastern Europe, and
University. A veteran in the field, Rink has advised students on of the CIEE Study Center at Stellenbosch
the School for International Training , the University of Vermonstudy abroad at the University of Georgia,
Consulate in Cape Town, South Africa. He has worked as a residen t, the University of Iowa, and at the U.S.
Africa Field Program, and Inter-Study Programs South Africa. Rinkt program administrator for the Southern
from St. John’s University (1990) and master ’s degrees in interna received his bachelor’s degree in Spanish
International Training (1995) and geography from the University tional administration from the School for
candidate in geography at the University of Cape Town. of Vermont (1998). He is currently a Ph.D.

hen you think of Africa, what is the

W first image that crosses your mind?

If it has something to do with The
Lion King or Blood Diamond, then you’re not
alone. A survey that I conducted in May
2007 revealed that images of a desperate,
deprived and plague-ridden continent pervaded the minds of study abroad students prior
to their arrival. My study further concluded that most students’ understanding of Africa did
not originate from personal experiences or interactions with Africans, but rather through
television and film, which often depicts Africa as either a land of talking beasts uninhabited
by people or a bloody and corrupt “Wild West.”
Given the constant discourse of a downtrodden and hopeless continent, one can hardly
be blamed for Afro-pessimism. In fact, it may be easier to define the culturally diverse and
geographically vast continent in singular, all-encompassing (albeit negative) terms. The 54
countries that comprise the African continent are not without their challenges – the HIV/
AIDS pandemic, inadequate access to food, shelter and education, skyrocketing infl ation in
Zimbabwe, and the conflict in Darfur are but a few examples.
Regardless, life on the continent is filled with more hope and greater opportunities for
learning than mass media portrays. That same survey conducted in 2007 also found that,
once in Africa, study abroad participants gained more positive impressions of the continent
and a better understanding of everyday challenges. While abroad, those same respondents
who once saw Africa as “poor,” “war-torn,” “hungry” or “corrupt” began to see 21st century
Africa as “diverse,” “changing,” “vibrant” and “friendly.” Study abroad in Africa, therefore, can
signal an end to old conceptions of the continent and the emergence of new perspectives
on Africa and the world.
At the same time that students abroad learn to rethink Africa, actual changes on the
ground are rapidly taking root. Africa is increasingly urbanizing, with more Africans now living
in cities than in rural areas. Though still small in its worldwide share of the Internet, Africa
is becoming more connected to the rest of the world through burgeoning Internet usage.
Positive growth can be seen all around, quite notably in South Africa.
The end of apartheid – and the beginning of its first-ever non-racial democracy –
necessitated change in all aspects of South African life – education, politics, employment
and more. Where the struggle to end apartheid left off, the struggle to rebuild a fractured
identity and to realize a cohesive “Rainbow Nation” began. South Africa’s democratic
achievement is still young and alive with possibilities. As institutions and ideology changes,
so too is it time for the old stereotypes of Africa to pass on, and for perspectives of 21st
century Africa to be disseminated through dialogues with Africans telling African stories.
Study abroad in Africa provides the opportunity to actively engage with such issues of
transformation while inside the classroom, on the host university campus, and on occasions
that allow for engagement with the broader community in volunteer, internship or service-
learning activities. By becoming participants in, rather than mere observers of, dynamic and
evolving countries like South Africa, students can better prepare to engage with the changes
as they are taking place and in the future.
There has never been a more exciting or critical time to study in Africa and I invite you
to accept the challenge of transforming and rethinking your understanding of “The Dark
Continent.” You – and your worldview – will never be the same again.

Yours sincerely,

Bradley Rink
Resident Director
CIEE Study Center at Stellenbosch University
Stellenbosch, South Africa

14 Café Abroad InPrint Winter 2007

Besame in Buenos Aires
By Dina Magaril
have kissed more people during my two months in Buenos

I Aires than I have in all the years before my arrival. I have

kissed friends, friends of friends, the owner of my favorite
bar, my professor and even the woman who sold me my cell
phone. Now, before you get the wrong idea, let me explain.
Pecking cheeks in Argentina is the cultural equivalent of
shaking hands in the U.S.
It’s actually quite refreshing to kiss your fellow classmates
and I soon learned to prefer this greeting than throwing out a
quick hello – as is the custom on most U.S. college campuses.
A kiss on the cheek invites intimacy and makes it much easier
to start up a conversation with a classmate you might have
otherwise been too shy to get to know. (It’s also a great way to
get closer to those dark, handsome porteños in your Argentine
literature class.)
Kissing perfectly random strangers has become a part of
my daily routine. Lips I will probably never hear from again
have smacked the surface of both my cheeks. In Buenos Aires,
everyone kisses everyone. Old men meeting for coffee greet
each other with a big sloppy one rather than an informal
handshake. Considering the masculine culture one encounters
on a daily basis in Argentina, seeing grown men kiss each other
is somewhat of a heart warmer.
One kiss in Buenos Aires is always followed by another…
and another… and another. Attending a party where you
only know one person will still result in a kiss from everyone
in the room. Here’s how it works. The custom is to first kiss
the one person in the room you know. Your friend will then
introduce you to everyone he or she knows, resulting in a
kiss and casual name exchange. This will repeat until you’ve
smooched everyone in the vicinity and forgotten every name
you learned.
Receiving kisses – both justified and unwarranted – is
something I would get used to. But, there are also times
when I wish the kissing custom did not rear its pretty little
pucker. These occasions include encounters with men with
bushy beards, mustaches, or any other kind of non-appealing
facial hair. Another time I find myself wishing for a nice firm
handshake involves the meeting with “ulterior motive guy” at
a bar or some other such social setting. Unlike in an American
bar, where a handshake would suffice for a pushy boy you
would rather ignore, refusing a kiss in Buenos Aires is looked
down upon as just bad manners.
New students take heed. If you are still maneuvering your
way around Buenos Aires and are still giving off that I’m clearly
American vibe take note! Some men will take the “oh this is
an Argentine custom” excuse to an extreme. People you are
not expected to kiss may try to kiss you anyway. Doormen,
club bouncers, taxi drivers, drunk men in their mid to late 50s,
among others. Sometimes it is best to use your own discretion
in a kiss-or-no-kiss situation. Family, friends and acquaintances
are all safe bets, while strangers who seem a bit too eager to
plant one on you should send off a warning sign.
In the end, you’ll be happy you puckered up and kept your
hands at your sides. It’s hard to feel alone in a strange city
when you’ve kissed so many of its inhabitants. So welcome to
Buenos Aires. Don’t forget to bring your chapstick.

www.cafeabroad.com 15
 Getting Schooled
In Argentina
By JJessica
esssi
e sica
ca Rettig
R
Ret
etti
tigg
Walking
Walk
Wa lkin
ingg to
towards
owa
ward
r s the
rd the social
soci
so cial
iall sciences
ssci
cie
cien
ci encess
ence hallways,
ha
hall
llways, trying
ways tryi
tr ng tto
ying dodge
o do dge the swarms of
dodg canceled classes due to t protests or
building at the University of Buenos Aires advocates pushing socialist propaganda strikes.
– better known as the UBA (ooo-bah) into their faces. They carefully step over To some American students, this may
– you are sure to realize, dramatically, the colorful posters that have fallen sound incredible. To others, a bit scary.
how far you are from the welcoming off the already over-layered walls. Yet, the UBA experience is definitely
brick buildings and green lawns of your Classrooms are dirty and disorderly, something to behold. Scholars from
home university. Located on a derelict and the bathrooms leave much to be every generation and walk of life
side street in the heart of the city, the desired, including toilet paper (keep come to this well- respected public
exterior of the building resembles an some tissues in your backpack). Lectures university – a place where, unlike many
old, abandoned warehouse you might always start late and are constantly private Argentine universities, you really
see at the end of an action thriller – interrupted by students poking their have to work for your free degree.
danger lurking at any corner. heads in, trying to promote the latest UBA professors are generally big
As you step inside, however, universit y event or shots in Latin America in their respective
you enter a haven of political l i b e r a l fields and they lead interesting lectures,
activity. Hundreds of cause. On especially if you decide to take on
students cram into slim any given the massive course bibliography. The
day, you university offers courses ranging from
might walk engineering, medicine, architecture and
in to find more.
So don’t be discouraged by the
“Gringos, GO HOME!”
sign posted at the
entrance of the social
sciences building. Step
inside and experience
the bizarre UBA
scene – if for no other
reason than to witness
and participate in
an educational
frenzy.

16 Café Abroad InPrint Winter 2007

 Where Have All the Monedas Gone
By Samantha Bradley
One day my friend and I decided we
were going to Recoleta for the day. We
realized that we didn’t have enough
change to take the bus so we headed to
the nearest kiosk to buy something. My
friend grabbed a bag of cookies and a
diet coke and greeted the lady.
“Will that be all?”
“Yeah, that’s all.”
“Three twenty.”
My friend handed the lady a 10-peso
note and waited for her change.
“You don’t have 20 centavos?”
“No, I don’t actually. I really need the
change so I can take the bus.”
This is the part that we were not
anticipating.
“You ladies obviously aren’t from
here. Don’t you know that Argentina has
a serious problem with monedas?
“We understand. We just really need
to get on the bus and it’s hard to get
change around here.”
“Well, you can’t just come here
expecting that I am going to give you
change! I have to take the bus too! I
travel an hour on the bus everyday
to get here and there are six of us in
my family. Life isn’t easy here!”
Not really knowing how to
respond, we just kind of
stared blankly at her, giving
her that I have no idea what just
happened here look.
After a moment, she looked in her
drawer and said, “Well, I guess I can give
you change for a 10, but don’t be coming
in here all the time thinking that I can do
this.”
We said thank you and left that place
as fast as we could. Later, we learned
that there is an art to getting monedas,
without making it look obvious. I also
learned to hoard my monedas like they
were gold.
There is a problem with the lack of
change in circulation in Buenos Aires.
The fact that one can only pay with
change to take the bus (5, 10, 25, 50
centavos or one peso) means that
people are more likely to save their
change and
never give
it away.
Taxi drivers
will even round down if ability to get monedas, an
it means they don’t have even more valuable lesson
to give away change. The I learned is to buy a change
use of credit cards and checks is not purse while in Buenos
very common in this country either, Aires, but never show it to
placing a higher demand on the cash in anyone.
circulation. Subte stations commonly
leave their emergency gates open in the
evenings when they do not have enough
coins at their booths to make change.
While I have no issue taking
a free Subte ride, it seems
strange that a company
has to lose a significant
amount of business due to
the lack of hard currency.
Other than the sly

Meet Café Abroad Team Buenos Aires

Samantha Bradley is a junior at Central Michigan University studying Spanish and bilingual education. She enjoys people watching in the Subte, drinking excessive amounts of café con
leche, and working out at Megatlon like all the other chic porteños in Buenos Aires. She loves to travel and is halfway to her goal of setting foot on every continent where civilization exists. After
graduation, she hopes to live in a remote village, teaching English and sleeping in a hammock.
Dina Magaril finds herself in Buenos Aires for a second semester, though she is still quite unsure what she is doing here. Dina has discovered that she has family in town (from both
parents’ sides), which makes her a bit Argentine but not enough to get a discount on airfare. After many months she has reaffirmed her love for cortados, choripan, malbec and alfajores
— the meringue Havana ones. She is nervous about returning to New York and the idea of a $3 subway ride.
Jessica Rettig is a junior and English major at Georgetown University. A native Floridian who still insists on wearing flip-flops in a Converse All Star city, she spends her days wandering
around Las Cañitas in search of the ultimate wifi café. She loves hanging upside down, ascending heights, pretending she can dance to electronica and eating banana ice cream.
Destiny Graber, currently a senior at the University of Georgia, likes ordering items off menus that she can’t pronounce, watching trashy telenovelas (soap operas), playing charades in public
places and making people feel awkward by staring at them on subways. While studying in Buenos Aires, she aspires to one day become the empanada eating contest champion of the world or
live out the rest of her life as a dog walker.
Daniel Franken is a junior from Georgetown University studying international relations, history and Latin American studies. He enjoys immersing himself in Argentine culture by exploring
Buenos Aires’ nightlife, as well as spending his afternoons in parks drinking maté. During his time in Buenos Aires, he has developed an intimate relationship with Quilmes, the national beer,
Argentine dairy and meat products, as well as cumbia music.

www.cafeabroad.com 17
Fashionably Late
By Daniel Franken
Buenos Aires is renowned for its
spectacular nightlife. The wide variety
of boliches (nightclubs) located
throughout the city is sure to please
students with any musical taste ranging
from techno and electronic selections,
to Latin – cumbia, salsa and merengue,
and even Argentine and international
rock. Here are a few quick tips before
you hit the hot spots (see below).
• Do not get too dressy. Argentines
tend to dress up less, in general, when
going out (and this goes for guys much
more than girls). For guys, it’s fine to
wear a polo or button-up shirt, but
18 Café Abroad InPrint Winter 2007
leave the suit jackets and fancy attire at
home.
• Fashionably late is very late.
Show up at 2 a.m. at the earliest. Most
boliches only get full around 3 a.m. and
don’t close until 7 a.m.
• Check out the latest. As in any big
city, the good clubs tend to change with
time, but the following boliches are
highly recommended:
Asia de Cuba ($$$)
A rather small, up-scale
establishment with great techno
and trance music. Located in Puerto
Madero, the club tends to be better on
Thursdays and Fridays.
Crobar ($$)
Moderately expensive, this large
boliche features a main hall with stellar
techno and trance, and a smaller room
with live Argentine rock bands. It’s
definitely worth checking out both
sides of this extremely popular spot –
especially on Friday night.
Mint ($$)
Reasonably priced and very large.
The main hall features electronic music,
while the side room has hip-hop and
other varieties. Another good Friday
night spot.
Kimia ($)
A smaller boliche located in Palermo
that plays mainly Latin music like
cumbia, merengue, salsa and Brazilian.
This spot is loads of fun on any evening.
Lost/MOD/Club Aráoz ($$)
One venue, three very different
clubs. On Thursdays, Lost plays some of
the best hip-hop in Buenos Aires with a
more international and American crowd.
Friday nights, MOD features Argentine
and international rock, and the crowd is
more local. Saturdays, Club Aráoz spins
electronic and techno. Check out this
boliche on any one of its great nights.
 “Tower Bridge.” The sun shines through
the arches of London’s iconic Tower
Bridge. By Jasmin Chang.

“Chilling in Ice Bar.”

Located in a clubbing
hot spot in Seoul, Korea,
Sub Zero is a bar made
entirely out of ice,
complete with out-
rageous ice sculp-
tures and frozen
cocktail glass-
es. By Nicole
Wong.

“Crossing the Street.”

A sign posted at a
crosswalk in front of
a retirement center in
Glasgow, Scotland. By
Nicole Katze.

“Santa Croce.”
Florence, Italy.
By Julie Jane Capel.

www.cafeabroad.com 19