Getting Settled

It seems a bit absurd to say this, but I'm finally starting to get a routine of sorts.

I finally had this sense today as I was going over my calendar and figuring out what I have to do over the next few weeks, figuring out when I can get in things like studying, lunch, and working out, in between my classes. This wouldn't seem so absurd, except that I've been here for about a month and a half.

I've already discussed why that is for the most part--a long orientation, an equally long drop-add period, and I don't particularly want to get into that again. Instead I'm going to talk a little bit about what that routine is looking like at this point, and what I still need to add to it.

The other thing that contributed to the sense that I have a routine now is that my class schedule is, finally, officially set--I just turned in the form several hours ago. I'm taking a total of four classes, two at the Universidad Catolica Argentina in the Program for Latin American Studies, one in the Universidad de Buenos Aires Facultad de Ciencias Sociales (social sciences) and one required class for my program at the program office downtown. I managed to drop all of the classes that I was taking at Torcuato di Tella (which is really far away!) and the rest of the classes at the UBA and UCA so that I'm down to just those four. This has left me with a rather odd schedule--I have class three days a week (this has never happened to me before) yet everyday that I have class it starts at 9am. Those lovely 9am start times account for half of my classes. The other two classes are both in the evening at UCA, so that everyday that I have class I have to get up in the morning and then have a really long period in between when my morning class starts and my evening class begins.

I actually think that this could be a good thing. One of my problems over the last few weeks has been that if I have a class that starts late in the day, or worse yet if my only class is an evening class, I just don't get up until a few hours before it starts. That or I spend much of the day sitting at my computer in my boxers not accomplishing very much (clearly I wasn't updating my blog!) Having class at 9am means that you have to shower, put clothes on and get out of the house, which keeps my host family happy too (they don't really like it when I just sit around all day). It also (ought to) makes it easier to study in between those classes because I have a lot of time, but it doesn't really make sense to go home in between classes most of the time, because that just means more time and money spent on commutes.

As for the not having any class two days a week, not counting weekends, it gives me the opportunity to stay out late the evening before, allowing me to go out on Mondays and/or have a three-day weekend starting Thursday night, which could be particularly useful for travelling. The disadvantage to this is, once again, the sitting around all day in my boxers problem, which I hope to address by signing up for some volunteer work, or getting a membership at a gym.

Speaking of volunteering, that is something I still have to do. I'm currently torn between trying to find something that is "useful" to me, in the sense that it would have something to do with my future career, and taking care of babies. The latter is part of a program called Baby Help (yes the name is in English, I don't know why) which helps out single moms by having people watch after their kids while they go out to find work. It's sort of odd but I kind of miss being around little kids, I used to babysit for a neighbor back home, and every time I see small children I'm reminded of my dad for some reason. Apparently when I was a kid and my mom asked me the standard "what do you want to be when you grow up" I told her "I want to be like Daddy", so she said " you mean a scientist", to which I replied "no I want to be a dad". This remains one of the few things that I know about my future career plans.