Hola Rotarians!
First off, I can't believe it's May! I am just now realizing how I do not have to exert as much effort in forming my Spanish sentences and this has come as a nice surprise. Just shy of three months here, if I keep this up I will definitely reach my language goals by December. A big thank you for that!
This past Wednesday, the other Ambassadorial Scholars and I met up to peruse the Feria del Libro which is one the biggest books fairs worldwide: http://www.el-libro.org.ar
The fair is almost a month long and is enormous. It's reminiscent of what I would imagine a world expo must be like; there are rooms after rooms of giant "Pabellon's" which are color coded regions of the fair, by topic, era, or country. An interesting custom I noted when I first arrived here is that all of the university texts are copied, with not one eyelash batted at international copyright laws. One of my classmates told me that copying texts was one of the fallouts from the 2001 financial crisis. Since people were just trying to make ends meet, it was no longer lucrative nor practical to import or spend money on books. Well, if the book fair is any sign of Argentina's economic recuperation, then the country is headed in a good direction.
The book fair was not only a bookworm's delight, but a cultural event as well. Throughout the night, different musical bands played in the main and side rooms, adding a festive atmosphere.
The book fair was my one reprieve from my study schedule for ANOTHER midterm coming up this week. After this midterm, I hope to be out and about much more, so look out for new posts.
Un beso,
Alethea
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