It has been hard to keep up with the blog this week -- between preparing class, holding class, correcting quizzes and journals, and going on our excursions. So I apologize if you kept going to the blog for news -- and finding none!
On Tuesday we were invited to the offices of "El Litoral," the local newspaper. The word "litoral" is the same as "littoral" in English -- referring to an area along a coast or shore. Since 1918 the newspaper has served the towns along the Paraguay and Urugray rivers in Argentina.
We are fast on our way to becoming local celebrities. At the newspaper offices, a photographer took a picture of the whole group. Later, a reporter from the paper interviewed Marisa and me on 1) why a group of U.S. students are studying in Santa Fe and 2) what our plans are for the future in Santa Fe. (Note: The Program in Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies at Gustavus is thinking of starting a semester-abroad program in Santa Fe. Our decision to do so will be based in part on our experience during this J-term.) Anyway, we hope that our photo will be in the Sunday paper. Did I mention that -- purely by coincidence -- the reporter is a former student of Marisa's? (Okay, so maybe it is not such a coincidence . . . ) Anyway, it will be interesting to see the article. (And I hope that the reporter got good grades in Marisa's classes!)
Our guide at "El Litoral" was so passionate about the newspaper that he gave us much more information than I expected, up to and including the composition of the actual paper used. He also started the tour with a pop quiz for the students. "Of all forms of mass media, which do you think is the most important?" The students -- ever the diplomats -- all agreed that it was the printed newspaper. Our guide warmed to them immediately. Of course, the newspaper company also owns a radio station and a TV studio from which they broadcast a news program, a sports talk show, and an interview program. But the guide was adamant that the printed word is the only way we should get the news.
There are cultural differences here that have always been interesting to me. One of them is the bureaucratic formality required in order to go anywhere. For example, in order to visit the newspaper, we had to present ourselves with an official letter saying that Professors Hanway and Kalbermatten, representing Gustavus Adolphus College,of Saint Peter, Minnesota, USA officially request a tour of the newspaper. We had to sign under our names and include our document numbers (Marisa's Argentinean id and my passport). To me it was very 19th century -- the flowery language, the formality, the official signatures -- we were just walking around a newspaper office, after all. To Marisa, it is all very normal.
After the tour the guide made a comment that we have heard often here -- that our students are so respectful, so polite, so well-educated. The students have been great in every situation. Not matter how hot they are or how long-winded the guide, they have been incredibly patient.
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