Posts by serafina

  • Studying in Argentina - An account

    Quote from serafina

    Update: Today I had to pay to register in the province. The amount was "just" 230,000 ARS

    Yesterday, April 17, I took my oath of office in the province. It was just two of us - the other translator being already registered in Capital and with many years of experience under her belt as an official translator in Argentina.

    The staff at the Translator Council were extremely nice, informative and patient. I felt very welcome and that’s one of the perks of living here.
    I was also able to legalize my signature on my first official Spanish to Italian translation for an Argentinian client living in California.

    Next week, I will start the paperwork to get registered in Buenos Aires City.

    The timeline is horrible if you look at it with a business sense: it takes months to get the diploma (the physical item), which is necessary to enroll in the professional Council.
    In the Province, I was able to hand over everything by email and I had to bring in the hardcopy the day of my oath of office.
    In the Capital, you can’t do that. They will give you an appointment to bring in the originals and start the enrollment paperwork, then they will call you for the oath of office.

    Timeline:
    Nov 28 - Graduation day. I sat my last exam

    Then, I had to sort some extra paperwork that they wanted for my foreign high school degree (which wasn’t asked for when I enrolled 4 years before), pay a fee and request to be issued a diploma and transcript.

    Feb 3 - date of issue shown on my diploma.
    Then it was sent for legalization to the ministry of education, I guess. I wasn’t informed of this step while it happened.

    March 25 - legalization completed. The status on the ministry of education portal showed that the paperwork with the ministry of education was completed.

    March 28 - Diploma ready for pickup

    On the same day, I emailed to the professional councils of the city and the province. The city gave me an appointment on 4/21 to start my enrollment. I think the oath of office will take place in late May or June.
    The province gave me as oath of office 4/17 (yesterday).

    So it is about 5 months between getting graduated and being able to practice (for the province) and 6+ in the case of Capital.

    ——

    Now, I am in process to apostille my diploma and transcript, which is done online using the TAD platform. It takes about 2 weeks to get an apostille and costs 4500 pesos (3 USD).

    Furthermore, I want to do the paperwork to get my university degree recognized in Italy. This is a multiple step process and for now I am just doing the paperwork at the Italian consulate. Of course, thy aren’t satisfied with the transcript and diploma that I already have. They also want the full program of each subject, a letter from the university confirming that I did actually follow that program and the program accreditation.
    So, back to my university: more money to pay (70,000 pesos) to request those documents. 2 months of wait plus other 2 months to have those records legalized by the ministry of education.
    Then, I will need to apostille them.
    Overall, I am happy if I can get this done by the end of the year.

    To be fair, I have no need for it as of now. But since it takes months to do it, I’d rather do it now than regret it later.

    Finally, an update on the graduation ceremony. With a little push from the inside, my classmate was invited, too. The 4th one didn’t, though.

  • Things you hate about living in Argentina.

    Advertising about road accidents is much lighter than in Italy, here. While it is not a nice sight to be reminded about the dangers of driving while you are behind the wheel, it is effective (at least in my case). I loathe driving in Italy because I am reminded about the consequences I may face (whether I am at fault or not).
    Here in Argentina I have spotted a few signs along the road, but they are less gruesome and effective than those used in Italy, so I don’t pay too much attention to them.
    I find Argentinian drivers extremely selfish and careless. I am appalled no car ever stops to let persons by foot cross the street, not even if they are elderly or with babies.
    In 2-lane city roads, most people just stay in the middle. No one use indicator lights nor pay attention to our when we use them. I feel I am always at risk of colliding whenever I take a turn and rely on indicators to signal this.
    Bad vehicle lights is also an issue, although here in the city is less felt. Some cars in smaller towns have lights that remembers the dim ones used on graves in Italy. What’s the use?!

  • Does anybody fancy a day trip to Uruguay ??

    Quote from Sarran1955

    For several reasons I am abandoning the Uruguay project.... principally because the officials forgot to stamp my passport when I arrived, and so I do not fancy having border problems...... to be fair, I was whizzed through Inmigracion in nothing flat!!

    Hello Sarran,

    Argentina stopped stamping passports in 2022, shortly after the pandemic. Nothing to fear if you'd like to cross the river and see what's there in Uruguay!

    I love that description of Misiones. I still have fond memories of my solo travel up there when international tourism was not allowed and it was just me and a few bravehearts exploring the province.

  • Diego Maradona

    In my view, it is really heartbreaking that the most loved man of the country died alone and neglected. I believe his manager/doctors were just trying to exploit his fame for money. Unfortunately, no relationship he had was ever genuine.... he was always too rich and/or famous than any other person around him. His celebrity survived at least 10 Presidents and it is unrivalled in the world of sport to this day.

    When you become rich and/or famous, your circle gets smaller. When you become a God, you are ony our own at the top.

  • Studying in Argentina - An account

    I have been trying to find online a regulation where it is defined who is invited and who is not. There are some articles about past editions (apparently, there is one ceremony in May and one in October), with a different number of attendees from my program. It may be that there was no one graduating in that session, or who was available to attend the ceremony. Who knows!

    One thing it is clear: they group a few Schools, but not all at the same time. And there is one ceremony in the City and one in Pilar, where the campus is.

    For example, it seems the School of Medicine has their ceremony elsewhere and on their own, so does the School of Business.

    There are also some awards, but I don't understand the meaning and the criteria. For example, one person gets to bring the Argentine flag during the ceremony, one the Vatican flag (it is a Catholic university) and another the University's flag. Then there are medals handed out and a oath that is taken (by who and why?). A student gives a speak on behalf of all students. How is this person chosen, and why?

    It seems the system is quite different from Italy and the US.

    During the program, I have always stressed over marks/grades and no one understood why. In Italy, a high mark gives you access to interviews with high profile companies, prizes for graduates, and generally speaking, a higher consideration when applying for jobs. If you apply for a job in the public sector, your final grade will affect the points you are awarded in the open exam selection process.

  • Travels Around Argentina

    We visite Minka-Casa de Japón in Boulogne yesterday. The guided tour was $15,000/each (USD 10) and lasted 2 hours. The tour is held by the owners, Guillermo and Patricia. They spent two hours to explain how they brought a 300 hundred years old Japanese house from the mountains of Japan to Buenos Aires and explained the lifestyle and philosophy behind Japanese architecture and art.

    They lived for 30+ years in Tokyo, and when they decided to come back, they wanted to bring back something of the Japanese culture with them to share with others.

    The house has 4 floors: the first two serve as museum, the 3rd one is where they live and the 4th is a small attic. During the guided tour, we explored the museum section. Some pieces are of their permanent collections, others are temporary exhibitions. They have just renewed the temporary exhibition section. Guillermo explained that Japan is very careful with their art pieces, which they lend only to top museums around the world (think the Guggenheim)... and theirs!


    On this article on Clarin, there are also pictures of their living space:

    clarin.com/arq/antigua-casona-japon-deslumbra-rincon-san-isidro_0_qCw5XgneV.html


    Una antigua casona de Japón,en un rincón de San Isidro
    Planta baja. En la Minka, donde comienza la exposición del museo La Casa de Japón. / Fernando de la Orden

  • Studying in Argentina - An account

    Another development at my former university. The graduation ceremony is scheduled for May, but apparently not all graduates are invited. In my program (Italian), only two students can be invited and they are the ones with the highest average grade. Considering we are 4 graduates, it seems very petty and it has upset one student particularly, as they were dreaming to get a degree since ever and costed them a lot of money, time, and effort.

    Remember that we had no thesis defense, we simply sat (closed door) the last exam and that was it - we graduated. The ceremony would be a nice formal act to be recognized. For a catholic university, it seems they are not living up their motto of 'virtue to the heart'.

  • Argentine corruption

    The more the news digs into it, the more shady it becomes.

    Here they interview the real estate agent who sold the apartment of Hugo Morales to the two retirees.

    What is shady? That the starting price was $340,000 and the selling price was $200,000. Quite a bit of mark down. Then, Adorni bought it for $230,000, but with just $30,000 in downpayment and the rest "financed" by the two retirees.

    Every step of the operation seems to be legit, but the whole things smells fishy.

    First, the numbers are hardly believable. From 340 to 200 is a bit step. The real estate agent said that a lot of people came to visit the apartment, but finally the offer was made by Feijoó (the son of one of the retirees) who came visit it with an architect and started alleging that it would require a lot of work and negotited down the price. However, the purchasing deed was put in the name of Feijoó's mother and a friend's mother.

    While it is not unusual that one person does the reservation and then the deed is on somone else's name, it is quite odd that it is put on your friend's mother's name, too.

  • My STR adventure in Buenos Aires

    In my business, I never ask for reviews, although they can be great for marketing. When I tried to get some (after a coaching course recommended to always ask for reviews), I set up my business profile on Yelp. However, I got non-related inquiries, I got scammed by Yelp ($300 in free ads... after you spent your $300), and whenever I asked my client to leave a review, unless they were already on Yelp they didn't want to provide their details to Yelp just write a review for me.

  • Mainly cats

    The owners’ justification makes no sense.
    However, my husband helps a lady who has a foster home for cats and dogs in Mataderos… or so it seems/started.
    He reported that this lady doesn’t advertise for adoption the rescues who could have a chance at being adopted, and keep them with her. Recently, a cat gave birth to kittens because “she forgot” to sterilize her.
    There is a fine line between rescuing and hoarding animals