Hola! Sorry its been 3 days since I've written here...its been a busy 3 days. Its mostly busy because we have now visited all of the universities that we can attend and the "shopping" period for classes begins on Monday. I am signed up to take 10 classes but I will drop 6 of them. Two of the universities are very similar to the US- they actually look more like public high schools, but for the most part they have lots of experience with exchange students and they are very helpful, organized and private. The Universidad de Buenos Aires is the total opposite - its a public university with different campuses all over the city. It receives very little funding and their facilities are...less that normal? The bathrooms basically are a hole in the ground, no toilet paper, no trash cans, no room to even bend over in the stall. I can't bend over in my shower but that's a different story. Graffiti and pictures cover ALL of the walls of this university - mostly pictures of Che Guevara and phrases like "Viva la revolución!!" and "Izquierda Socialista!" Its pretty intense and I really don't feel like I fit in there, but everyone has told me that the classes there are the most interesting and most rewarding and it is where we can meet and spend time with Argentine people.
During the day I have pretty much been doing stuff with the program, choosing my classes and things like that. We have gone out a bunch this past week. I went out last night to an intimate bar called OMM Bar in Palermo with my friend Becca. It was like a date, very quiet and small place. We shared a bottle of Malbec, which was amazing. We were having a great time, she is so amazing. We have a lot in common and we laugh a lot together. She goes to Penn and has a bunch of people here that she knows from Penn, but she is still really outgoing and so nice. After our wine, two Irish men came up to us as asked us if we wanted to have a berr with them. We said okay against our will - we want to hang out with Argentine men, not Irish men who speak an extremely weird form of English! So we sat with them for a while until we learned their names were Seamus and Deklund and that they are 31 years old. At that time we said we must leave, but they insisted on buying us more drinks. After those drinks we got in a cab to go to a club called Amerika, but the line was literally around 2 blocks and the people in line were mostly underage kids trying to dance, so we went back to a bar. We were so tired by then (3:30 am maybe) that we went to the bathroom and decided on an exit strategy. We decided on "We have school tomorrow. Bye." We went home and had to wake up at 8 am today for a meeting at the Catholic University. The university is in a place called Puerto Madero, an up-and-coming place right on the Río de la Plata, which is the big river (but looks like a sea) here - its golden brown, not blue. We saw the famous Puente de la Mujer and walked around. We ate lunch at a great place called ifresh Market. Then Becca took Amanda and I on an adventure to some randomass place where she heard from a friend of a friend that sold Argentine "herbs." Don't worry - Becca's not sketchy, but this adventure was. So we take the colectivo (bus) for blocks and blocks and blocks and finally get off - we walked around for a bit for number 550. We found it - it looked like a door had been there once, but it was completely blocked by a self-made brick wall. We thought about trying a three-knock, two-tap, one cough code to enter into this alleged "herb" store, but we decided against it. I was becoming paranoid - we were in the same neighborhood, Villa Crespo, that we had been robbed in only a few days prior. We had to be back at another university anyway, so we left.
I got home around 7 and had plans with my host mom, Amanda, to go to her son, Pedro's acrobat show. It started at 8, so we took a cab and took a seat in the small audience at a small school/cultural center. There were many groups who performed and it was so much fun. I felt very Argentine and it was fun to see Pedro do his acrobatics in a real setting and not just the living room. He is so cute and sweet, he waved to us from the stage and was so glad we came. I talked to Amanda a lot about a lot of different things - music, movies, family, religion, clothes, money, everything. It was great- she is really a great person and has a very good outlook on the world, in my opinion. She is so caring and sweet. We came home after to a great dinner of pork, red beets, green beans, eggs, and papas. She always says I don't eat enough and shoves more food on my plate, so right now I am so full I can barely sit. I don't know how to say no and not have her think that I don't like her food. I think she's a great cook, but I made the mistake of saying that the food and especially breakfast is very different here and now she thinks I am going to leave and leave her with no income for this semester. I told her I would never :)
An American girl named Gretchen, who is a friend of my friend Lizzy who lived in BA last year, is coming to stay in the extra room here for about 15 days. I am excited to meet her and for her to hopefully give me some good advice on BA and nightlife and stuff. I walked in the house today to see Juan clad only in tight, spandex-like black boxers....yeah. It was..amazing? Haha I was so awkward but he was just standing there like "Yeah, I know I'm gorgeous." I know think Juan is extremely sexy by the way. He has the most beautiful skin and accent and is so nice, when I can understand him. Anyway, apparently he and Gretchen have some drama, so I don't know what it going to go down here tomorrow.
I am in for now but I might go out later, I'm not sure. I miss all of you!!
XOXO
GossipGirl
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