Hey people. Sorry i am so bad at blogging. I just want to apologize again. But it gets kind of boring writing about the same old stuff. Before my class at 4 I spent the whole morning with my host mom and her oldest son's german girlfriend, Anna. We had breakfast (my favorite granola ever, that I found out this morning has hydrogenated oil as its first ingredient, sucks). anyway, first, i have to say- ITS SPRING. and it ROCKS. its gorgeous and finally warm. so we walked about 8-9 blocks to the MALBA, the modern art museum. it was so amazing, i was so inspired and i loved almost all of the art I saw. I've been to the Museo de Bellas Artes, which is more classic, famous Latin American art, which I liked, but not nearly as much. We walked around the MALBA for a while, although its not very big, so we didn't need a ton of time. We had coffee afterwards and continued walking around. We walked around Palermo Chico (my host mom called it that..) and saw the most amazing houses and apartments I have ever seen in the city. We passed by a ton of embassies, all of which were beautiful. i was so happy all day- it was so nice out, i was speaking spanish, it was just adorable. i really loved it and i hope to spend more time with my host mom!!
what else...I didn't go out this week, although on Monday I went to this thing called La Bomba del Tiempo, which is a drum show every Monday night in Palermo- it was really cool. I went with orly and we just kinda swayed and danced to the music. next time i will know to bring a 40 of quilmes (argentin beer) to chug in the line, like everyone else. haha. today is thursday again, finallyyy!! I think i am going to cordoba this weekend, but I'm not sure. I love traveling, but at the same time I don't want to miss out on any time in BA, and its so hard to be away all weekend. Besides the 20 hour bus rides are getting to be a little much. Luckily our destination, Córdoba, is only 9 or 10 hours away. I think I'm just going with my girl friend Alba. She also goes to penn and we get along really well.
Ah i didnt write about the amazing night in Olivos!!! Olivos is in la provincia, a little bit outside of the city. basically we went to this middle eastern food place (which i didnt love) called Bereber with a big group of people and then went to Belgrano to Charley's friend Enzo's apartment. Enzo & his friends go to UCA and they are really good dancers. we listened to great american music like Michael Jackson (hence the Thriller pictures on facebook). we got super crazy, drank some smirnoff, JUST LIKE COLLEGE, ONLY BETTER - IN ARGENTINA (shout out to Bring it On for that one). we danced and then headed off to a club called Sunset in Olivos like 18912739 miles away. Actually like 15 mins, whatever. we had a sweet night there- great music, great dancing. private concert? not really sure.
tonight we are having a little going away party for Anna - mexican food again!!! and I am in charge of making the guacamole. super pumped. I have to go get ready for that and read a dictionary so I can prepare some phrases to say at dinner. hahaa. nootttt kidding.
download the song "Perdonáme" by La Factoria immediately. Its super popular here and I love it. Also, anyone watch lipstick jungle? kirby may or may not be the hottest person ever.
love & miss everyone! if you need to escape winter in the states, come visit me!!! xx
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Becoming part of BA
yo people. sorry its been a million years since I've blogged. In my extremely busy and exciting life here in BA, blogging has become less of a priority. That's not entirely true-- i just spend more time on skype and facebook and sleeping and spendig time with friends!! (and doing homework?). I apologize!
So i'll start with the week after my birthday, the first week in september. it was a crazy week in terms of going out. since UBA was having a strike and we didn;t have classes, we went out every night. tuesday night was really a night to remember. we (alba, orly, amanda and I) started at this kinda gross bar called Bar Unico, but it was actually amazingly fun. great music, tons of people, free champagne! lots of creepy guys though. we met up with some other people and were ready to head out. we bought a bottle of wine and we walked to club in plaza serrano called macondo and danced all night long. it was amazing. we met some cool french guys, had a great time.
Thursday night - what a hilarious story. We were planning on going to club Lost for the first time- its hip hop on thursday nights. (i went last night for the actual first time and it was THE BOMB.COM. im going back every week.how i have missed hip hop. listening to the same techno beat for 5 hours straight is exhausting). I bought some wine for Orly and I to drink before going to club lost. we started slow and somehow it was 3 am and we had finished 2 bottles of wine. SO clearly we decided to watch the new gossip girl! it was amazing. Orly, who was so enthusiastic about a scene in gossip girl, hit her head on my chair and used a stick of butter as an ice pack, that we later found all in her hair and on my floor. so as we are about to leave, i say i want to lay down for a minute- It was like 3 am and I wanted to rest for a second! so i laid down and then orly laid down next to me and we got cozy and didn't set an alarm then we woke up the next morning at 11 am with alll our clothes on, shoes on, room a buttery mess. Goes to show that I need to get more sleep and that i need to train more to keep up with the porteña lifestyle!!
friday morning was not pretty, but becca and i were scheduled to leave for our 20 hour bus ride to Iguazú (in a province very very far north, borders brazil and paraguay, to see the waterfalls). the bus was a bitch but the trip was great. we stayed in a really fun hostel (Hostel Inn) and met a really fun argentine girl named Belen. we spent most of our time with her and went to an asado at the hostel, got massages at the hostel, and went to the park for the 2 days we were there. although there were warning signs ALL over the place for jaguars and food-stealing aggressive monkeys, the waterfalls were breathtaking. it was unreal. there are something like over 275 waterfalls, the park is huge and so so green, we took a boat to a little island, it was so pretty. i have tons of pictures on my facebook. there isnt really much to do in the town, we didn't go out or anything, but like I said the waterfalls were amazing.
We came back on tuesday morning and had some homework to do before tuesday. tuesday night i stayed in and watched the new gossip girl. enough said. wednesday night i met becca at 878, an old 'speakeasy' turned chic bar/restaurant. it was nice, not too much going on there, but becca and i had some drinks and some good convos :)
AH last night. thursday night. club lost. hip hop. my life. it was so amazing to finnaalllllyyy listen to and dance to hip hop. i finally felt like home. becca and i met joanna and veronica there, we danced the night away until 6 am.
So last thing I wanted to write about was my amazing colectivo experience where, for the first time, I really felt like I was becoming part of BA. I am getting to know my way around so much, I am so comfortable here, i love my house and my friends, I am so shocked at house smooth and incredible the transition has been. I was on the colectivo and there were tons of people, and all of a sudden Bleeding Love came on the radio, and I was just so happy and grateful to be here and to see another part of the world that is so full of life and exciting times. I am having so much fun here. Time is really flying, especially with school starting, but moments like that silly one on the bus just make me so happy.
Sorry its been forever and that this is short! I hope everyone is doing well and I miss & love you guys. VISIT ME!
Un besito :)
So i'll start with the week after my birthday, the first week in september. it was a crazy week in terms of going out. since UBA was having a strike and we didn;t have classes, we went out every night. tuesday night was really a night to remember. we (alba, orly, amanda and I) started at this kinda gross bar called Bar Unico, but it was actually amazingly fun. great music, tons of people, free champagne! lots of creepy guys though. we met up with some other people and were ready to head out. we bought a bottle of wine and we walked to club in plaza serrano called macondo and danced all night long. it was amazing. we met some cool french guys, had a great time.
Thursday night - what a hilarious story. We were planning on going to club Lost for the first time- its hip hop on thursday nights. (i went last night for the actual first time and it was THE BOMB.COM. im going back every week.how i have missed hip hop. listening to the same techno beat for 5 hours straight is exhausting). I bought some wine for Orly and I to drink before going to club lost. we started slow and somehow it was 3 am and we had finished 2 bottles of wine. SO clearly we decided to watch the new gossip girl! it was amazing. Orly, who was so enthusiastic about a scene in gossip girl, hit her head on my chair and used a stick of butter as an ice pack, that we later found all in her hair and on my floor. so as we are about to leave, i say i want to lay down for a minute- It was like 3 am and I wanted to rest for a second! so i laid down and then orly laid down next to me and we got cozy and didn't set an alarm then we woke up the next morning at 11 am with alll our clothes on, shoes on, room a buttery mess. Goes to show that I need to get more sleep and that i need to train more to keep up with the porteña lifestyle!!
friday morning was not pretty, but becca and i were scheduled to leave for our 20 hour bus ride to Iguazú (in a province very very far north, borders brazil and paraguay, to see the waterfalls). the bus was a bitch but the trip was great. we stayed in a really fun hostel (Hostel Inn) and met a really fun argentine girl named Belen. we spent most of our time with her and went to an asado at the hostel, got massages at the hostel, and went to the park for the 2 days we were there. although there were warning signs ALL over the place for jaguars and food-stealing aggressive monkeys, the waterfalls were breathtaking. it was unreal. there are something like over 275 waterfalls, the park is huge and so so green, we took a boat to a little island, it was so pretty. i have tons of pictures on my facebook. there isnt really much to do in the town, we didn't go out or anything, but like I said the waterfalls were amazing.
We came back on tuesday morning and had some homework to do before tuesday. tuesday night i stayed in and watched the new gossip girl. enough said. wednesday night i met becca at 878, an old 'speakeasy' turned chic bar/restaurant. it was nice, not too much going on there, but becca and i had some drinks and some good convos :)
AH last night. thursday night. club lost. hip hop. my life. it was so amazing to finnaalllllyyy listen to and dance to hip hop. i finally felt like home. becca and i met joanna and veronica there, we danced the night away until 6 am.
So last thing I wanted to write about was my amazing colectivo experience where, for the first time, I really felt like I was becoming part of BA. I am getting to know my way around so much, I am so comfortable here, i love my house and my friends, I am so shocked at house smooth and incredible the transition has been. I was on the colectivo and there were tons of people, and all of a sudden Bleeding Love came on the radio, and I was just so happy and grateful to be here and to see another part of the world that is so full of life and exciting times. I am having so much fun here. Time is really flying, especially with school starting, but moments like that silly one on the bus just make me so happy.
Sorry its been forever and that this is short! I hope everyone is doing well and I miss & love you guys. VISIT ME!
Un besito :)
Monday, September 1, 2008
My 20th Birthday!
I have been very tranquil and low-key recently, haven't really been in the mood to crazy party. Not really sure why. So my 20th was a low-key and tranquil multi-day celebration. On Saturday I went shopping in Palermo Soho and bought a really cute dress from Jazmin Chebar (amazing store PS). I had dinner plans with 10 friends at Cielito Lindo, a small Mexican restaurant. I crave Mexican food, but I may have to accept that it is just not the same here. The food was alright, the margaritas were amazing. Joanna (recent Emory grad, moved back to BA after 2 years since she studied here on the same program as me!) and I felt the affects of the margaritas after about 4 sips. Dinner was fun, I blew out a candle and we headed to Sugar, a bar near by. It was full of international people, but whatever. I got a free bottle of champagne for my birthday! We went to another party, but it was kind of a bust and by 4 30 am I was so tired, I just wanted to sleep.
Sunday, my actual birthday, I woke up and headed straight to meet Becca and Orly and 3 of Becca's host mom's nephews. We were going to a FÚTBOL GAME!!! River vs. San Lorenzo. We at tickets in the popular section-- like wear the mafia sit, where we were the only girls, where there are human avalanches when someone scores, where they sing songs the entire time and jump and wave and fall and drink...Imagine how us 3 poor American girls fit in there!! I was nervous at first but it was fine and we ended up having so much fun. The boys are so so so nice and they were really protective and helped us a lot. The fans are soo rowdy and loud. On the subway home, the fans were still singing and they nearly broke the subway train with their jumping and climbing on the walls and stuff. I am kind of glad that the teams tied so that I didn't have to witness the celebration or the sadness- I think both would have been pretty intense.
I cam home and we had a birthday celebration for me here at the house- with the family, friends, girlfriends of the brothers, etc. We had delicious dinner and an amazing home-made dulce de leche cake!
I am off to have lunch with Joanna, but I will try to write more often!!!
LOVE & MISS ALL OF YOU!!
xoxo
GossipGirl (STARTS TODAY WOOOO!!!!)
Sunday, my actual birthday, I woke up and headed straight to meet Becca and Orly and 3 of Becca's host mom's nephews. We were going to a FÚTBOL GAME!!! River vs. San Lorenzo. We at tickets in the popular section-- like wear the mafia sit, where we were the only girls, where there are human avalanches when someone scores, where they sing songs the entire time and jump and wave and fall and drink...Imagine how us 3 poor American girls fit in there!! I was nervous at first but it was fine and we ended up having so much fun. The boys are so so so nice and they were really protective and helped us a lot. The fans are soo rowdy and loud. On the subway home, the fans were still singing and they nearly broke the subway train with their jumping and climbing on the walls and stuff. I am kind of glad that the teams tied so that I didn't have to witness the celebration or the sadness- I think both would have been pretty intense.
I cam home and we had a birthday celebration for me here at the house- with the family, friends, girlfriends of the brothers, etc. We had delicious dinner and an amazing home-made dulce de leche cake!
I am off to have lunch with Joanna, but I will try to write more often!!!
LOVE & MISS ALL OF YOU!!
xoxo
GossipGirl (STARTS TODAY WOOOO!!!!)
Mendoza!!!
Hey all- SORRY its been so long since I have posted! When I used to have no friends I used to have lots of time to blog. When I used to go out all the time I had lots of crazy stories. Now I have some friends and I don't go out every night...so what have I been up to? I finally joined Megatlon, a gym. People don't really work out very hard at this said 'gym,' but its really nice and it is a haven for hot, young men who want to check out their 'muscles' in the mirrors, which is fine by me. I have been settling in more in the city, going to class and doing lots of reading in Spanish, exploring, shopping, eating, etc.
This past weekend I went to Mendoza! It was so nice to get out of the city. The trip stared on a Thursday night on the lovely Andesmar bus. The seats were actually more comfortable and more spacious than coach seats on an airplane. We bought Cerealitas (wheat thin like crackers that would become the staple of our diets while away) and started on our way. Our adorable 'host' on the bus started off with a nice friendly game of Bingo. It was great, we laughed the whole way through and everyone else laughed, too -- you can imagine 4 American girls "... WAIT WHAT WHAT 67 OR 77 OR 57????....REPEAT!!!" We got really into it, but in the end we lost. The "dinner" on the bus was THE most fowl thing I have ever tasted in my entire life. I went to sleep...
Woke up in the more glorious way anyone could ever wake up- to bLaStInG 80s MUSIC VIDEOS of course!!!! It was amazing - "Wake me up.before you go-go I don't wanna blah blah blah..." ..."Amadeus Amadeus.." lots of Whitney (Houston), Madonna, Bon Jovi, etc. Amazing. I knew it was going to be a great trip from then on.
We arrived in Mendoza and took a cab to our hostel, the Damajuana. It was really nice, my first time in a hostel!! People in the living room were watching the Olympics so we watched with them for a bit and then decided to explore a bit with Becca's friend Jessica's friend Adrian. Ohhh Adrian. Much more about him later.
We started out with a walk around a lovely park & lake, it was such a nice day and it was great to move around after the bus ride. Then we went to 2 bodegas (wineries)- the first one we went to was a lot bigger and newer, it was called Wienert. We tried some good Malbec and took a tour I didn't really understand, lol. We went to the next winery, which was a smaller boutique winery that Adrian's friend Francisco works at. Francisco will reappear in this blog later. I bought a bottle of Malbec that I drank last night with my host family (Birthday Post is next). After the last winery it was about 7 pm and we hadn't eaten all day. Needless to say we were absolutely starving and what better to cure hunger than pounds and pounds and pounds on empanadas. We ordered them by the dozen at this small bar and ate and ate and ate and tried to clean up our mess with wax paper napkins, which are very popular here in Argentina. I have no idea why anyone would ever elect to by wax paper napkins because in the end each person must use at least 50 to wipe one hand, so they must have to buy them so often. After Empanadas we went to rent ski and snowboard gear for our snowboarding trip 2 days later.
The gear we rented was fine, although the edges of my snowboard could have been sharper...But the snowsuits we rented..wow. Straight from the 80s- nylon shiny bright colored body suits that were so huge and wayyy to warm. The girls at the store told us that they were "de moda" aka in style, but I quickly learned as soon as I got onto the slopes that that people in Argentina do NO wear these ski suits. Everyone was decked out in North Face and Colombia while my friends and I were putting on a Tellytubby show for them. When we got back from renting we watched the Olympic soccer game Argentina vs. Nigeria (Argentina wins the gold!!!) in the bar connected to our hostel. It was fun, but we were soo tired and had to get up early for our Adventure Driving up the Andes.
We woke up at 9 am to go rent cars from Adrian's friend...at his house. This guy starts pulling out car after car after car from his garage! Of course they were all stick and no one knew hoe to drive them. On top of that and the fact that Adrian "didn't have a driver's license" and we had to put the cars under 2 of my friend's names, we decided NOT to rent the cars from the sketchy man's house. We instead got 2 taxis and paid them a flat rate for the day. We thought we were picking the good cab (Orly, Libby and I) but we actually got the one that broke down on the side of cliffs in the Andes every 15 minutes. It was an adventure. After a while we also got a flat tire, so we took a walk in the desert and used the natural bathroom and ran around. It was funny. We stopped at some really gorgeous places along the way, like El Balcón, which is a huuuuge ravine/canyon on the side of the mountain. We also stopped at an old hotel and church that is closed now, but open for weddings. We also saw the place where we get our bottled water. We drank it from the hose it comes out of...safe! We were planning on going to hot springs in the mountain, but since our car was perpetually over-heating, we couldn't do much. We headed home, until the car broke down for good and Francisco had to come pick us up. We fit 8 people in a two door tiny tiny Fiat- one person in the trunk.
Of course we just had to return to the empanada place, so we did. We had had such a long day and we had to prepare for skiing tomorrow bright and early, so we went home and went to bed.
Francisco picked me, Becca, Orly, and Seanna up at the hostel at 7 am and we were off to Los Penitentes, a small but really cute ski place about 1 hour west of Mendoza. We suffered through the embarrassment that was our ski outfits, and started off. I was on a snowboard and a lot of the "lifts" are those pully things, so that was not pretty. I mostly stuck to the 2 chair lifts. We had a great day, a fun lunch, good laughs, some face-plants, etc. It was really nice.
We headed home late and went back to the hostel. Our faces were soooo sun and wind burnt that for the next 5 days all of us were bright red with goggle tans. We were raccoons and then peeling crocodiles. It was awesome. Monday we had a relaxing day, we went to a great park and sat out in the sun with ice cream cones. Becca got massively shit on by a huge bird, but that was really the only low point of the trip. We had lots of homework to do, so we did that and then got back on the bus for home. We played Bingo Andesmar again, lost again, and watched Wild Hogs on the tv. We were again woken up by blasting 80s music. :)
This past weekend I went to Mendoza! It was so nice to get out of the city. The trip stared on a Thursday night on the lovely Andesmar bus. The seats were actually more comfortable and more spacious than coach seats on an airplane. We bought Cerealitas (wheat thin like crackers that would become the staple of our diets while away) and started on our way. Our adorable 'host' on the bus started off with a nice friendly game of Bingo. It was great, we laughed the whole way through and everyone else laughed, too -- you can imagine 4 American girls "... WAIT WHAT WHAT 67 OR 77 OR 57????....REPEAT!!!" We got really into it, but in the end we lost. The "dinner" on the bus was THE most fowl thing I have ever tasted in my entire life. I went to sleep...
Woke up in the more glorious way anyone could ever wake up- to bLaStInG 80s MUSIC VIDEOS of course!!!! It was amazing - "Wake me up.before you go-go I don't wanna blah blah blah..." ..."Amadeus Amadeus.." lots of Whitney (Houston), Madonna, Bon Jovi, etc. Amazing. I knew it was going to be a great trip from then on.
We arrived in Mendoza and took a cab to our hostel, the Damajuana. It was really nice, my first time in a hostel!! People in the living room were watching the Olympics so we watched with them for a bit and then decided to explore a bit with Becca's friend Jessica's friend Adrian. Ohhh Adrian. Much more about him later.
We started out with a walk around a lovely park & lake, it was such a nice day and it was great to move around after the bus ride. Then we went to 2 bodegas (wineries)- the first one we went to was a lot bigger and newer, it was called Wienert. We tried some good Malbec and took a tour I didn't really understand, lol. We went to the next winery, which was a smaller boutique winery that Adrian's friend Francisco works at. Francisco will reappear in this blog later. I bought a bottle of Malbec that I drank last night with my host family (Birthday Post is next). After the last winery it was about 7 pm and we hadn't eaten all day. Needless to say we were absolutely starving and what better to cure hunger than pounds and pounds and pounds on empanadas. We ordered them by the dozen at this small bar and ate and ate and ate and tried to clean up our mess with wax paper napkins, which are very popular here in Argentina. I have no idea why anyone would ever elect to by wax paper napkins because in the end each person must use at least 50 to wipe one hand, so they must have to buy them so often. After Empanadas we went to rent ski and snowboard gear for our snowboarding trip 2 days later.
The gear we rented was fine, although the edges of my snowboard could have been sharper...But the snowsuits we rented..wow. Straight from the 80s- nylon shiny bright colored body suits that were so huge and wayyy to warm. The girls at the store told us that they were "de moda" aka in style, but I quickly learned as soon as I got onto the slopes that that people in Argentina do NO wear these ski suits. Everyone was decked out in North Face and Colombia while my friends and I were putting on a Tellytubby show for them. When we got back from renting we watched the Olympic soccer game Argentina vs. Nigeria (Argentina wins the gold!!!) in the bar connected to our hostel. It was fun, but we were soo tired and had to get up early for our Adventure Driving up the Andes.
We woke up at 9 am to go rent cars from Adrian's friend...at his house. This guy starts pulling out car after car after car from his garage! Of course they were all stick and no one knew hoe to drive them. On top of that and the fact that Adrian "didn't have a driver's license" and we had to put the cars under 2 of my friend's names, we decided NOT to rent the cars from the sketchy man's house. We instead got 2 taxis and paid them a flat rate for the day. We thought we were picking the good cab (Orly, Libby and I) but we actually got the one that broke down on the side of cliffs in the Andes every 15 minutes. It was an adventure. After a while we also got a flat tire, so we took a walk in the desert and used the natural bathroom and ran around. It was funny. We stopped at some really gorgeous places along the way, like El Balcón, which is a huuuuge ravine/canyon on the side of the mountain. We also stopped at an old hotel and church that is closed now, but open for weddings. We also saw the place where we get our bottled water. We drank it from the hose it comes out of...safe! We were planning on going to hot springs in the mountain, but since our car was perpetually over-heating, we couldn't do much. We headed home, until the car broke down for good and Francisco had to come pick us up. We fit 8 people in a two door tiny tiny Fiat- one person in the trunk.
Of course we just had to return to the empanada place, so we did. We had had such a long day and we had to prepare for skiing tomorrow bright and early, so we went home and went to bed.
Francisco picked me, Becca, Orly, and Seanna up at the hostel at 7 am and we were off to Los Penitentes, a small but really cute ski place about 1 hour west of Mendoza. We suffered through the embarrassment that was our ski outfits, and started off. I was on a snowboard and a lot of the "lifts" are those pully things, so that was not pretty. I mostly stuck to the 2 chair lifts. We had a great day, a fun lunch, good laughs, some face-plants, etc. It was really nice.
We headed home late and went back to the hostel. Our faces were soooo sun and wind burnt that for the next 5 days all of us were bright red with goggle tans. We were raccoons and then peeling crocodiles. It was awesome. Monday we had a relaxing day, we went to a great park and sat out in the sun with ice cream cones. Becca got massively shit on by a huge bird, but that was really the only low point of the trip. We had lots of homework to do, so we did that and then got back on the bus for home. We played Bingo Andesmar again, lost again, and watched Wild Hogs on the tv. We were again woken up by blasting 80s music. :)
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