Well, once again I have been super lazy and not written for quite some time, so I think I'm just going to summarize that last week. Sorry! But I figure it's better than writing a novel in one sitting.
It was a great weekend! We started off with a chill night in on Friday to prepare.
Waking up refreshed on Saturday, we started the day off by attending El Museo de Bellas Artes (MALBA), the National Art Museum. There are so many amazing free museums in our neighborhood, Recoleta, and throughout Buenos Aires. I am definitely going to have to go back because we spent 2 hours and I still only made it halfway through! I absolutely loved the Buenos Aires abstract painters. I wish my mom and brother would have been there because they would have absolutely LOVED it. I think the rest of the group had fun for a minute but then got pretty bored.
Afterward, we spent the rest of the daylight hours in Plaza Francia, which is a huge square of park next to our house. There are probably 100 or so tents set up with local vendors. You could find pretty much everything imaginable: clothes, leather goods, jewelry, food, arts and crafts, and all the things needed to drink mate. And sooo cheap at that. I wanted to buy presents for people back home, but I was so overwhelmed. There was so much to choose from!! I think I'm going to wait until much longer in our stay, so I really know what all my options are. It was a great place to practice Spanish, and it's there every Saturday and Sunday. tons of people lay out in the grass, and a lot of bands play also. It was great. Oh yeah, we even saw Michael Jackson!! Ok, so maybe just an impersonator, but he/she? was damn good! Hilarious.
Alyssa, Anna, and I ate at Sottavoce that night thinking it was a nicer coffee shop. It turned out to be a really expensive upscale restaurant, but it was fantastic. (Have I mentioned you have to pay for water here?) I had lemon chicken with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. Finally, something from home! That night the group took much too long ('til 3 am) to decide where they wanted to go out, so I just stayed in.
Sunday was another relaxing day. Hopefully, you guys are starting to see I was just really tired and grumpy the other day with my complainer post! Anyways, we spend the day in a different park next to the other girls' house. I'm pretty sure we could go to a different park every day we're here and still not see the same one twice. Being the incredibly smart person that I am, I decided I only needed sunscreen on my face and shoulders. I've never burned anywhere else right? Like most days in Argentina, I was wrong again. Helloooo, lobster! I couldn't sit down for 2 days. Imagine sticking to the hot seats of a bus when you could barely sit down in the first place! So in addition to being blonde and white, NOW I'm a walking blonde tomato. Awesome. People literally stop to take pictures. Staring understandable, but pictures? C'mon!
Once we were sufficiently crispy, we walked back through Plaza Francia to grab a snack. The most amazing thing about BA so far is the fruit. Everything is so fresh and juicy, I remember I'm in paradise every time we eat it; and it's much cheaper that in the U.S. We had fruit salad filled with a cup of orange juice that was squeezed right in front of us. I have to be getting more vitamins than ever with all the fresh squeezed orange juice I drink every day. Mom would be proud.
That night, we went to Parque Rosedal to watch a movie in the park. They're free every weekend (like almost everything here), and there were vendors with ice cream and snacks, too. The movie was really strange; it was about a woman who was obsessed with doing puzzles. The word for puzzles is rompecabezas which literally translated means head breakers, so we thought it was a gangster movie. Ha! What a surprise. We all understood it though which was comforting. I guess it's kind of like reading a children's book because the pictures help you understand what the words are saying.
It was incredibly beautiful outside so we decided to walk the 30 minutes back to our house instead of take the bus. Along the way, we stopped for dinner at a very American sports bar across the street from our house. It was one of the few things open at midnight on a Sunday, but we wanted to celebrate Kylie's 21st birthday at 12!! There was American football too, so Max enjoyed it. I had fajitas, which was amazing because there is absolutely NO Mexican food here. It's strangely one of the things I miss the most.
Monday was our first successful day taking the bus! You have NO IDEA what this means here. There are 17 THOUSAND busses in the city of Buenos Aires. There are 3 different ones that go from our house to school. The one we're used to taking stops in the middle of the route, and everyone is forced off. Then, instead of changing busses, which would make sense, you get right back on the same number you just were forced to get off of ten minutes ago. Frustrating at first, Monday it was a nice pause to grab a quick lunch from one of the street vendors. We then got off at the right stop for class and walked there without getting lost!! This relatively minor accomplishment gave me the most fulfilling satisfaction and hope that I'm going to not only survive, but thrive and grow over the next four months.
Monday was also my first day running since I've been here. It was hot and grossly humid, but it felt great. Nothing can explain the high I get from running. I eat more, sleep better, concentrate better; nothing makes me feel better (except maybe a kiss from my boy :) ) I can't wait to make it a daily, well, nightly, habit.
That night we celebrated Kylie's 21st birthday. I really wanted to make it special for here, because people here could care less that 1) it's an American's birthday and 2) it's her 21st. I can't imagine how hard it must be to have your most important birthday away from your friends and family. I remembered how special my roommate, Anna, from Columbia made me feel for my 21st. It meant so much to me, and wanted to do the same for Kylie. She's obsessed with owls, so we got her an owl carved from an orange and filled it with alcohol-filled chocolates. She signed us up for a very touristy pub crawl (It was free for her birthday!) that turned out to be the most fun night since we've been here. This seems to be a trend that every day is getting better and better. There were people from all over the world: England, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Portugal, Brasil, everywhere! Actually, I think we were some of the only Americans.
The night began with free beer and pizza before arriving at the first bar where a shot was waiting for us. It was like speed dating. We mingled with everyone, then switched bars. It was great. At the second bar, there were a couple of porteños that we ended up being friends with and hanging out the rest of the night. They got Kylie on the bar to recognize her birthday along with another boy celebrating his 21st. They were joined at the hip all night. The night ended at a club where we danced until 5 am. Seeing the sunrise is another growing trend here.
That made for a very rough Tuesday. I woke up late completely forgetting I had a meeting with my advisor before class. As I headed out the door in a rush five minutes before my meeting, I completely forgot there was no money in my purse. So I'm on my way, stressed and late and crying by this point, when I realize this. Now I have to try to explain to the taxi driver shaking and crying in Spanish that he has to take me home so I can pay him. I finally got to the meeting 20 minutes late and paid 3x the normal rate for a cab.
Luckily, my advisor is a very patient, kind, understanding person. In our meeting, she gave me a bunch of information to prep me for my two internships which start next week. Since this post is already the length of an encyclopedia, I'll explain the internships a different day.
We've had Spanish class 2:30-4:45 every day, and I couldn't ask for a better teacher. I'm actually really sad I'm not taking the class anymore. I don't need it for school, and I think the tuition money could be spent in much better ways. Plaza Franzia, for example. Ha! Kidding, Mom and Dad. Anyways, my teacher is the most genuine, sweet person I have ever known. He's very curious to know about us and the U.S. but he always thinks he's being nosy. And when we don't understand something, instead of making us feel like stupid Americans, he apologizes that his first explanation wasn't clear enough. Today, he told me I could come and go to his class as I please, without paying for it. See? What a nice guy.
After such a hectic Monday, we spent Tuesday night speaking English and doing nothing. We hated cheating, but it did wonders for our "family" morale. You could never guess how mentally exhausting it is to limit all of your thoughts to the words you know how to use. Anna jokes that down here, she only has three emotions because they're the only ones she knows how to express. But really, it's mentally tiring on top of our already mounting physical exhaustion. A percentage of a normal conversation takes ten times longer. Anyways, English was great. We had a lot of heart to hearts and really got to know one another.
This has been another unimaginable change. Think for a moment that someone drew five names from a list of people in your city and told you that you were going to live with them and spend your entire day with them for the next four months. Crazy, right?
Today was pretty uneventful. However, we did learn that we can send laundry out from our house and have it washed, dried, folded, and delivered back to our house. People deliver our groceries to our house after we buy them at the store too. Jealous yet? Oh, and we have a maid. This is also an invaluable service. Who wants to spend time abroad cleaning? She came the day after our crazy birthday night though, and the house was a mess. I know her job is to clean, but we were still pretty embarrassed because she wasn't supposed to come until the next day.
I promise I'll try to keep up more often, add pictures, and start on my reviews of the places we visit. So stay tuned, the best is yet to come.
Hasta luego,
Amelia
P.S. I bought tickets to see Shakira while I'm here, and I couldn't be more excited.
Thought of the day: "God lives in me, as me."
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