Argentina

I can´t believe how quickly time is flying here, already it´s been two weeks! I´m settling down into my routine here, getting to fully understand the transportation and starting to make some good friends. My classes aren´t too hard, just a lot of reading so far, two don´t start until this up coming week, but they´re through IES and should be easier.

Last weekend, I went to the beach at Pinamar where I got very sunburned but had a great time. I went with a group of di Tella exchange students and it was good to get to know them better and get out of the city. I especially enjoyed the asado we ate at a restaurant for 36 pesos ($12) and was huge. The food here is just plain amazing, particularly that which our maid, Mirta, cooks for me.

This week has been pretty uneventful, yesterday I went to the Zoo here. It was kind of depressing, but I´ve now heard about one where you can pet lions and tigers, so I´m going to try to get to that before I leave. Last night I went to an amazing Tango show with Susana, the señora of my apartment, her niece and some di Tella friends. It was utterly amazing and a great experience, I really owe her for getting us those tickets for free. We got to meet the director of the show afterwards, which was a real treat. Afterwards, Ben (GW grad student), Simon (French-Canadien), Margaux (French) and I went to a restaurant and then a party at another student´s apartment. It was full of gringos, but at the very least I met some more people going through the same thing as me. Today is el dia de San Patricio (St. Patrick´s Day), so a group of us is planning to meet up in the English/Irish area of town, it should be a good time.

That which I´m most missing right now is sleep. Thursday night I was out until 5 in the morning and had class at 8, something I don´t think I´ll be making a habit of. Siestas, coffee and mate seem to be working pretty well for me though.

Anyways, I´m really happy with things right now and each day I feel more and more porteño, which is great. I´ve attached some photos of some of the things I´ve done.

After the incredibly long trip to get here, I finally arrived in Buenos Aires at 7 in the morning, completely tired and it was the middle of a thunderstorm. I figured I had to wait until 1 for IES to pick me up, but they came when my flight arrived to take me to my departamento, on Avenida Cabildo. I was a little nervous about the whole language thing, let alone the size of the city, but after meeting my host mother and a few days of exploring, it's getting easier, though I have this feeling I'll never fully understand the colectivos (the insanely complicated bus system). Yesterday I took the Subte (subway) to la Plaza de Mayo, where the presidential palace and other governmental buildings are, it was beautiful and walking through the streets was great.
I've gone out twice now with other students from di Tella, Friday night we just went to a few restaurants, but last night 5 of us went to el Festival de la Cerveza where we met some Argentines and had a pretty good time. The whole not getting home until 4 in the morning, and being the first ones to leave a bar still is strange to me but I think I'll adjust. I'm going to have to take siestas in the afternoon I think, since it looks like I'll have class at 8 three days a week.
Classes start Monday, but the exchange students just sit in on whatever classes they want until the 13th when we register. So far, I'm thinking I'll take Money and Banking, History of Economic Thought and Philosophical Problems, but who knows. Monday I'm going to part of the orientation for IES to find places to use wireless and to look for a new cellphone that costs more like 40 pesos instead of 40 cents a minute. Anyways, the adjustment is going to take some time, but everything is going great so far. Chao.