So, I've now been here for a month! A whole month and I can't believe I am lucky enough to have 4 more!! I am honestly loving Buenos Aires every day, more and more. There is just so much to do here and every neighborhood, street, and corner of the city holds something new and exciting each day!
Well, last week was orientation week at UCA. I arrived with my fellow Richmonders at 10 a.m. where the 150 international students met up and had a breakfast of medialunas and the best coffee I've had so far in the city! We had assemblies on Buenos Aires, acquiring our Visas, registering for classes, and studying abroad in general and being an 'extranjera.' We had orientation the next three days and it was more assemblies and an asado, or Argentina bbq at the agricultural campus across the city. I met tons of people from all over the world, mostly Europe, the U.S. and other South American countries. I start my first day of classes tomorrow (I have off on Mondays...let the traveling commence!!) and I'm excited to meet more people in my classes. We had to take a placement test for Spanish and I didn't place into the advanced, basically fluent, category so I will take a Spanish course once a week for no credit at Expanish once again. They are a great resource to have here in B.A. and I'm looking forward to working with them again! I registered for 5 classes but I will only be taking 4 at UCA and then the one Spanish course. I will have class Tuesday afternoon-Friday afternoon and Thursday morning or Tuesday morning I am going to work at an orphanage or children's home. I love volunteering at home and Richmond so I didn't want to stop doing that while I'm here. I will have a nice long weekend to plan trips! Speaking of trips, this weekend I am going to Uruguay! A small town, an hour away from Buenos Aires called Colonia.
The weather last week was perfect. It was nearly 70 everyday! It was also winter break so everyone was off from school. The week was filled with lots of cultural events, free food (from orientation), and going out to the boliches because I had no classes and not a scheduled week, let's face it, orientation week was probably as low key as I have ever seen an orientation be. Monday, my apartmentmates and I went to La Bomba de Tiempo, a drum show in the Abasto neighborhood. They have the show every Monday night in an old olive oil warehouse factory. Everyone was smoking weed (not me, ofcourse!!) and we ran into some of our B.A. friends so we all just listened to the few hour concert and you couldn't help dancing to the beat in the red colored lights. On Tuesday nights at a club called Kika, there is a party called Hype and tons of internationals from UCA were there! I met more people that night who said they 'recognized me from orientation.' I didn't recognize them but it was all good. Wednesday was the asado with orientation and then later that afternoon while my apartmentmates were napping I ventured off into the neighborhood and went shopping and had ice cream in a cute little park where lots of children were playing soccer. Thursday was the last day of orientation and after registering for classes I spent the afternoon shopping at the great mall two subte stops away. That night, we met up with some of our friends from the Mendoza trip and our friend Leti for dinner and drinks at a nearby bar. We ended up staying for a really long time before going to another nearby bar and had the entire back room to ourselves with more friends coming, too. Friday, I slept in until past noon, not hard to do here considering I didn't go to sleep until 5 a.m.
Some friends at our previa!
Friday night we had some friends over for a previa, or pregame and then headed to Club Groove, a boliche only a few blocks down the street where we got in for a discount because we knew one of the promoters. It was definitely the best night out so far. There was a live band as well as really good reggaeton being played. After dancing with some locals, one guy tried to get a kiss from me but having a boyfriend that wasn't going to happen. He didn't get the concept that having a boyfriend made a difference but I guess that is part of the culture having a novio (boyfriend) and an amante (lover.) Yea, not for me! I borrowed my friend, Perry's heals that night and lets just say my calves were killing me by the end of the night, and I was the tallest person in the club...sweet. I ended the night with a slice of pizza from a place still open at 5 a.m. and not to mention that everything is still open at 5 a.m. here. On Saturday, we woke up mid-afternoon and walked down the street to a waffle and ice cream place...perfect breakfast! Reminded me of Bonte in Morristown. That afternoon we took a colectivo to Avenida San Juan in San Telmo to see the Museum of Modern Art. Unfortunately, the museum has been under construction for a while so we walked through San Telmo and hung out in Plaza de Mayo at night for a bit. It is absolutely gorgeous at night with the Plaza all lit up.
Plaza de Mayo at night!
We had dinner at Maie, a restaurant that I can see from my bedroom window. It was probably the best meal I've had so far here. Spniach and cheese ravioli with a delicious white wine sauce with ham and basil in it. A perfect blend of Italian and Argentina cuisine...what Argentina does best!! That night we had people over again and I ended up just staying in the apartment and then getting some sleep! Yesterday, we went for a walk down to Plaza Guemes at the end of our street and I finally saw my first Catholic church here!! We had coffee and an empanada at this delicious restaurant right in the Plaza. Today, we tried to go tour the Casa Rosada but unfortunately there were no tours today, only Sat & Sun. We went to the City Museum which is filled with old toys, other odds & ends donations, and an entire exhibit dedicated to mate! Speaking of which, on my way to the laundromat where I dropped off my bedding for pick-up tomorrow, I got a mate bowl and bombilla, the special straw used to drink mate that has the sifter at the bottom. Well, I'm really looking forward to my first class tomorrow afternoon but dinner is ready...eggplant parm! I made it, so hopefully it's tasty! Miss you all!!
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