Dia 4? Already?

These past few days have flown by... I have four months here but I feel like it will be over in no time. There is so much that I want to do before July!! My days have been full of orientation tours/classes and navigating my way around the city (and failing) and spending time with friends and eating with my host family. My family consists of my host mom and 3 brothers and a sister (only the oldest brother doesn't live here). So it's a full house, but everyone is so energetic and they sing and play guitar and ask me lots of questions. It's great here, I wouldn't want any other family.


Orientation takes up most of my day and I wish I had more time before dark to explore by myself. I'm going to need to find a balance between being involved with IES friends and being independent, hopefully making Argentine friends. We went to an orientation at UMSA today, la Universidad del Museo Social Argentino. IES students are required to take a course at a local university, and it's my goal to make at least one Argentine friend through that! There is also a rowing club through UTDT, la Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, that I want to join. The extent of my rowing is kayaking, but I think it would be awesome to do! Especially if there are local UTDT students involved.


I went out for the first time last night, and of course there was a thunderstorm. But it worked out, I met up with some other girls and a group from a different study abroad program. I got back to my homestay at 4... which is NOT late by BA standards. Maybe I will experience one of those nights until 8am soon. Maybe.


Above: Avenida 9 de Julio

A friend and I went running today. That was an experience. Running in the city is... difficult. Lots and lots and lots and lots of people and cars and quioscos (kiosks) and construction and random trees and whistling. Basically a lot of stop and go. We made it to the zoo, and near the zoo are lots of big parks. THAT'S where all the BsAs runners go. There is even a track around one of the parks with two lanes. Because it took us so long to even get to where the parks were and we were too tired and HOT to enjoy it, we decided next time we will just take the subte (subway) there. Getting back to the street we came from was a challenge. The parks got us very disoriented and we had to ask several people where to go. But eventually we made it to a big avenue and found our way back.


Above: Parque near IES

I have never been afraid of getting lost in the city. (Granted, I have not been lost at 3 in the morning by myself. Then I would be terrified. But I don't plan to do that.) Buses are frequent and the subte is convenient and if nothing else, I have 4 radio taxi numbers in my cellphone that I can call and they will come pick me up. Taxis are cheap here. Most things are cheap here. Me gusta mucho.


I love the Argentine accent. The inflection sounds very Italian to me. The ll, seen in words like calle, llamar, y caballo, is pronounced as "sh" in Argentina vs. the "y" in Central America. It's basically survival that makes you pick it up though. For example, if you are walking around and you don't know what street you are on (because street signs are often very hard to find), you can ask "Que calle es esta?" But if you say it the way most people learn in Spanish class, they will look at you funny. So then you remember where you are and say it as, more or less, "cashay". In Argentina they also use vos for tu. Vos is not the same as vosotros. I really don't know what it is. But I'm sure I will pick that up too.

One of these days I just want to wander by myself. Take pictures (which I have not been doing much of, sorrrrry). Sit and drink a cafe and just WATCH people. Soon. I do have four months, right? The most action-packed four months of my short life thus far.