The story so far

I can’t even believe I’m here in this wonderful city and having so much fun. Things have been so hectic and wild but amazing, I can’t wait to get all my feelings out.
I landed in Buenos Aires at 8AM, and hopped into a taxi to my new apartment. On the way I had a long conversation in Spanish with the taxi driver, who spoke no English. It is still so strange to me that anyone can really speak no English. I mean, whenever immigrants come to the US, they usually know a little, and even in Ghana most people knew some. It has actually hit me now though—I am in South America! There are no English-speaking countries around Argentina, so why learn English? If anything it makes more sense to speak Portageuse, or French. Anyway, back to Business. I arrived at my new apartment very early in the morning, and was greeted by the owner of the house, Liliana, who is 52. Liliana speaks no English, and despite being my mother’s age, pretty much ignores me, despite the occasional “hola!” I don’t mind though. I came to get away from my mother remember?

The house is beautiful, and is in Palermo, which is equally beautiful. It’s so hard to explain how cool this house is, because most apartments are…well apartments. This looks like an apartment on the outside and is smack dab in the middle of the city but inside is this huge house with high ceilings and wood paneled floors. There is even a patio and pool, which will be amazing come summer. My room is pretty tiny, and there is so little closet space I am trying my best to get creative. Oh yea, there is a painting of a vagina on my wall. The bathroom is really small, and the shower is over the toilet so I have to wear sandals every time I go in. Besides that stuff though I am very happy with my new residence.

After resting for a few hours, I went to explore my new Barrio. Palermo is basically the east village. There are amazing shops and tons of cafes and bars near where I live. The prices are really low as well. I did some food shopping and bought a cell phone. I purchased a bottle of wine at the supermarket, just because I can! Then I came back home where I got to meet Victor, one of my roommates. Victor is 24, from Bogota, Columbia and really nice. He is studying Marketing at La Unversidad de Belgrano. My Spanish is better than his English, so we mostly speak in Spanish, but it is nice if I can’t think of certain words that he isn’t totally clueless.

Then I went to the Spanish School for my orientation, where I met a bunch of kids. Everyone there is like 21-25. I am so embaressed by how young I am, I tell people I am 20! Besides that though, everyone is so open-minded and well traveled, I feel so fortunate to be with such an interesting group of people. At orientation I learned how to use the Subte (or subway), spot fake money, and drank my first Mate. Mate is this herbal tea that is kind of a social thing in Argentina. Personally, I really like it, but I need to put a packet of sugar in. I also met my other roommate, Brittany, from San Francisco, these two adorable British boys, a girl from Israel, and two girls from England

We all decided to go out, and despite being a little worn out, I was so excited so be in such a cool city. At 11 we headed to a bar, where I was admitted without question! I ordered this strange blue drink called Sexy Martini. It tasted vile, but the company was excellent. We talked for hours about all the great places we had traveled to, different stereotypes, and just the world in general. Then we all went back to my house and relaxed on the patio. Victor came and we all tried out my new Nargila, which was excellent. I decided to name it Victor Andres Molena after my new roommate! At 4 AM I hit the sack!

Today I went to school and had my first class. The school is excellent and I can tell my Spanish is going to improve by miles being here, although I must say, it already has.
After a food shopping, and dinner, I came home, flopped on my bed, and began to write this entry. Things are still very new and fun, and soon enough I will be used to it all. Something about Buenos Aires is different though, It is the same feeling I had when I went to Buffalo. It is the amazing independene I have always wanted, wrapped around the comfort that I can find family anywhere in the world.