I have arrived!

I'm in Buenos Aires! After 19 full hours of planes and layovers, I finally made it! It was a long journey, but it was well worth it, and I did manage to get a bit of sleep on the plane. Ahem, well actually I had the *pleasure* of sitting next to an obese Texan on the plane from Newark to Houston, who kept telling how messed up my "politics" were (I hadn't actually told him any of my "politics," so I guess he was just judging me by appearance?) as he practically sat in my lap, his huge thigh bulging over his seat and onto me, and his foot jammed under the seat in front of ME. Luckily I have a smidge of class, because I wanted to smack him. However, I had a nice, young, normal-weight guy next to me from Houston to Buenos Aires, and somehow I managed to sleep for about 6 of the 10 hours.

ANYway, after I picked up my luggage I got my arranged ride to my residence and showed up about half hour later. This is my street:


The brown door on the left here is my school, and the one on the right is my residence:


I was greeted by a girl named Paige who showed me around a bit. It's a nice building, kind of a fancy converted urban mansion with hardwood floors, tons of windows, a big winding staircase, and a rooftop terrace. Apparently there are about 20 people who live here. I've met about 10 so far in passing, and am having trouble remembering everyone's names. Everyone is here for different reasons, and so far I haven't met anyone who is on the same program as me, though they claim there is one other living here. There are people here studying Spanish, doing internships, and working on various things, so it seems like a bit of a mash up.

I'm living in a tiny double room with a British girl named Victoria who is here volunteering for 5 months. She seems pretty nice so far, however the room is going to be a problem. Ugh, I am glad I'm only going to be here for 4 weeks. I have one drawer to myself, half of a very small shared armoire, and a cubby thing for toiletries. Plus, I have a narrow little twin size bed and a lamp. Hmmmm.

I took one look at my 140 pounds of luggage, and my 2 shelves, and panicked a little... looks like I'll be living out of my suitcase! :-/ This is my ENTIRE ROOM: (my bed is on the left)


Anyway, after quickly settling in, I gave Ali a call and she, Nathan (my old co-worker from AAC) and his boyfriend Scott came and met me!!! yay!!! It was so great to see them all!! It was a totally unrealistic greeting committee, as Nathan and Scott are just here on vacation and are leaving next week, but it was so great to see some familiar faces after a long grueling trip! We all went out and got some almuerzo at a restaurant around the corner from my residence: beer, pizza, and empanadas de carne, jamon y queso, and humita (corn). Delicious!

We walked Nathan and Scott back to their hotel, which is located in the same neighborhood as me (Recoleta), and I got to see a bit of the area. It's a great day to walk around today-- not too humid, high 70's, and nice and sunny. Wandering through just a small part of Recoleta, it seems like a lovely area, with trees lining the streets, sidewalk cafes, and lots of little shops. They all seem to close around 4:00 and reopen later, so most things were closed while I walked around, though I did manage to stop into a grocery store and pick up some soap and toothpaste. Ugh. I'm dirty.

Even though I'm exhausted, I actually have a relatively busy weekend ahead of me. Tonight after I shower and unpack a bit I'm off to find my way to Ali's place (she claims it's only a 20 minute walk, but I don't think that factors in how lost I will probably get) and then have dinner with her, Nathan, Scott, and Ali's boyfriend Bata-- steak, baby! You know, when in Rome... then I'm sleeping at Ali's place, and tomorrow we are headed to her host family's house in the 'burbs for an asada and some swimming! Sweeet!! It's supposed to be nice and hot and sunny. Sorry, Bostonians. No more winter for me!!! (Mwahahaha)

Anyway, this all feels like it's happening really fast, but I'm just diving right in! I can't believe I'm in Argentina!! It is so exciting! I think I might be a bit delirious right now, and thus incapable of fully expressing myself, but I can say that I am very excited for whatever adventures lay ahead. Right now I'm really overwhelmed by everything-- new roommate, unpacking, catching up on sleep, meeting people, and starting school on Monday-- but that's just me. I've only been here a few hours and I'm already putting pressure on myself to have it all figured it. It'll come... more later. :-)