Days 22-28

sooooooo..... i havent written on here for a week :/ sorry guys.

Last weekend we didnt really do much. We went to a museum of fine arts on Friday after school.  That was really cool!!! After a couple of the girls in my group and I went to go see the big metal flower!!! There is this flower that is in the middle of a park and it closes every sunset and opens every sunrise! So we went to see it close and we waited and waited and waited and it never closed.  We finally gave up and when we were leaving the park we asked the security guard what time the flower closed and the told us it was broken.  Haha.  oh well.  But ya...

Sunday we went on a tour of this really old house that belonged to a family way back in the day. haha i dont know the exact date.  lo siento.  but there was two layers of houses under the big house because over the years when the houses got old they filled them in with dirt and built on top of it!  cool huh! and then under the layers of houses there were water tunnels that ran to the river.  This provided the running water to the city :)  We then found a really cool wall and took pics in front of it :) After Andrus and I went to the Cathedral for church but we left before mass started cause someone stole my purse while I was praying :/ So we left so that I could call me parents and tell them what happened and so that I could go to the police to report my ID as stolen.  After that whole ordeal was over Andrus and I went to mass at the church closest to our house.  :)

This whole week so far I havent done anything but study and watch Criminal Minds of course. haha We have our final exam tomorrow for my spanish class so our program director gave us the week off from activities.  I think later today Im going to go study in a cafe with some friends :)


I promise I will be better about writing on here!! I wont have as many pics though cause my camera was in my purse :/ so i have to take the pics from Andrus.

Day 18 - 21

Monday was sooooo much fun!!! After school we went to a drum show called La Bomba de Tiempo! It was in an outdoor courtyard time of thing and they had a stage where this drum group was playing.  We got there around 8pm and we stayed until they stopped playing at 10pm.  It was like a concert and there was this guy that is apparently famous in Argentina that came out for a couple of songs and sang with the drum group.  It was really cool! everyone was dancing and having a good time.  One thing that was really weird was when the audience wanted an encore everyone knelt down and started bouncing up and down and started yelling something that i couldn't understand.  Haha it was really cool but really different. It was fun though.   (I tried uploading a video but it wouldnt let me :'( sorry guys )

Tuesday I didn't do anything.  I just went to school and then did a P90X video. haha And did my homework.  We had to write an article for a tourist company talking about what there is to do in Argentina for people that want to come vist.



Wednesday was a holiday so there was no school!! woohoo!!!! It was the 200th anniversary of  The Battle of Salta.  The Battle of Salta was fought during the war for Argentinean independence.  To celebrate this holiday I slept all day. haha I watched a couple episodes of Criminal Minds and finally got up and dressed at like 2.  Then me and Stephen met at a cafe to do some homework and eat some lunch.  




TODAY!! Thursday I didnt do anything either.  haha.  I went to school and came home.  I did a P90X video with Andrus and then Hannah, Andrus and I all did the ab ripper X video. haha. I was sad how hard it was for me to do the whole thing.  Later we had dinner and went out for ice cream and regained all of the calories that we had burned off. :) It was really good!!!!!

Day 17

Today was a good day :) we woke up late like usual, and then went to the antique fair that they have every Sunday next to the huge cathedral and government buildings :)  The antique fair was huge!!!! it was probably 12 blocks long with venders on both sides of the street.  I was able to find really cool gifts for pretty much everyone and I got a free ring!!! I stopped to look at some earrings and the guy that made all of them made me a ring in like 2 seconds and gave it to me for free!!! The guys here are really really forward. Some guy was walking in front of me today and looked back and tried to grab my hand.  And the other day I was buying a converter to charge my things and the guy at the store didnt think i knew spanish and he was saying that my eyes were so pretty and i had a cute face and all this stuff.  It was funny.  And walking down the street you get at least 5 whistles or "whats up baby" or "que bonita." It is funny but it can get real annoying real fast. haha ANYWAYS!!!!! The antique fair was fun and we eat at this really cute little restaurant. After that Andrus and I went to church and then came home.  I need to learn the prayers and responses in spanish cause I feel like a fish out of water saying then in english every week.  :/  Now I have to finish my hw and go to bed!!!!!

my free ring!!!! 

Cathedral 

Cathedral 

Hasta pronto!!!!!

Day 16

Today was fun! I had my midterm today and I think I did okay on it.  We had to read an essay and then answer questions about it, give the person in the essay advice on what to do and then write an email to him telling him that we had read an article that could help him with his problem.  For lunch ive been going to either this place that has realllllly good empanadas or this vegitarian place that is buffet style and you pick what you want and pay by weight.  They are both soooooo good!!!! When I got home from school I went to go pick up my laundry.  They dont have washers and dryers in the apartments or the apartment building so we have to walk to the laundry place 2 blocks from our house.  They only have places that you drop off your clothes and they give it back to you clean, ironed and folded :) it is pretty nice! I went to sushi for the first time for dinner!!! ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!  it was okay. And we have ice cream for dessert of course :)

Days 13-15

WEDNESDAY we went back to school and right after school I went to go exchange money :) that took 2 hours :( and then right after that I went to church with Andrus for an Ash Wednesday service.  And then right after that we met up with our group and went to Spanglish.  Spanglish is a conversation club that meets at least once a week and you talk to people that are from Argentina and from other english and spanish speaking countries.  That was cool.  

THURSDAY we had school and then right after school I met up with a couple of my classmates to work on a group project.  We had to go to a famous bar called el gato negro and write about the history of the place, what it looked like and what the people inside looked like and what they were doing.  When I got my host moms son was here with his wife and daughter.  We all had dinner together and then afterwards Andrus, Hannah and I went to go get ice cream and then came back and watched a chick flick for Valentines day :)  And then I had to study cause I had a test today :/

ANNNNNNDDDDDD FINALLY TODAY!!!!!! 

Today we had our first test and I was kinda hard.  We had to read a passage and answer questions about the passage and then give advice to the person in the reading and then write an essay.  It sounds easy but there were a lot of words in the passage that I didnt know and there was no way I could have studied for it :/  But we will see!!! I need to start building up my vocabulary somehow.  When I got home from school Andrus and I went to the grocery store to get fruit and manteca de mani ( peanut better!!!! ) We are just laying around now until it cools off a little and we will go running :)  Theeeeen... we all went out to a bar for happy hour :) 

roommates and best bros :) 

ahhh!!! the flash is too bright!! 

Days 7-12

Sooooo... it is hard to write on here every day! We are doing so much during the day that when I get home Im pooped!! Ill try and be better at writing on here so that I can remember what I did. haha

I think the last day I wrote on here was last wednesday soooo... TURSDAY we went to the cemetery!!   It was reallllly huge and we got to see Eva Perón's grave :) After we went to the cultural center which used to be where the priests of the church used to live in.  

FRIDAY, our group tried to get bus tickets to Mar de Plata which is a really nice beach but it is a 5 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires.  All of the busses were full and we didnt get to go :/  Friday night I went to a mexican restaurant with Andrus, Stephen and Adam and after we just walked around and we came across a show type thing for Carnival.  There was a stage set up with people singing and on the ground there were people all dressed up playing the drums and dancing!! It was really cool!!! 

SATURDAY was fun.  Stephen, Adam, Andrus and I went to an open air market that was more of a crafts fair.  Everyone was selling homemade items.  I did buy anything but I found some really cool things that I want to back and buy for family and friends back home.  :) 

SUNDAY our group went to a huge celebration for the Chinese New Year in china town.  There were soooooo many people there and it was soooooo hot!!!!! We walked around china town for a little and had lunch there.  When we got back onto the subway it was still really hot and when we got off not even 5 minutes later it was pouring rain!!!! We only had to walk 2 blocks from the subway station to our house and we still got soaked!! 

MONDAY was a holiday and we just slept in and then Stephen and I left my house at about 3:30 and went to buy a soccer ball and find a field to go play on.  Stephen had looked up a soccer field so we walked to it but when we got there it was a private field so we couldnt play there.  The guy standing at the gate of the private field told us that there was a field right down the street.  We walked there and it was a dog park with no grass anywhere.  We juggled the ball for about 20 mins and then left to go find a field.  We came across this realllllly cool lake where you can rent bikes and paddle boats :) we left there and went to have lunch and then wondered around some more :) I finally got home at 7:30.  

TUESDAY was also a holiday and we didnt do anything.  Just sat at home and watched some movies and did my homework.  

Day 6

WE WENT TO TANGO LESSONS TODAY!!!!! I had school from 10-3 like everyday and then went right home and took a nap :) When I woke up I got ready for the Tango lesson and Andrus and I took the subway to the meeting place.  The place that we had the lessons was a really beautiful, old, huge building that was a restaurant kinda thing that only served tea, coffee and snacks for Argentinean 5 o'clock tea time.  Upstairs there was a huge dance floor where people were dancing the Tango and we had the lesson off to the side of the dance floor.  After the lesson Adam, Stephen, Andrus, Fallon, Megan and I all went to get ice cream!!!! It was really good and we made friends with the owners and they invited us to go to their bar for some free drinks later in the week!!!!! woohoo! haha after that we just went home and had dinner and i finished my homework and now im just hanging out in my room about to go to bed soon :)

Hasta Pronto!!!

Day 5

I forgot to write a little blurb on my blog yesterday cause I was so busy!!! It was the first day of class, and of course I got lost.  I got off of the subway and nothing looked familiar so I just picked a street that looked the most familiar and walked down the street.  After about 20 mins of wondering around I asked someone if they knew where the university was and everyone was giving me different directions.  So finally after 40 mins, when I realize im going to be late for class I found a taxi and asked him for directions.  He told me that I was 15 blocks away from the school and I only had 20 minutes until class.  Buuuut I got to class right on time so it was okay besides the fact that I was super sweaty and breathing hard from speed walking for an hour. haha  We have class from 10am-3pm every day and then we do something with the group after that.  Yesterday we didnt have anything to do after class so Adam, Chris and I went looking for the rock gym that was close to the school but it was closed :(   we were walking around for a good 40 mins and finally decided to give up and look for an ice cream shop instead. haha so we met up with Stephen and walked to the place that we knew of and it was closed too. haha Chris at that point decided to go home and Adam, Stephen and I found a place to eat some food and have ice cream!!!! I had dinner with my host mom and roomates and then Andrus, Hannah and I met up with Stephen, Adam and Hannah's friends and went to an international mixer at a bar.  When we got in we were given stickers of our country flag and then flags of the languages that you speak.  It was really fun and we met a lot of really cool people :)

Day 4

Today was the first day of class!! we met up with the group at 9:30 and walked to the university. It is one huge building with like 20 floors! There is a house across the street from the school that Albert Einstein lived in. That was really cool to see, it is now that Australian embassy.  When we got to the university there was about 100 study abroad student there from all over the world. We all went into a big room and took a placement test and then had to wait around for awhile for them to grade the tests  so Adam, Stephen and I explored a little :) After we all got placed into our classes we had a 4 hour break so us three went out to lunch and then Adam wanted to go skate so we went to a skate park near my house and Stephen and I talked while Adam was playing with his board.  We left there around 3:30 to meet up with the rest of the group to drink Mate.  It is a type of tea that is an Argentinean specialty.  After we drank tea Raul (our program director) gave us more information about the city and about our calendar for the next fee days. We all went home after that and did our own thing.  Overall it was a really good day!!! It feels like i have been here for awhile already and I can already tell im getting better and im more comfortable speaking spanish and having conversations with people.  :)

Hasta Pronto!!!