Hola amigos!
I arrived last night in Argentina after 15 hours of flights/transitions between flights and 2 hours of going through customs and immigration. Christa and I took a remises (a taxi that you pay upfront so you dont have to pay for waiting in traffic-why dont we have these everywhere?) to a hotel where we met the rest of our crew. There are about 50 of us in all, some who were only speaking Spanish (good for them) and others (unfortunately i was one of these) who spoke English most of the time with the other students.
*Goal for the coming days: speak more spanish to the other student.* We had a typical long Argentine dinner at a restaurant, which was really fun for the first hour and a half or so. We got steak (carne) and some really good ice cream/gelato. We met a few people from California and others who go to school in Boston!
Today the real fun began. The first thing we learned was how to kiss. :-) In Argentina, a typical greeting between anyone is one kiss on the cheek. We had to practice, which was hilarious to watch as it snaked to the back of the auditorium. After this introductory session, we took part of a placement exam, which I think I did ok on except for one section. Then we had information sessions about our homestays and getting around the city. After this, Christa and I walked around looking for a bank and a place to eat lunch. Walking around Buenos Aires felt a lot like walking around New York City: lots of people, cars driving inches away from people, stores, restaurants, etc. There are some really cool buildings that we walked past when going to lunch, but I have no idea what they were :-/
Finally, we got to meet our host families. The couple I'm living with are probably in their 70s and have 2 children and 4 grandchildren. My mom is from Uruguay and is a PK (Pastor's Kid) and the father I think is from here, a porteño (someone born and raised in Buenos Aires). I got to meet one of their granddaughters who made me brownies as a welcome dessert after our amazing Argentine dinner. She is going to be a freshman in high school.
My living conditions: I have my own room and bathroom in their sweet apartment in Palermo.
My mistakes so far: 1) getting stuck in the elevators (which have an inside gate and outside door that both need to be shut completely before the elevator can move) 2) Using a power converter when it is unnecessary (apparently my mac charger already converts energy without it) and creating a spark causing my room to now smell smoky *Don't worry, my computer charger is fine and the power did not go out in the house*
Goals: Even though I actually understand a lot of spoken Spanish I need to get better at Spanish in general, especially with reading
Adios!
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