Un montón...

So I haven't even been here a week yet, but already so much has happened!!! I've become good friends with Luiza and her roommate Ann. I've also met some wonderful people from Formosa (a province in the north of Argentina) and a girl from Venezuela that live in their residence. I'm having so much fun here! Tuesday afternoon I hung out with Ann and Luiza and this guy Alej that Ann met on the plane. We went to this giant flower thing (I forget the name- fleur de something) and to Recoleta. Recoleta is absolutely beautiful! We had lunch it this ritzy restaraunt and then to the cemetery in recoleta. This is the same cemetary where Eva Perón is buried. All the tombs there are above ground in giant monument things. It's really pretty but very strange. Then we went to this super contemporary design mall and had helado (ice cream). So tasty! But this was another day we were walking forever! My feet aren't quite used to Buenos Aires just yet. On Wednesday we met up with the rest of the USAL people and took a bus tour of the city. SO interesting! There are about 30 of us USAL students and a lot of them are from other countries. Some from Brazil, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, and the U.S. too. It's a cool bunch. (We ate lunch at this cafe/pizzeria and had a tarta, which is basically a like a giant quiche. SOOO good and very cheap!) Then we went back to USAL for our oral exams. I was nervous at first but it was completely fine. Just like a conversation or a little interview. Easy breezy. Then we hung out at the residencia a bit and talked with some of the other students that live there. Thursday was our first day of classes. We separated into our levels and I was in the highest! Yay! There are 8 other students in my level and they all speak sooooooooooo well. I think I'm going to learn a lot from them! Also, except for one girl from Norway who's 22, they're all older and doing a master's program. And I think only 3 of us are from the U.S. And all of them have been to other Spanish-speaking countries before. Kind of intimidating, but really interesting to listen to them. The first half of the class we just kind of sat in a circle and talked about ourselves and then we started getting into some differences between Buenos Aires spanish and spanish from other countries. Then I went to Palermo Viejo for a Tango class with other ISA students. So fun! But there were only like 5 guys so they danced the whole time and we just had very short turns. It was pretty funny. But I think I'm a lot more comfortable around the USAl students. I don't know why, maybe the American students just speak too much English, I'm not sure. But I did get to see my friend Julie! That was really great, and tomorrow we have an excursion to El Tigre, so it will be great to hang out and catch up with her. After the tango class, Luiza, Ann, Vanessa and I went out. We originally had planned on going to a pub for a bit first and then checking out a club. But we actually ended up staying at the pub so long that the clubs closed. It's really funny here because Buenos Aires is so nocturnal. Nobody even gets to the clubs till 1:00 or so and then they stay till like 5. Even little children don't go to sleep until midnight. It's a good thing my classes aren't until 1:30 in the afternoon! Today in class we discussed grammar a ton! But at least it was all really interesting, not the boring stuff we all know already. And at the end we played this game that's kind of like scatagories. So funny!

After class though, Luiza, Ann, and I were waiting at the bus stop and this kid stole Luiza's necklace. He just came up to her like he was going to ask a question and yanked it off her neck. It really kind of shook us up. He couldn't have been more than 11 years old. And in the middle of the day, with lots of people around. It's just so sad, because we know to watch out for people, but I don't think any of us would have expected that from a kid. Very sad. I love this city because it's so big and the people and cultures are so diverse, but sometimes it just gets to you.

And it still just blows me away when I think about the fact that I haven't even been here a week. It feels like so much longer! And sometimes we forget that we have 5 months here and time to experience it all. I don't think any of us will be ready to leave!