Argentina!!!

Argentina: a little bit latin, a little european, a little bit 80´s, and all of it wonderful.

I arrive tuesday morning after a 10 hour flight from Atlanta. I was picked up by two people from AIESEC and wisked into the heart of the city and lots of spanish (which i am understanding a little bit more each day, more on that later). I will go to the orphanage on monday so I have been staying in an apratment of some other people here who are also doing an excahge. One is from the US and the other two are from Holland.

So the first day was pretty low key and i met a couple of people from AIESEC. One girl came in we greeted each other and then she started talking about how I look exactly like i used to and I was so confused. Turns out we went to a CISV summer camp together when we were 14 in 1998 in Italy!!! She isnow also in AIESEC and figured out she knew me! I was quite confused and shocked!

So the next day I had breakfat with Maru and Sofi my two other friends from CISV and it was the first full ocnversation in english I had had since arriving! anyways it was so good to see them and they are so impressed that I am actually here after saying i wanted to come (unlike some other cisv friends who keep talking about it but never show, we won´t say names).

After I left them I agreed to go on what i thought was going to be a nice bike ride through a park with a argentinian guy and the dutch guy from AIESEC. 8 hours, 20 miles, and the whole city of Buenos Aires later I returned home exhausted. Bikes lacking in suspension should not be used here. But I have now seen everything except that I´m not even sure what all I saw. I think some highlights include: the rio plata, Evita´s grave, the casa rosada, palermo, palermo viejo, and so much else.

Thursday night AIESEC hosted a wonderful welcome dinner for the other trainees and me and did a presentation on culture shock. We had some great empanadas and I met so many really nice people! (at least i think they were nice since everyone kept talking to me and givng me their phone number but i only understood about 40-60% of what was said to me so knows. i wonder if they have a argentina reject line here). After that I got my first taste of BA night life at a Boliche which is kinda like a bar. Que bueno!

Then Friday night I went to a CISV dinner and met lots of people in the chapter here and got to surpise another kid who I had been in summer camp with. The look on his face was so great cause he had no idea (kinda like me a few days before)!

So now I am going to have a real steak for lunch and spend the day with Maru and Sofi! So everything is great and I am having a great time, which according to the culture shock presentation is the inital euphoric state so I´m right where I should be!! Chau!