Menos que dos meses? AHHH

Woah! I don't know how or when it happened, but amidst me figuring out my travel plans yesterday for my time remaining here I was nonchalantly counting the number of weeks I have left in Buenos Aires. How many? NOT ENOUGH. Only 8 weeks remain (not counting my 2 week vacation from vacation after the fact!) of my time here in Argentina. It is loco how fast time flies!


So yea, life as an argentine has been GREAT. And by great I mean, if I didn't have a wonderful family (and puppies), friends, and a job waiting for me at home I for sure would not be returning. Ok, that's a little over the top (because NJ will always be home!), but I am loving it here! Not only am I learning a TON of Spanish, but my main stress comes not from schoolwork (for once in my life!!! all TCNJ go-ers I know can appreciate this!) but from trying to figure out where I want to travel every weekend. Gracias a Dios for giving me the opportunity to study in Argentina because it has really been a once in a lifetime opportunity thus far!

A couple of weeks ago I bought tickets to the Argentina/Spain soccer game. I thought it would be pretty cool to go since a) I obviously check out the stadiums in all of the different countries I go to and b) it was the national teams that were playing aka the same teams from the World Cup. Well, I was wrong. It wasn't pretty cool. It was so much more than that! I have been to a TON of stadiums in my lifetime (more than just the 30 mlb stadiums- impressive right?), and I have never EVER seen such passionate fans. Yes, we were chanting the entire time and it was the coolest thing ever. It was so funny because the guy sitting in front of us brought this bag of little scraps of paper and every time something exciting would happen, he would reach down and take a handful of these pieces of paper and throw them into the crowd. This should go without saying, but everyone was also dressed in Argentina colors from head to toe. It was also cool because the age of the people there varied drastically, but everyone shared the common passion for their team. And when Messi (Argentina's prized possession of a player) scored the first goal everyone started chanting for him: Ole, ole, oleeee, Messiiiiiii, Messiiiiiii. I obviously joined in on this fun! When in Argentina, do as the argentines do? Below is a picture of Bri and I pretending that we're from Argentina :-)

And the result of the game? Oh right, Argentina whooped Spain (the WORLD champion) 4-1. This experience was probably one of my favorites down here so far, but don't worry, I am still and always will be a PHILLIES fan at heart. Shout out to all of my friends that are Yankees fans...not. Look who's back in first place, just in time for the playoffs! I could talk trash all day long about the Yankees (never ceases to bore me? haha), but instead I will tell you to watch my videos below because they're awesome and it'll give you a taste of how incredible the game was! The first video is right before the game started, and the second video is after Argentina scored their second goal. You can also see more videos on my youtube page (there is a link on my previous entry to get there!).

This past weekend I went to a legit asado with Argentines. But before I get into that, I should say that I took salsa lessons before. I'm pretty good at picking things up, but it's definitely still a little weird to hear people teach dance in Spanish. After salsa lessons, Christina and I went to an asado with her argentine novio, his brother, and a bunch of other friends. For those of you that don't know what an asado is, it's basically like a huge bbq (but inside?) and you just eat a ton of food. To the left is a picture of all of the food that they cooked for us. It was delicious! This is a "typical" thing to do here in Buenos Aires. And typical food includes all different kinds of meat and sausage, grilled vegetables such as peppers and onions (they also like to include eggs with everything here, hence the eggs in the peppers..), and of course vino (como no?). There was about 10 or 12 of us there and we had a great time stuffing our faces :-)

Last Sunday, I saw Beauty and the Beast! Well, La Bella y La Bestia because I saw it in Spanish! I thoroughly enjoyed the show, and I thought it was really well done. We saw the show in a pretty large theatre, and I'd say it was basically Argentina's version of broadway. I'm hoping that Disney has another show coming in soon because I would love to go back and see another one!

Last week I went to get my visa for Brazil. It was a pain in the butt (especially since they asked for all of this paperwork, and then didn't want any of it when I was actually there), but nonetheless I am set to go to Brazil!!! Woooo hooo Rio here I come!!!

This upcoming week we have midterms (booo). Considering the lack of work I've had thus far I shouldn't really be complaining, but when it is 70 degrees and sunny (like today) it makes it hard to sit down and study instead of going out and exploring! Nonetheless, I do plan on acing all of them! Pues, voy a tratar... But really I've just been planning my upcoming travels: Calafate and the glaciers (super pumped for this!), Cordoba, Iguazu Falls, Rosario, possibly a trip to Salta, and fingers crossed for a quick trip to Bolivia. And if you're wondering how I'm going to do all of that before I leave, the answer is I have a trip every weekend in October. Lucky for me, this is possible because we don't have class on Fridays. LOVE South America.

I know there are a ton of things that I've done here, but I am currently blanking at the moment. So I'll talk about how much I am enjoying live in my casa here. Not only do I have the coolest roommate ever (shout out to my awesome roomie at home, don't worry you can and will never be replaced!!), but I am also loving living with my host madre, Ivonne. The more I hear about other people's situations with switching houses and whatnot, I am so grateful that I have not only the coolest host mom ever, but one that should really open her own restaurant because that's how good of a cook she is! Christina and I actually went and saw one of her art exhibitions the other day! Yes, for once I am not the only celebrity in the household :-) Haha kidding, but it was super cool to see her artwork hanging up in a museum!!

And I'm going to end this blog post by saying that I have officially eaten everything specified on the "top 10 culinary highlights" in my Top Ten Buenos Aires book. Kathy's trip to Argentina = success. And if that makes you laugh, you should also know that the guys in Volta (a wonderful icecream place here in BA) know my roommate's order by heart by now.