Despite the craziness of traveling to get to Buenos Aires, my first day yesterday went well. My host family consists of an older couple, Cecilia and Freddy, along with their dog, a cocker spaniel, Otto. We live in an apartment in Palermo, a very nice neighborhood in Buenos Aires. According to Cecilia, Palermo is one of the safest places to live, but also very expensive. The apartment itself is spacious and very artsy. I have my own bedroom, which is decorated with paintings by Cecilia herself! Another ISA student, Anissa, also lives in the same household as I do. Anissa is from California, and is very nice.
After arriving yesterday, Cecilia let me unpack and rest for awhile. About an hour later, Anissa arrived back from a small ISA meeting (that I had to miss due to my late arrival). After meeting Anissa for the first time, Cecilia made both of us coffee. Anissa and I sat in the kitchen, drinking our cafe con leche and getting to know each other.
Dinner was served at 8:45ish, which is typical for the culture here. Cecilia had made breaded chicken fillets, potatoes, squash, and some raviolis. Freddy had placed a large glass bottle of vodka (or so it looked) on the table too when we all sat down. He poured everyone a glass, which was a lot of vodka! I took a sip, and to my surprise (and relief), it was actually just water. Haha! Later, Anissa told me she had thought it was vodka too, which made me feel a little better!
During dinner, Freddy and Cecilia talked about a variety of topics. They got onto the topic of currency and the economy at one point, which is something Argentinians are very heated about, due to the situation in the country. In the past few decades, their economy has also taken a hit; the Argentinian Peso is about 4 times weaker than the US dollar. It was a little hard to follow a rapid conversation in Spanish about Argentinian politics, but I did my best to comprehend!
After dinner, Anissa and I went out at about 11:00 PM. This seems late, but in Buenos Aires, things don't get started until even later than than! Many people here go out at 3am, and stay out all night/morning. Parents here actually prefer their children to go out that late (or early), in order to keep them out until 6 or 7 am. The reason for this is that 3-5 am is the most dangerous time in the city, so parents would rather have their children stay out and walk home when it is lighter in the morning. Anywho, we walked a few blocks to a plaza, where the streets were filled with bars, musics, and crazy, speeding cars/mopeds. It was a beautiful night, and we just walked around, taking everything in. So many people were out, even families and elders. We finally arrived back at our host apartment at 12am, ready to sleep!
Today, we have an orientation with ISA and will get to eat lunch and see the city as a large group. I'm so excited to see what BA has to offer! After just seeing a glimpse of it last night, I know this will be a fun time.
¡Chau!
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