Friday Update!

Okay, after sleeping 3 hours after the pub crawl + club, I made it to the University and through the 5 hour class successfully! After class, we had a meeting with an U.S. ambassador, who talked to us about safety here in Buenos Aires. A psychologist also came in to make sure we were doing okay with the culture shock here. The culture is extremely different from the US, but I love the experience and am doing just fine. Bring it on, Argentina!

After the meeting, Anissa, Anna, and I walked back to my host apartment to get ready to go downtown. My host parents are both artists/photographers, and were in an exhibition that opened that night. Anissa, Anna, and I first went downtown (close to the government buildings), and had a very nice dinner at "Il Gatto", a restaurant with Italian influences. It was around 8pm when we went in to eat, which is pretty early for the culture's dinnertime. It was obvious too, because the waiter asked us first if we were there for coffee and a snack (which what the locals would be doing at that time), or actual dinner. Haha! Anywho, the food was to die for! I had a gnocchi dish with olives and different cheeses...amazing! In the US, a fancy dinner downtown like that would probably cost at least $30-40 American dollars. Here it was about $10-15; still a little pricey, but not for the quality we got! It was 5-star, super fancy, and really worth it!

Il Gatto

My dish...muy rico

After dinner, we had our first taxi experience. We finally found a radio-taxi (a cab that is reliable, with fixed rates), and got in. After arriving at the venue for the photography show, we enjoyed an evening of art with locals. It was awesome, because we were very immersed in the culture and away from the more "touristy" things. It was also someone's birthday at the gallery, and we got to see a special birthday surprise! The "special surprise" was they had a lady come out with a bunch of dishes full of various things (fruit, dulce de leche, whipped cream) and baked cake rounds; a fast paced song began to play, and the lady began to dance, stir dishes, and make a cake! She had the cake completed by the time the song ended, and then everyone sang happy birthday to the birthday girl. It was so cool! Us Americans at the show were very impressed and were jealous of the awesome birthday tradition! However, I asked my host mom if all birthdays were like that, but she said, no, it was just a special occasion! Haha!

Birthday Cake surprise!

Martin, my host parents' son, made sure we got back in a taxi alright that night to go home. By the time we got back, it was 11:00 or so, but I was beat, especially since I had barely slept the night before. Once I hit the bed, I was out, but it was another great day in Argentina!