Update-

It has been far too long since I have posted in my blog and I have so much to catch everyone up on. Since I made the move to the new house in Recoleta I have been busier than I could ever have imagined. I am constantly going somewhere or doing something and feel as though I never even have a second to breath! Not complaining though, I am absolutely in love with this city. This week has been one of the best weeks I have had here. Sunday we spent the entire day on my friend's boat on the river in Tigre, so beautiful and I was finally able to soak up some rays. I had my mid term exams last week so I now i'm able to relax a little more.
Almost all of the houses here have terraces or rooftop patios where you can go and hangout. My apartment building has six somehow, its incredible. We spent Monday afternoon in the sunshine on the rooftop of my friends house. We cooked out and listend to a little music, a perfect afternoon here. Wednesday my roomate Samantha and I were in a fashion show for one of the top designers in Buenos Aires. It kind of fell into our laps, our host mom designs jewlery here and is best friends with the designer of the show so we were asked to be in it. It was quite the experience to say the least, I managed to only trip once, and I am sure only a few people saw :) The dresses were amazing, lots of short fabulous cocktail dresses and a few wedding dresses also. It was in this beautiful house in a really ritzy part of town.
Friday night I went to a dinner party. The apartment has an amazing view of the entire city, and I stood outside on the balcony in awe, Buenos Aires is my second home.
I have made some really amazing friends and cannot believe that two months from today I will be home. I cant imagine leaving here in reality, I miss home and everyone there so much but living in this city for four months has changed my perspective completely on where I want my life to go. I've met so many people who are spending these few years of their lives traveling throughout South America and Europe.They work in the city save up money then move on to the next place on their list. Its so amazing to have such liberty to go and live where ever you feel fit.
I have a trip planned to Uruguay next weekend, we are going to spend one day in Colonia and then two nights in Montevideo, I am ready for some time on the beach :)
I am really hoping to get a trip planned to Mendonza, wine country of Argentina. You can rent bikes and ride up the road and stop at all the winerys on the way, I am pretty excited for that. I have a new love for red wine since I've been here.
I have rambled on enough I think, missing everyone at home and counting down the days until I am back
xoxo sending my love from Argentina

Lost Time - Aprovechar el dia

I was just writing a little in my journal and realized that I havent written in exactly a Month. Time literally flies here, I have no idea where it all goes. Here is an update of how I have spent my last month:
The first two weeks of August were extremely hectic, signing up for classes here is such a confusing system, so now that that is all over with I can relax a little. I decided to take four classes, history, two different literature classes, and contemporary art. It is such a change from school in the US, definitely a different experience having everything in Spanish.
I am having a hard time believing that its already been two months here, and that I only have four left to go. I don't think even a year here would give me enough time to do everything I'd like to. There are so many places to travel, people to meet, and things to learn here. There is something new every single day. Lately I have been trying to go out after school every day to do something, whether it be having a coffee in a cafe and chatting with someone for a while or a glass of wine (which is oddly the norm here. People order bottles of wine with lunch. It gives me the opportunity to speak in Spanish every day with different people.
Yesterday I met with a few people in a restaurant called La Cumana. The two of them are learning English and are from here in Buenos Aires. You can draw on the table cloth, so we did a little language exchange, and just chatted for a few hours writing down knew words on the table :) I also found out about a thing here in the city called Spanglish which is something similar to speed dating, but you go and have to talk to different people a little bit of the time in Spanish and the other part in English - obviously for the same reason that I had my lunch date. Its a pretty fun thing to do, awkward at times because of language barriers, but that's part of the experience :)

My biggest news as of late is that I am actually moving to a different host family. I plan to move this coming Thursday, to a neighborhood called Recoleta. There are about six other students in the home from all over the world, and there is also a host mom. I met with her last weekend and she seems wonderful so I am looking forward to the change. I'll get to learn about a whole new part of the city as well as meet lots of new people. Change is always hard so I'm a little anxious about the move but I feel like I have to take advantage of the opportunity. I only have four months left and don't want to regret anything about my time here. I learned a new phrase "aprovechar el día" seize the day.. I have a feeling these next four months are going to fly by.

Ill try not to wait so long to write again.
Muchos besos y abrazos (xoxo)

Quick Note

Was just reading some things online, the list of life's natural highs and realized a few things I miss the most about being gone:

Morning walks with my mom and sisters
Giggling with my girl friends
Bon fires in the summer time, or just summer time for that matter
Boat rides at night
Subway
Dinners with my dad

Missing everyone at home lots and lots.

Here is a link to the site I stumbled upon -- > CLICK HERE

10 days of make up

Its been ten days since my last post so I figured I better get to writing so I can fill you all in on my latest adventures here in the city :)

Many of the people in my program left this past Saturday, as they were only here for the first month long class. My friend Bree who has appeared in many of the pictures headed back to California to the heat and sun, but we had a great last week while she was here. We went out Friday night with lots of people from the program who planned to head back to the states and had a great, long, typical night in Buenos Aires that ended around 6:00 am. I am lucky to have this whole week to catch up.

I finished my first intensive Spanish class with an A yayy. I have had this last week off of school to spend some time exploring the city and catch up on my rest since my first month here was constantly go go go. I have to admit I haven't spent much time exploring, I have basically been catching up on my sleep and staying mostly in my little neighborhood. Its been so nice to have a little time to really relax.

I went for a run yesterday through the parks and had a perfect afternoon sitting by the lake in the warm sunshine- it hit 67 degrees here which feels like heaven to me. Today Sophie and I went to watch "Media Noche en Paris" aka Midnight in Paris with Owen Wilson, it was cute but kind of a strange film. I finally found some peanut butter here today, I've been on the search because I have a slight addiction to peanut butter and banana sandwiches and peanut butter is a thing that the Argentines don't really do. I found some in China Town which is kind of close to my house, thank goodness. I also bought Twilight, one of my favorite books, in the Spanish addition so that is my next mission. Kind of geeky, but I love reading so this should be interesting.

I'm feeling much more accustomed to the language and the place which is a good feeling but its easy to feel alone in this city of millions which is kind of odd. Its definitely a feeling I've never had before, to walk around with so many people yet feel completely by yourself. I'm not really sure if it is a bad feeling, or just weird. I have made some native friends however, and I am going to an Asado this Saturday which I explained in my previous blog. Its in Tigre which is about a 40 minute train ride, we plan on getting out of the city during the second elections and spending the afternoon at a friends house. I am pretty excited, it'll be my first experience at an actual Asado, without any other English speaking friends. Wish me luck :)

Sorry this post was a little all over the place and probably a lot to take in; I am scatter brained. One month down and five more to go. It'll be Christmas before we know it.

Chau

Cataratas del Iguazú - Waterfall Weekend

This might be a long one -
Thursday afternoon we got onto a double decker bus to make the almost 18 hour trip to Iguazu. We left around 7:00 and drove through the night getting to a beautiful ranch Friday morning which was still about three hours away from our final destination. They had a huge pool, places to play soccer and tennis and a cozy outdoor bbq area where they make the famous Argentine "Asados". It usually includes just about every part of the cow, but they made me special vegetarian empanadas and grilled vegetables which was amazing and very thoughtful. We spent the afternoon hanging out there, enjoying some warm weather (finally) and drinking mate.
We headed to the hotel in Iguazu after that. Saturday morning we left early for the waterfalls which were beyond explanation. Even the pictures don't really do it justice. I took tons and I will upload them soon. The size of these waterfalls is unbelievable- I feel so lucky to have gotten to see them. A bunch of us took a boat that went just about underneath one of them, it was really a great day.
Later that night we had dinner and went out to see our tour guide play in his band at a local bar, then sat on the roof top and had a drink with a few people in my program. It was so nice to get out of the city and slow down for a few days. Its a little claustrophobic being around so many people constantly, so the break was needed.
Our flight was delayed about an hour coming back, it was raining pretty bad this afternoon but we made it home safe.
I will post pictures soon- Going to try and catch up on some much needed rest. Missing everyone at home, besos.

Andamos en bicicleta :)

We took the day off of school yesterday to finally enjoy some nice weather. It was about 60 here so we walked down to "bosques de palermo" which is sort of the equivalent to central park in NYC. When we finally figured out how to get there we found a man with tons of "bikes" to rent and ride around the park in so we got on the first four person bike I've ever seen.
I also came across my first Subway in Argentina (I have a serious addiction and have been in withdraw since I came to BA) So today we're going to have lunch there and do a little shopping.
Its Independence day here tomorrow, as well as elections which have 100% mandatory voting for every citizen over 18. People her are so into politics, especially people my age. They are so much more informed and concerned in comparison to my experiences with people my age in the states.

Thursday afternoon we went to see the "Madres de plaza de Mayo" who are the mothers of the 30,000 desaparecidos - people who were kidnapped by the government during the dirty war in the 70's. They have marched around the government buildings every single Thursday afternoon since the seventies. We've learned so much about the history of Argentina its really interesting to get a chance to be so involved in a completely new culture.

-On a bad note I had my first experience with robbing, my ipod was taken out of my bag as I was packed into the subway. Other than that, I am feeling like a pretty lucky girl here.
Chau :)

Flor de metal

This was given to Buenos Aires from an Argentine Architect and cost over 1 million dollars.
The flower opens during the day and closes in the night.
Beautiful

New things

Its amazing to me how every single day I see a new place, new things, meet new people. I have been here about two weeks and I still have only seen a fraction of the city. The second week into school and things have settled down a little bit. It was pretty overwhelming at first but I've kind of found a routine in the chaos.

-There is no tax on anything, if it says its 34, you pay 34
-There are no laundromats, rather lavandarias where you take your clothes and come back and pick them up a few hours later, all washed and folded
-I've fallen in love with dulce de leche which is like a mix between caramel and peanut butter, therefore it could be extremely dangerous
-Everything is so, so much later here.
-Speed limits do not apply, I'm terrified every time I am in transit :|

Its so much different than what I am accustomed to, but I think its why I love it here so much- change is good.

The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.
-M. Scott Peck

Sunday Funday

Seems like it has been so much longer than a week since I have been here. I've been constantly on the go, which seems to be the norm here.
We went to Tigre which is the delta about 40 minutes away by train with a bunch of people in my class. Its pretty wild how people live there, all the houses are on islands near the river, and the only way to get in and out is by boat. There are boat buses which go up and down the river if people need to get into town, and a market boat that drives up and down the river for people to buy groceries or anything they might need. There are no roads on the islands, but lots of people spend their weekends out there when its warmer or have them as summer homes. I guess its sort of a break from the busy life here. We spent the day there then had an amazing dinner at Cabrera's which is the 13th best steak house in the world-- pretty classy.
Today Bree and I decided to explore the city a little, we hopped on the subway and got off randomly at Plaza Italia where we found a little pizzeria and spent most of the day there, chatting and had a few drinks. We were talking about how weird it is ending up in places you could have never imagined yourself in.
Never did I really picture myself studying in Buenos Aires, but I am so glad that I made the decision to come here. This week is going to be a pretty crazy one, there are lots of people surprisingly celebrating the fourth of July here, and then the 9th of July is the Independence day of Argentina.
Im missing my warm fourth of July weather, but looking forward to the week ahead. :)

Pictures of the university and the belgrano neighborhood

We took a little walk around Belgrano- it's such a pretty part of Buenos Aires so i'll share a few of the pictures with you:)

My teacher told us all today that the Governor of the city invited the students of the University of Belgrano to the "Teatro Colón" which is one of the top five theaters in the world because of the acoustics, to go and see a concert in it this Friday.

We're also going to a leather factory here because apparently they work with some of the best leathers and can make you whatever you want really. I could go for a leather jacket or some boots to fit in with the Argentine girls. :)

So it begins...

It was my first day of actual class today, five hours. My class is pretty small, only about 12 people, and it didn't really feel like five hours. However, I have about five hours worth of homework to do before the morning. I don't think I was really prepared to start the whole school scene and homework all over again. It came so quickly. Thankfully I have a roommate to work on the homework with. My teacher seems nice and pretty entertaining.. hoping this next four weeks gets me ready to start my classes in the university.
We went to the market after school to buy bread and cheese so that we could make stuff for lunch rather than eating out or on campus everyday. The man at the market scammed me into buying the most expensive cheese somehow, clearly we weren't quite on the same page -__-

La univesidad de belgrano

I had my placement exam this morning to decide what classes I would be taking and when I had to be at the school. I have classes from 11-4 Monday through Friday at the university. Hopefully the five hours a day pays off. The universities here are so much different, they are all over the place usually just one huge building- mine for example is 20 stories high.
I went for a run through the park today, which was much needed with the type of food we eat here. I have never seen so much bread in my life. It wasn't too cold today, but its been so freeezing lately. I am ready for October to come and it to warm up around here:)
Going out with some girls from across the street for a little while tonight, then I start school in the morning.
Les extrano mucho a mi familia y mis amigos en Los Estados Unidos!
Missing you all - chao!

Futbol Madness

My first weekend in BA seemed to be a success. Last night we went on a Pub Crawl which took us to four different bars in San Telmo a south part of the city and then ended up at a night club. There were about eight of us from the program that all met and went together but there were a ton of people on the crawl, it was really fun and loved getting to know a new part of the city.
The schedule is completely different here, everything is so much later in the day. We don't eat dinner until about 9:00 then end up going out between 12:00 and 2:00 in the morning. Its definitely a change.
Sophia and I walked down to do a little shopping, I needed a coat because it is soo cold here. Feels a little weird that I'll have two summers and two winters in six months.

River is one of the soccer teams here and they were one game away from being moved down a level if they lost-- all hell broke loose today in the city when they tied the game with belgrano. There were police everywhere, tanks, helicopters and 50,000 fans furious that they lost. I have never seen anything like it. They destroyed parts of the city and the police were spraying them with these high pressure hoses. It was insane.. I stayed in the house all afternoon and could hear them chanting from five blocks away. Soccer is no joke here.

I have my first exam tomorrow to place me in a level of Spanish and schedule my classes so I'm off to bed.

Missing everyone back home!
Besos :)

La boca

Orientation for the Spanish program was this morning followed by a fabulous lunch and a tour around the entire city of Buenos Aires. Ive had my first experience as a vegetarian in a completely carnivorous city, the server could not figure out why I would order an empanada without meat. It took about four times of me repeating myself before we were on the same page, it happens I suppose.
We went to a little part of the city that's called la boca and its in the far south end. I absolutely loved it, there are restaurants outside with people dancing tango for entertainment with lots of music and lots of Italian influence. The picture is of the neighborhood which I can't wait to go back and explore when it gets a little warmer, and sit down with a good glass of wine:)
I am feeling totally exhausted but a group of us from the Spanish program are going out to plaza serrano which is supposed a fun place for young people, lots of bars and "boliches" which are clubs in Buenos Aires. I am going to have to get used to the going out at midnight and not coming home until the early morning hours, seems to be the norm here. I guess I'll finally learn how to nap:)

Hasta luego

El primer dia- The first day

Getting here was quite the adventure. I barely caught my flight in Houston, running through the airport and getting to my connecting flight with about 2 minutes to spare. Luckily I slept really good for most of the flight. I got to Buenos Aires about 11:00, 1:00 Michigan time. It is freezing! Not at all what I expected, but I love it. It is the winter here, so as I stepped off of the plane in a dress and flip flops, everyone else was in scarves, coats, and boots. I must buy a pair of boots here, the style is fabulous :)
My host mom is wonderful and sweet. She has already made me cafe con leche and chatted with us about places we should visit. Sophia is my roommate and we did a little exploring this afternoon through Belgrano which is the barrio, or neighborhood that we live in.
I was able to go to the bank and chat with a few people on the street. Its much easier for me to communicate than I thought it would be, so far so good.
Dinner tonight and then possibly out for a little glass of Argentine wine:)

First stop- detroit.

Finally saying goodbye to everyone made this all a little more real. It didn't really hit me until we got in the car today that I was actually going. Made it to the Detroit airport and through security only to find out that I have a 2:30 delay. Hoping and keeping my fingers crossed that I don't miss my connecting flight. Weather is pretty bad in Houston.

So while I wait I'm having a quick drink and blogging :)

Still can't believe its here already, hoping this weather clears and I'll be on my way.

Leaving on a jet plane

I am pretty new to this whole blog thing, but I wanted to begin one before I start this next chapter of my life. I am leaving for Argentina for the next six months to study abroad at the University of Belgrano in Buenos Aires. I wanted to start a blog so that my friends and family would be able to keep in touch and know whats going on in my life so far away. Here goes nothing --

It's the night before I leave and I am not really even sure what to expect. I haven't finished packing completely and it is hard to wrap my head around the fact that I leave at 5:50 from Detroit and will be in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Thursday by 10:30 in the morning.

Up until this point I haven't really had a minute to sit down and think about what I am about to do. I am about to be living in a different country and having some absolutely amazing experiences. I am nervous but excited at the same time, and am definitely ready to see what is in store.

I have so many people here that I will be missing, but I know that when I come back in December ill look at my trip wondering how it has gone by so quickly.

Tomorrow by this time, ill be in the air, and soon to wake up in my brand new city of residence -- Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenas noches y nos vemos. :)