First Week

First off, I am happy, safe, tanned, hot, and did I mention happy? IT´S BEEN BEAUTIFUL WEATHER IN THE 80´S EVERY DAY UNTIL TODAY WHEN IT STORMED EARLY, BUT IT ALREADY CLEARED UP AND IT´S IN THE 80´S AGAIN. My house mom is nutty just like Maria in Spain. She even cried at dinner the first night, just like Maria. She´s divorced like Maria, probably the same age, and she´s super sweet. She´s Buddhist and a vegetarian. She´s probably the only vegetarian in BA, since it´s known for all of its meats. But it doesn´t bother me, since aldina´s vegetarian too, and I just eat meat when I eat out instead of eating meat all the time at home too. She´s a good cook, and the food is really similar to the dishes in Spain, except minus all the fried food.She lived in the US in Ft. Lauderdale for 20 years, her daughter lives in Manhattan, but graduated with a degree in economics from UF some years ago. She´s actually coming to visit which should be fun. I´m currently in a internet place where you pay to use their coputers. I´m pretty scared to take my laptop out of my apartment, so I´m paying to use the computers here instead. I´m sure I´ll get more comfortable soon, but as for now, I´ll wait. I just bought some sweet earrings at one of the art fairs in belgrano, my neighborhood. I also picked up some postcards, so get ready, they´ll start coming your way. Since I´ve been here, I´ve taken ridiculously long walks, and I´m a bit sore. I´m happy though, because it means I can eat whatever I want and not have to worry about not getting enough exercise. I went shopping and didn´t buy and clothes... I thought that was impressive. but I´m holding out for handmade boots, and also they handmake designer jeans here too... it´s a HUGE city. I don´t really have a map still, so I end up wandering about a lot, and in addition, I take a lot of public transportation because it´s basically impossible to walk everywhere. At night I always take one of the radio taxis which are supposed to be safer and more reputable, and I always go in a group. I don´t walk by myself after 11, however, I think it´s a whole lot safer than they give it credit, atleast in my neighborhood. I´ve never felt scared. I have a small group of friends, and I´ve met other people, but the core of us have stuck together. Of course, unfortuanately we´re all Americans. There´s one girl I´m fairly close with, Isabel Gottlieb. She´s from Connecticut, and sees Meryl Streep at the grocery store on occasion. She went to boarding school and now she goes to Brown. She´s really smart, and although she´s not really my type of person, I´m sure that we will become better friends over time. Also, there´s another girl from Minnesota, Erika, and she goes to a tiny unversity like Wofford that even costs the same. She´s nice too, however, I´m not so sure about her at times... she sort of reminds me of some of the kids from Salamanca, RED FLAG!! But then there´s this guy that goes to Wabash, an all boys school in Indiana. He has a girl friend, but we get along great. He´s very accepting and happy and sarcastic, and we really click as friends so far. He´s from connecticut too. Then there´s Andrew, the random kid from Atlanta. We get along fairly well, and pick on each other like crazy. He´s more like a lot of my guy friends from home. He´s pretty cool. Then lastly, Blair. I don´t know her too well, but what I do know I like. She´s in a sorority at UT-Austin. She´s super nice, and she´s coming to dinner with me and Isabel in an hour or so. That whole group that I mentioned is already planning to go on a trip to Uraguay not this coming weekend, but the next. This past weekend I went out each night, until about 6 in the morning. One night just talking with friends and then last night to a club. Everyone is really nice. Much friendlier than in Spain. The guys are persistent, but it´s pretty funny. I have been all through out Palermo and Belgrano, and parts of downtown exploring. I had a huge sirloin steak for about seven USD. Not bad... and I´ve eaten pizza twice already, haha. I need to finish up this story, so I will end it with a couple of highly interesting stories of what all has gone wrong so far. To start with on Friday morning, I tried to plug in my computer with what I thought was the correct plug, and still think it is correct, but I was blown backwards with an explosion, and then all of the electricity for the whole apartment went out and I smelled smoke. At that same time, I was running late for orientation, and had to leave my poor house mom alone to figure it out. Then later that day I went to a friends apartment. I needed to use the restroom, and when I went to flush, the toilet died. It wouldn´t flush, and water was leaking out of all of the pipes, and i had no idea what to do... i´m not visiting there again. After that experience, I was told by Dory, my house mom, that she was fussed at by other apartment tenants because I forgot that you had to close the apartment elevator doors behind you... they don´t shut like in the US... but I didn´t think about that.Then, she told me that the large thing lined with a trashbag, was not a trashcan... but her laundry basket... and I´d been throwing my trash into it for two days... what else?? well, Friday night I returned from a bar, and my keys wouldn´t open the door. It was almost 6 at that point, and I couldn´t find my house mom´s number, so I had to wake her by banging on the door, and ringing the doorbell like a mad man. I was ready to give up and sleep on the doormat when she came to my rescue. It turned out that she had forgotten to tell me that the door had to be opened in a special way due to the fact that it sticks and was in need of wd40... and then I was so tired that I woke up the next morning with all of my lights on, and have no memories of even going to sleep... It´s been quite a weekend. I hope all is well there. I´ll write again soon!