Last night was the 2nd most amazing night of my life! (1st being the Iguazu falls trip, of course). Kraftwerk, this strange, techno, computerized band opened. It is a German band, so no wonder it is so weird. It's made up of 4 guys...they were popular in the 80s, so they are really old now...the oldest one is 70. Anyway, they had mannequins and robots and glow-in-the-dark body suits. Their songs had lyrics such as, "human. computer. man-machine." Very odd. And they did not dance or play instruments, just typed on little laptops. I laughed the whole time probably, but I [View Full Entry]

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This morning around 9 am we came back from the most incredible trip of my life. LAS CATARATAS DE IGUAZU! They call it the "8th" wonder of the world. It is basically a bunch of beautiful outrageously large waterfalls bordering Brasil and Argentina. We wanted to take the trek over to the Brasilian side, but it would have cost a lot of money and frankly, we ran out of time. It was a 20 hour bus ride there and back. This is going to be a long blog because I'm going to tell you everything! In chronological order. So, the bus [View Full Entry]

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So I have officially been here now for a little over a month! The homesickness is mostly gone, though I still long for american food and just a good drive in the car around Pittsburgh or Wexford. Today's entry is going to be just some free-thoughts. Eating out is stressful. It's stressful because I am a waitress and I really don't want to be offensive...especially because at home I hate waiting on foreigners so much. Here, you have to flag them down for things. If you pay with a credit card, you have to be willing to give a passport or [View Full Entry]

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Today, yesterday, all week, I've been wondering why I decided to come here. I know it's because I love Spanish and because the politics here fascinate me. But what marketable skills will I have when I leave here? What will I do when I go back to Pitt? I will have to take one more year of school. That's a lot. I can't finish my majors in one year. I will have to stay longer. And then what? I think this trip is opening doors I never considered could be possible before. I want to go to law school, yes, but [View Full Entry]

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This weekend we went to Mar del Plata and it was an incredibly fun time. I got ridiculously sunburnt and dove into waves bigger than I ever have in my life. The sand wasn't white like resort beaches, but it was a beach and I'm not very picky about beaches. Sofia and I found seashells and sea glass and we are going to put them into glass jars. Our hostel was, um, really gross. But the lady who operated it was nice and she gave us "medialunas" (crossaints) for breakfast. The bus ride there was pretty ridiculous because I was drunk [View Full Entry]

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It's been an interesting past few days. I've had a roller coaster of emotions. Yesterday, we went to the museum Bellas Artes and I wish I had more pictures, but we were forbidden "sacar fotos". Que lastima! There was a lot of pretty art...arte de argentina, de europa, y arte moderna de todos partes. Afterwards, we ate at Hard Rock Cafe. I got a salad and devoured it in 5 seconds. It was delicious. It poured all day that day. A taste of home. Later that night our residencia had an "international night" where everyone made food from their homes. It [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday some friends and I went to TGI friday for dinner. It was wonderful to see some American food! We are soooo sick of empenadas and pizza. They don't have salads here that are very good because they don't have the freshest lettuce and they don't use dressing. So being at Fridays was great because you could get a real salad. Also the bathrooms were completely pristine. Toilet paper. Soap. Ah, the conveniences of a real bathroom. But it was different from a Fridays at home, of course. For example, they put locks on your seats to keep your purses on. [View Full Entry]

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7 am this morning we all safely arrived back from Carnaval in Guayleguaychu. It was so amazing! Carnaval is typically a celebration that lasts for a week in Brazil and is most intense in Rio. It's supposed to be the most amazing party in the world. Here, in Argentina, it lasts for a month maybe (?) and comes every weekend to Gualeguaychu, a smaller town 3.5 hours outside of Buenos Aires. It's a giant parade with elaborate floats and beautiful women and men dressed in the most ridiculously gorgeous costumes. It started around 9:30 and we left at 3 and it [View Full Entry]

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Last night we went to Chinatown in Belgrano. Not exactly New York's Chinatown...but it was good. Cosi is a beast at life. She spoke Chinese with the waitresses!!!! She speaks more languages than I originally thought. 8? Yesterday I got a sunburn! I hung out with the German boys for a few hours outside in the Plaza del Congreso. The general weather pattern here is a lot like summer at home. It will be super hot for 2 days, then rain, cool down, and work its way back up to being super hot and then raining again. I love the day [View Full Entry]

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Sorry for the delay with the pictures! Our internet in the residencia isn't fast enough to upload photos, so here I am at an internet cafe uploading pictures for everyone at home! :-) Mainly pictures of the cemetery in Recoleta. I've been quite bad at taking pictures here! [View Full Entry]

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