I have arrived!!!

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Okay, Okay. I´m getting emails about having to update my blog. Since, there is clearly nothing. Just a few things...

1. I have no idea how to upload photos onto this computer! Since I didn´t bring my own (people are traveling with their computers though), I´m not sure if you´re going to see pictures until after my trip is over... I´ve been taking lots of pictures during the day, but during the nighttime, it´s another thing. I swear, I´m out having fun at night, even if it´s not documented as of yet!

2. I think I´m getting sick. It´s all that being busy and not sleeping! I swear, I´m becoming an insomniac and am thinking of taking sleeping pills or something.

I think a few people got my freak out text message from the airport. I arrived at the airport at 11pm. My flight was at 2am. i sat in an airport for literally three hours because the flight hadn´t taken off! As my dad was driving to the airport, my heart started racing. I think for the first time during my trip, I was incredibly scared. As I was packing all day, I didn´t feel a single thing... I was just getting ready and BAM i was going to be in Buenos Aires. That´s all I thought, anyway. So after a few comforting text messages, and a phone call that made me feel so much better, my fears subsided. I had a layover in Panama. I was extremely scared to use my spanish because it´s not very good. So I sat on the plane completely alone. It´s good. The family next to me was extremely nice, and the flight attendants were helpful in trying to get me what I needed with the limited communication we had. Then I landed in Buenos Aires. I must admit, I didn´t feel a single thing. I wasn´t excited, wasn´t scared. I probably was just incredibly tired. I got a remise to take me to my hostel. This was probably stupid, going into a remise by myself, but I didn´t think anything of it at the point. I just carried my bags and got in the taxi, and got off. My hostel was on Ave. Corrientes. a very busy street. I think the scariest part so far was walking from the remise to the hostel. I wasn´t exactly sure what to expect. The staff was very friendly. It took about three keys and five tries to get my room open, and I ended up having the maids key. I got some water, and then socialized for a little bit, which seriously scared the hell out of me, and then talked to the staff who said that everyone was going out to Club 69 at 1:30am, if I wanted to go. 1:30?!?! Are you kidding folks? needless to say, I did not go out because all I wanted to do was go into my warm room (with a nice heater!) and sleep. I woke up fairly early, as I went to bed early. I went down for breakfast and talked to a few people, and then packed my things and headed for the next hostel I was staying at. Getting to the next hostel was an interesting experience. I looked like the true backpacker. My backpack on one side, and my other backpack on the other. I proceeded to walk a few blocks, then turned around because I thought I was walking in the wrong direction. I was pretty sure I was walking in the wrong direction, and was determined to figure it out. I didn´t ask for directions. I finally stopped and checked a map. I had been walking with all of my things for about 20 minutes in the wrong direction. I should have trusted my intial instinct. I turned around and walked, for the next 30 minutes to my hostel. It was so close to where I was already at, it made me feel stupid. The hostel is cool. A lot of people who speak English, which is helpful. The other hostel I was staying at had a lot of couples and older people, and a couple I met who was from Brazil (a lot of Brazilians are here) who had a lot of luggage. It was interesting watching them fit it all in the elevator (which, I think is about the coolest thing I´ve ever seen... the old style elevators... and these old style keys are so cool too!). There are also not as many people traveling alone. A lot of people are traveling in groups. There are a few people from the US here. One guy from California, and another from North Carolina.

I am practicing my spanish! I´ve tried speaking it, even if I haven´t learned all the tenses. My only problem is that I´ve been told I have a good accent. So people think I can speak Spanish. Argentinian Spanish is also a little different, and I might at least pronounce the Y´s and LL´s the way they do. I think me speaking Spanish is similar to a lot of things I need to figure out in myself. I have it in me. I just need to trust myself that I can do it. Trust myself and be confident. Those are amongst two of my goals. I think that my plans might change slightly, and I might spend a week in Buenos Aires at the end of my trip taking Spanish classes... but who knows what I´ll actually end up doing! I still haven´t planned everything out... I haven´t planned anything, which, if you know me, is something I´ve been trying to work on... I´ve been pretty go with the flow. It´s a different feeling for sure, but a good one.

Buenos Aires is a beautiful city. But more and more, I am learning I am not a big city girl. I love Oakland. I miss Oakland actually. The business and all of the people kind of freak me out. Overall though, there´s a lot to do and a lot to see. I´ve only been here for three days and I´m already learning a lot about myself. Things that I´ve always known that I´m determined to work on right now. (Gina, if you are reading this, I figured out when I need to say YES, and I actually talked about How I Met Your Mother! It came in handy old roommates. Someone asked what karaoke meant... I thought about the pineapple incident. Yay for cool points. or dorkiness points. but you´ll have to hear about the pineapple incident...)

Okay, It´s 3:30 and I probably should go to bed...

I swear, I will write more... but just so you don´t read updates all the time, it´s because i´m having too much fun =D

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