The last 48 hours

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ok...so i didn't blog anything the night before i left so id decided to combine it all into one entry.

my last night in the u.s. becca drove up and we got our nails done, went shopping, and got dinner. which was just what i needed to take my mind off leaving the next day. after some heartfelt goodbyes, i got back to packing. well, it was more like my mom got back to packing and i watched (yes, that's right my mom packed all of my things...complete with all of my toiletries in separate bags so they didn't leak all over everything). the next morning went pretty smoothly, minus switching duffel bags because the first one was too big and moving toiletries because my suitcase was too heavy. but 1 suitcase, 1 backpack, 1 purse, and 1 duffel bag later we made it to the airport. while in line at LAX my parents preceded to not only find another girl that was in my program to hang out with, but also an Argentine woman to watch over me the whole flight. Apparently there were 7 kids on my flight from my program, but i didn't talk to any of them until i got to BA.

after my parents left the loneliness started to kick in, but i got some food and was fine. my connection was very short between houston and BA but i made it on time. i sat for 10 hours next to this old man that was born in argentina and left in 1961 for a trip but decided to stay in houston. he was pretty interesting and told me about how he opened a lot of restaurants, had 3 wives, several houses and lots of money. But now he lives with his son and 2 granddaughters in houston and is the happiest he's ever been. it's cool to hear from people that have already lived much of their life and the things they have to say. his main advice was you only live once so do what you want. you can do whatever you put your mind to, but do some good too because that's what really makes you happy.

after a pretty smooth flight and a long nap i was in Buenos Aires and made it safely through customs, only to wait forever for my bags. in fact it got to the point where i didn't think that any of my bags were coming to BA and i would just get to wear sweatpants for the next 4 months. but alas, the lax bags arrived and we (the other girl from lax) didn't have much trouble finding our ride. This is where things get interesting.

we had a 45 minute busride from the airport to the city where we would start dropping people off. i was really surprised by all of the slums coming into the city because i pictured most of Buenos Aires to be the pretty European buildings. in the city there are some really pretty areas and then some not so pretty areas. and there is graffiti everywhere. we dropped off all of the kids that were living in residencias in palermo and then drove to my school in recoleta where the families were to meet us.

we got off of the bus and everyone was meeting their hostmoms and leaving. But i got picked up by my host brother in an old toyota van. he's 22 and my hostmom is visiting her son in Barcelona until monday. Surprise! driving in the city is crazy here. there's a ton of traffic and buses everywhere and no one obeys the rules. i mean i guess for the most part people obey red lights but only after they have already turned red. motorcycles ride on sidewalks, cars merge into eachother and drive literally in the middle of the lane, cars still go when the light turns red, and pedestrians walk whenever they feel like it. but for some reason it works because it's like everyone drives like they expect it. we drove around for literally 2 hours. i think part of it was a tour and part of it was us going to pick up a modem. but it was pretty fun and i got to jump right into speaking spanish. oh another fun part of the trip...the car overheated and we had to wait for the car to cool down. then my hostbrother lifted up the seats and started pouring water into the engine (that's right the engine is not in the front of the car but under the driver seat. crazy!

eventually we made it back home where i got a tour of the house and my hostbrother made me some pasta. the house is really nice. there are plants everywhere. the front is brick and it has like 4 levels. there's a pool in the backyard. it's so beautiful. the only thing is i didn't realize that 3 other girls live in the house and another one moved in with me today. i picked the room without the bunk bed not realizing that 2 people already lived in it. there's literally a mattress in the middle of the room and i haven't unpacked any of my stuff because i don't know where to put it. so i guess where gonna come up with something when the other two girls come back. oh and their house has a sauna and a bathroom that has 2 showers and a bidet in the same room. oh the other girl just got here. looks like i have some company!

overall everything has been really good. the mattress in the middle of the room doesn't really bother me because i'm kind of used to being a nomad and not having a bed. i'm just psyched that the area they live in is so beautiful. there are parks everywhere and my 2 roommates love to run. i might do a 10k this weekend 😊 Chao! i'm excited to see what the rest of the night and my orientation has in store for me!

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