The eagle has landed

Well, I made it! I'm now in Buenos Aires. I really can't believe that I'm really here and that I'm really doing this. I was pretty apprehensive about moving here in the last few days I was in the States but the second I got off the plane, my heart started to race. I made it! I got off the plane! And I can’t wait to get started. After extensive research into language programs, I'll be taking classes at the University of Buenos Aires so I felt better about the quality of the language classes. The classes are on campus with university teachers so it'll seem more like a "classroom" setting. It'll also be a good place to meet some other young people to hang out with. I'm also going to volunteer for an organization dedicated to families with HIV-positive children. I think it'll be a real eye-opening experience and give me the chance to make a difference. I'm really excited about helping these people and hopefully, I'll be able to contribute a lot.

And now I'm in the residence (that's what they call dorms) and I have this itty bitty room and kind of this crappy bathroom with a toilet that I couldn't figure out how to flush for the longest time (the peg I was hanging my towel on turned out to be the flushing button) but at least its all mine. Though the other rooms are pretty big but I don't think I would be able live with a roommate. And everyone here is much younger than I am (avg age is probably around 20), which makes me feel pretty old and even more glad that I have my own room. But everyone here is really nice and they all made me feel welcome so I'm pretty happy in the residence. It’s nice to come in and immediately be taken in by a group of friends and not worry about not knowing anyone. Everyone here has been here for at least a month longer so it’s really nice to take advantage of what they know so far about the city and where to go. I flew in a red-eye and pretty bleary-eyed but a bunch of the girls were going shopping so I went along and we had a great time.

Our residence is in Palermo Viejo (Palermo Hollywood to be exact), which is kind of a trendy area with cute shops, great restaurants and hip bars. It reminds me so much of Paris - the architecture, trees, streets, cafes, etc so it has a real European feel. For those in NY, it’s sort of the equivalent of the East Village but with less filth and more room. I haven't gone around the rest of Buenos Aires yet but it’s really nice to know that I have time to explore. In any case, my first app is due on October 11th so I really feel pressured to get those done. Once my apps are out of the way, it’s going to be ridiculous.

But its not all fun and games. My electrical converter thing doesn't work and the voltage here is too high for my lower voltage appliances like my hair dryer or my rechargable batteries. Well, I'm supposed to be roughing it in any case. And also, last night, we went out to this hip hop club, which was pretty fun at first until I got my wallet stolen! Luckily, I only had a little money and one credit card in it so right when I found out, I left to cancel it and now everything is fine. I have extra credit cards with me and more money in my room so at least I didn't lose much. I was pretty bummed because I wasn't being careful enough but at least now I'm more on guard and hopefully nothing else like that will happen. But it was my first night here, for god's sake. At least today was pretty unadventurous. I pretty much just stayed in to work on my apps and recover from my 18-hour trip here.

I'm getting excited about all the things to do here! Except for the wallet theft, everything has been pretty good. This morning I had a cafe con leche and a medialuna (basically, a croissant with less butter) at a cafe at the corner of my block. So Argentinean! I love it. And for dinner, I went out to this steak place with a couple of my dorm-mates and had some amazing steak. It was also the biggest slab of beef I've ever seen for a single person and it was only $6! With a bottle of wine and a bunch of side dishes, it came out to about $11. And that was at a pretty fancy place where the waiters were all in bowties.

Since my camera is without batteries right now, you'll have to wait for pictures but I promise to get them up soon so you can see what my dorm room looks like (besides a shoebox).