So I have been slacking on this blog business. First of all, its boring, I am not nearly deep or profound enough to have a blog but it's easier than telling the millions of people who are interested in my life what I've been up to.. I have been really busy exploring, being overwhelmed or being so tired from being so overwhelmed..SHORRY FOLKZ! But here is a quick recap to get you up to speed then I will start blogging regularly, swurr. The first few nights, after an entirely too long orientation or two, my roommate Katherine and I tried to meetup with some of the other international students. Did I mention that Buenos Aires is HUGE? We tried to meet up with them 2 nights in a row at various plazas or landmarks around the city..the first night we were supposed to meet them at plaza del mayo around 10 or so (here you eat dinner around 10 and go out around 12 or 1 or even later...resulting in all my tiredness) we ended up not being able to find the right subte or bus and walked all the way to el centro, which is like the downtown business part (i think?) We were on a very busy, well lit street which was very crowded when all of the sudden about 3 yards in front of me two men pushed down an older man, who started screaming "policia", as did the other people around me in between shrieks, and kicking him. They grabbed his wallet but in the process one of the man's GUN fell out.. I repeat, like 3 yards in front of me. needless to say I ran the opposite way until the bad guys took off. So that was our first night attempting to go out in Buenos Aires. We ended up getting to the plaza too late and missing the group (we didn't have phones yet). So that was a minor bummer. On the way home I actually saw another person get robbed. All in one night! But thankfully I haven't seen anything like that since then. The following night we tried again to meet up with the other international kids but once again got lost and were too late...so we went home, bought two 10 peso bottles of Malbec (thats about $2.50 USD) and it was probably the best wine I have ever had, not that I am a connoisseur (yet) or anything.. It is made in Mendoza, Argentina, where I plan to visit to pursue my goal of becoming that connoisseur. The following night we were finally able to meet up with people! We went to a bar called the Shamrock which turned out to have a disco/club in the basement. We danced in an international circle for a while, or I tried to dance..It was easy to find (the only reason we were able to find them obviously) and conveniently about 4 blocks from our residence.. We will visit again. The next day, Sunday, we went to La Feria Santelmo (http://www.feriadesantelmo.com/) check it out! It was really cool, it is every Sunday in el barrio de Santelmo, it lines a very long brick street full of vendors of crafts and other cool little knicknacks authentic to Argentina. I met a cool old dude from Peru who was selling hand carved flutes and trinkets, he was the cutest, most refreshing face I have seen so far in Argentina. This fair was the first taste of true Argentine culture I have experienced so far. I was beginning to question why I chose Buenos Aires because it is such a huge city, and I am much more keen to outdoor things than city life, but this fair gave me hope! I was beginning to get worried after only seeing so much pavement and city life. I cannot wait to get out and explore more of the indigenous native things. The following day my friend, Max from Germany, gave my roommate and I each a ticket to La Rural, the biggest livestock exhibition in da world yayayuhhh. I felt like I was at the KY state fair, except with little gaucho men (kinda like cowboys) in burray like hats prancing around. Once again it was awesome to see some natural things instead of just the city (do I sound like a hippie? uhoh. really though I never realized how much I appreciated the lushness of KY until coming here). That night (last night) we had plans to go to this "dubstep, indie, electro, house, rap, something something" show at this club which we got free tickets to somehow, with other international students. My roommate Katherine and I were on our way to meet up with our friend Emma from Vermont at her host family's house but on the way Katherine's heel broke.. so we told Emma to go on to the first bar to meet up with the rest of the foreigners before the boliche (club). Katherine and I hopped on a bus to head back to la residencia to get her a different pair of shoes but we ended up accidently getting off way to early in a not so safe neighborhood. Did I mention that both of our phones had just run out of credit/minutes? Lost again. When we got off a group of 4-5 homeless children ages 7-12 bombarded us and started cussing and getting too close for comfort. It was so sad to see/ scary. We walked and walked in the direction of home (we thought) and passed by a bar. When we looked through the window we randomly saw two of the girls we were supposed to meet earlier on! It was the most ironic, lucky thing ever. We had never even discussed going to meet at this bar or this neighborhood, so it was crazy to randomly run into them in the huge city. We ended up just staying there because they informed us we were right next to the club we were supposed to end up to. Katherine took the shoe incident like a champ. We met up with a few other exchange students at that bar and when i went to go for my wallet I realized it wasn't in my purse. I felt so stupid, I was sure one of the homeless children had stolen it, they are renown for their sneakiness in the theft department. I am usually so cautious and paranoid here I didn't know how it happened but I was so angry at myself. My friend Ansley lent me $200 pesos for the night ($50 USD) and was my guardian angel. We made our way to the club where the line looked as if it were a 3 hour wait..It looked like one of those fancy shmancy clubs you would see in LA with people dying to get in. Our German friend just snuck right in the front of the line and we followed, only waiting about 4 minutes..Meanwhile I am shaking in my boots because I hate confrontation and Argentine girls were cussing at us in Spanish.. I thought I was going to get beat up. But we made it in! It was packed. I evidently am not a fan of club etiquette and do not think I will return, unless with a bigger group of people, because the Argentine men are disgusting and grabbed my hair as I walked by shouting Gringa..I still do not understand how they can tell so fast that I am American! I thought I blended in! But yea they are way tpo aggressive and I am not a fan. Where is my bodyguard when I need one(Colyer)? We made the most of the creepy crowd and ended up staying until very late (or early) and had a good time! Initially they were playing dubstep electronic stuff then they moved to 90's-recent American rap that was popular in high school- it was quite entertaining. This morning I looked under my bed and guess what was there? MY WALLET! I am an idiot- but a happy one.
PHEW I think I finally caught up!
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