ESTOY AQUI!

I made it!
And I'm still in one piece!
Talk about a loooooong trip. I didn't realize that our flight from Houston to Buenos Aires was 10 1/2 hours. That was fun.
Waiting in the Houston Airport forever had to have been the most emotion torture ever. First I was really excited that I was almost to my final destination - except I was at the airport 3 hours earlier than everyone else (at 3pm). Well, Henry and I were together - I'd have to say we made the best of it by eating fish, trying on ridiculous sunglasses and just being tourists in the airport. When people finally started showing up I was more than ready to get on another plane and get out of there. The plane from Houston to Buenos Aires didn't leave until 9pm that night. So I had another 3 hours to go.
Everyone seems to get along really well so far - it should be a good group. There are alot of people from the Midwest and then a few from the East. I think there are 15 total. It'll be interesting to see if people maintain the first-impressions that I got from them or if they turn out to be completely different. Who knows...
Argentina greeted us on our first day with rain and clouds. And a chilly 60 degrees - oh wait, that was the nice part :). Once we figured out customs and money changing, etc., we got on to a bus and drove another hour to Belgrano.
I slept.
In Belgrano, we met our host families. I'm living with a single lady in her 50s - her name is Nilda. She reminds me of a spunky grandma type - blue eyeliner and bright red lipstick included. So my roommate, Caroline, and I loaded our suitcases into Nilda's car and drove to our new house for the next 2 months. Except it wasn't that easy. Picture this:
4 suitcases, 2 backpacks, purses, miscellaneous items, and 3 people packed into the tiniest red VW car (no idea what kind it is. Is microscopic a type? If yes, then that's what she has) and making our merry way to our apartment.
The first lesson I've learned is that people in Argentina are CRAZY when it comes to driving! Apparently the lines in the road are just there for decoration and if you feel like driving inside them, great! If not, no problemo! And whoever gets to an intersection first, goes first! Duh...
And pedestrians don't really matter that much; the world can do with a few less. No harm, no foul.
Our apartment is pretty nice, though. Caroline and I each have our own bedroom. They're tiny, but at least they're our own. Between broken English and Spanish, we're all making pretty good progress communicating so far. Nilda is just great and I'm definitely happy with our living situation.
I also rode a subway (or the Subte, here) for the first time in my entire life today! Talk about playing the dumb, American tourist. You can probably imagine it.
We had a 2 hour ISA orientation today after getting settled in. I think they just wanted to see how many people they could catch falling asleep at the first meeting. They got a few. At our orientation we just talked about safety, money, transportation, etc. And then they had a surprise for us: tomorrow we're going to a summer getaway destination just to relax and get to know everyone in the group! Beach, here I come! (And it's January!!!) For those of you braving the snow and cold weather, yes, you read it right:
BEACH! (and yes, I'm gloating a little)
I'm still trying to figure out if I want to get a cell phone while I'm here or not. I kind of like not being so accessible - it's liberating. For safety purposes, and for the parental freak out purposes, I'll probably end up getting one anyway.
It's definitely been a long day, but a good day, and I can barely keep my eyes open anymore. And we're getting up early tomorrow to go on our surprise trip. YAY! I just still can't believe I'm actually here. After all the waiting and talking about it, it's finally happening! Even though it's only been one day, amazing is the only word to describe it.
So far, so good.