Argentine Culture Crash-Course

I've spent almost 2 months in Argentina and realized that despite detailing all of my adventures and travels thus far, I haven't really given any insight of Argentine culture and some of the main characteristics that distinguish it from home.

Wow, that sounds like the start of a very dull, information-packed, sleeper of a blog.

Take 2:

ARGENTINE CULTURE: THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE LOCO!!

*Whew* that was a close call!

Ok people, here we go. I'll start with my favorite part - the FOOD! (of course).

I am throroughly convinced that to truly be Porteño (a person from Argentina) you must:

1) like coffee (done and done). But not like it in large quantities. When you order a "coffee" here, you generally get a portion roughly the size of half a cup - measuring cup that is. The coffee here is stronger, it's more like espresso - but come on, a 1/2 cup?! Now, if you order a café con leche (coffee with milk) it will generally be bigger - if you're lucky, you'll get up to a full cup! The sweet thing that comes with ordering a coffee - the restaurants will usually bring you a little something to munch on. Maybe a small cookie or brownie or a couple - which is always a plus!

One of the things "to do" here is to go to a cafe at ANY time of the day or night, bring a paper or a magazine or something important-looking, sip your miniscule-sized coffee, nibble on your cookie, give off an aura of non-chalance and pretend that you rule the world. And that's not even a slight exaggeration.

2) drink mate. The cool Porteños go to a cafe and drink their little coffees, but the really cool Porteños drink mate. AND they can carry it around with them all day! Trust me, some of them do. Yerba mate is similar to a loose-leaf tea drink. The way to drink it is in a Mate cup, of course. This mate cup is generally a dried out gourd that has been decorated. You'll also need your metal bombilla, or straw, specialized for drinking the mate so that you don't suck up any of the mate leaves.

People will carry their gourds and straws and mate around with them - and a thermous of hot water so that they can have it whenever they'd like to during the day. Even in the middle of summer you can see people drinking their hot mate! Mate link: http://www.noborders.net/mate/index.html

3) incorporate empanadas into your diet as it's own separate food group. The best way I can describe an empanada is like a pastry filled with meat, cheese, veggies, really whatever you could want. And these things are everywhere!!! The majority of them are fried - and they are pretty much all delicious hot or cold. There are stands dedicated to the art of perfecting the empanada and then selling it for a whopping 3 pesos or less (less than $1). Glorious.

Argentina is known as the land of beef, so if you don't like red meat, you're screwed. Ok, maybe not so much, but there are Parrilla restaurants everywhere. These are grills where you can get almost any type of meat (and from almost any part of the animal) that you want. Most times a good thing, sometimes you'll be surprised by what's on your plate - not always such a good thing.

Dining is an art here. There are restaurants everywhere. If you don't eat out, it's sacreligious. These people love wining and dining and cafe-ing. No joke. I have never seen so many restaurants in one area at one time. And they always have people in them! The people here also love their sweets - they have some of the best bakeries I have ever seen with anything you could possibly want or imagine. It's hard to believe that Argentina is the leading country of anorexia and bulemia problems - it's true. Argentines are also proud of their invention Dulce de Leche. They could put this stuff on anything. They eat it for breakfast on toast or bread, fruits, they make desserts out of it, put it in coffee, probably eat it by the spoonful! I, on the other hand, cannot. It's good, but rich - like caramel but thicker. I think the sweets here have killed the tastebuds and pallet of the Argentines. Why? You cannot, I repeat, CANNOT, find spicy food here to save your life! Everything has flavor, but when it comes to spicy, it's non-existent. And for me, that's a problem. Even if you do find "spicy" food, don't expect to need an extra glass of water. Oh well - I just plan on drinking a bottle of Cholua when I get home. Also, tap water does not exist - you have to pay for bottled water at restaurants, sin gas, of course.

Ok so the food part is huge - I'll just briefly point out some other things so you don't have to read a novel.

·Electricity here is expensive. You don't leave lights on or computers or any electronics unless you absolutely have to.

·The economy here is even worse than in the U.S. The exchange rate right now is 3.6 pesos to the dollar. Good for me, bad for Argentina.

·The nightlife here is crazy - it is uncommon to go out to dinner before 10pm, and you're the nerdy kid if you show up to a club before 1am.

·I don't know how they do it, but the people here love to shop! There are stores everywhere - mostly clothing, but others as well. You can always see people walking down the street holding the bags of their recent purchase.

·Shoes are unbelievably expensive. Enough said.

·"Fast-food", or comida rapida, isn't really heard of. Yes, they have McDonald's and Burger King, but these places are like legit restaurants. You go in, order, and sit down to enjoy your meal. And they're CLEAN!

·Time isn't really a big issue for people here. You'll get there when you get there. Don't make plans, things just spontaneously happen.

·There are dog-walkers everywhere. It's a profession, I swear.

·Don't drive a car or ride a bike here ever. Unless you have a death wish. (I think I mentioned this in a previous post).

·Pop/soda is called gaseosa, which, let's face it, could be funny.

·In every store and cafe you're almost guaranteed to hear American music - and way more bad 80s music than there should be. Don't worry though, sometimes they're remixed to a latin beat.

·These people love their mayonnaise.

·Tango is gorgeous! It's so fun to watch!

Overall, it's a pretty go-with-the-flow kind of culture, with a few curveballs here and there. I know I left out alot of stuff, but that's what I can think of for now.

I leave for Iguazú in 3 days so look for updates about that! Iguazú is a giant waterfall (one of the biggest in the world) that borders Argentina and Brazil!

Besos!

Top That! (You can't. I guarantee it) *Best Spring Break EVER!*

Cerro Fitz Roy...you can't see it b/c of the bad weather :(

El Chalten. A one road town. Literally.

Glacier water stream

It was a little cold at the top...and windy.

WE DID IT!

Scary bridge. Yes, we did go over it.

Drinking glacier water.

We saw a perfect rainbow!

Glacier, rainbow & mountains?!?!

Awesome =)

At the base of our 8.5 hour hike

The views were gorgeous!

It was huge! (Glacier Perito Moreno)

Glacier Perito Moreno

Me on the boat

Amazing.

Pretty much heaven on earth.

SPRING BREAK 2009!
Let me just start off by saying it was absolutely incredible. Whatever I write in this blog will never be able to bring you the feelings and the beauty that I felt and saw during my last week in Patagonia.
Day 1 (Monday): We all wake up bright and early to start our spring break off right. We are at the airport by 9, ready to catch our first flight at 10 to El Calafate. Everybody is half asleep on the flight, that is until we start to fly over Patagonia. Even the view from the plane is unbelievable. The first place we fly in to is Ushuaia (You-shoe-why-ya) in Tierra del Fuego (the land of fire - known for its active volcanoes), also known as the southern most city in the world! I could almost see Antarctica! ....almost - ok maybe not even close. But I did make friends with a penguin! ok I didn't do that either - I can always dream. Everything here is gorgeous! And this is just the view from the plane and the airport - we are only here for an hour...sad. But if this is any indication of Calafate, I'm all for it. The cold air is definitely welcome after the intense heat and humidity of Buenos Aires. It actually kind of reminds me of home.
Our hour of arctic weather is up and we're on another plane to El Calafate. We finally fly into the tiny airport there and catch a bus to our hostel. This place is sooooo pretty! El Calafate actually reminds me of Estes Park, almost identical! Except that the people here speak Spanish. El Calafate is known for a couple of things: 1) Calafate, which is actually a fruit that very closely resembles a blueberry but is still very tasty. 2) The National Glacier Park! Oh yes, we are going on Day 2. To finish up the night at our hostel, we all have somewhat of a hostel room party in one of the rooms! Yay for the start of spring break!

Day 2 (Tuesday): Another early morning for us! We are on a bus by 9 to go to the National Glacier Park. During our drive, we stop at a couple of places that have gorgeous views of the landscape and distant views of the mountians. My pictures don't even do the colors justice. Everything is so pure and vibrant here. We finally arrive to see the famous (yes, it is famous) glacier of Perito Moreno. This thing is ginormous! And just an (I'm already running out of adjectives) incredibly breathtaking sight. I can't even begin to really describe it. We got to take a boat out to get a better look at the glacier - we could almost touch it we were so close! ok that's another lie - but amazing all the same. Don't worry - I have about 100 pictures. No joke. After that we got to wander around the glacier park and get different views of the glacier. Every once in a while we would hear a loud *crack* which was actually part of the glacier breaking off! It was so cool to actually see it! Even the smallest chunks are audible! I can't even begin to describe the beauty of this thing - you can learn about these natural phenomenoms, but to actually see it is something else completely.
After we get back to the hostel, we try and figure out what to do with our 2 days of freedom - we have nothing planned, but would really like to do something while we're here. One of the guys that works at the hostel suggests that we go to El Chalten and hike to the base of Mount Fitz Roy - another glacier. A group of us are all for it! The kicker: it's 3.5 hours away by bus and the next bus leaves at 6pm. It's about 4:30 right now. So what do we do? Call the bus company to see if they have room and book a hostel of course! THEY DO! So we quickly pack a few things, run to the grocery store and make our bus with a whopping 3 minutes to spare. One the way, the bus makes a stop at Hotel La Leona http://www.hoteldecampolaleona.com.ar/history.html (check out the history on it - it's pretty sweet). We finally arrive to El Chalten at about 10:30 or so. El Chalten is a tiny town. And I mean tiny. We're talking a 1 road town here. No joke. But it's so quaint and cute that I immediately am in love with it. And the view of the stars and milky way out here are just the icing on the cake.

Day 3 (Wednesday): Another early day (notice a theme yet??)! We're all up and ready to go by 8am. At about 8:30 we start our trek. The trail is supposed to take about 4 hours each way - so we're all prepared for a long, glorious day of hiking. The weather looks promising to start off, but half way up, it's clear that it won't stay that way for long. We get caught in rain showers here and there, but our spirits are high. We even see a rainbow end to end over a lake! A group of 7 of us are on this journey. Again, the sights are unlike anything I've ever seen and it's hard to believe that they can be more incredible. But they can, and they are. We make several stops on the way up to take pictures, take in the sights and keep reminding ourselves that we are really here, really living, and yes, we really have a long way up to go. We go through water, over tiny bridges, through mud and trees and bushes and rocks; through wind and rain and sleet and snow. And no, I'm not joking. I would have to say that one of the many highlights is that the water from the streams is drinkable because it's glacier water. So of course we have to give it a try!
The last 500 meters of the trail was pretty tough - there was even a sign warning us that it was difficult! The trail was barely a trail and it was pretty much straight up. But when we finally got up to the top, it was all worth it!
The glacier wasn't too visible because of the bad weather but it was still such an adrenaline rush. At the base there was another lake, so we went down and walked around that as well. We did get caught in a brief sleet/ice storm when the wind picked up and blew the snow off the top of the glaciers. Slightly scary and very cold. Don't worry, we survived.
About 3.5 hours later, we were back down at the base: Cold, tired, hungry and so fulfilled and accomplished! :)
We caught our bus back to El Calafate by 6 that night. Again.

Day 4 (Thursday): Didn't do much that day. Took a loooooooooong nap. Did a little shopping. Ate some great food that I cooked with Lauren (girl in my group) at the hostel!!! Orange chicken anyone?! Went out for our last night and just had a good time with everyone.

Day 5 (Friday): Back on a bus by 10am to go to the airport to go to Buenos Aires. Due to some apparently bad weather, though, we got rerouted. 4 airplanes and 16 hours later, we finally made it home at about 4am (we were supposed to be back by 7pm the previous night).
But hey, no complaints. For an extra 9 hours, I'd do it all again.

That was my trip to Patagonia. Check out this website to see El Calafate, El Chalten, Perito Moreno, and Cerro Fitz Roy. http://www.calafate.com/Ingles/index.htm
I'll post pictures soon, I promise!

That Sunday I also survived my first Futbol game. And when I say survived, I mean it. I have never seen such a display of athletic enthusiasm and intensity and just complete and utter loco-ness (spanglish people)! Those are insane! Don't worry, I'm hoping to go to another one next Sunday that's supposed to be even more out of control. I'll be sure to put my football pads on - I'll probably need them.

XOXOXOX

Happy Anniversary!

carnaval

more

again

one of my faves



Carnaval floats

They were all so unbelievable!

Group shot at pub crawl

"I survived the Buenos Aires pub crawl"

Beginning of the pub crawl


To me!
Yesterday I hit the one month mark of being in Buenos Aires!
Ok, so alot has happened in this past week. Take a deep breath - this could be a long one :)

I had the pleasure of a new experience as of last Sunday. I was lucky enough to get food poisoning from a restaurant off of their flan. Don't worry, it only lasted a few days and I only had to spend 3 hours in a medical clinic. Boy, oh boy was that fun. Clearly, there's not much you can do for food poisoning, but I had to get a doctor's note to give to the university for missing classes. With our final that upcoming Thursday, it was not a good time to get sick. I finally was able to push through it and go to classes, etc. I'm hoping that was just a one-time thing. For the time being, flan and I are taking a little break.

Last Thursday we had our final exams for our Intensive Month language class. It included a 2 hour written exam and an oral exam after that. The written part was difficult, but I thought I did alright on it. As for the oral exam, I'm pretty sure I may as well have been speaking gibberish. Maybe it was just because I was nervous, but I had a difficult time responding and was pretty sure I made absolutely no sense. But what was done, was done and I was ready to celebrate.
So celebrate we did!
That night we went on the Buenos Aires Pub Crawl (http://www.pubcrawlba.com/pub/index.php?lang=en) in Palermo. We had a blast - we all met in a plaza for beer/wine/pizza/empanadas and mingled for about an hour. I think there were close to 40 people on the tour. After that, we went to 3 different bars. At each bar we got a free shot and all drinks were 2 for 1. After the 3 bars, we went to a nightclub called Lost - our cover charge was taken care of and we didn't have to stand in line. We danced until about 5:30 in the morning and then decided to call it a night. All of this for 60 pesos (roughly $20) was so very worth it.
Friday I had class at 10 to go over the exam and find out our grades.
Yes, I did go.
As for our grades, I ended up with an A- in the class, so maybe I made some sense when I was talking after all!!!
Saturday (yesterday) a bunch of us got up bright and early and headed down to the bus station for a day trip. We all went to Gualeguaychu (pronounced Wally-why-chu) for CARNAVAL! http://www.welcomeargentina.com/carnavales/index_i.html
For those of you who don't know what Carnaval is, it's basically the Mardi Gras of South America. And it's amazing!
After standing in line in the hot sun for 3 hours to get our tickets (with the help of tasty, cold beverages), we all went to a grocery store and bought a bunch of food to have a picnic. We played in a park for a bit - yes you read that right - and then went to the beach for a while. All in all it was a pretty relaxing day. We finally went back to Carnaval around 10:30pm. People watching was unbelievable there - anything from elaborate costumes, hair and even dressing up as french fries to wearing almost nothing at all! We got tickets for the nosebleed section to watch the parade, but it was still amazing. The floats and dancers were so dressed up and everything was bright and big and sparkly and colorful! And the music was fun as well. So we watched the parade and danced to the music and just had a good time until about 3:30 am.
Our bus home didn't leave until 5:50am so we had a few hours to kill. We just went to a restaurant and wound down for about an hour - at this point some people were falling asleep at the table. We were all pretty tired.
Eventually we made the walk back to the bus station and waited for about a half hour. The minute, no probably the second I sat down, I was out.
Today has been all about the sleep for me. I slept until about 2:30pm. And I'm still tired. Definitely going to bed soon.
After I pack.
Tomorrow we leave for Calefate which is in the southern most part of Argentina in Patagonia. Technically, this is our Spring Break, so we get to go there for the week! This region of Argentina is alot colder than the rest (and it's even close to Antarctica!...kind of). We'll get to go to the glacier parks and maybe even hike one of them! My only problem: I have summer clothes, and only summer clothes. I didn't even bring a sweatshirt. Brilliant. And if you know me, you know how much I like being cold :) haha. I'm sure I'll figure it out. We'll be there until Friday - I'm sure I'll have another blog with our ice glacier adventures.

Whew! I think that's everything. For now.
Love and miss you all!

Country hopping

Streets of Colonia, Uruguay

Ocean

On the ferry over. It was a bit windy.

I love this street

Yes, a tree is growing out of the car

It's kind of like bar hopping, but not really.
Yesterday I had the chance to go on a little day trip to, you guessed it, another country.
Uruguay has now had the pleasure of my company :)
We traveled by ferry to Colonia, Uruguay to spend the day yesterday. Talk about the cutest place I've ever seen - it's just this little old town with a bunch of European (mostly Portuguese) influence. It had the cobblestone streets, the old colorful buildings, authentic architecture and of course it is right next to the ocean. I legitimately think I may retire there. We weren't able to go to the beach due to the overcast weather and sprinkling rain, but it was definitely welcome weather.
In Buenos Aires earlier last week, the temperature ran into the 100s, not including the humidity. You couldn't step outside without being soaked in your own sweat. Lovely, huh? The past 2 days have been heaven with rain and clouds. Today is just about perfect. I'm sitting in a little cafe (with coffee of course) next to an open window, listening to the rain outside.
The only down side is I've been doing homework.....
This next week will end our first class with our final exam being on Thursday. Cross your fingers for me! So that will definitely require some studying. Today I've just been working on an oral presentation that I need to give tomorrow on a subject relating to Argentina. I'm doing mine on the production of wine and its effect on the economy - go figure. My professor made sure to tell me that I am not allowed to bring wine to class tomorrow. So instead, I'm bringing sparkling cider :)
Other than that, not much new news.
Should be a pretty quiet week.

**Look for picture posts later this week!!**

Mendoza, anyone?

The gate to the park Independencia

Vineyard

Wine Cellar at Familia Zuccardi

Andes Mountains

"In This Moment You're Exactly Right Here"
quote on the wall at our hostel

Pretty

Grapes everywhere!

If you say so

Walking in the vineyard



I'll make this one short (but probably write more tomorrow). =)
This past weekend a few of us took a trip to Mendoza, Argentina. For those of you unfamiliar, it's basically the wine capital of Argentina (maybe even of S. America)! As you can probably imagine, I was in heaven.
First of all, Mendoza is beautiful! It sits about 1.5 hours away from the Andes Mountains and has several parks, plazas and, of course, bodegas (vineyards).
We left on Friday evening around 7:30pm - we were all freaking out because we thought we had missed our bus (yes, we took a bus), but it actually was just running late. So after we recovered from our almost panic attacks, we boarded the bus and settled in for a 15-hour ride. I'd be jealous too if I were you...
The bus ride wasn't too terrible, I slept the majority of the way - thank goodness for Dramamine. The only bad part was the 'dinner' they served us. No joke, I don't think there was a single edible thing they gave us: there was a piece of bread that you could probably use as a doorstop, something fried (not chicken) that I have no idea what it was, a piece of ham that had a slice of hard-boiled egg in the center as part of the ham as well as carrots interspersed in it. And then there was the main course. A heap of instant, grainy, overly salted mashed potatoes, and something fried - I think it was supposed to be meat, but I couldn't find any...this meal was unbelievable - I took pictures! Needless to say, we were all pretty hungry by the time we arrived.
So we get to Mendoza the next morning, probably around 10ish and check into our hostel. We stayed at Hostel Independencia, which was actually very nice. We showered and changed and then went on our first wine tour. But it's not what you think - we rode bikes from vineyard to vineyard. It was so fun! We got back to the hostel around 6pm, relaxed a little, then went out for a nice dinner.
The next day we went on a long walk through San Martin Park (this place is huge!), past a zoo, and up an incredibly steep hill to an observatory. The view was breathtaking. Imagine just a panoramic view of the Andes and the towns below. Gorgeous!
After we got back we rested a little more before going out for the night. The plaza we were closest to was Plaza Independencia and at night they had several people do crazy things for money - we saw a man juggle fire, a guy jumprope on a unicycle, people spraypaintng pictures on the sidewalk (and they were really cool), bands, etc etc. And then there is just the general public - I definitely enjoyed people watching there.
After another fun dinner, we finally made it back to the hostel around 1am.
Our last day was a journey for sure. We walked around the city for a while (we had to check out of the hostel by 10am) and decided to go to another bodega. We had a brochure for one that looked unbelievable. So we get a taxi and ask the guy if he knows how to get there. He says sure and that it isn't too far (40 pesos = a little more than $10). Perfect. Turns out, he knew how to get there, but he definitely lied about the distance - it turned out to be about 75 pesos each way. Fantastic.
But we made it. The bodega we went to is called Familia Zuccardi and is the largest vineyard in all of Argentina! It was incredible! They talked about the wine production, process, harvest, their different lines etc. and we got to see how it was done. And, of course, we got to sample it! (they export to the US...) Overall, it turned out to be a fun day.
**If you want to check out where I went: http://www.familiazuccardi.com
That evening, we caught our bus at 6pm and drove back to Buenos Aires. We got in around 10am this morning, took a taxi home, dropped my stuff off, and went straight to class...only 2 hours late. (class starts at 9:30am).
I guess this wasn't as short as I thought it would be, but there was alot to say :)
Happy late VDay everyone!

Who needs sleep?

My first weekend was nothing short of spectacular!
On Friday night we went to Puerto Madero, which is an upper-class area with ritzy restaurants and nightlife. So of course we had to go.
The restaurant we went to was called La Isla. It was absolutely amazing. We got there at about 11pm, which isn't out of the ordinary at all. I had chicken stuffed with gruyere cheese and spinach, covered with a cream sauce. I could have sworn I was in heaven. We also bought a bottle of wine to go with our meal. Between the conversation and the food, it was the perfect way to start off the night.
After dinner, we went to a boliche called Asia de Cuba, where we met some more people from our program. Even though the cover charge was a little more than I thought it would be, we had a blast. We got there around 2am and didn't leave until about 6 in the morning. By the time I got home and in bed it was close to 7.
I love BA.
Saturday I didn't do much (I wonder why), but it was also good just to have a day to rest and not do anything. But there's no way we were going to stay in on Saturday night! Trying to figure out what we were doing took longer than expected though. It didn't help that the first taxi we were going to take had possessed doors that slammed my fingers into them. Needless to say, the taxi driver heard a few choice words (in English) as I walked away. Don't worry, nothing is broken - just a little bruised and larger than normal.
After getting some ice, I was good to go. We ended up going to a bar called Shamrock. The vibe was just relaxed and we shared a couple bottles of wine and just talked. I love nights like those. We made it home around 5am and went to bed.
On Sunday I went to basically a giant outdoor flea market where you can find anything and everything you ever wanted and never needed! This thing is huge. I'm talking a couple miles long - and it happens every Sunday! I didn't end up getting anything, due to the fact that I had no cash on me, thanks to the previous two nights. But I'll probably end up going back one of these weekends.
We bought our bus tickets to Mendoza today!! I'm super excited about that. We leave Friday at 7:30pm and take the 14 hour bus ride overnight to Mendoza. We'll stay in a hostel on Saturday night and go on the wine tours over the weekend. We're looking at one that is a bike tour and a wine tour all in one! Whatever we decide will be fun I'm sure. We get on another bus on Sunday at 6pm to get home early Monday morning. Just in time for classes...yay.
This week is going to be another busy week filled with class, cultural events, dancing, tango lessons (we get one on Thursday!) and whatever else comes.
For now, though, sleep sounds pretty good.
To everyone back home: miss you and love you!
Besos!

P.S. For those interested, the links below are blogs from some of the other people in my ISA group. Enjoy!

http://chicaconfundida27.blogspot.com

http://blogs.bucknell.edu/studyabroad/schwitz/

http://www.coligoesabroad.blogspot.com

La primera semana

Superbowl Sunday at an "American" bar

The ceiling at Club Museo

Dancing the night away

Puerto Madero all lit up at night

Me.

Surviving la primera semana (& class): Check.
I would have to call my first week (semana) ----- interetirinexcitissful. For interesting, tiring, exciting and successful.
Of course.
I'm learning a little every day - even if it's just a vocab word here or there. Spanish 24/7 is definitely frustrating and difficult sometimes. It's hard not to revert back to English with the other people in my program. Most of the time, that's what happens anyway. And even though it may not help our Spanish, it's nice to have a break, especially after a long day.
Classes are going well. I'm relearning the things that I forgot that I forgot, which is good (most of the time). Stepping stones for improving. There's nobody from my program in my class; I'm with students from other programs, or who are studying individually, which I don't mind because it allows me to meet different people.
On Wednesday night, I went to my first boliche, aka nightclub, with some people from my program. The boliche was called Museos.
We had a blast!
Museos has 3 levels and it was absolutely packed with people! It had disco balls and strobe lights and disco/80s/reggaton/techno/spanish music! We stayed for a couple hours danced the night away. We finally left around 2:45 in the morning - we had to leave early because we had class, of course. :) I definitely had a siesta the next day.
We're going out tonight to Puerto Madero, which is an upper-class barrio in BA. We're going out to dinner and then hopefully another boliche. Or two.
Today after class, I went to a Japanese garden in Palermo (another barrio) and just walked around. It was so peaceful and pretty.
I'm starting to get to know my way around the city. Kind of. I've only been lost 3 times and left my keys in the apartment once. I think I'm doing pretty well!
After being here for only 1 week, there are definitely some things that I miss and that I'm craving:
*a big, fat hamburger. scratch that. a big, fat cheeseburger. with everything
*a salad (kind of cancels out the hamburger, but whatever)
*iced tea. can't find it anywhere
*knowing where i'm going. and where i'm at
*my own bed - hard beds and lumpy pillows just aren't my thing
*coffee to go
*warm showers. sometimes the water's warm, sometimes it's cold. it's like a guessing game - keeps things interesting
*family/friends. of course
*dryness. praise colorado for not being humid!
*the mountains. (see knowing where i'm going)
*doing my own laundry

Ok. So just because I can, here are some things that I love so far:
*no matter where you are, there are at least 3 cafes on every block. maybe more! hello coffee heaven!
*warm weather. in february :)
*the night life
*the people i'm getting to know
*not having a cell phone that works. weird, i know. but it's kind of nice. (same thing with tv)
*the ice cream. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
*discovering new places
*walking everywhere
*fresh fruit
*sangria

Some things I might change/don't particularly care for:
*theres dog poop EVERYWHERE on the sidewalks
*cockroaches are real. i'm a believer. i've seen them
*the drivers are crazy
*pigeons
*the humidity. forget trying to straighten my hair. ever.

I'm intersted/excited to see what the next few weeks bring. So far, all I've got to show for this week are blistered feet - bad, and peeling shoulders from a sunburn. But I wouldn't trade it! :)
Right now I'm sitting in my room with the window open. There's a slight breeze and it's just after 8pm. The sun sets here around 9:30. It's fantastic. I've got a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and some Fontina cheese.
I'd have to say I'm pretty content.