Hey hey hey! The first week (or 2 days) of classes went really well, and I’m happy about the courses I decided to take.  On Tuesday, I started the day out with Tango.  We have a whole basement area to ourselves for the class, and immediately we jumped right into learning the basic moves.  It wasn’t too hard, but next week I’ll definitely wear workout clothes and gym shoes since we were dancing for two hours straight! In my class, there’s also about 15 girls and only 6 guys, so when we were partnered up, about half of the girls were standing against the wall, as if we were at a bar mitzvah waiting for our crush to ask us to dance (preferably to KC & Jojo’s “All My Life”).  Luckily, I know a couple guys in the class, so I was dancing most of the time with a partner.  The other two classes, Economic History and Traditions & Cultures, were good too, but not nearly as entertaining as Tango. That night, me and Rachel met up with our friends, Sam and Catie, and also some other people at a bar in Palermo called Drink Gallery.  It was okay, but literally FILLED with Americans.  I don’t know if a single Argentine person was in there besides the bartenders.  Tuesday nights aren’t big going out nights for locals, like they are on most college campuses.  In a way, I actually felt more uncomfortable being at this bar surrounded by study abroad students.  Of course it’s fun to meet people from different study abroad programs, but there’s something comforting about being at a place where locals want to be too.  It just feels more natural that way. Generally there will be at least some Americans at places in Buenos Aires, but this place reminded me of a frat party, beer pong tables and all. Needless to say, we didn’t stay very long.   Wednesday was my first free day of the week.  I went to lunch with Rachel and then met up with Sam since he was off for the day too. Semana Santa (easter break) is next week starting on Thursday, so most people are going on some sort of trip since everyone has 3 days off school.  We decided we wanted to go to Mendoza, which is on the West side of the country.  It’s supposed to be beautiful and is known for its vineyards.  Apparently Semana Santa is a HUGE deal here, because Sam, Stephanie and I spent the entire day searching for hostels and only found one that wasn’t sold out yet. We booked four nights for six people (Rachel, Sam, Catie, Stephanie, Molly & I) and are crossing our fingers for no bed bugs and running water. That night, we had an event with our whole group at a club called Museo (Museum).  Me and Rachel wanted to try to take the bus by ourselves for the first time instead of paying for a cab, and it was a success! All we had to do was sit right up at the front and ask the bus driver to warn us when our stop was coming up. Museo is known for its Wednesday night scene, where everyone comes right after work in their suits and parties until around 2am. It was a really cool place, 3 levels and lots of 80’s music.  The problem here is that the Argentine men are super aggressive and will follow you around, not leaving you alone, even when you tell them to go away.  It’s okay the first time when they say to you “que hermosa” “how beautiful,” but it gets very old by the second, third and forth time.  Still, it was a good time. We wanted to take the bus back, but we waited with 2 other friends, Rita & Joel, for over an hour and it never came, so we ended up cabbing it back with the smelliest taxi driver in the world. Thursday was another day without class.  As I was walking down the street from the apartment, I looked to my left and there was a semi truck with the back door open and three dead cows skinned and hanging upright. I nearly almost vomited.  I’ve been to meat markets in other countries before, but this was just…unexpected. It makes you wonder how sanitary the meat is down here. I’ve bI walked around a different neighborhood in Belgrano for a while and then ended up at a cafe where I did some homework and drank a coffee.  The coffee here is basically a small cup of espresso, so it comes in really tiny cups but is very strong.  I really like the coffee here, but some people order “cafe con leche” (coffee with milk) so that it doesn’t taste as strong.  A while later, I met up with Sam, Stephanie, Molly & Catie so we could take the Subte to the bus station.    There is no way to buy bus tickets online, so you have to go about 40 minutes away to the station, where there’s about 50 different companies to choose from.  It was kind of stressful because a lot of the busses were already filled to Mendoza, but finally we found a company that still had seats available.  So now we are officially going to Mendoza! At night we didn’t do much, since we were still exhausted from dancing so much the night before. Friday was yet another day of no class.  I definitely have a much better sense of the city than I did a week ago, and I feel confident about riding the Subte by myself, and I’m hoping by next week I’ll have the bus system down.  I’m also starting to feel less like a tourist and more like a “citizen” of Buenos Aires.  There are certain restaurants and cafes I like to go to, and I buy fruit a few times a week from the fruit guys down the street.  One of the only things that I feel is really making it hard to fully assimilate is my Spanish.  While I can usually understand and comprehend what people say to me, I’m still finding it difficult to express myself in Spanish, making me less confident when I’m out on my own.  I guess it will take some time.  I went to a park near my house today and read for a little while. The weather has been amazing, clear skies, in the 70s, so I’ve definitely been taking advantage of it. Got lunch at an organic restaurant called Natural Deli.  It was really good, and I’m sure I’ll be back there again.  For all of the meat they eat here, they are certainly not lacking in vegetarian options.  I was worried that I would have trouble finding good food to eat, but I haven’t had a bad meal here yet.  After lunch, we walked around some little boutiques and then met up with our group to go to a really good pizza place for dinner.  Before the pizza place, though, we stopped by a famous bookstore called, El Ateneo.  The bookstore used to be an old theater, but it was later converted, so it is really beautiful.   It’s hard to believe that this is only a bookstore.  Of course I was in heaven. Also, the stage area has a little cafe where you can hang out and read the books.   The pizza place was yummy, but definitely not as good as Grimaldi’s in Brooklyn.  It was fun being with kids in the my group though.   I think that’s all for now.  I have to get up early tomorrow for our day trip to El Tigre. I miss you all, family, friends, Adam. xo Kyle