Buenos Aires, Moving, Saying Goodbye

LIfe is crazy as usual.

The final days of classes went well. Lots of studying and partying. I aced my speaking final which was sweet. Wednesday was nuts I had to take a final, move, and then leave for Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires is amazing. I'm already trying to figure out when I can go back. It's beautiful, busy, rough, loud, and fun. We arrived by bus on Thursday morning, went on a city tour and visited the grave of Evita. Lunch that day, I can say with certainty, was the best meal I've ever had. Next we hit Calle Florida for some shopping and and I bought a leather jacket (I had to Buenos Aires is the leather capital of the world.) That night we got dolled up and went to Che Tango, an old, dark, smoky tango club for dinner and a show. These dancers were beyond words. So hot. As I'm sitting there I think to myself, "I'm sipping red wine, watching a tango show in Buenos Aires. I'm probably the happiest kid alive." We left tipsy and head back to the hotel for more drinks and then hit the bars. Well kind of. I made it through one bar and then had to leave. I guess you could say I was a little drunk. Just a wee bit. I kept my cool though, didn't do anything embarrassing.

Friday was sweet. That morning we went to the Boca field, Boca is one of Buenos Aires's two soccer teams. The Boca neighborhood is the roughest part of Buenos Aires, and honestly my favorite place to hang out. President Bush went to see a game there with his family a few years back and while the Bush daughters were eating lunch outside the stadium (secret service in tow obviously) one of their purses was stolen. Someone was able to sneak past the secret service and steel the President's daughter's bag. That's how crazy the pick-pocketing is here. Regardless, Boca is one of my favorite places on earth. There's just so much history there. The neighborhood is on the water and massive abandoned ships are decaying in the harbor. The outdoor markets are always jammed with people from all over the world, and amateur tango dancers perform for pennies on the streets. I need to go back.

After Boca we hit the Museum of Contemporary Latin American Art. Loved it. We concluded the day's activities at Evita's house. After that we headed back to the hotel for a bottle of wine and a siesta. After a huge dinner we end up at this awesome cafe called Acabar with great food, drinks and most importantly, Jenga. I was still recovering from the night before so I ordered tea. That's right. I went out on a Friday night and ordered tea. I know. It's crazy.

Saturday we went back to the Boca neighborhood to check out another art museum and by this point, I'm museumed out, so I snuck out of the tour and checked out the market down the block. After that a little more shopping and then it was time to catch our flight back to Córdoba. This is where it gets sad.

So a few of the people I am studying abroad with only stayed for this first month, meaning that I had to say goodbye to a few great friends. The whole group of us has spent everyday of the past 4 weeks together, obviously we've all become super close. I mean these guys have really become my family here. Roger, Nicole, Peter, Chris, Tamara, Carmen, and Morgan all left over the past two days. It so strange to be so close with these kids for a month and then at the end of it all be like "Ok, have a nice life."

When I'm bouncing between Glenview and Ithaca, saying goodbye to my friends every few months is a tough but it's not terrible because I know I'm going to see them again. But here, this is goodbye for real. I'm really never going to hang out with most of these people again. I just can't wrap my head around it. It's been hard enough saying goodbye to just a few people after a month, I can't even imagine what it's going to be like at the end of the semester. It's really gunna hurt.

Back in Córdoba: Saturday was my first real day in my new place. It's a super tiny little apartment but the building is awesome. We have a pool, a mini cafe, and an asado (a giant place to hold bar-be-ques) plus a few other lounge areas. My roommate is super sweet. Her name is Arianna, she's a law student. And get this, she likes to bake. I know. I totally lucked out. Saturday night was Tamara's and Nicole's last night. We went out for dinner, hit up El Contendor, one of my favorite bars, and then went to a club.

Sunday I posted about 700 photos on Facebook. That was my weekend.

Lost in Translation: I meant to call a buddy of mine a gentleman the other day and I accidentally called him a horse.

Tid Bits:

Writing this post in English was really difficult. I kept starting my sentences in Spanish and having to go back and change them. I'm thinking of what I want to say in Spanish and translating it into English.

I love talking to cab drivers. In the past two days I had one cab driver who taught us how to say slut, and then invited my buddy Brian to a gay bar, and another who started preaching to me about why I should be Christian.

Tomorrow I start classes my classes with Argentine students.

I miss peanut butter and jelly.