BA

The first few days in Buenos Aires were spent adjusting to city life, living in a very hipster hostel, and exploring the surrounding area of Palermo. Coincidentally, both Sara and I were placed in the same apartment building and in the same area of Palermo as our hostel! The first day after a bit of a nap, Sara and I hit the streets shopping in order to catch up to the stylish porteños after our initial feelings of fashion inadequacy. We finished the night sitting in a relaxing and comfortable restaurant listening to jazz music and sipping wine. The next day consisted of a lot of walking through and glancing upon the beauty that is Buenos Aires (especially this park randomly filled with cats). After an early night in and lots of sleep, we were certainly ready to join the rest of our crew the next day and meet our host families!

We met the ground in a fancy hotel in Recoleta (a more NYC-esque area of town), took some Spanish tests and ate far too much food than necessary. We then proceeded to meet our host families! Mi madre is Ana Maria Vacas. She has four sons (two of whom live with me) whose names are Facundo and Sebastian (12 and 18 years old respectively). They have been wonderful… they’ve had so much patience with my stuttering Spanish and have treated me with the utmost respect and adoration. That night was spent getting to know my family and having a much-needed rest!

The next morning we departed early for Elevage (a Pottery Barn-esque retreat center set about an hour outside of Buenos Aires). We spent the weekend getting to know each other, being “oriented” to the program, and basking in our beautiful surroundings. Yes, we played lame games and yes, I enjoyed them. We returned tired, extremely well-fed (imagine 3 course meals for every meal plus the occasional merienda), and excited about the ensuing program.

This morning was spent buying a camera (since mine was stolen in the airport… grrrr), fixing my cell phone problems, and running random errands with Sara. We then joined our neighbor Katie and the rest of our program and took a historic tour of the city (basically the postcard sites). After our informative tour we ate at an antique bar, went shopping en la calle Florida, and returned to our respective host families. I was greeted by the song of “Feliz Cumpleaños a Facundo”… it was my host brother’s 12^th birthday! After some delicious quiche and cake, the family settled down and I departed for an internet cafe! Tomorrow- classes start. Yikes!