Individual Blog # 1 - Week 1 (Taking over South America!!)
Welcome to my blog!! I've never done this before, so please bear with me.
This is my first official blog in Buenos Aires, Argentina!! I'm here!! I couldn't believe I made it here in one piece (thank God)! My trip started in Miami, FL from where I took a Brazilian Airline called TAM to Sao Paulo and then to Buenos Aires. I could tell the the trip was already going to be interesting when I boarded the TAM flight and nobody spoke English (well, they did, but not very good English). First of all, it was an Airbus plane, so that was new to me. Secondly, having the option to freely drink wine was a new experience for me. I however, didn't indulge in the wine, because I felt out of place due to my inability to order it in Spanish.
Arriving in Sao Paulo, I was delayed for a couple hours prior to going to Buenos Aires. I was soo tired that I almost slept in the terminal while waiting for the overhead announcer to call out that our flight was finally boarding. We ended up taking a bus outside to the plane itself and boarded it from the ground (another experience I had NEVER had). Nobody spoke any English, but luckily I can remember certain faces of people whom I've seen.
When we arrived to Buenos Aires, the Manual Tienda Leon taxi service was on the ball in getting me out of the airport and to my destination ASAP. I was very pleased w/ their service, but of course, the taxi driver could only speak limited English. During the ride to the Masters residencia we talked awkwardly about where each of us was from, my educational background and sports (soccer & basketball). He was a gentleman though because he helped me find the right residencia after I realized that the main residencia (on Borges) didn't have any more room for me. I was to be transferred to a different building on Uriarte & Paraguay. With his help, I met Lucia, who's in charge of the other residence on Paraguay, where we eat our meals. Lucia was very nice, but also couldn't speak a word of English, but w/ the 3 of us together, we sorted everything out. I paid the driver 10 pesos for his efforts.
The residence where we live is very nice (compared to the others). I thought it was decent at first, but after seeing some of the other students' living quarters, I'm starting to like ours more and more. The whole first and second floors in our residence is taken up by a group of students from Finland. They were really friendly and helped me out when I first arrived. I met some other students from Argentina and even some from the states who were here on exchange programs. We definitely have a fun mix of students in our residence. My roommates arrived the next day and we've been hanging out exploring the city ever since. I didn't realize that we had our meals taken care of in the other residence my first night, so I ended up getting pizza from the pizza shop across the street, which I must say serves pretty good pizza for a good price (or so it seems).
The best part so far in this trip has been the soccer game that we just went to yesterday. That had to have been the best sports game I've ever been to. I've never seen such loyal or energetic fans. They are crazy!! I absolutely loved it though. Hopefully we can go to more events like this in the days to come. I can't wait for the world cup to start. I'm sure the fans will get even more crazier! Thus far, the trip has been extremely enjoyable and satisfying. We've just started classes and we've got a ton of reading and I've just gotten sick, but nonetheless, I'm in Buenos Aires, Argentina and please believe that I fully intend to enjoy EVERY minute I'm here!
