More pictures :)

I figured it's been so long since I've provided any and now that I've stolen pictures from Ines and Jessica's memory cards I'll share them with youuuuuuuu. These are pictures from a picnic at a park; that last supper we had before Sarah's party; the breakfast Kelsey, Jess, and I had outside that one cafe; the dinner the three of us made another night and the ice cream that we had home delivered; and the morning I made enough french toast for Ines, Maicole, Jess and I to share :)

Images from San Antonio de Areco

Taking a closer look

Now that I have no school and a few weeks left in the city I have decided to explore it further. Every day I am learning new things about Bs As and of more places to visit.

So Saturday (the 13th) morning, the day after I got back from Uruguay, I got up early to go for a run and get the day started before I got the chance to sleep it away. I ran by Plaza Italia as usual and had intended to go by Barrio Chino to pick up some peanut butter but the store I knew I'd find some was closed at 8 when I ran by it. The store by my house was open though so I stopped in to grab some food for breakfast. I took care of some stuff at home and then headed out for Puerto Madero. I had finally figured out how to get there when Lizzie and I drove past it on our way home from the boat. It's behind the Casa Rosada so I hopped on the subte and rode it all the way down to the last stop and walked towards that landmark. From there I wasn't too sure where to go but I could see the white point that shoots up into the sky from the bridge and so headed towards that. It's a really nice area. It's by the river, there are lots of trendy looking restaurants, and walkways along both sides. Jessica would later tell me the barrio is only 20 years old, which is pretty young for a neighborhood in Bs As. I walked across the bridge, which was made of wood and has a this long white point that comes up at an angle, as I previously mentioned, and long lines of wire coming down from it. At night it's lit up so I plan on taking mom to see it then. There's also an ecological reserve near that I want to check out. I sat down on a grassy area under a tree and read one of my books. The weather was gorgeous, not too hot but I still got a bit burnt when the sun found me under the tree. Don't worry mom, I'm putting on sun screne now every time I go out...well, at least on my face :) After a few hours I got up to go pick up the laundry I had turned in early in the day. Made my self some rice and veggies and chilled on the couch. Ines was going out but I was really tired so called it a night.

Jessica had come home Saturday night and wanted to go on my morning run with me so off we went Sunday morning. We went straight at a point where we normally turn because she said there was another park down that way and it would take us a different route home. It was beautiful. To the left was the park, and since it was early there weren't too many people out, and to the right was the street. The trail was lined with trees so it was nice to run in some shade since the day was already heating up. Then we ran by the stadium where I went to the Argentina/Spain game which is literally down the street from our apartment.

Then we went to the appartment that Lizzie is now renting with her family while they are here visiting, for brunch! It consisted of yummy pancakes, eggs, and mimosas. We then left the house after cleaning up the kitchen for the tour of the Casa Rosada and then shopping at the San Telmo market. It was cool to see the inside of the Casa Rosada, since it's their bicentenario here (they're celebrating Agentina's 200 year birthday/anniversary), there was this one room with all pictures of important women figures in Argentine history.

Monday Jessica and I went out in search of a park we had read about in a magazine article. It was supposed to have 3 towers that made music when wind passed through them. We took the train to St. Vicente because the only directions we had were "St. Vicente and the river." We couldn't find it and because we were waiting for Matias to meet up with us, we plopped down under some strange tower things to have a reference poin to give him. After reading and napping for a bit the weather started to turn gnarly and Matias was in a way different place than we were so we met up with him at the train station to give us a ride to our house. The three of us drank mate and Matias helped Jessica study for her upcoming final. Jess still has finals because her classes were with Argentines and their finals are spread out over a month.

Tuesday was dinner with the Italians. Some of our Italian friends: Arriana, Arriana's best friend who's visiting, Flavio, Giatano, etc had been away on trips and were only going to be back in the capital for another few days before they took off for either more trips or home to Italy. The dinner was held at Chori & Wine, the place we had eaten dinner after the Wine bodega a few months ago. Jessica and I arrived and there was already a full table of ten people, some from the university, others friends of people from the uni. It was a pretty tasty meal of meat and wine. For dessert: chocolate mousse :) Afterwards people wanted to go out dancing but I was feeling funny and wanted to go home. I walked to the bus stop around 2 AM on a Tuesday so of course I had to wait over half an hour for the colectivo. While waiting a woman around 30 came up to wait for the same bus. We started talking and she was super nice but seemed very concerned that I was out by myself. Eventually the bus did come and I got my ass into bed after arriving home.

Wednesday we went running with the group around the Palermo lakes as usual. I hadn't thought that the running team would be still going on but it is, because not everyone has left! At night we went over to Arriana and Flavio's appartment because Jessica and I wanted to dancin'. We arrive and Arriana's got the place covered in clothes and all of the things she is trying to pack. She's going backpacking and so we helped her decide what to take because she was running out or room and strength the carry all the crap she'd already put in there. We made some drinks and more and more people showed up but no one seemed to know where we were going or what we were doing soooo Jess and I ended up going home...with all of the left over food Arriana wasn't going to be able to eat by the time she left. Steallll :)

Thursday I attmepted to find another of the parks mentioned in the magazine article. Ended up near Ave. Libertador and while I didn't encountered that specific park, I still found a comfortable tree to plant myself under. I read, doodled in my notebook, snacked, and people watched. I changed my location a few times and started walking towards other parks I could see in the distance. Ended up walking past the flower near UBA (Universidad de Bs As). There is this giant silver, steal flower that was given as a gift by a French guy, I wanna say. What's cool about it is that it acts like a real flower, opening in the day and closing at night. As I said, it's next to the UBA which gigante and I enjoyed walking by and marveling at it. Being near this I knew that the Museo de Bellas Artes was across the street. If you recall I've already been there for an art project but when Kelsey and I went we really only looked at the things we needed for the class. This time I checked out the other painting they had. I love art! It was all so rad. After an hour or so in the museum I went out to the park at its side and continued reading. Agustin and Nico text me while I was there, trying to get organized for another trip to Carilo. There was talk of heading out that night instead of Friday so I figured I should get pack home to pack. Turns out we didn't leave that night and the plan was to take off on Friday but no one wanted to tell us a time so I had no idea when to get up.

Friday morning and still no one has told us anything, longgg story short we didn't go. Studied some spanish and went for a run, and that was pretty much the extent of my day.

Satruday went to the ecological reserve with Jessica! We didn't take off till around 5 and the reserve closes at 7PM so we knew we'd only really get to poke around a bit, but we were just glad to get ourselves out of the house. I have collected quite a few books and have taken to spending long periods of time lounging around the house reading, which is cool but can make me stir crazy by the end of the day. It was a beautiful, warm day and when we found the reserve we had just enough time to walk one section of it. Geee it's beautiful there! So nice to be surrounded by nature rather than concrete. After, we walked back towards Puerto Madero and sat on some grass and chilled. We were both hungry while walking by all the restaurants so decided to stop in somewhere to have dinner. Ended up at this gaucho/meat place. Luckily there were vegetables to go with my giant serving of meat because I can't eat it anymore. I just don't enjoy it anymore and it kinda grosses me out now. Back to being a vegetarian :) Earlier we had asked if Brad and Nico wanted to grab some beers at Plaza Serrano since none of us were going to Carilo and met up with them around 11. We had some cold beer on a nice warm night. Anddd a shot of tequila haha. Next stop a boliche (club) Las Terracas. The place was huge and way cool. You could dance inside or out and it was right on the river so of course we spent most of our time outside! Long fun night of dancin' and we ran into quite a few of our friends. Got in around 6:30AM.

Sunday recovered (the 21st).

Excursion to the "river where the painted birds live"

I wake bright and early 5 AM Monday morning so I can get ready and catch the 6AM subte to Retiro, where I was to board a boat for Uruguay. It's windy and grey outside. As it always seems to be when I have to go to Retiro. Let me tell you, if I haven't already, Retiro is probably one of my least favorite places. Moving on... I find the Buquebus station, the company I'm traveling with, check-in, go through customs, and wait to board. We get on and take off promptly at 9AM for our 3 hour ride across the Rio de la Plata for Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. The boat ride is fairly uneventful, I spent most of the time with my head in my book. However since things got a bit bumpy the last hour, the kid next to me barfed and the girl in front of me had to lay down in the aisle with a bag of ice on her head so she wouldn't barf as well.

Straight off the boat I get onto a bus that will take me to Punta del Este in two hours. My seat is next to an old Argentine woman who wants to complain about the boat ride. It hadn't really phase me all that much so I think I disappointed her when I didn't join in on the complaining. She leans her seat back to sleep but I am trying to soak up everything of this new and foreign country :) Sleepiness overtakes me after twenty minutes or so unfortunately, but when I open my eyes every so often I'm enchanted by the pretty and peaceful country side I see after we get out of the city of Montevideo.

I arrive with the address and instructions that it is two blocks from the bus terminal. It was a beautiful, warm day and Punta del Este is a very clean city (which I have very much learned to appreciate in South America). They (Raquel, Hannah, Lizzie, and Tim) told me that the apartment was right on the beach. I headed for the beach and firgured I'd ask if I didn't run into the other street I was looking for after two blocks. Which I didn't, so I asked some guys who were working on the sidewalks, they didn't seem too certain but said I could walk towards the center and ask there. I start walking in that direction when one of them came after me and said they'd asked another guy who said it was 7 blocks away. 7 blocks? That can't be right but I thanked him anyway. Which of course he replies "no, por favooor" haha one of my favorite things people say here because of how they say and almost everyone does it. Anyway, so I walk down a few blocks till I get to a bike shop and ask the guy in there. He pulls out a map but we're having difficulties finding it, he asks another guy to help us find it and eventually we do. So they direct me on how to get there and off I go, with my first interactions with Uruguayans. Needless to say it was very possitive :)

Unfortunately as I'm nearing the place, I realize I don't remember the name of the apartment and I didn't write it down. Oh well, guess I'll just be buzzing a few different places then because there were buildings on both side of the street. And I'm sure at this point you're wondering why the heck I don't just call them. The phones weren't working for any of them except Tim who could make calls but I couldn't make calls when I got there either. So I'm poking around different buildings, buzzing here, talking with doormen there, and they can't be found. I begin to just slightly panic but force myself to take a seat on the beach and read to calm down. I figure that somehow, someone that I spoke to in the apartments didn't know what they were talking about and that my friends would go out and see me on the beach. The beach was gorgeous and I could see buildings all along the coast. However, it started to get clowdy and cool down, which made me want to head indoors. Then I thought, what if I can still text? I give it a try and turns out I can, Tim calls me after seeing my text and directs me where to go because it turns out there are two ends to the street. Because the main street they're on loops around the whole coast of Punta del Este and the cross street goes across. Hopefully that made sense...

Tim comes out to meet me and takes me up to the apartment. It's gorgeous and from every window you can see the ocean. Turns out the day before they'd had really kick-ass weather and poor Lizzie got sunburnt so bad she was left pretty much immobile the entire trip. But the weather for the rest of the time wasn't super beach friendly anyway so we speant a lot of the time in the apartment. Most of the trip consisted of sitting on the couch with a blanket, reading, and marveling at the crashing of the waves outside.

First night I was there though we went and got ice cream :)We went out to a chinese restaurant one night too and were the only ones in there the whole time. We came the week before "high season" so there was practically no one out and about. Nice break from the insanity of Cabildo and such. I think there're more people on the streets at 4AM in Bs As than there were at 4PM there.

I did get up early one morning to wander around on my own. I walked all along the coast and stopped to sit and gaze out at the ocean whenever I pleased for a few hours.

The last day I was there before I left with Lizzie, the weather was pleasantly sunny. So Tim, Hannah, Raquel, and I went for a walk on the beach.

Oh gosh but the exchange rate there was 20 USD to 1 Uruguayan Peso. Imagine buying an ice cream cone with two scoops for 95 Pesos or getting a 1000 Peso bill out of the ATM. I felt RICH and absurd all at the same time.

The bus ride we took from Punta del Este took us this time to Colonia and was 4 hours. This time I stayed awake for nearly all of it and the landscape of Uruguay is gorgeous. We passed the occasional farm where the farmers were using animals to move their tools. Pretty cool to see. The towns that we passed were super quaint, clean, and beautiful. I did some research after getting back and turns out Uruguay (all info about to be presented was brought to me, and now you, through Wikipedia) was the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage and did so in 2007. They also have the lowest income inequality rate in LA, they're second only to Canada in all of the Americas. Anddd the majority of their military is deployed as UN peacekeepers. Isn't that neat? Uruguay is a "multiparty presidential representative democratic republic" and their presidnet is Jose Mujica who is said to speak the language of the people and therefore is popular with the rural and poor. And now you know ;)

It was an absolute WONDERFUL trip and I am delighted that I got the privilege to visit the country of Uruguay which means: the river where the painted birds live.

Saying Goodbye to Kelsey

Saturday was a chill day with Kelsey. We spent the morning lounging around and then went over to Synnove's to enjoy some sun on her terrace. After hanging out there for an hour or so Kelsey and I went for a run around Plaza Italia, which was really nice. Kelsey was trying figure out all the things we'd done and what she hadn't gotten to do yet. We decided Sunday, her last day, we would get up early and try to do as many of those things as possible. When we got home we had just enough time to shower and get ready to go to dinner. There's a beautiful restaurant called Milion, that's in this old mansion. While the inside of the building still maintains its white pillars and dainty chandeliers there were also modern pictures on the wall and sculptures hanging from the ceiling. It was a cool mix. I got vegetable stuffed chicken on mashed potatoes with salad and we shared a delicious cold white wine. The group consisted of myself, Kelsey, Synnove, Gaitano ( the Italian that's in love with Kelsey), and Casper (Amsterdam). Our group got a bit bigger though because as we were finishing up, a Norwegian girl that Synnove knew came to say hello. She was there with her Australian boyfriend and their new Australian friend Beauden (I had actually met him at Sarah's party on Thursday). All three are traveling South America and the couple and Beauden had only just met in Buenos Aires. After we took care of the check we joined them at the bar. Kelsey, Synnove, and I shared another bottle of the white wine. We were all chatting for a bit, the two Australian guys were a hoot, and then Kels and I went out to the big balcony to admire the vines growing along the side of the building and the awesome atmosphere of the place. Around 12 or 1 Kels was ready to go home but I wasn't quite ready, so with a bit of encouragement from the boys and Synnove, I decided to go with them to Plaza Serrano for dancing. The line to club was wayyy to long so we went to another bar. The Norwegian girl was a bit too drunk so she and her boyfriend called it a night shorty after we got there. Synnove, Beauden, and I shared a beer and chilled for an hour or so. Then it was time to get home! My cab driver was super friendly and funny, wish I could remember what we were chatting about lol

Sunday Kels and I got out of the house around noon and were headed out for the MALBA (a museum of modern art). First we had to stop by the apartment she'd rented when David and then her mom came, because she'd left her mate there on accident. It actually worked out perfectly because we weren't 100% sure how to get to the musuem so we asked the landlady and it turned out we could walk to it in 20/25 minutes. It also helped that I had been there once before with Greg to watch that movie Plan B, so once we got closer I knew where we were going. It was AWESOME. Half the paintings/sculptures in there we had studied in art class. After we'd gotten our fill there, Kelsey's next desired destination was the Teatro Colon. We set out walking the direction we figured a subte would be and enjoyed the warm weather and neighborhoods we wandered through. We got to the Teatro Colon but it was closed to the public which was a bummer because it's not the outside that's all that impressive. We had to get back home anyway because Kelsey had to leave at 7pm and Synnove was coming over at 5:30PM because they were going together. Get home and Kelsey begins frantically last minute packing. Eventually everything gets settled and I walk them down to the street to hang out while they grab a cab. It was sad to say goodbye, but at least I know I'll be seeing her again since Santa Cruz is easier to get to than Europe. Greg came over around 10 to stay with me since everyone now was out of the house except for me (Jessica should be back from her trip today and I think Ines is still sleeping in the next room). We watched a movie and then I had to get to bed because I was going to be leaving at 6 AM for the boat that would take me to Uruguay :)

Farewell Fiestas

Sarah had organized a dinner and party at her apartment as a goodbye/so glad finals are over thing this last Thursday night. There were about 23 of us at dinner in this really awesome restaurant. We had this upstairs part all to ourselves and the ceiling was completely covered in wine bottles that were laying on their sides. I'm still not exactly sure what type of meat I was consuming but it was on top of sweet potatoe mashies and had a spectacular sauce on it. Rico. We wined and dined and then Sarah's apartment was litterally above the restaurant. She had a huge, and very nice terrace where we all hung out. SO many people came, and it surprised me to see so many kids and realize they're from Belgrano but I had never seen them before. There was dancing, fun music, and lots of running around, trying to talk to everyone. Agus, Nacho, and Nico ended up dropping by so I very luckily got a ride home. Sweeeeet. Went to bed as the sun was rising.

Yesterday Jessica, Kelsey, and I had deemed as girls/roomy day because Kelsey leaves Bs As for good on Sunday and Jessica was taking off for a week long trip today. We got up around one and decided to eat breakfast at a funky, cute cafe we've grown fond of. We had just ordered and were enjoying the cool couches to sit on while eating outside, when we noticed that the lights had gone out inside. Our waiter comes out and is like ya so the power went out all down the block, you guys can chill here for a bit in the hopes it turns back on because now we can't cook any of the warm food you requested. So we stuck it out for a bit, but man o man were we hungry. In the end we got orange juice, yogurt with fruits and nuts, and medilunas. After this we went to the park near Plaza Italia to rent rollerblades. This time I fell on my ass, HARD haha but got back up and kept on going. It was a really gorgeous, bit hot, day yesterday. The sun was shining and there were very few fluffy white clouds in the air so it was mostly blue skies. After our time was up on the skates (you rent them for an hour) Synnove, Soren, and another girl were having a picnic in the park but across the street. So we met up with them, drank some champaign, and then headed back home. Grabbed some groceries on the way home so we could make our own dinner together, stirfry and salad. We sat out on our balcony and had a really wonderful dinner. Thennn we ordered home delivery ice cream! We got 4 different flavors but they still all had dulce de leche in them. These people are OBSESSED with dulce de leche. Jessica's choice was a dulce de leche flavored ice cream, that had dulce de leche in it, and dulce de leche filled chocolate. At around 10:40 we were like hmmmm maybe we should get ready? Finally got out of the apartment and headed on over to Flavio and Ariana's apartment for another terrace fiesta :) Another oh so fun night! Almost everyone there had flights to catch home or for further travels today or Sunday. Crazyyy.

Now a day for recovering and cleaning my room. Chau!

The end of an era

So last week was basically studying for finals and what not.

Last friday however I deemed the only night I would go out since I had much studying to do. Sooo Lizzie and I went to a concert of El Cuarteto de Nos. Their from Uruguay I believe. I recommend you give them a listen, "Yo no se que hacer conmigo." It was rad. In this building I'm assuming is often a night club or maybe just does a lot of concerts. There were a ton of people and as usual, mass amounts of Argentines makes for a very passionate atmosphere :) After the concert I had told Agustin I would call him. So I did. He and the boys were at his apartment drinking and he invited me over. Lizzie was too tired to come, we said goodbye at the bus stop. Got on over to Agustin's and he, Nacho, and Duilio (one of the guys I met from Carilo who was hangning out with them in Bs As because he normally lives in Rosario) were munching on empanadas. Agus opened one of his birthday bottles of wine and we had some glasses of that. Yummy. Then 3 of Nachos friends came over, two of the guys had awesome curly-haired afros going on, the other guys hair was just plain wild. Then 3 more. So there ended up being about ten of us just chillin' and drinking. The boys were having a mini playstation football match going on which was entertaining. I made an attempt, it went alright. Then all at once everyone got up to take off (to what I thought was a house party but really we were going to a club). I hopped in a cab with Agus and one of Nacho's friends, forget his name though...At the door the bouncer guy was asking about documentos (like ID's or whatever) but because we left in such a rush I didn't grab anything and Agus was like she's from California and this other guy is from Rosario, and I don't know but somehow we ended up inside. Fo' free. We got in and it was actually a costume/Halloween themed deal which was cool. Nico and Brad were there so it was cool meeting up with them. We dancedddddddddd. Haha I had the 9 boys around all night so I was rarely without a dance partner. But because there were so many of us I didn't really notice as the club started to empty but I did one point look towards the growing gaps in the crowd to notice that there was light outside. I don't know exactly what time we were there till, but it had to have been at least 6 or 7. We all stumbled blindly into the light outside, kind of literally... Nacho was rough housing with me a bit and I was so tired we fell over eachother. Grabbed some cabs and returned to Agus's. He threw down a mattres for me and I crashed. However the red wine wouldn't let me sleep in too long so I ended up draging my ass back home around 12:30PM.

Saturday and Sunday: Study. Which sucked to miss Halloween but, oh well.

Monday: Lit and Spanish final
Tues: Art final
Wed: US LA relations final and then picking up my grades for Span and Lit.
Thurs: Picked up my Art and History grades.
When I say "picked up" my grades I mean that we had this sheet we had to go around to collect our grades. Our professors had to write them down and then once we'd gotten them all, we turned them into our advisors. It was kind of strange and could take a really long time since the profe has to do each student. And I finished my US LA relations final 1PM and came back to get my grade at 4:30PM the same day.

Anyway. STRAIGHT A'S straaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhht A's :)

Oh but Wednesday night Jessica and I went to Matia's and Nico's birthday party and it was a BLAST. Jessica had made them a cake and it was super fun presenting them with it. We were in this abandond bar that's going to be reopened eventually. Matia's introduced me to this very nice guy that night so I got a whole ton of Spanish practice in, which always excites me. The cops came around 1:30AM because, as I've mentioned the building wasn't really open to public yet. So we all hung out, out front for a bit but luckily there was a bar like two doors down so we all just piled in there. Jessica and I had origenally wanted to go out dancing after but by 2:30 we began to get a bit sleepy. We were making our rounds to say goodbye to everyone when some of the German boys, Falk and oh shoot, I forget the other guys name, were like noooo you're not leaving! Sit down we're getting you a speed and vodka. *sigh* so I sat down and drank my speed and vodka lol But it was cool because they were telling me all about Germany and I really, really, really need to take advantage of all the friends I've made in Europe. Finally though at 3:30 Jessica and I took off to a catch a bus home. The whole way home we were lamenting over having to leave this wonderful city with it's wonderful people and all of our wonderful friends. Many people are leaving this week for other trips they have planned and it's going to be very difficult to say goodbye.
I still have about a month here but things are very much coming to an end already, it feels like. The end of a very, very wonderful era. I'll be sad to see it go...