So happy to be out of the hotel!

I LOVE this apartment! There is a sweet older woman who is in charge of our floor, Elena (I think), doesn't speak English but that's just fine.

There are 3 girls: Kelsey, from Santa Cruz; Inez, from Spain; and Jessica (pronounced yessica), from Sweden. They're SUPER sweet. I've got the best of both worlds, one girl to practice Spanish with and another to speak English with when I'm feeling lazy.

I want to tell you more about the city too...

My mom asked me a few days ago if it was like Spain, and I had to give her a resounding no. I want to boast of it's beautiful, clean, safe streets but I can't. Like any city, anywhere, there are the good and bad neighborhoods. In the bad, there are tons of homeless dogs running around, lots of dirty, shabby houses, fires being burned outside for warmth, and trash in the streets. Then there are areas like Belgrano which are nice and a wealthier part of the city. In all of the nicer looking buildings there are glass fronts and you can see security gaurds sitting inside. Yet even in this area there is not always a sidewalk to follow, or if there is there are often loose stones to look out for. There are patches of dirt in the sidewalks too and due to the recent rain they are muddy and filled with trash sometimes. Dogs poo wherever they like so you must keep an eye out for that as well.

I'm not telling you this because I want to put the city down, or put poor images in your head, but I wanted to be honest. At first I didn't want to relay this but I actually enjoy all of these things. I mean, of course I wish the poverty that I've seen didn't exist, but all of the other things I find very interesting and sometimes even amusing. I have yet to see someone step in the dog poo but I'm curious as to what their reaction will be. Will they curse angrily or wipe their shoe on the side walk and move on?

I'll tell you more about how they drive in the city and how to walk the streets later, for now I must unpack some more :)