Terrific day

I thought today was going to be tedious. Ines and I planned to leave for the university around 10 to get our student cards and then apply for our criminal records (for the visas). But we ended up seeing much of the city along the way and I ended up going out later in the evening.

First, we got our student cards. In UB (Universidad de Belgrano) the only way the keep track of attendance is through these cards and at the end of the semester if you don't have 80% attendance you don't sit for the final. Everyone was incredibly nice and helpful today, as they have been for the entire time. Course it helped having Ines to translate when necessary :)

Ines and I inquired about a program where you can go to impoverished parts of Buenos Aires and help out with children. I'm excited to hear more about it, right now we just gave them our info to contact us later.

After getting the student cards we went back home and made veggie burgers because our appointment for the criminal record was not until later. We took the "subte" which is the name for the underground subway system. It's similar to Europe and therefore easy, which was nice. When we got off and onto the street to my right was the Obelisk. It's a famous monument here and I couldn't believe how close we are to it. It's the last stop on the line so from our appartment, maybe 25 minutes?

So we started the process for the criminal record and then went to a place with many handcrafted things like wallets, cups for mate (pronounced mah-te), shoes, etc. We saw a lot of graffiti around the area against the police. The artists are celebrating their 7th year in that location we visited and it also marks el paseo de resistancia. The resistance walk, against the police. There were awesome picutres of the first walk, streets lined with police holding long sticks and protesters.

We then went to visit the Obelisk and it was incredible. It's super tall and I will definitely put up pictures. But agian, even here I was surprised at how dirty the streets were. We walked up the street on which the Obelisk is on until we got too cold and turned around.

There is a traditional sweet here, forget the name, but we picked it up on the way and when we got home Ines made mate for all of us to try. It's very good and I'll have to tell you more about it later. I put my pajamas on because I thought I was in for the night but Kelsey was meeting friends at a resaurant and invited us. Jessica and I went but Ines stayed in.

We took the subte again and walked a few cold blocks to the restaurant. We met up with two other girls from the states and shared two bottles of wine, some bread and two plates with every kind of meat imaginable. Including intestines and kidneys. YIKES. I ate the chicken, steak, and sausage but couldn't bring myself to try the others. We then proceded to order three kinds of deserts and they were DELICIOUS. Something really nice about Argentine restaurants is that they don't rush you. We were there three hours and were probably done eating by the second but we just sat there talking for the last hour. They don't bring the bill until you ask for it.

We caught a bus home and now I'm here!

Oh but the cars and walking the streets...so there are most of the time lines for lanes but most cars only follow them when convenient. You'd think this would be hectic but everyone seems to know how to avoid crashing into eachother. They also drive VERY close to one another, I've been certain we were going to hit something many times but always manage to squeak by. The crosswalks are more or less guidelines. If there are no cars coming you just go for it and often the cars don't seem like they are going to stop but as long as you're pretty assertive about it you won't get hit. I really enjoy all of these things, it sounds very caotic and seems unorganized but everyone seems to get by just fine.

MUST go to bed now. As we say in Argentina, Ciao :)