I'm here!

Ok guys, I don't have a lot of time to write this blog, but I'll fit in all I can till the next one. I have been here for about three days now and it's quite an experience. The transition is a bit overwhelming (esp. the Spanish, and yes my Spanish is terrible). I'm staying at a hotel till I move in with my host mom, Gladys Fernandez tomorrow. She seems like a really nice woman and lives in apartment in the central part of the city by herself. How kick ass is that? The downtown area is pretty cool and I've already been to an outdoor shopping area (though I didn't buy anything). Can we say 3-1 exchange rate is the shit? I've mostly been getting to know people here in the program and everyone's pretty cool. I've gone out to eat and went to a bar called the Shamrock the first night I was here. I thought it was interesting that the first bar I was going to in BsAs was a psudo-Irish pub. The only thing Irish about the place was they served Guinness. It was pretty much decorated like a modern cave and had techno music playing (that's big here). I was not too successful at understanding anyone who spoke Spanish since I suck at it and the music was loud, but what the hey.

I took the bus here for the first time yesterday as well as the subway. Buses (bondis) are pretty much the way to get around here since they have about a million that go all around the city. The subway (subte) is not as helpful because the five lines only go to and from the central part of the city. Since I will be living pretty much in the central part of the city, I think I can use the subte more than some. The first bus ride was an assigned trip I took with my group to Universidad Catolica (UCA) which is one of the universities CIEE is affiliated with. It seems like a really nice school and it's right by the river. The other school, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) is apparently not as nice. The people who were assigned to go there said it looks like a high school with spray paint all over it, and guess where the social science classes are... great. Anyways I have to continue with my orientation today so I will update everyone later. If anyone wants to e-mail me, my address is jeslevine@gmail.com. Please keep in touch!

Besos,
Jessica