El Primer Día!

After over 40 hours of travel, I finally made it to my homestay around 2am Arg time. Long story short, I missed my flight from Sao Paulo, took a later one, and then waited for my bag with this crazy driver man for several hours. He was extremely nice and I felt much better once I saw a friendly face. He did sing me Celine Dion at the top of his voice the entire way to my new apartment though.

I had a really wonderful first day. I got very little sleep, but learned a lot. I started out in my orientation, where I met about 10 other girls that will at least be here until the end of June. I am one of few that will be staying until the end of July. They were all very kind and it was nice to speak some english after making conversation on the bus ride with my host mother Beatriz. I am not sure if she can speak english but she speaks all Spanish to me, which is great since it will force me to get better. 

After orientation we had the most wonderful lunch. It turns out it is actually easier to find vegetarian food here than it is in the US. I got to know the girls better during lunch, and then we went on a city tour. There are something like 40 million people in Argentina, and 3 million live in Buenos Aires. It is made up of 54(?) neighborhoods but there are 5 main ones. From north to south they go: Belgrano, Palermo, Recoleta, (centro), Salerno, and then La Boca. The wealth spreads from north to south in this order, with the wealthiest living in the very north and the poorest living in the very south. I took a few pictures today, but I will probably post them later. Right now I think I need a nap :)

I'm really glad I didn't go back home after missing my flight..I kind of wanted to. Now I know I made the right choice :)

xoxo!

Allie