My First Week!

I am finally in Buenos Aires, Argentina!!! After a very long winter break I arrived in BA last Friday morning. Besides the length, my trip here went very smoothly and now I am feeling pretty settled in.

I am living with a host family in the neighborhood of Belgrano and I will be attending La Universidad de Belgrano. Buenos Aires is a rather large city and it is divided into 48 "barrios" or neighborhoods. Belgrano is north of the city center but my house is very close to different forms of transportation like the bus and the "subte" or subway. My host family is a woman and her son. Her son is not around very often but she and I get along very well. At first there was a little difficulty with communication but it gets better everyday, and so does my Spanish. Here in Argentina the Spanish is very different from what is taught in the United States and they call it Castellano.

I have had a few things to do since I got here but I have also had a lot of free time to get to know the city. Although I am not used to life in a big city I am getting the hang of it and I am loving it. During my free time I have visited some of the more well known, popular barrios with friends I have met here. So far Palermo and Recoleta are my favorite. Palermo is divided into to two sections, Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood. There are great stores and restaurants in this area. Two other great area that I just visited yesterday are called Boca and Puerto Madero. Boca is known for it's soccer team. The Tango is also especially popular in Boca but in Buenos Aires, Tango is really everywhere. I have already begun to love the music and when combined with dancing it is an extremely passionate art form.

Yesterday I also had orientation at school. It was the first time I had been inside the school but it is very easy to navigate because it is only one high-rise building. Orientation was exciting because I got to learn about all the possible classes I can take. Class registration and classes start on Monday. At Universidad de Belgrano students have two weeks to basically try out different classes before they finalize their schedule so needless to say, the first two weeks of classes are very light and do not contain much in-depth information or work. It sounds like an interesting process and I am looking forward to finally being back in class!

This weekend I am taking my first trip out of BA. I am going with another girl to Punta del Este, Uruguay. This city is pretty well known for its beautiful beaches. We have some friends that are already there and we are meeting them for a long weekend. I should have many beautiful pictures to share when I get back however I am new to blogging and can't seem to add them yet. I hope to figure it out soon!

Tranquilo,
Alexa