Buenos tardes!

I can't believe I've already been gone one week; it's gone by quickly but it's been exciting nonetheless.  I feel like I have finally settled down, and am sooo happy to be in such a cool place.  To make things easier, I'm going to break it up by day so you can hear ALLLLL I've done....

Thursday--
It was a pretty typical weekday for me, I had my Argentinian Short Story class from 11-1 and Business from 3:45-5:45.  For lunch, we go up to the register and say our names, and since we're a part of a program, they have a set menu for us that's prepaid.  Argentinians love their bread, starch, and meat...and not much else.  I had "papas bombas" which means a potato bomb, and its basically mashed potatoes, fried with melted cheese in the middle. Super healthy.  I went out for the first time on Thursday, and ended up keeping in touch with my American roots for I found myself at a bar called Johnny B Good's.  Photos of every american musical icon from the past 50 years are posted on the walls, and american music blasts through the speakers.  After feeling like such a foreigner for a few days, it was nice to be back with my people...even though they were fake.  I enjoyed a 17 peso glass of vino, which translates to about $3.86 USD (mom and dad are you proud?).  It's all about quantity, not quality.

Friday--
On Friday I spent the majority of my day in downtown Cordoba which is called the "Centro" here.  My room mates and I took the bus and spent a few hours eating lunch and shopping at the mall.  Total mall rat move.  I then met up with my tutor, Flor, and her friend Sofia.  When we were leaving, I was walking down the stairs that were in the center of the mall, and tripped about halfway down.  Luckily I am extremely quick and agile, so I caught myself before I ate it.  The three of us then walked Sofia's dog, a boxer named Uma, along the river.  It was nice to be outside, and a lot of fun being with thoroughbred (can't think of a better word) argentinians.  Although they spoke sooo fast, I understood most of their convo and Sofia actually lived in Virginia for a year so her english is good, but she only used it if I was really stuck.  We then met up with the group and had meriendas (snacks--bread and marmalade) and Mate, which is Argentina's most famous drink, which it is basically really strong tea.  That night I went to Sofia's house and met all their friends who were all super nice and loved american music.  Two of the guys there were obsessed with the Bulls, and said when he was younger (in the 90s) he watched all the games and loooved Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.  If you asked a player from the Bulls now, chances are I would name one of those three so I pretended like I was a huge fan.  However, we all reminisced about one of our favorite movies, Space Jam, starring the one and only Michael Jordan. The drink of Cordoba is called Fernets, and it is alcohol that is typically mixed with coke.  It was pretty gross at first, but it tasted better as the night went on haha. All in all, the day was so fun and I loved spending time with all of Flor's friends and learning more about their customs and fiestas.

Saturday/Sunday--
The reason why I haven't spoked about my host family much is because we moved on Saturday.  For various reasons we felt it would be a good idea to move, and I'm so happy with the decision.  Although the morning was rough, once we settled into our new house it was great.  We hung around here getting acclimated for most of the day, and went to a bar called "Don't Worry" last night.  It was a cool atmosphere and I was with some kids from the Richmond group and their tutors.
Our new family consists of Adriana (mama) and José (papa) and two other exchange students, Neil from Texas and Maxinne (a boy) from Germany.  They live in a small neighborhood which is pretty rural, but there is a mall within 5 minutes walking distance which is super nice because we go there to do our laundry and buy groceries if there's something we need that is not at the house.  They are SO nice and have actually hosted over 50 students at their house.  José is super relaxed and friendly, and his favorite saying is "no hay problema!" which means "no problem".  Adriana is the same, and is also a wonderful cook.  They have 4 children who are all grown, and 5 grandchildren.  Today, 2 of the daughters and their families came over for lunch, and are staying for dinner.  They also have a little dog named Manchita who is quite pregnant.  Her chest resembles a cow, and her lady parts look like utters.  She does a lot of lying around, and is very cute.  This afternoon I went on a run, which was nice because working out is not easy here since it's pretty dangerous to be out alone as a girl.  I went with one of my room mates, and since it's a Sunday afternoon it wasn't a problem.

This week will be pretty long, since I have class every day, but the following week we'll be making our trip to the Northwest which will be awesome.  Here are a few random things that I've noticed and learned since being here...
-I've been told by 2 different people that I look Argentinian, whereas my room mates look very american.  Go me!
-Paying with debit cards is a pain because you have to give them your passport number every time.  I learned that the hard way while buying snacks today.
-There's a water crisis in Cordoba, so you have to use the water sparingly...especially since there are 7 people in our house.
-The top bunk is cool, no matter how old you are.  Even when you're sharing a 10x10 room with 2 other girls.
-People (girls especially) belt out Adele in every country, even if they don't know what she is saying
-Don't tell a cab driver you're from America, they will immediately take advantage of your "foreigness" and charge you double
-They are also very interested in America, but many people have a pretty skewed perception of life there.
-Argentina is a developing country, and although there are some nice parts of Cordoba it is predominantly poor.  The middle class in this country is way different than the middle class in the U.S.

That's all for now...sorry it's pretty lengthy but I've received a few requests from my many readers (mom and dad) to write more, so here ya go!

Chau,
Kristin