Wow. I have too much to catch up on so I’m going to divide what should have been my next post into two. It appears that I don’t have the attention span or the stamina for one gigantic post right now (side effect of living in Argentina, loss of work ethic). I imagine that I left off about 2 weeks ago. That Friday the 21st was a really fun night. We all bought these 50 peso tickets to be part of a “party group” of sorts. This basically meant that we (Me, Nellie, Whitney, Walter, Adam and Alec) and about 100 other kids got bracelets and met at one bar and took a party bus to a club together. This is how it really was…
The starting point was this bar called Goya. At first the entrance looks a bit sketchy but it turned out to be a really nice place with different types of areas to sit, a full menu if you wanted it, music and well made drinks. Although the “package” had lead us to believe that we were getting appetizers and a drink there, we didn’t so I bought a Margarita (my favorite) and it was unbelievable. The bus turned out to be this trolley on wheels and the alcohol they serves was more like cheap Gatorade with cheap vodka mixed in. I definitely did not have any of that. The club, Kika, was fun but not a place any of us are planning to return to. I also lost my cell on the way home that night. Probably in the cab… probably.
The next night we all ate at La Dorita, a restaurant in Palermo, which was fantastic. After Nellie, Whitney and I met up with three guys Nellie knows distantly (don’t quite remember the connection), which was fun but I was exhausted from the night before and we left “early.”
Monday was a busy day because I was trying out two more classes. The first was unbearable and such a waste of time. It ended up being about sexuality and gender theory with all of these huge feminists and intolerably outspoken people. The second one met from 5-9 and it seems like it’s going to be really great. It’s called Globalizacion teoria social y sociedad. It’s a bigger class than my Cultura y Lenguage class but it’s good because it’s a different experience. For the first time I’m experiencing classes with TA’s, which is fine because they’re both very smart but I still don’t think I would like having TA’s at Middlebury. I love my professors too much.
Tuesday my Spanish class was cancelled because Liria (the professor) was sick.
Wednesdays I don’t have any class so Walter and I decided to go to El Tigre since it was a gorgeous day and its supposed to be a really nice place. It wasn’t. Maybe because it was winter, or maybe because when we hear “nice town on the water” we just have higher expectations. The amusement park was closed, there were no nice restaurants (there went our plans to have a really nice sit- down lunch- and I was starving!), there was essentially nothing to do so we ate at some local hangout and went back home. Biggest disappointment since I’ve gotten here. On the way home we decided to walk around Palermo in a attempt to salvage the day and I got an outfit for my birthday J
Thursday was another gorgeous day so after class (9-1) I came back home, grabbed some reading and laid in the park by my house for a good 4 hours. It was fantastic. Sunbathing in the middle of winter.
Friday I had my internship interview (get more into that later). I was sleeping and woken up by good old Juan, the Middlebury Internship Coordinator, with instructions to be at such and such address by 11:30 that very day for my interview. It was 10. Yes, I made it on time. Barely.
Friday night was unbelievable. Oscar and Ute took me out to dinner for my birthday at a great place in Puerto Madero. We had a table right by the window so you could see the water and reflection of the city lights- it was really beautiful. The restaurant served Italian style plates so we split two dishes that were really great and then they ordered me this chocolate dessert that was unbelievable. I ate the whole thing in about a minute. We didn’t leave the restaurant until 11:45 and I got gifts from everyone in Brooklyn via Oscar mail, which was a really nice surprise.
After I left Oscar and Ute I walked over to the Puerto Madero bridge (my favorite spot in the city) where I was meeting Nellie and Whitney. All of a sudden I get a hysterical call from Nellie yelling at me to “run to Hooters!” and I was so confused but I started running anyway. In the distance I could see a light and as I got closer I saw Whitney, Nellie and Adam on a bench along the water with a birthday cake. It was so perfect! I was so happy being with great friends, in Buenos Aires on my 20th birthday. After that great meal I really didn’t think I could have any cake but Whitney went to go see if any restaurant would let us sit and eat it. Sure enough the only place that would allow us in was Hooters. I never thought I would eat my 20th birthday cake at Hooters, but it was so fun. We ordered a pitcher of Sangria and ate about half the cake between the 3 of us. All of a sudden the Hooter’s girls all came out with pom-poms and started singing Happy Birthday to me in front of the whole restaurant- I was dying. As if that wasn’t enough they then brought out a hula-hoop and made me hula-hoop with the girls despite the fact that I was wearing a dress. It was what porteños call “un quilombo.”
Soon after that whole fiasco we left, went to Walter’s to drop off the presents and cake and headed over to a local bar, The Shamrock, for some dancing. We had a great time and ended the night with orange juice in front of a fountain on Rodriguez Peña at 5 in the morning. Great night.
The next day Nellie, Whitney and I sunbathed on Whitney’s roof and just had a girly time chatting and trying to express ourselves in Spanish. It was really fun and after we headed out to get our nails done. Of course by the time I finished it was 8pm and I had only an hour to shower and get ready before everyone arrived at my apartment, everyone meaning Whitney, Nellie, Adam, Alec, Walter, Mike, Ben and I. After a few glasses of wine and schmoozing with my host parents we headed out to Palermo for dinner at Meridiano 58. The food was excellent and we had a really nice time. After we couldn’t really decide where we wanted to go so we split up into two groups and after a few bars I was exhausted. Granted, I still got home around 4 in the morning- an early night in Buenos Aires.
That was last week. More about this week when it’s over, which, I’m sure, will be too soon.
