Fitting In

I meant to post this weeks ago, but apparently it never got published. So, here it is.

On Tuesday I moved into my apartment in Belgrano. It's SO NICE to have a permanent place to stay and not have to share a room with 8 people and a bathroom with 20+. Belgrano is a quiet, leafy neighborhood on the north side of Buenos Aires. I share my apartment with two other people. The only roommate I've met so far has been Ingrid, and she's really, really nice. She showed me around Belgrano a bit and helped me settle into my new apartment.

On Friday I went to orientation at di Tella (the university I'm attending here). I changed some of the classes I'm taking and I'm really excited to see what they're like. The people at the school seem very helpful and they're even having a party for us next week. The only issue was that my study abroad advisor at UM never sent them the information for my health insurance. This is pretty typical of UM study abroad.


So, that's the summary of interesting things for this week. The rest is just some random thoughts I've had about my experience so far in Buenos Aires.

1. Walking in Buenos Aires is not for the unexperienced or the faint of heart. Especially when crossing the streets. I don't think I've ever lived in a place where you had to pay more attention when you were walking.

2. Oddly enough, it seems like what we would call a mullet is pretty fashionable here for guys. I don't know. I don't get it.

3. In Buenos Aires, you can get just about anything delivered. Today I had my groceries delivered for the first time and it was AWESOME.

4. When I come back from Argentina, I have no doubt that at least to some extent I will have adopted an argentine accent. I find that when I don't say certain words in the argentine accent here, people tend to not understand me. E.g. Olleros, Plaza de Mayo, Callao

5. I think the process of me acquiring a taste for Fernet is going to be a long one. But I will persevere.

6. Ideally I would like to take a colectivo (city bus) to school, but the system is ridiculously complicated. I'm determined to do it. I bought a "Guia T", the guide to the colectivos, but I feel like it just made me more confused. But I'm going to do this. It's going to happen.

7. I haven't felt the peso issues as much as I thought I would. I've become a pro at going into the bank and handing them a bunch of 100 peso notes and asking for small bills with coins. And playing dumb to get small coins at the subte station. And playing dumb when I need to buy something at a kiosco and I only have a 50 peso note. I got kinda thrown out of a Citi Bank last week but it was only half my fault.