Que tengas un buen fin de semana

Hmm, where to begin. These first few days have been a series of unfortunate events. I guess nothing too bad, but definitely very different. The city feels like New York a lot of the time, but the only difference is that wherever an extranjero goes, people are speaking a different language and using an accent that is very hard to get accustomed to. Because the last few nights have involved bar hopping until at least 5AM, I'll do my best to recollect everything appropriately.

Viernes
We tried to get ourselves together and go out to try and do stuff, but the day got off to a shaky start. Zulma told us that we have to pay our rent in American dollars, so we tried going to a bank that had an ATM that could exchange it for us. Unfortunately, the ATM was broken and we didn't think that we could do it with the teller, or at least that we weren't prepared for that experience haha. Also, we needed monedas because they are extremely hard to find. No one likes to give change, and it usually involves pulling some teeth to do so. Jorge and David tried to tell us about a train station where we could get it, but we didn't know the exact address or how to get to it, so that was another bust. We walked down La Rioja for what felt like forever and when we tried asking a police officer, he didn't speak a word of English and told us that the place we were looking for was at least 20 blocks away. We were not making that walk. Because we are still getting used to hte time difference and getting up a bit late, we've also had trouble actually making it to stores before they closed, so we still don't have usable cell phones. The lack of cellphones has also made communication with the rest of the people from AU very difficult. We tried to meet up with Mark and Kim for dinner, but apparently they didn't know that we were definitely coming and left the Palermo Subte before we could meet up with them, so after waiting 45 minutes at the stop we just decided to go to a cafe and get some food. I had Milanesa a la napolitano, which is basically like Chicken Parm, except with beef. It is my new favorite food of all time. If there's anything about this place that I actually love so far, it is the delicious food they have wherever you go. We walked around Palermo a bit and actually felt like we were in a nice part of the city. Our neighborhood is definitely not up to par with that barrios and it was interesting to see a bunch of modern shops, bars and large busy streets. When we got back, we decided that we actually wanted to go out for the evening, so after hanging out for a bit at the house, we went to Shoeless Joe's, an American owned bar. However, the place was filled with Argentinos. All the bartenders were American though and very nice. We met one really nice guy, Boli, that started flirting with Jessie and Brittany as soon as we got into the place. He was pretty cool the rest of the night and we bonded over our love for Metallica. At the end of the night he told me that I spoke Spanish very well, which was great to hear after all the trouble we went through. We ahd a great time and eventually met a guy from Texas named George who couldn't speak any spanish. He was there by himself because apparently all his friends had left him to go to a whorehouse. How lovely. We hung out with him the rest of the night and he even gave me the nickname "Good Time Charlie" after a series of Tequila shots and glasses of Quilmes. We went to two other bars after that, but it was pretty late at night and by the end of it I had to translate for George and help him get a taxi ride back to his hotel.

Sabado
Today we slept very late and, once again, missed the opportunity to get our American money and phones. Oh well, que será, será. We got some dulce de leche ice cream and had a little trouble there because we had been up late and were a bit out of it, so when the lady behind the counter started talking to me very quickly, i didn't know what to do. After a series of sighs from her, I was able to talk to her manager, who explained to me that all she was asking was whether I wanted my two scoops of ice cream to be dulce de leche, or a mix of that with another type of ice cream. I kept it easy and just got one kind. After that we hung around the house for a bit and finally got in contact with everyone else from AU. We met in Palermo at 9 and all went out for dinner. Afterwards, Harris and Jenelle left to go somewhere with his host sister, so all the rest of us started walking around the area looking for something to do. We ended up at a bar called "El Taller" which was packed and got ourselves a table inside and ordered some drinks. The waitress was real understanding and spoke some English, so it was easy. After that we went to another bar just across the street and chatted over some more Quilmes at a table outside. Once were done there Emily went back to her house and me, Jessie, Brittany, Mark and Kim ended up finding another bar and had a great time. The funniest part of the night was when I decided that I'd try a random drink out and ordered one called "Hot Sex," which unbeknownst to me just ended up being a daquiri, so I made sure to hold it very low and out of sight to keep from losing my man card. i got the chance to speak to a lady there, but our conversation consisted of just a few short questions and her asking me how I liked the music down there. We left around 5.

Domingo
We basically just stayed at the house during the whole day because we were so exhausted from the night before. I watched Gattaca, Law and Order, and the music channel Q. We went out for dinner to a small cafe around 630 and later returned to good ol' Shoeless Joe's for SuperBowl night. The place was packed with Americans, and was pretty refreshing to see and hear them. Great game, but too bad the Cardinals lost. It was damn close. The only problem we had there was that by the end of the night, two guys were once again aggressively going after Jessie and Brittany. I stayed out of the picture frustrated and annoyed because it was 1:30 and we have class tomorrow. The one guy just would not let up and i finally had to step in and explain that there was no way we could stay any longer. I swear I can't wait to speak well and be able to venture off on my own every once in a while so I can meet some chicas and not have to stand around waiting for guys to stop flirting with the girls. Anyway, it's 3:23 AM and I plan on getting up at 8 to get ready for class. Night y'all and wish me luck!