Una semana de Rock y Tristeza

So, at the request of Diamira, my mother, and I'm sure many others I am sitting down once again to write another entry. The truth is, before this past week I didn't really have too many crazy stories to share with you all. My travels have been put on hold due to school and a serious lack of planning on my part. In fact, i should be on my way to Chile tomorrow...but that will come later. Over the past couple of weeks, essentially since Lucas's cumple, I have been making more of an attempt to integrate myself into the little bubble of Buenos Aires that is La Casa de Vainilla. Befoe i continue, let me write down the names of all the people living here to spar you anymore confusion:
Lucas - Colombia
Suji - South Korea
Hugo y Ivana - Argentina
Antonio - Mexico
Jorge y David - Costa Rica
Jessie and Brittany - American University
Anyway, a couple weeks ago i went out with Jessie, Brittany and Suji for Lucas's birthday. Where was he do you ask? Well, apparently the chicos from Costa Rice had something special planned for him that included taking a train ride 45 minutes away, a lot of alcohol, and a stripper. The girls and I had no idea this was being planned and when i emerged from my room after watching yet another cliffhanger ending from Lost, I saw the girls downstairs looking a little bit pissed off. I asked what happened and when we were leaving, and they told me all of what happened. Determined to still have a fun night, we went to this place called Bar Cervecero that has probably 100 different types of beer and chatted for a while about the situation. i also got to talk to Suji more, and explain why sometimes i have been so secluded from the rest of the house because I tended to stay in my room. Sometimes it was Lost, sometimes it was homework, sometimes it was a movie, and sometimes I just wanted alone time. But i explained to her about how we would hang out more and how i was originally looking forward to the night so I could have a night where all of us in the house hung out and bonded. Anyway, over the past few weeks this has greatly improved, especially when Suji became invested in helping me work on my Argentine love life.

Moving past boring classes and nights of endless barhopping, last Saturday I was able to have a truely amazing concert experience. Since I began school at BCA, I have gotten into a lot of rock, particularly metal and on Saturday i got to see the metal gods that are the members of Iron Maiden. Unfortunately I went by myself because people down here aren't all too fond of metal and there was no way I was passing up the chance to see Iron Maiden for a significantly reduced price from what it would be in the States. I hopped into a cab at about 5:30PM and after a 36 peso cab ride arrived at Velez-Sarsfield stadium. i walked into the stadium and was escorted to my seat where I remained awkwardly waiting for a band to start so I could look less lonely and try and enjoy some new music. One things that's interesting about South America is its love for good ol' rock and roll. Rock down here isn't so much defined by a certain genre you listen to, like emo, experimental, post-hardcore, whatever. The opening band was a generic rock band, but not necessarily a bad way. They weren't my favorite, but I could appreciate their sound and what they were trying to do. Then came an actual Argentine metal band, sort of like a spanish Symphony X. They actually rocked pretty hard and had some decent breakdowns and solos. Then came American band Sepultura. Pure s***. Finally, after a series of fake intros due to what must have been technical errors and sound checking, Iron Maiden came on stage, opening with clips from their new "Flight 666" DVD and opening with their classic Winston Churchill soundbite. Then straight into "Aces High"! I believe next was "Powerslave" and from that point on I don't remember much. But they basically played every song i love by them and it was an amzing experience. My head hurt like hell from all the headbanging the next day, but it was so worth it. There's no way to describe a packed, 42,000 crowd of argentinos jumping, chanting futbol songs and singing along to one of the greatest metal bands in history. The best part was a father son duo in front of me (the kid couldn't be older than 8) bonding over the whole show. The kid was rocking out almost harder than even I was and in that moment I realized that someday I would need to have that same experience with my son. Moments like that make me appreciate the fact that music is such an integral part of my life. How could something as beautiful as that bonding experience ever be denied as the most powerful expression of the soul and its communication with the rest of the world? The only thing that sucked about that night was that I had to walk for an hour and a half down Juan B. Justo before catching a cab, which dropped me off far from my house, where to the left of me were tranny hookers and to the right a militant Worker's Party demonstration at 2AM in Balvanera. Yeah, I felt safe...

Anyway, the next day all of us in the house went out to the Sunday feria in Recoleta and checked out some homemade merchandise and chilled on a hill watching a lone guitarist captivate the audience as the feria closed. It was a great day to bond more with Lucas and Suji and for all of us to do something together and I had a great time, aside from making some purchases that I can't wait to share when i get back home.

Over the course of the week I had started to hang out a lot more with some other people outside of AU. I became better friends with this girl Caroline from Rochester. Finally someone who actually listens to my music! Alexisonfire...hell yes. Anyway, me, her, Mark and her housemate went to good ol' La Bomba and I had an ok time, although for the entire show i was separated from them because of the ridiculously, tightly-packed crowd. Caroline didn't have too great of a time too and ended up having to leave due to some douchebag Colombians. Basically, anytime you go anywhere, I suggest that you all buy your own drinks. That Wednesday I went out for the birthday of another friend, Mara, who goes to GW. That night was fun, until I got to the point where I don't remember much except that once I got home I lost most of my dinner. No worries though, friends and family, I wasn't irresponsible! These things just happen sometimes, especially during a friend's birthday celebration. Then Friday i had an even better concert experience. I went to see Opeth, one of my favorite metal bands, and actually the first band I ever saw perform live. All of the openers sucked, but I was somehow able to bare through it. I eventually met an Australian guy who spoke no spanish and helped translate for him the rest of the night as we enjoyed Opeth. They didn't play all the songs I wanted, mostly just older, lesser known ones, but it was great nonetheless. It was like a freaking religious experience, losing myself completely in Mikael's voice and insane guitar solos and powerful riffs. I have never experienced anything like it before. Now people may criticize me all they want about the types of music I listen to, but you cannot tell me anything about music if you cannot appreciate Opeth. I don't care what anyone has to say. If you had been there, you wouldn't have been able to do anything but stare in awe and I will never listen to anyone who speaks a bad word against them.

Saturday I ended up goin out with Brianna, another girl from GW, and some of her friends and actually had a great time. I stayed out til about 7AM and got home at 7:30, promptly proceeding to cook up some spaghetti with Italian dressing because I needed some food and thought it sounded delicious. Lucas and Suji laughed as I made it, but it was great. I then slept until about 1:45 and felt like crap all day, extremely tired. Then that night I went to Kim's because Mark's family was visiting and we were having another asado (argentine BBQ). The food was absolutely delicious and his family was very entertaining. The only problem was that my nose was extremely runny and I felt like crap the whole night. When I got home, my constantly dripping nose made it impossible to fall asleep right away. After about half an hour I fell asleep, woke up 2 hours later, had to wait another 45 minutes before falling asleep again, and so on for the rest of the night. I got horrible sleep last night. Then today I felt even worse, developing a 101 degree fever and having to cancel my planned trip to Chile with Caroline and our friend Chris tomorrow. They're still going and I wish with everything I was healthy enough to go. I was ready to get out of here and spend some quality time with new friends...but God does not want it to happen. After canceling out trip to Salta, I thought Chile would be safer and a bit more fun. But no, as per usual, I got screwed out of two awesome trips for circumstances completely out of my control. All I know is when I actually do go to Salta with Caroline sometime in the coming months, nothing better come up. So tonight I just laid in bed, reading for tomorrow's classes and registering for my fall classes. I should get to sleep right now so I can feel healthy for a week of...what is it...oh yeah, a week where nearly all my closest friends are out traveling, having the Easter weekend of their lives and I'm stuck in BsAs sniffling my way through boxes of rough tissues.