Mis Primeras Dias en Argentina

Hola todos!

Bienviendo (Welcome) to my account of my experiences in Argentina. I will be spending this school year stuyding in Buenos Aires, the capital of Aregentina, through a program run by the Council on International Education Exchange (CIEE). This blog will allow you know how everything is going, where I am going, and hopefully see of the beautiful pictures I take. So far everything has gone very smooth and been extremely fun (even an 11 hour plane ride can be fun when you are excited about where you are going and your amazing mother somehow secures the exit row seat for you). I have only been in Buenos Aires so far and few parts of it. The beautiful pictures will come I promise, but I have not been prepared to take them so far. Today, CIEE sponsored a walking tour for us. Of course I brought my camera, but when I took it out to take a picture I discovered the batteries were exhausted. How frustrating!

Well I have safely made it to Argentina and around Buenos Aires for about three days. I meant to post sooner (like before I left) but time just got away from me. When I arrived in Buenos Aires, I spent the first two nights and days at Hotel Lyon which had very spotty internet access thus little access to communication. Since all the other participants were staying at the hotel, the time necessary for socializing kept me very busy. I have met some very cool people from many different universities in the States including Georgetown, Claremount McKinna, Smith College, and Brown to name a few.

On Saturday evening, I met the lady, Virginia, I will be living for the first time. She picked me up from the Hotel Lyon and took me to her apartment (all the participants moved into their homestays at the same time, quit choatic) I like Virginia a lot and she seems like a great host. It is obvious she cares a lot about my comfort (in a good motherly way). I have my own room and a small bathroom. The room is not huge but it is plenty big enough for me. I would compare it a Rhodes single dorm room for those of you who are visual people. With all of my things unpacked and photos up it feels very homey. After I unpacked we had dinner and talked some. I was surprised at how easy I found it to talk to Virginia in Spanish. We could really talk about anything. I did not know some words, but I could usually make her understand what I was saying. She kept saying how good of Spanish I spoke! I was very nervous about speaking with her, but so far so good. Hopefully my Spanish skills will continue to improve and I will begin to understand more and more.


I have so much more to write, but it is getting late and I am very tired.

Chao! Hasta luego!

Maddie