May 24: Always carry an umbrella

This morning began with our usual Subte ride to Puerto Madero for Stacey's appointment with Carolina about internships, and then off to Universidad Austral for class. And I learned my lesson: regardless of whether you have faith in the weather, always bring rainboots and always carry an umbrella. I have learned this many times before, like when I moved into Mark Twain freshman year and told my parents I wouldn't use rain gear. Now, I will.

After our three hour Spanish course doing a preterite/imperfect tense review and learning more about the vosotros form Argentina uses, we walked for 45 minutes in the rain back to the Subte station we are most comfortable with. We have until Monday to experiment with our favorite modes of transportation before everyone begins their internships. Our soaking wet experience walking on essentially, the road that leads to the highway in Puerto Madero soon led us to a packed Subway of sweat. It's insane how people just squeeze in.

Now, to a typical study abroad adventure. Jordin, Stacey and I returned to the restaurant where Jordin ordered a $5 "ensalada del día" and didn't know what it was, which ended up tasting great. So we sat down for dinner to see that DORS, the restaurant, had a phenomenal menu and knew we'd be returning often. Our camarero (waiter) started to ask us how we like Argentina and talk to us about the tornadoes in the US right now. We talked with him for probably 15 minutes, and then he asked us if we wanted to go dancing tonight.

While this sounds totally unsafe and esketchoso (sketchy), Jordin's friend Sam who is studying abroad here gave us some words of advice. Where else are we going to meet Argentinean friends? We have to take advantage of these opportunities to see what real Argentineans do and make friends! (Then again, he's a boy, but the advice still applies.) So we gave Pablo (the camarero) our phone numbers and he called us when he got off of work. We proceeded everything we did with caution, we met him and a friend at a restaurant, sat there for a little bit and took off for our adventure. They said the dancing club was close...but after walking for a few miles, we were scared out of our minds. Waiting with patience, after walking the distance of probably 5 stops on the Subte, we finally arrived at our destination--Maluco Belleza. This boliche (club) was known for its Brazilian music and intense South American cultural mix. We never would have found this place without our new friends!

We danced for a few hours, said bye to Pablo and Alberto and had a great evening. We not only found an awesome place to learn Brazilian dance, but met two Argentinean friends, carried conversation with them in Spanish (and they have thick Argentine accents!) all night, and didn't even have to pay for a lot of it! Night life was pretty lively last night as today is el 25 de mayo, the Revolución de mayo, and we have a day off of school for it. I'm glad we took a risk to find this area, improve our Spanish and hey, maybe we'll get free food at the restaurant!

Amor from Argentina,

Katie