Anyway, I got up at 8:15am and I felt more tired than I had the day before! I got ready and spent some time reading my Bible (the English part :) and then Fani gave me breakfast at 9. I think the granola bars and dried fruit I brought are going to have to be part of my morning routine. My breakfast consisted of hot chocolate and tostadas (the cracker-ish things I ate yesterday) with dulce de leche on them. It was not very filling and I am a big breakfast person. I left the apartament at 9:25 and met my friend Diana at 9:30 at an intersection on the way to the university. Unfortunately, we missed the road where we were supposed to turn because there was not a sign and we did not recognize it. I thought we had gone too far, but we weren't sure. We kept walking until we went by a big government building that I know I had never seen before. Then we looked at a map and we had walked way out of our way and were already late! We were supposed to be there at 9:50 and it was 9:55! We used Diana's phone to call Marina, one of the ISA directors. She said that she would call Gustabo, the leader who was taking us on the tour, and tell him we would be late. We turned around and found the road and made it to La Universidad de Belgrano. The bus was waiting out front. We hurried in and sat down, but the bus did not leave for another fifteen minutes because we were waiting for some other people!
Our tour was very quick and confusing. Gustabo does not really speak English and so the entire tour was in Spanish (hard to understand) on a bus (very loud) over a microphone (very crackly). Overall, I did not get much from the tour other than the gist. That is all I seem to be getting everywhere so I suppose I should get used to it! We saw some Catholic churches and even went inside two that were in the middle of mass. It was a weird experience and not one that I particularly liked because the people were in the middle of worship and we came in to stare at the building. We went to the Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada (the Argentine equivalent of the White House). We went to La Boca which is an area of downtown where they have lots of tango places and little stores. We had a half hour there to walk around and see stuff. I took some pictures there. Finally, they dropped us off somewhere and we could go to a restaurant for lunch and then leave. I went to a steakhouse place with five other people. I had a "tortilla de papas" which was kind of like an omelet with eggs and potatoes. It was good. After we sat and talked and got change for three people, we decided to walk to an ice cream place near Trevor's apartment. We walked about twenty minutes and he couldn't find it. He stopped at his building and buzzed his "mama." She told him how to find it. We were only about 50 yards away! We went to the bathroom and got ice cream. We weren't very hungry so we got the small size of cone. They let you have samples. Because I couldn't really understand the flavors on the menu very well, I asked for fruit flavors. I think the man was hitting on me because he gave most people two samples and he gave me seven! I am partial to free samples of ice cream! I finally decided on a scoop of strawberry something and blueberry/raspberry (??). It wasn't really ice cream but more like sorbet. It was really good. We sat outside at two little tables and ate it. There were dogs in sweaters at the next table. I have never seen a city with so many dogs! It is not as cold here as I thought it would be. In the sun, it is very hot (T-shirt weather), but when you are in the shade and the wind is blowing, it is downright chilly (winter coat weather)! Fani is always worried that I am going to be cold.
Our little group broke up after ice cream and everyone headed home except Spencer because he had to go to the store to buy clothes for tomorrow since his suitcase didn't make it. Diana and I walked home together because we live about 4-5 blocks apart. She studied in Chile last year and said it is a lot colder there and that the people speak a lot faster. That made me think of Tammy!! It will be so much fun when she gets here! :) We almost got lost again but we made it back before dark. I had trouble with my key to get in the front door and a man was on the inside watching me. It was a bit embarrassing, but not too bad. Fani welcomed me and asked about my day. I told her what we did. We are going to eat dinner at 8. I am so tired. We spoke in English a lot today but my brain is still on Spanish overload! I feel like I have to concentrate every second and I still can't understand as much as I want to! We have our big placement test tomorrow. We will see where I end up. Profesora Barr thinks I will place into advanced, but we will see. The test is written so I might end up there. However, given how little I am understanding everywhere else, a lower level class might not be too bad! I am so much better at reading and writing Spanish than I am at speaking and understanding it!
A few things about our group... it is really weird because we have not really had any time to get to know each other. Unlike Tammy's group who had the first few days together traveling and sightseeing, our group was taken straight from the airport to our host families. I was still meeting people today. I think we should have played the name game at our meeting yesterday. Because we don't know each other at all, we tend to stick with the same people or those we live near. I hope we have a chance to get to know each other better soon. I am such a people person that it is hard for me because every conversation starts out with, "What's your name? Where are you from?" I like to have deeper conversations than that!
Well, I guess that pretty much covers today. Oh, one more funny (I guess) thing. Today at breakfast, Fani was talking a mile a minute and she was telling me a story about herself (I think). I could not understand much of the story, but I think she said she got run over by a bus (that's not funny, of course). She said she was lying on the ground with people on top of her (I think) and she was screaming and crying (or someone else was) and they took her to the emergency room (I think) and they thought her teeth and bones were broken (or else she did), but they weren't (I think), but instead she just broke her nails? She was all dramatic when she was telling this story and I could not follow her at all! It was actually quite pathetic. I think she likes talking to me, but it is nerve-wracking for me because I am the sole member of the audience and so she stares at me for a response and I feel incapable of making intelligent comments because of my lack of understanding. Maybe it will all start to click soon. (I think that is wishful thinking :)
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