La Casa de Rosada, Un Museo de Arte, y Más

Last weekend, I decided to explore the city a bit. A friend and I decided to go visit La Plaza de Mayo and la Casa Rosada. La Casa Rosada is where the president works, and it really is pink! La Plaza de Mayo is right outside of it, and it's a pretty neat place (with lots of history) where lots of people gather on the weekends.

We decided to wander around the surrounding neighborhood a bit, which turned out to be a great idea. There was a giant festival happening to celebrate the Independence Day of Peru, and you wouldn't believe the amount of people there! There was a stage that hosted various dancing, singing, and other performances, and there were tons of venders lined up down the streets. The vendors were selling food, flags, and other Peruvian merchandise. It was quite the sight, and a lot of fun!

Right past the Peruvian festival was a market for environmentally friendly and sustainable materials. There were instructions for how to compost, tons of things made out of environmentally friendly materials, and even bicycles that generated electricity! It was a lot calmer than the Peruvian festival, but just as interesting.

Today, after orientation, some friends and I went to el Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano for the opening night of a special exhibition. I'm still not sure what exactly the exhibition was because we got there late and couldn't hear what was being said, but the art was really cool. There were a ton of old Catholic things that were used in masses, and they were extremely impressive. Because it was opening night, they were handing out free glasses of wine. I felt so cultured and sophisticated, walking around an art museum on opening night looking at old Catholic relics while drinking wine!

I've done many cool things so far and I've only been here a week, and I can't wait for my next adventure!

Here are some pictures from these events:

 Me at La Casa Rosada

 We found various statues like this at the Peruvian festival, all of different types of animals.

 The Peruvian festival! As you can see, tons of people.

 The bikes that can generate electricity that we found at the eco-friendly market.

Again, La Casa Rosada.

Pictures from my first week

 In the neighborhood Recoleta

 Umbrellas hanging over the street in which the Peruvian festival was happening

Part of a mall in Recoleta

Mi Primera Semana (My First Week)

(Disclaimer: I've never written a blog before, and didn't really have the intention to before coming here. However, I thought I would so I can share my experiences with my friends and family, and also be able to look back on them myself.)

My first week has been a bit crazy. Life here is pretty different than life in the United States, and I feel like I jumped in headfirst. However, if there's one thing I've learned, there's three major themes to this experience: adventure (aventura), patience (paciencia), and chaos (caos). I've learned that the best mindset to have is that even though life here is often chaotic and events are unexpected, you just need to have patience and look at it as an adventure. That seems to have become my motto: "Es una aventura!"

This week has been full of adventures. I had lots of orientation activities with students in my program, saw a really weird but really cool show called Fuerza Bruta, explored my neighborhood, stumbled upon a giant Peruvian independence festival while exploring La Plaza de Maya y la Casa Rosada, tried new food, got lost a few times, and have been bombarded with lots of information about the city and life here. There's so much to do!

My host mom here is really sweet. Apparently, her and her husband really enjoy watching Disney Channel - I watched "Good Luck, Charlie" with them the other day and they found it incredibly hysterical. It was pretty entertaining! It's an interesting experience living with a host family, and many times it's hard to understand them, but it's definitely pretty cool.

There are many differences between here and home. Stoplights are more of a suggestion than a rule, which makes crossing the street a little scary. Music from the United States can be heard in the background of many restaurants and cafes (most recently, Daft Punk and No Doubt). I guess that's more like a similarity, but it's still strange. Dinner isn't until 9 or 10 at night, and sometimes even later. In fact, nightlife here is crazy - Buenos Aires truly is the city that never sleeps! People go out to bars around 1 AM, and then boliches around 3 AM, and then they party all night, get breakfast, and then go home and sleep. It's crazy! There's also a ton of dogs and people walking 6 or 7 dogs at once. Because it's winter here, many of these dogs are wearing jackets, which I think is pretty cute and funny.

Overall, it's been fun so far and I really like the city. 5 months still seems like a long time to be here, but I know time will fly. I look forward to really getting to know the city, and to traveling! But now, time for bed. Buenas noches!