Adventure is out there! : Highlights from the past 3 weeks

Finally, a new blog post! I realized it's been 3 weeks since I last updated my blog -I'm sorry for neglecting it! I know you've all been lost and have no idea what to do with your life without hearing about what I've been up to in Argentina.

I've settled into my routine here, and, like I knew it would, time is flying! I can't believe it's been almost 2 months here. I'm enjoying my classes (well, except for my sociology class - that one's a lot harder than expected and probably wasn't the best idea I've ever had) and hanging out with friends, exploring the city.

I've done a lot in the past 3 weeks, so I'll just give you the highlights! One weekend I went to La Reserva Ecológica (the nature reserve) with friends on a beautiful, warm day. We sat in the reserve, people-watched, and drank mate. Mate is a drink that is super popular here. It's like a kind of bitter tea. It comes from yerba mate, and you put the leaves of this plant in a special cup (the mate) with a special straw (la bombilla) and you add hot water. Drinking mate is a social event - you keep refilling the cup and sharing it with your friends. I really enjoyed it - I'm going to have to buy my own!

Last weekend I went to my first boliche, which is a club. The porteña life is an exhausting one - they don't go out to the boliches until one or two in the morning, and don't get home til 6 or later! I'm not sure the boliche life is for me, but it was definitely a fun experience.

Tonight was "la noche de las galerías", where a bunch of art galleries were open and free for several hours tonight. I went with some friends, and we drank (free!) champagne while visiting art galleries. It was quite the classy, sophisticated experience! I know basically nothing about art, and I definitely didn't understand many of the pieces, but it was still very cool.

Last night I went to see a movie with some friends, "Vino para robar" (wine to rob). It was a very funny movie, but most importantly I understood most of it, which I was very proud of! My Spanish is definitely improving, but it still has a long way to go.

I think I'm going to start adding words/phrases that I learn here so I can share some of the knowledge! My host mom taught me a phrase the other day that I really like. It's "no quiere más lola." Literally translated, it means "it doesn't want anymore Lola." However, in Spanish it means that something doesn't want to work. Now you can throw some Spanish into your daily conversation!

Anyways, here's some pictures as a reward for reading through my 3-weeks-late, long blog post!