Buenos Aires, Argentina

I´m living a month in this busy city full of three million portenas. This word refers to the people that live next to the port, the Rio de La Plata which translates to River of Silver. This river is the widest in th world, with a total of about 13,500 square miles.*

15 students live at the Rancho Urbano hostel on a busy street called Avenida de Corrientes and roughly Avenida de Gascon. I share a very small room with three other chicas and one tiny bathroom. We are served a free breakfast which consists of th popular pastry, medialuna. Choices of manteca (butter), sweet dulce de leche, y variety of jams. There´s also small pieces of toasted bread (not sure what it´s called, everyone can hear one bite into it). There´s also frosted flake cereal for the norte de americanas which surprisingly none nof us really eat. To drink we geet cafe con leche y super sweet juice.

This is how I start my day and do my spanish homework. The hostel cat, Vito is usually around to perch on a shoulder or lap. I just bought a yoga mat (ssshhhoga colchaneta). The ¨y¨ and ¨ll¨ are pronounced with a ssshhhh. I look forward to doing my yoga every morning. I tend to get stressed being in the big city. The other students feel the same for we are students of biologia and we prefer las montañas, floras, y arboles (mountains, flowers, and trees).

I walk to and from school everday. It usually takes about 35 to 45 minutes depending on the foot traffic. There are extremely congested areas with people selling random things like socks, stolen jewelry, lots of kids toys, and yummy postres. There is a lot to see, such as beautiful flower shops, and kids getting out of school wearing their white or blue doctor looking jackets. There are always dog walkers with as many as 7, maybe more, dogs on and even sometimes off the leash.

I study spanish from one to four in the afternoon. The school is also on a very busy street full of ruidos (noise)! I´ve never heard so many different noises in my life! The bus can make a variety of whistles, honks, and tweets. The knife cutters perform a tune to let people know their there. Every car is constantly honking and one time in class someone laid on the horn for a good minute.

I share a local computer so have limited amount of time. I hope this gives everyone a feel for what I´m up to. There´s still so much to tell you! Until then, let me know if you have any questions. Chau

btw: this computer is old and a lot of the e´s dont get inserted.

*Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 2010. ¨Plata, Rio De La.¨ 9, Octubre. 2010. blah blah blah