Project 365, Day 11

Day: Yesterday was relaxing. It was a national holiday in Argentina, so no one worked and I didn't have school. In the afternoon, I went to an ice cream store, Persicco, with a bunch of friends to celebrate a birthday. The ice cream was so delicious. I shared with a friend and we got strawberry cream, passion fruit (have I mentioned this is the best flavor of any fruit, ever?), Swiss chocolate, and dulce de leche con brownie. The dulce de leche ice cream was SO good! It had huge chunks of brownies and pecans. Afterward, I went to a friend's house to dye her hair red, then returned to my apartment, ate, then fell asleep writing this post with my laptop on my stomach. haha.

Picture: I went to a dance club Wednesday night because it was Ladies Night and it was free and that's not something you just pass up, and when I got back my feet looked like this-

So much fun.

Chao!

xo amanda

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1. love my boots my parents gave me

2. freeway in buenos aires

3. when i tried out this hairstyle by Taza and still had my nose piercing

4. a delicious cone shaped chocolate covered alfajor with tons of dulce de leche

5. you guys, macarons in a McDonald's. (!!!)

6. this place is legit

7. we went to an old opera house, el Teatro Colon. I was in love with the dreamy ceiling

8. all the gold plating is actual gold; that place was gorgeous

9. arrived safely to the countryside after 3 hours of stumbling from one form of public transportation to another. also: finally learning how to style my short hair

10. friends are starting to ride

11. La Martina was the name of the ranch

12. the place was so beautiful

13. so many dogs there! there were lots of border collies too- made me miss mine

14. there were old beautiful houses all over the family-owned property

15. time passed so quickly in this haven from the city

16. chilled with dogs for the better part of the afternoon

17. this was my favorite house! i kept feeling like cinderella was going to walk out at any given moment

18. flowers everywhere

19. i kept asking myself if this was real life

20. hanging out by the pool

21. some of the landscape reminded me exactly of virginia

22. also we climbed trees

23. taking a break from galloping

24. having a tea of cold coke and scones after riding

25. hanging out by the highway waiting for the bus

Project 365, Day 3

Day: Today, I had to go apply for my Argentine student visa, since I will be here for over three months. I had to be at the Subway station by 6:20 a.m., which takes 15 minutes to walk to, and of course I woke up at exactly 6:05. haha. I hurried up and showered/dressed, then walked to the nearest station and took the subway ("Subte") from one end to the other, then switched lines again. Once I got off the Subte, it was 7:30, which was the time I had to be at the Immigrations Office, and I had no idea how to get there. I walked up to a lady, and just as I was about to ask her directions, I look up and see a fellow student! I was so happy and relieved; it was like seeing an angel on earth. We figured out how to get to the office by asking directions, and everything was painless from then on. Oh, and the visa cost $50, not the $100 that my study abroad people told us to bring, so today I basically won $50 and it was awesome.

After school, I went to the UPS store and bought a Sube card (finally!), which cuts train, subway, and bus fares in half, then went to a panadería, a bakery, and bought five delicious things for my host family and me. Two were like square croissants folded diagonally filled with dulce de leche, one was a cream puff filled with dulce de leche and covered in chocolate, one a roll with creme inside, and the last a ball thing filled with dulce de leche and covered with powdered sugar that tasted exactly like a doughnut. OH so good! 

Then I walked home, ate the doughnut one, and took a three-and-a-half hour siesta. Woke up to a delicious dinner of lentil soup, bread, grapes, and a pelon. A pelon kind of tastes like a peach and has the same shape, except it has a beautiful, deep magenta-pink outside when ripe and the inside is white! It is so beautiful and tastes better than a peach, in my opinion. Have I mentioned the fruit here is super delicious?

Picture: Cut my hair again. Feels so much better/healthier now. 

And because I hate webcam pictures, here's this from the other weekend's fruit picnic on the water:

Chao!

xo amanda

Project 365, Day 1

I decided to begin taking pictures of myself everyday and saying what I did that day for the next year or so. I figure I will most likely put it at some value when I'm older and wonder what in the world did I do in my best years.

So without further ado-

Day: So, today I left for the University of Belgrano (where I take my Spanish classes) at 9:30 a.m., took fifteen-ish minutes to walk there, then talked to classmates before it began at 10:00 a.m. I had two breaks, one at 11:30 a.m. for 15 minutes, and a 30 minute one at 1:30 p.m. Once the Spanish class ended at 3:00 p.m., I walked over to the ISA office (the program I am studying abroad with), and they gave us some info on what we need to do to apply for our Visa on Wednesday (I have to be there at 6:20 a.m. that day!). 

Afterward, I ran to a shop where I got my entire passport photocopied (cost me about 90 cents), and finally went to COTO, one of Buenos Aires' biggest grocery stores that happens to also have miscellaneous items. It's basically Argentinian Wal-Mart. 

At COTO, I bought 6 empanadas (pastry pockets filled with delicious savory things): Chicken, Beef, Ham and Cheese, and Carne Dulce (sweet meat). I also got some on-sale dulce de leche and the Chocolate Rice Pudding below in the picture.

Picture: First- my nose! Yes, I got it pierced! Haha (Mami if you're reading don't worry! I'm not quickly turning into a bad rebellious child while overseas in a foreign country!) I've always wondered what it'd be like to have my nose pierced... and I don't love it. Will most likely take it out soon. Don't regret doing it because it was an experience, (a painful one at that) and I'm glad I did... but no.

Oh, and the rice pudding was all gone by the time I took this picture. It was super good- tasted like thicker, sweeter chocolate milk with rice floating in it. (And thank you to Mami for my necklace! I love it!

oh, the food of buenos aires

Things I miss from the US: my family. spicy foods. sleeping comfortably and cool. being able to walk outside without being overwhelmed by the vast majority of people smoking. good cheese. pizza.

With that being said, buenos aires is amazing and those things are shrink in comparison to what's happening here.

Things i love in BA: having a jumbo size jar of dulce de leche in my room that i can dip into whenever i want. being able to walk everywhere or take cheap transportation by way of bus, subway, or train (each about $0.50). having so many activities available. the amazing and fresh food (as shown by the many pictures above... haha). the absolutely BEAUTIFUL clothes- it's like walking through a free people/anthropologie/urban outfitters store in the summertime where beautiful flowy dresses abound. being able to go to the beach by free transportation that's 30 minutes away and have picnics- whenever you feel like it.

I hope you all enjoy your weekend! I have to stay in today and write a paper, but I may head to Chinatown later (3 blocks away from my apartment!), and I believe I will go to a beautiful cathedral tomorrow morning that is only one block away, then head to San Telmo after, a street fair held every Sunday.

Chao!
xo amanda