The first two months

I'm a little late getting started on a blog, one-third of my 6 month study abroad experience in Buenos Aires has already flown by! Here's a summary of the first two months:

I'm living in an apartment about 30 minutes away from UB, la Universidad de Belgrano, with my host mom Susana & host brother Ramiro. A month after I came I got a roommate, Ariel, another ISA student from Washington. Living with a family has been great so far, I love being able to talk with my host mom & help her make dinner every night!

During my first four weeks here, I took an 'intensive month' course in Spanish grammar and was in class 5 hours a day 5 days a week! The days were long, but it helped me brush up on my Spanish before starting semester classes & I made lots of new friends--I love the other OSU girls!

After the intensive month was over, a group of us spent five days in Mendoza, the wine country of Argentina, which turned out to be one of the most amazing experiences I've had here so far! We hiked in the Andes, went horseback riding, ate asado (delicious grilled steak), took a bike tour of the wineries & did wine tastings, made choco torta, then on the last day we went zip-lining in the mountains, which was incredible. We all got really close during the trip & I have some wonderful memories with the equipo : )

I've also gotten to visit some really cool places, including Tigre, Feria de Mataderos & la Boca:

And we've been taking O-H-I-O pictures everywhere we go--here's one of us with the guards at la Casa Rosada (yes, the Pink House), which is the office of the president:

I can also say that I've danced tango & salsa, learned to use the subte (still working on the colectivo), stayed out dancing until 7am, made friends with porteños, picked up some slang Spanish, and become a college athlete! Here's a team photo after our first soccer game:

And then, of course, there's the food. Argentina is known for its great meat, so I've been enjoying lots of choripán, milanesa, and asado. I'm also in love with alfajores, which are basically cookies with dulce de leche in the middle (Argentines are obsessed with dulce de leche). But, aside from not liking spicy foods, this country has one huge flaw--they don't eat peanut butter! 

I just finished my first three weeks of semester classes--I'm taking film, literature, culture, and Spanish-English translation. The way my schedule worked out I only have class on Mondays and Wednesdays, which is perfect. I'm having an amazing time so far & am so excited to see what the next four months will bring!