Dias 1 y 2!

Saludos de Buenos Aires! Greetings from Buenos Aires!!! We arrived into the airport yesterday morning! I randomly got seated next to Victoria on the plane so we spent a lovely 10.5 hours together. I watched The Monuments Men, but fell asleep before I saw the ending so don't ruin it for me anyone! After finding our bags, going through customs, and waiting for our bus, it was lunch time when we finally got to the hotel! On our way to the hotel we passed the Argentina National team's practice field! The police and media were everywhere, we could see the team practicing from the road! We went to a delicious restaurant that we went to last time I was here. I had milanesa, a typical Argentine meal, breaded meat filet. After lunch we went to the Plaza de Mayo where we just missed the abuelas walking and protesting!!! I was so mad, I guess I'll have to come back now because that's something I'll still need to see. After lunch some of us went shopping and some went to explore Buenos Aires some more. I was on the prowl for a Messi jersey but didn't find any good ones. For dinner we went to an all you can eat buffet, all meats. And if any of you know anything about Argentine meat, you'd be in heaven here. We got back around 1am and passed out. This morning we had our City Tour! We started off in the north part of Buenos Aires with the Recoleta Cemetary and then went into the Plaza de Mayo again. Today we got to go into the Cathedral and saw where the Pope was a priest! I even got a rosary blessed by him. Then we went to San Telmo, which is a little more bohemian. We then went to Boca where tango started. We finished off the tour with Puerto Madero and headed back to San Telmo for lunch. After lunch we came back to the hotel and took a siesta, thankfully because I have been SO tired. Tonight we are headed to a tango show and dinner and probably out to a bar after. Tomorrow morning we have a free day and might go to Juan Francisco y Martin's for asado! I met them the last time I was here and now they live in Buenos Aires. Chau for now.....

Plaza de Mayo and Casa Rosada (President's house) at night!

Papa Francisco!

The Cathedral where he was a priest!!

Packing Do's and Don'ts

As usual, waiting until the last minute to pack is my thing. I leave Wednesday and I am SO excited! I know I have some friends out there studying abroad for the summer and in the fall so here are some things to consider when packing. Most of the time, whether it is for five weeks or 6 months, you can only bring one suitcase. Putting your life in one suitcase is NOT easy, trust me. Here are some things that I have found work well.

• DO pack many different shirts. I have probably 10-12 cute shirts that I will pair with cardigans and scarves for classes but will also be able to wear when we're out in the city or go to a boliche.
• DON'T pack an outfit for every single day. That is just not realistic. If you have to wear that top with those pants only, don't bring them! Unless you plan on wearing it multiple times it's just not worth it. 
• If you have medications, DO keep them in your original container or get a doctor's note to have with you. The problem is not leaving the country, it's coming back into the USA.
• DO purchase travel sized things for your carry on. When we were stranded in Peru in 2012 all I wanted was to do was brush my teeth for HOURS but my toothpaste was in my luggage. I just recently went to the Christmas Tree Shops where they have a whole section of travel sized everything. It was amazing. 
• DO find out what types of food they have in the country where you are going to see if they don't have something you will miss. For example, I will definitely be packing a whole jar of peanut butter because I could not find any ANYWHERE in Argentina last time. 
• DO dress for the weather. In Argentina it will be winter. While the average temperature for the month of June is in the 60's, it's cold to them. As soon as it hits 60 here, the West Chester University students are tanning in the quad and wearing shorts and tank tops to class even if it's still cold! I plan on packing many fashion scarves to wear since my fellow Argentineans will be chilly and I want to fit in. 
• DON'T pack so many shoes. Honestly, I have more shoes than the normal person but honestly? Whatever reason you are giving yourself to pack them, nope. Bring comfortable shoes. A pair of sneakers because you will do a lot of walking through museums and parks and doing touristy things. I will also be bringing my sperry's because I can wear them for hours waitressing and not have my feet hurt after. I will probably also bring one pair of boots because I always wore them walking to classes at WCU so I know I can walk to UCEL in them. 
• DO bring slippers. People never take of their shoes in houses in Argentina, don't ask me why. The first thing I do when I come home to my parent's house or walk into my apartment in West Chester is take off my shoes. Bring slippers abroad so that you can walk from your bedroom to the bathroom without having to put on sneakers or uggs or whatever else you choose to bring. 

And finally for now, because I love you all I am telling you this....DO NOT be that person I make fun of in the airport for having too much stuff. If you are in your house and you can't carry your luggage and carry on/purse to the car by yourself you're doing it wrong. You're gonna be going to the airport with this stuff, probably traveling on busses and or trains when you are abroad. Mom & Dad aren't gonna be there to carry your luggage so save yourself from looking like an idiot and learn to carry it all yourself!!!

I highly doubt this is all the things I recommend but it's all I've got for now since I have to drive to my apartment in West Chester to get some clothes that I forgot there!

Back to Argentina!!!

Here I am again! Only 19 days until I head to Argentina once again. I am currently procrastinating writing my 10 page paper for my Latin American Studies class and studying for my Linguistics final so blogging is appropriate, right? I'm so excited to announce that I will be blogging for StudyAbroad.com this summer while I am back in Argentina. I will hopefully still be posting on this one as well like last time. I'm not sure how their site is set up yet/if I have a writing limit so check back in for details and the link! Once I finish finals I'll start packing, or I'll just wait until the weekend before I leave. It will be winter there again but they've had an unusually hot summer and the forecast this week is still in the high 70's! Hopefully after the extremely cold winter we've had here I'll get lucky with a warm winter in Rosario. It's not like their winters are bad anyway, in 2012 when I was there I think the coldest it got was 50! My host family has never seen snow, thank the lord because after this winter I never want to see it again! I will be living with mamma María once again this summer, I can't wait to see her and my host family. I think that's all I've got for now since I need to get back to studying, stay tuned amigos! :)