Weekend in Córdoba!

Holaaaa! Thursday I worked on my paper and readings during the day and then we went to a tango class! I had forgotten how much fun it was. After class I came home and Ines was here!! Ines, one of my two host sisters, was in Madrid and Germany for the whole month of May! She is an engineer for GM so she was traveling for work. It was great to finally see her. While I was talking to her she got a text that someone on her handball team couldn't make their game. Guess who their newest member of the team is for the next three weeks? YUP, ME! It was sooo much fun! I had never played handball, thankfully I did play basketball once upon a time and it wasn't too hard. Then we went back to Ines' apartment and had empanadas for dinner. For dessert we had bananas and she brought back nutella from Germany for us to dip the bananas in. I was dying, it was so delicious. They don't have peanut butter here so nutella was a close second! Friday after class we went to Betos, our favorite spot from 2012 for sandwiches, for a quick lunch before we left for Córdoba. We got to the bus station nice and early for our 4:45 bus and ended up sitting there forever because the bus was late! We didn't leave until 5:45. The bus was 7 hours long!! I got paired with Merrick from our group, who happens to be from the same city as my cousins in New York!! We spent probably 5 hours talking and everyone else around us definitely hated us. We got to Córdoba and checked into our hostel. If you're ever in Córdoba, check out Turning Point hostel. It was fantastic! Shelby, Adriana, Mallie, Kelly, Merrick, and I were in a 8 person room with a guy from London and a guy from Italy! David, from London, left his house a year and a half ago for Mexico and has been making his way down Latin and South America! The guy from Italy left 2 years ago and is just going wherever the world takes him. I think it would be so cool to do that one day. We were all starving so we decided to go out and get some dinner. We found a bar/restaurant in Nueva Cordoba, where the university is, and decided to eat there. We were out until almost 4am! Instead of going to a boliche, we were all so tired, we decided to go back to the hostel. Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast (provided by the hostel) and went to check out the historical district of Córdoba. We started in their Cathedral and then moved onto the National University of Córdoba. This university was the first in Argentina and is larger than Penn State! It was founded by San Ignacio and the Jesuits. They went on to create Loyola, according to our tour guide. We went on a tour and saw all the original documents and maps! After the tour we went out to lunch. I had gnocchi's, more Italian influence on the food here. We went back to the hostel and took a siesta and woke up for happy hour! The hostel has happy hour from 6-8 every day. A liter of beer is only 13 pesos, ~$1.30 in the US. We were hanging out with all the people in the hostel, watching the soccer games, and having a great time. Then we went to get dinner and came back to the hostel to get ready to go out. Everyone was in the common areas of the hostel drinking and hanging out so we decided to join them. There was a couple from Ireland, another guy from England, two more guys from Italy, a guy from Poland, a guy from Israel, and a girl from Sweden! Everyone ended up going to a boliche but I was really tired so I went to bed. It's a good thing I didn't go out because I woke up with a cold Sunday morning! I think the change in the weather is what messed with me. It's been 65-70 here in Rosario and in Córdoba we were closer to the mountains and it was in the 40's! We walked to the bus station and grabbed some empanadas and hit the road. I got seated with Merrick again but we were all so tired and actually had seats that turned into beds so we passed right out. When I got home I had told Mama Maria that I wasn't feeling well and she made chicken noodle soup for dinner! I was so happy. This morning I slept in and then went to school to do some reading. We went out to lunch with the ambassadors and then I went to watch a movie at school about the history of Argentina. I got back to my house and here I am writing for all of you! I'm going to take a nap now, I think. I still have more reading to do for tomorrow but my head is killing me.....