Estoy Aqui! But I still don't believe it yet...

So I am finally at my homestay in Buenos Aires. I landed great except for the fact that I barely slept on the plane and when I went to pick up my luggage, the strap was ripped. That is ridiculous especially since I just bought the luggage 2 days before! Oh well...no me importa.

Anyways, I met one of my directors at the airport early in the morning at the airport and she paid for a cab that took me to my homestay. What I didn't realize was that driving in Buenos Aires would be very similar to driving in NYC, maybe worse. I saw barely any traffic lights when there were clearly intersections that needed them. And the taxi driver was a very brave one.... :O

Something that should be noted is that when I was coming from the airport, I noticed some parts that looked a bit run down. Also there was graffti sprawled on some of the buildings. One read..."Ley de la gente" or The law of the people. This just made me think of the current recession that Argentina faces. Although it is a nice tourist spot, there is a very apparent inequality of wealth. I will keep you posted on what other things I find related to that.

When I finally got to the homestay I was greeted by my homestay dad. He told me that his wife was out. Also he spoke no English. The neighborhood that it was in was pretty busy, and there were also many stores. He was very kind and began to show all around the house.

The house itself has a very unique design. It is split into two levels. The upper level is where his wife and him live at, which is upstairs. And then there are a set of stairs that goes to the ground level where there are rooms for other study abroad students. With me included, there are 6 other students doing other programs. I have not met everyone yet but the students who I did meet seem pretty nice. The following is a look up from the bottom of the stairs....Also the roof is open too...I wonder what happens when it rains though.

Here are some pictures of my room. It is pretty homely and it is just enough space. After I unpacked I slept a bit and then my homestay dad showed me around the neighborhood. There were plenty of restaurants, and banks...and also the subte-or the subway. That will probably be my main form of transportation while I am here. Also, I did get a few stares-porque era un negro. I am not worried though because people were still kind to me. So far I have noted only one other black person my entire time here, and they were selling flowers at this flower shop. My homestay father told me that people are accepting and he stated that there are not racial animosities here like in the US. I am interested though to see how my interactions go with Argentines my own age though.

Right now I am waiting for my cab to go to a welcome dinner with my directors and the 2 other students on the program. Then tomorrow we have orientation, and finally classes we start Monday/Tuesday.

This weekend tho we are going to be tourists and see a little bit of the city. From what I have seen and heard, Buenos Aires is HUGE...so I don't think I will see everything but hopefully I can see alot :)

I will keep you all posted!

-Ray