Regarding the people Buenos Aires it was once written that they are "A group of Italians, living in Paris, and speaking Spanish." I would consider that a pretty accurate summary of my observations in living here for less than I week. It's been a little while since I wrote about what I was up to. To be honest I can't really say why. I have the same amount of free time that I always have had, and there's definitely a bunch of new things going on in my life to talk about. I've been on a mini emotional roller coaster ever since I said goodbye to my family and began my life here on Monday evening. I'm excited to explore this new environment and study Spanish, and I am proud of myself for following through with my plans to make this year an incredible learning experience. However, when I planned out my year, I didn't factor in how hard it would be to leave everything I love in Valdivia. I think I have felt more homesickness here in Buenos Aires for Valdivia than I've ever felt for Seattle in my four months abroad. I suppose that's an accomplishment, but it doesn't make the experience any less painful. Here there are a bunch of cool cafes, restaurants, museums, health food stores and parks that I have stumbled across during my urban hikes throughout the various neighborhoods. Therefore, this time in Buenos Aires has been a time for me to reconnect with different aspects of my personality that enjoy this seemingly limitless independence and sense of possibility. I am a little rusty at being happy alone, but I do think that it's a good skill to have. Assuming I continue to challenge myself and go to new places throughout my life, there will invariably be times when I will not be surrounded by close friends and have to provide my own security blanket. 

Walking is like therapy to me. Whenever I am stressed, need time to reflect, feel stuck in a rut, overwhelmed, or even so happy that I want to relish every minute of it, I strap on my shoes and hit the road for an hour or two and always come back feeling better than when I left. The last fews days I've walked something like 18 hours, if that's any indication of the levels of emotions I've been processing. Plus, it serves a secondary benefit which it orienting myself in this gigantic metropolis. I've noticed a big improvement in my ability to find my way around and even get where I want to go, which I still have a little trouble with in Seattle...Ah yes, and I want to get in shape, which is much easier to do when one is not in a relationship. Go figure. 

I've also gotten into reading more, something that I planned to do in Valdivia, but simply never got around to doing. Right now it's "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert, and enjoying all the parallels between her experience abroad and mine. In fact, the main difference between her book and my blog is that it's well written and she gets paid for it :) 

I want to meet some Argentines, but am not exactly sure how to go about it. There are some people in my course who I went out to dinner with last night, and we are all wanting to put ourselves out there and meet new people so maybe we can help each other with that. I also talked to someone who studied in Buenos Aires last year who was going to mention my name to a few of her friends, so we'll see if anything turns out from that. Two month is an interesting time frame. Right now at the beginning when I think about how much I miss Valdivia it sounds like I pretty long time. However, I think a half way through the rest will fly by. I would say it took me a little over a month to meet some of my really good friends in Chile, so I can't help but wonder how many people I'll meet and get close to here. Part of me is even scared to get too attached since I am sick of saying goodbye to people I care about. It's hard to decide what my goals are during this time period here. The main ones I can think about are personal and have little to do with Buenos Aires and involve figuring out what makes me happy that doesn't always depend on other people, plus learning more Spanish so that I can go back to Valdivia more fluent, more confident, and hopefully in better physical form than when I left. 

I also would like to take some really cool photos while I am in these gorgeous surroundings, which is another recently neglected hobby I enjoy because it involves a significant amount of alone time. I'd also like to take some kind of class, whether it be tango, cooking, or even French. Just something to get me out there with new people and learning something new. Or maybe a volunteer activity too. We will see, I just know that the fuller my schedule the better off I am. If any of you have any ideas by the way, let me know...I am fully open to suggestions :)