Estoy aqui.

This constitutes my first entry in what will hopefully fulfill the Northeastern University journal requirement for students studying abroad.

I arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday around 10:30 AM local time (Buenos Aires is 2 hours ahead of the U.S. East coast), with Anna, the only other Northeastern student participating in the program this semester. After passing through customs, grabbing our bags, changing some currency, and going through exit security, we grabbed a cab together from the airport to the dorm (Proyecto Alfa 2000). The drive into the city was nice, the airport is a bit further out into the countryside so we passed a lot of green areas and even a couple farms before we started to see the development of the city. First cultural observation: the drivers here are crazy. If there are such things as speed limits or even traffic laws in general, they have yet to become apparent to me here. Cars pretty much stay within the marked lanes, but seem to go as fast as they can and don't think twice about cutting across 2+ lanes of traffic without warning to make any turns that they need to. In addition, there are countless people on motorcycles and motorbikes that ignore the lanes completely and just weave in and out of traffic as needed, especially in traffic jams or at stoplights.

The city is beautiful, but hot and loud. I'm not entirely certain what I expected, but they way Buenos Aires appears isn't quite what I expected. Coming into the city from the outside, it doesn't right away occur to you that you're entering a city of 3-4 million people...the streets are narrow and the traffic is light and the sky isn't being blocked out by buildings. Then the cab driver will take just one turn and instantly you'll be plummeted into the urban reality of traffic jams, noise, and pollution - not nearly as bad as it could be, but still obvious, especially with this kind of heat (mid- to high 80's since I've been here).

Today (after waking up around 11:30) Anna, Anna's roommate Isabella (from Quebec), and I decided it might be good to walk around and explore a bit. We decided to visit the Plaza de Mayo - the block that houses the Casa Rosada (home of the president) as well as some other government buildings. We grabbed a quick lunch of empanadas at a small neighborhood place where the people were really friendly (I definitely plan on going back). When we were finished, we grabbed the #29 bus from Viamonte (the avenue where my dorm is) to the Plaza, and then from there walked down Calle Florida (an entirely pedestrian street that was packed with people and every kind of shopping you can imagine). Florida is a pretty long street (maybe 10 blocks) that goes north from Plaza de Mayo and connects it with the Plaza San Martin, which might be my favorite place I've seen so far - pictures to come. It's a large park with lots of trees and shade but also huge sunny grassy areas that seem to just stretch out into the city. There are benches everywhere and walking paths criss-cross the whole thing, with small statues tucked away in the trees, a playground or two, etc. It was these parts of the city that most reminded me of Barcelona, which is the only European city I've seen - but the Plazas are surrounded by huge buildings with gorgeous architecture, and that feel seeps through to the surrounding areas, as well. Those are called Puerto Madero and Microcentro - basically, downtown. The dorm where I'm living is in Palermo - a short ride by subway (subte) but a pretty long walk - we did it today and my feet are pretty sore. The dorm is probably 15-20 blocks more or less to the west of San Martin. From what I hear, all of the Buenos Aires neighborhoods (barrios) have very distinct personalities - I'm definitely looking forward to exploring San Telmo and Recoleta in particular.

More people from the program arrived today - I have a roommate Emma who is from Australia, and Anna got another roommate Malin from Sweden. There are also 2 more girls, one from Georgia and one from Tennessee. The seven of us went out to dinner tonight at a nice restaurant a couple blocks away - it was fun to kind of get to know everyone, it was a good time, with really good conversation. Everyone seems really nice and interesting. I also had my first experience where it's completely natural to drink half a bottle of wine with dinner - lovely.

That's all for my first entry. To my friends: keep checking back! Northeastern requires that I write at least once per week, so this is basically where you'll hear of any adventures to come and so on. I miss you guys and you should all know that as much fun as I have here, all of this would be exponentially better if you guys were here to enjoy it with me. Keep those emails coming!