"That was really fun. Wait, is that the sun coming up?"

I never pegged myself for a going-out person. Sure, I like to have fun, but it's always been in a very chill, drinks-with-friends kind of way. I dismissed clubs (here called boliches) as being not really my thing. After last night, I can definitely see that changing over the course of the next five months.

The schedule doesn't bother me as much as I would have expected it to. We didn't even leave the residence until probably 12:30 or so. In a large group - 15 or so, mixed Argentine and international, all from the dorm, we hopped on the #64 bus to god knows where (I love the Argentines here in the dorm - they just take care of everything and shuffle you off from place to place and all you have to do is enjoy the ride), and ended up at this bar. I was really into this bar, although I can't remember the name. It was a big place, downstairs where you entered was crowded and trendy, upstairs was dark with pounding music and party lighting, and then there was a roof deck outside where you could just chill out and socialize. I liked that you could more or less just choose the environment that you wanted. The conversation and company were awesome - I think that we got really lucky as far as the group goes, everyone's just really nice and fun and interesting. And the Argentines in the dorm are by and large awesome as well - they're really interested in getting to know everyone and really want everyone to have a good time, which makes them completely awesome to be around.

We left the bar by 3, already having a great time, and walked en-masse to Amerika, the club of the night. We were told on the way (pretty long walk...had to be 20 blocks? couldn't say) that this was a gay-friendly club. This turned out to be a massive understatement. The place was absolutely crazy, there were practically naked dancers - both women and men, in balconies off the walls, people were making out everywhere, and making out might be putting it mildly. But the atmosphere was pretty cool and the drinks were all included in the 40 peso cover (maybe $12-13). The club was huge - multiple levels, with this huge glass structure on one of the upper levels that kind of looked like a space pod and that people danced in. Crazy place. I had a fantastic time. Everyone that went in (only about half the group from the bar continued on to Amerika) was cool with the kind of club it was, which was cool, although it was interesting to see the guys' level of comfort decrease rapidly as the night went on and they were exposed to the club's generally "help yourself" attitude towards groping. I thought this was pretty funny - as girls, unwanted touching is kind of a fact of life in clubs, so this wasn't anything new to us, but I don't think it's something that guys usually have to deal with and it was definitely amusing and interesting to see how they handled it.

I left with Shannon and Lennart around 5:30 or 6 and we grabbed a cab back to the dorm. Once I got into bed, I passed out instantly - I woke up a couple hours later when my roommate Emma got up and realized that I still had my contacts in and was pretty much fully clothed. It was already broad daylight at this point, so I changed into shorts and a t-shirt, took my contacts and went back to sleep til about 1. From what I've gathered, the rest of the group from the club didn't get back to the dorm until 8 or 8:30. I'm not really in that league yet as far as endurance goes, but check back with me in a month or so ;)