La vida...

I got back to my apartment after carnaval and I was glad to be home. It's amazing how fast a place can start to feel like 'home'. I received a couple of messages from my family saying they were worried about me, I hadn't emailed for a whole 3 days! I thought it was funny how worried everyone was but it is nice to know they care:) I went back to my internet job really thinking I was going to quit since I had such mindless tasks asked of me and was receiving no pay...but I talked with my boss and he told me about some projects that I would be working on during my last month. After that, I had a much better attitude towards my work and I also knew that I only had 4 weeks left.

My friend, Frida, who I met in Chile was in town for a couple of days before she went on a two week tour so she stayed on the couch. We have had lots of couch visitors...it is nice to be able to see people that I have met along the way again in a different city. I feel like it is so much easier to make fast real friends while traveling considering you spend so much time with a person that you normally wouldn't if you were busy with your own life at home. I love that I have worldwide friends now...there will always be someone to visit wherever I go!

Over the weekend, we had our first pre-party at our apartment. Ariane and I made lots of appetizers and we went to one of my favorite clubs in BA, Rumi. I had such a great night and I think its because I finally feel like I have good friends and fun people to hang out and go out with. Annalise, Ariane and I just ate the weekend away going to our new favorite empanada restaurant, La Brigada in San Telmo to have some steaks, and the next day we shopped an ate at Ariane's favorite restaurant in Palermo Soho. I definitely appreciate the fine dining in Buenos Aires and will have a list of restaurants to return to when I travel here again. Later that day was my first futbol game!! Well, I had been to one in Peru, but that did not even compare to this one...

Being the north americans that we are, Annalise and I thought it was appropriate to drink some beers before the game (what sporting event is there in the US where alcohol is not a part of it? NONE). We arrive to the meeting point with all the boys we were going with from my work, and they all just looked at us like we were crazy alcoholics. We quickly found out that alcohol and futbol do not go hand in hand. Well, we managed to get to the Independiente stadium after about 5 changes on the subte. We were about an hour early, so Annalise and I walked around the stadium and met lots of people...It was a crowd of mainly guys so needless to say we were not the ones initiating the conversations. Once the game started, the crowd went crazy and this big flag was pulled down over the whole crowd. Annalise and I were trying to get back up to our seats during all of this and that was a challenge. The game went on with song after song that i didn't know but would love to learn. When the first goal was scored, everyone jumped so much that Annalise and Ariane both got pushed down a couple of stairs, luckily just running into other people, but still, it was pretty scary. Independiente ended up beating La Boca so everyone was in such a great mood on our side but I do not think I want to know what it would have been like had we lost. This one guy in front of us took a liking to Ariane and said he would give her his hat if they won, so now she has this raggedy ann looking hat that she didn't want to put on because it was so sweaty. When the game was over, we had to sit and wait about a half hour and I found out we were waiting for La Boca fans to clear the whole entire stadium before we could leave in order to avoid fights. With the tattoos of their team, complete apparel, and pure passion, i finally realized how great this sport really is. If my brother or dad combined every one of their sports teams into one, they would be acting just the same, but the states has so many sports that it lessons the fans intensity for one particular team. Futbol is a religion for many and I got to see the light when i went to my first match.