The nitty gritty?

View from my apartmentI can't express in words how happy I am that I chose to study here. First of all, the cost of living here for someone from the United States is extremely, extremely affordable. For instance, I went out went out to dinner with some friends in a very ritzy part of Buenos Aires called "Puerto Madero" where we had steak, salmon, 2 huge plates of grilled vegetables, bread, ice cream, 2 bottles of wine, coke and water and it came out to 17 us dollars per person. Things like that makes you want to stay forever. I'm living in a homestay which is generally fine except that my homestay mother is horrible at cooking. Her cooking is extremely random and imbalanced. One night she made my roommate and I lentil beans and a fried egg. Another night she must have forgot that she had too feed us, cut a tomato in half, sprikled oil and popped some canned fish on top and called it dinner. Other than that, I love my homestay. I have my own room which is literally separate from the main area of the apartment complete with my entrance and elevator (a service one), airconditioning, my own bathroom a maid (how spoiled) and I live right next to the Japanese Gardens, the Botanical Gardens, several parks which are fantastic for people watching, museums and a zoo. The only downside is that I don't have internet in my room and have to go to the unwelcoming living room to use it. I live on a main street called Las Heras in Palermo which is an extremely large barrio but which has everything that I need. It's actually really hard to even get out of Palermo since there's so much to do here, but I need to make it a conscious effort. I also have made friends/acquaintances with the workers of two cafés near me, one of which gives me discounts on food which is always nice.

I have finally figured out how to work the collectivo! Now I don't have to endure the sweaty, overcrowded subte in the morning and I could ride to school with ease on the 118 or 41 collectivo. I'm already running out of monedas though which is a problem. Public transportation here is the one thing about the city that I don't think I'll ever grow to like. It's just so stressful. Should I call a cab? Is it safe enough to just hail one? Where is the collectivo stop? Is it going in the right direction? Oh yeah that's right I actually have to raise my hand in order for the collectivo to even stop. Getting to school is 15 mins by collectivo and 30 mins walking. Walking here in the city is always an experience for my senses. There's always water seemingly dripping from the sky. I recently found out that it was just form the air conditioning. There is dog poop literally everywhere (environmental matters haven't caught on here yet) and I'm always stepping in something.

My classes are great considering I only have class twice a week and my weekend starts on Wednesday. Actually, my weekend beginning on Wednesday has been great and problematic at the same time because come Friday, I'm down 400 pesos and have nothing to show for it except a headache.