They say that Buenos Aires has the most beautiful people, I can't say this really stood out to me that much. I guess coming from NYC where everyone has their looks in check, it's not that striking. The people here definitely keep up with the fashion and take care of themselves; also, one in ten argentine women has plastic surgery. They also say that the people here are very vain and egotistical. This, I have noticed. I'm not talking about checking out your outfit in the store window, I'm talking about an overriding sense of superiority and haughtiness, a stereotype of the porteño. Por ejemplo, during dinner, when my host sister speaks, she stares at her reflection in the mirror across the table. She does this all the time. Whenever she opens her mouth, 

it's as if she were revealing some awe-inspiring solution to world peace.   She also often repeats simple phrases she just said in spanish in english, just to make sure rachel and I understand. Her dad always gets mad when she does this because the host families aren't supposed to speak to the students in english, but she says, "i just thought they should be able to understand what i was talking about." Yeah, she probably does win the crown for most poised and eloquent at our dinner table, when the only others are two rambling old people who don't make all that much sense when they speak and rachel and me, who speak spanish with a 6th grade vocabulary. 

I'd like to  mention that I love being here and I love the city. The people are wonderful and I enjoy their eccentricities. 

I've been here for 11 days now. At first, I would walk down the streets thinking i heard people speaking in some bad italian dialect I couldn't understand. Like when people are like, oh, my grandma from sicily 80 years ago always says blahblahblah.. and I never know what it means.  Argentines use a lot of the same intonations as the italians. My spanish has definitely improved, though not as much as i thought it would in a week and half (that's with 5 hours a day of intensive spanish M-F). I haven't been out around the city as much as I thought I would or as much as maybe I would have liked to. I know, I left saying I had no expectations, but obviously, I had a few... that I would travel and explore way more than I have. I guess it's just the first few days in a 5 month span so this shouldn't really affect how well I get to know the city. I haven't really found anyone to do things with.

The first week I didn't have internet or a phone, which was a strain on my 'i want to talk to you every day' parents. Understandable for the fact that I'm never at home and if we didn't speak on the phone, we'd never really talk. Plus, i like talking to them. Unfortunatley, Jorge is always in the common room where the wifi reaches so talking on skype always makes me feel awkward or is, outright, unwelcomed.

Things are good, I'm just getting over a cold. I went to the free clinic that argentines go to in Belgrano, where I live. This was an experience that I'm glad I had. Reassuring in case something bad happens and interesting to see as an aspect of socialized healthcare. The clinic was really nice and I barely had to wait to be seen. The doctor saw sat right up next to me on the examining table and got all up in my ears, nose, and mouth to see what was up. A few people came into the room while she was examining me, totally against HIPPA.. ya know. She wrote down so perscriptions, though no actual perscription needed to get meds, and then besos and suerte and sent me on my way.