Yep, it's real (overwhelming)

Day dos!
Best news of the day: I HAVE CLOTHES!  Luggage arrived around 7:00 today. All of my clothes are here, but for some reason they threw out my shampoo, conditioner, mouthwash, and shower gel. Strange.. Worse things have happened. Oh and my suitcase is missing a large chunk out of the corner, but again, I have clothes.

So the day went like this: Orientation at 10:00, which means 10:30. After that, empanadas! They were delicious, and I over did it. Who's surprised?? Then we had our city tour, which was fantastic. I don't know what it was about today. Maybe it's jet lag, maybe it was the missing luggage, maybe it was the two hour orientation about getting mugged at every corner and detailed descriptions of the aggressive Argentine man, but I was a little overwhelmed. I was pleasant, but mostly kept to myself and took in the city. There was so much to see. While everyone was posing and taking pictures together, I shot some pics but mainly just looked around. I probably seemed like an anti-social Annie but  I'm just an observer before most things. I guess it's how I deal with culture shock. I have so much to see and do here! The overwhelming part: I'm gonna do it. Not all of it, but all that I can. Deep breath, exhale....whoa.

Okay so, another big part of this shin dig is immersion. I'm here to learn a culture. And not just the "Welcome to the Paris of South America" thing with big smiles, shiny buildings and souvenirs. I want the real authentic stuff. I need to meet some locals. It's next on my list. Tonight, everyone went out to the American bars and watched the Super Bowl. I was debating going with them. Maybe I should have... could have been a fantastic opportunity to meet kids my age, who are on the same crazy adventure as I am. But I didn't. Firstly, I had to arrange my stuff (doesn't it feel good to unpack and pretend like you have your life together?) Secondly, limited amount of friends (hey, it's day two. I'm working on it!) and no means to contact them ( cell phone search is first thing tomorrow morning). Thirdly, if I am looking for this legitimate authentic experience, a crowded American bar with American students watching American football might not be the best suit. Not knocking it because let's face it, girl loves her football. But I had a really good evening otherwise. Me and my host mother talked a whole bunch, and she gave me tips about the city and other places I should travel while in Argentina. It's not an ice cold Bud Light ( yes please?!), but it's pretty damn good.

So now that I have a closet full of clothes and a toothbrush to call my own, I'm feeling good. Chances are tomorrow will be good too!


Things that made me LOL:
4 black people ( the most so far! One dude wearing FUBU. Amen.)
1 girl wearing a romper ( and she almost made it look flattering! Kudos!)
1 intense public make out near Puerto Madero ( a chocolate milk river and rusty abandoned ship spells romance to me!)
1 70 year old woman tap dancing in the streets of San Telmo with a legit walkman, singing to herself and following people as they walked by ( And she was wearing a wind suit. Grandma, you win.)