guest post!!

my hilarious friend, fellow spanish-music lover, tennis parter (and sometimes coach), and frequent partner-in-crime dave hammerman requested a guest post on my blog and he was too excited about the opportunity that i couldn't turn him down!! it's oh so flattering....but as hammie says, all so true!!  hammertime, TE AMO!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0eWmFEoJ14)
this is my friend dave...can't you see why i miss HIM?!?! 

QUERIDOS LECTORES aka DEAR BEARA AND BUENOS READERS,
SO we here at Georgetown University in this great nation known as the United States of America (that’s right AMERICA, we can kick your ass) miss the Bear like crazy. In that vein or is it vain??? I decided to count down our top five reasons that we miss the Bear. Some are funny, some are sentimental, all are la verdad!!

5) The Beara Laugh
If any of you know Sarah Henningsen, you know her laugh. It’s been described by some (aka me) as a dying sea otter whereas others have said its like a seal. Either way, we miss that effing laugh.

4) Gab’s is freakishly tall at Thirds
So many of you know or know of the infamous Gabriela Gentil, aka Pablo’s wife (oh wait, am I not supposed to say that)….Well anyway she loves going to Thirds and Rhinbro but she is now freakishly tall in a land of short lax players. When Bear is around Gabs fits right in, but now those long beautiful legs just stand out! Fear not Gabs, January is around the corner.

3) There’s left over food at Leos
We all know the Bear isn’t shy about eating. I’ve easily gained 10 pounds off the food that she would normally finish for me. This extra weight does not make training for a marathon any easier. Oh and who else can we count on to keep Tuscany pizza in business.

2) Cow on Ice
I don’t know if any of you have had the privaledge of playing tennis with the great Bear, but I have. She wails on the ball yet if you drop shot her she falls over her two feet. In fact, she trips over her feet just strolling around on the well paved cobble stone of P Street.

1) She’s cuddly
Beara is sooooo sweet and nice. How could we not miss her (awwww) Oh and there is nobody better to watch Glee with!

Love,
The Hamster aka Hammy 

llamada de emergencia.

llamada de emergencia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTzeMevmhI8. emergency call. exactly what i needed when this pedophile look-alike asked me to dance at the world tango festival a few weeks ago.....this gem of a photo surfaced on facebook today and i cant help but crack up. but please dont be fooled by the facial expressions: though it might not appear so, i was far from thrilled to be dancing with this old dude, while he was over the moon!! anyone have suggestions for how to reject creepy grandfather-age men who quote "like tall american girls"?? i could use a couple, thanks!!

que tengo que hacer to get these takeovers to stop!?!?!

que tengo que hacer (what do i have to do.....to get these takeovers to stop!?!?!): forgive the daddy yankee reference, but you might as well get used to them, im just trying to spread my reggaeton love. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHgnebZ_jYo. deal with it  :)

as the title suggests, the student takeovers at the various UBA campuses completed their second consecutive week on friday and god knows how long the protests could potentially last. for the past week, i have literally not stopped thinking about everything that is going on right now in buenos aires in terms of public education, both at the high school and university level. despite the school seizures, early tuesday morning i had to trek over to one of the university buildings to turn in a midterm essay. enormous posters still covered every wall, classrooms were still barred, and desks were still arranged in small circles in the hallways and on the outdoor patio. we anthropology students congregated in the hallway and waited for our professors to arrive. when they did, we chaotically turned in our exams and then listened to the professors speak about the estudiantada situation.

well, i listened anyway.

at first, the two professors respectfully tried to share their opinions and encourage students to rethink their unnecessarily extreme methods of protest (a totally legitimate request), but were almost immediately cut off and interrupted by a variety of radical students. students were literally shouting in the hallways and the poor professors had to raise their own voices simply to maintain order and let themselves be heard. whereas during the first week of the tomas i found the whole thing entertaining and new and interesting, this time around i was disappointed and offended and embarrassed by the obnoxious behavior of a lot of my fellow students, whose radicalism clouded any sense of decency and good judgement. to be honest, the whole thing was seriously off-putting.

the professors' main message for us students was that, unlike some of the other UBA teachers, they would not be continuing classes in the hallways and streets because, from their perspective, educating and learning requires a particular atmosphere, like a closed room without distractions and access to a white board for example. they encouraged students to stop halting the entire school system....in response to this, several students claimed that the professors themselves were the ones halting the school system because of their refusal to carry on with "public classes for a public education" in the streets like some of the other teachers. the students were actually casting the teachers as the enemies. if anything, the teachers are  the victims of this whole saga in the fact that they are barred from adequately doing their jobs and having the type of learning environment they desire. i was pretty shocked: these are smart students who attend one of the most prestigious schools in latin america...and yet their logic was totally OUT. OF. WHACK. the teachers have nothing to do with anything dealing with funds or facilities, and yet they were consistently portrayed as the problem, a skewed and unfair image the students fabricated to justify their continuation of the tomas. at that point, i began to think that the students are protesting just for the sake of protesting, creating drama just for drama's sake. i couldn't help but think about my old la puma days.

i've been pretty bitter and disillusioned about this whole toma situation, primarily because i just don't see the validity of the students arguments nor the validity of their chosen methods. let's rethink our priorities here, people: does a dumb request for a common dining hall justify shutting down school for a solid two weeks (perhaps more, we'll see what happens on monday)?? do students have the authority to demand better facilities and working environments when the reason why the facilities are in such shitty conditions is precisely because of how poorly the students have cared for them?? their logic is contradictory and paradoxical, and i'm getting kinda sick of it.

as if tuesday morning hadn't already been political and heated enough, later that afternoon i went to a political rally-party-festival taking place in a small concert stadium. when i first ascended from the depths of the train station, i sincerely thought i was at a protest, and not a celebration. different political groups were littering the streets, aggressively waving their flags, banging on giant drums, and shouting chants together. we managed to somehow nab some tickets from the various ushers that were handing them out (free tickets to enter, but only a limited amount because of the seat availability). i was able to reach above the masses, pushing and shoving to get tickets, and catch the eye of the guy handing them out....perhaps the one time where being a blond "scandinavian ogre" really comes in handy!! when i managed to get a couple however, people swarmed me trying to snatch them away and i thought i might get trampled in the process. totally crazy!!

the political fever inside the venue as everyone waited for the president and ex-president to take the stage overwhelmingly outdid the soccer fever i witnessed at the argentina vs spain match, which definitely says something pretty powerful about argentines' involvement and investment in their civic reality.

"la juventud peronista"  who helped sponsored the event 

the president herself (no big deal).....
i was football throwing distance away!! 

after an entertaining drum show and some other musical performance leading up to the main event, president kirchner and her husband nestor kirchner, the president from the last term, entered to the screams of thousands of riled-up argentines. miss kirchner spoke for about twenty minutes about the importance of education, the middle class, freedom of press, and the various advances her administration has made in the past few years. perhaps the most interesting part of the speech for me was the reappearance of the word historia. again and again and again, the president made references to moments in argentina's history that had shaped the argentina of today--from the military dictatorships of the sixties and seventies to the more recent economic crisis of 2001.  whereas the political discourses in the united states revolve almost entirely around talk of the future and the tomorrow, in argentina you often find the opposite. here, the past is deeply ingrained in the argentine mentality and collective identity, something you could easily witness both in kirchner's speech and the audience's fiery reactions to video footage of corrupt leaders from decades ago. still not entirely sure what to think of the president and her peronism politics, but experiencing the passion and energy of her biggest fans sure is interesting. later in the evening at dinner, i asked my host family what they thought of cristina and my sister's answer pretty much finalized the subject: "we hate her". end of story!! sooo i guess i know where my argentine family stands on the matter!! as for me, not sure yet but i'll let yall know when i do. so basically, i'm wiped after all this insane political-ness!! whoever said georgetown is a political environment should really get their ass down to argentina and see what's up.

the power couple of argentina (ie, beauty and the beast)  

i look wayyy less overwhelmed than i actually was 

inolvidable.

inolvidable: means unforgettable, and is the name of one of my fave non-reggaeton songs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjpSX6fCPDc) after the decontrol of last week, i had a relaxing yet inolvidable weekend both here in buenos aires and outside of the city in the provincial suburbs!!! on friday night, my friend thomas and i saw a professional ballet at the world famous teatro colón, a venue truly as magical as i had been expecting. being budget-wary students, we ended up choosing the cheap 30 pesos tickets and found our seats way up in the top level of the theater. the organization and the acoustics of the theater are so amazing however that we might as well have been sitting in the front row!! we decided to be nerdy theater-goers and purchased a pair of binoculars just in case, which did come in handy when thomas felt like getting a, ahemmm, closer look at the limber ballerinas.....just kidding. i've never been a huge ballet person but this was definitely an exception, partially because the mere experience of sitting in the teatro colón is unforgettable and spine-tingling, not to mention the choreography was quite stunning and the orchestra pit was equally impressive. thomas and i were reprimanded on three different occasions by the ushers for taking photos of the dancers and the theater, but we slyly continued anyway. they watched us like hawks throughout the performance but after the third scolding, we really had to get it together and find some sneakier moves. here are some pictures i managed to snap. overall, an amazing night. you simply can't beat professional ballet for a mere $7!!

the next morning after the thunderstorms had cleared up, i met up with my friend will and an argentine friend agustín to head out the the buenos aires suburbs, where an old friend of will's cousin lives with his family and had invited us to spend the day with his family. we took an hour bus ride out of the city into argentine suburbia, which easily looked like anything in the united states. will's friend cesar picked us up near the bus stop and we drove to he and his family's beautiful home, nestled in a stunning country club complete with clay tennis courts and horse stables for the polo matches that take place on the grounds. the day could have easily been titled "sarah's dream day" because the main event was, yup you guessed it, an ASADOOOOO. i was in absolute heaven. we started the meal with traditional choripán sandwiches..... 

pigging out a little bit on my chorizo yumminess 

.......then continued onto the main course, which included some peculiarities...... first on the list was a little argentine delicacy down as chinchulín. i slightly panicked when cesar placed the little specimen on my plate and playfully refused to tell me what it was. NOT A GOOD SIGN. nonetheless, i dug into the meat and chewed and chewed until i could chew no longer, that was one tough little cow intestine!! yesss, i unknowingly consumed cow intestine. next up on the menu was another peculiar little argentine food known as morcilla de sangre. aka, blood sausage. though you might be surprised, versions of blood sausage are actually quite common throughout the world, much to the horror of my fellow american students. if you are able to train your mind to forget about the whole blood element, the morcilla really isn't all too bad. but sometimes, you just can't get over the fact that you're ingesting congealed cow blood. hey, that's life. though i enjoyed taste-testing some new foods, the normal cuts of sirloin steak were a welcome break and i had fewer reservations to say the least!! the day in the suburbs couldn't have been better: 

i had seven slices of these......

phenomenal food (and don't forget the quilmes!!), great company and the friendliest argentines i've met so far, a full day of ONLY SPANISH (sometimes a rare occurrence when there are always so many other american students around me), soccer in the backyard with cesar's adorable kids, spring-like weather, and the opportunity to just breathe and get away from the main city. such a great invitation and opportunity, hope i get to go back before the semester ends!! 

descontrol......daddaaayyy yankayyy style

descontrol. that's the name of my current favorite daddy yankee song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpoFBlH4wMI) and the only word to describe the past week here in buenos aires. basic translation, total chaos and out-of-control-ness. things have been slightly insane to say the least and i'm glad i somehow managed to make it through the entire week!!

the insanity started on tuesday morning when i arrived at la universidad de buenos aires (specifically at the department of social work where my anthropology class takes place). outside the jail-like fence that surrounds the building, i was greeted by a scene unlike anything i've ever experienced at georgetown, and will ever experience. desks had been removed from the classrooms and were arranged outside the building in small circles, hand-painted posters were plastered across every wall and fence, and gung-ho students were outside sipping maté in the nippiness. the doors were uncharacteristically closed. i was seriously confused and had to ask the group of students several times what. the. heck. was. going. on. basically, the student governments at the various different UBA buildings had overtaken the school and shut down classes in protest. apparently, these tomas or takeovers are relatively common at the university and happen every couple of years, one time lasting an entire twenty days. for the argentine students, this particular estudiantada was nothing new and the other students filing into the courtyard were far from shocked. thus, my surprised expression of utter perplexion definitely gave me away as a foreigner!!!

i kid you not, this was the scene inside la facultad de
ciencias sociales. we ACTUALLY conducted a class in the
middle of the hallway. pretty surreal. 

as i waited outside for other classmates to arrive, i chatted with several of the student officers in charge of the lockdown chatted to figure out what all the drama was about. they were friendly enough to offer me some maté, which always makes me feel included and welcomed!! after a stagnant thirty minutes, my anthropology professor finally showed up and conducted a short class in the hallway despite the lockdown just so we could go over midterm questions.


right now, the students are protesting the conditions of buildings and classrooms, rallying for a unified campus for the social sciences (which currently has three different buildings dispersed randomly throughout the city, very inconvenient for many students), and a dining hall. all legitimate requests i suppose, but the whole building-hostage-method aint really my thing. i guess having a day off from class is nice every now and then, but i do hope the schools open back up soon. who knows how long the protesting and negotiations will go on. i'm all about students being politically involved and actively participating in their academic realities, but at the same time, their methods seem unnecessarily extreme and selfish, as they create inconveniences for a whole web of people. additionally, even though they are rallying for better facilities and environments in the name of education, they end up taking away from our educational opportunities. perhaps only in the short term (a sort of two steps forward, one step back type of ideology) but nonetheless, the whole motives behind the estudiantada strike me as extremely paradoxical. rallying for better educational opportunities, yet sacrificing those same educational opportunities (at least in the short term) during the process doesn't quite add up. i guess UBA students just love doing things in a revolutionary style. i mean, let's not forget that the infamous che guevara was an UBA student himself. i guess they feel that same spirit in their blood!!

after our improvised "class", my friend hannah and i walked back to my apartment to decompress after the complete weirdness of the morning and get prepped for the argentina vs. spain soccer game. on sunday, i had spent the beautiful afternoon at the san telmo market in search of the perfect argentine jersey, eventually jumping on the lionel messi bandwagon and buying a standard #10 like, well, basically every other argentine alive. before the game, i went to a fun little previa (pregame) at my friend will's house along with some other georgetown and american students. no better way to start the afternoon than with empanadas and quilmes beer. since will lives a convenient five blocks from the stadium, we all walked over together and found our seats way up in the top section.
                    

the game ended up being a total and complete blowout, with argentina trumping the world champions 4-1. highlights can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cu-cISN08U. the goals were all pretty incredible, especially sergio agüero's header in the last minute of the game. the place was going wild!!! there is truly nothing like live soccer, especially with a bunch of argentine crazies. i can't wait to attend more games while i'm here, and will hopefully get to see the rivalry match between river plate (my host brother's main obsession in life) and boca juniors (diego maradona's team back in the day).  

fireworks after the win!! weeeee!!! 

i left the game in high spirits and in love. okay, exaggeration but i did develop several new crushes over the course of the game. for your eye candy enjoyment, i now present my new argentine obsessions. as i was explaining to my cousin jacqueline, after seeing the argentine national team, can anyone realllllyyyy blame me for abandoning america for the next few months?? like c'mon, get real people.

thursday night was probably the cherry topping off a ridiculously absurd and bizarre week here in buenos aires. several friends and i purchased tickets for a show called fuerza bruta that originated in argentina several years ago and currently features performances in multiple cities across the globe.
we REALLY didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. look at our innocent and clueless happy faces before the start of the show.

little did we know what was to come....... 

this completely strange and experimental performance was something that maybe i wouldn't be surprised to see in say, berlin, but buenos aires?? i definitely wasn't expecting the spectacle to come. basically, the one hour show was filled with experimental acrobatics and dancing, a musical mixture of african drumming and techno beats, a weird elevated slip and slide performance from the ceiling, and illusory stunts. it's kind of impossible to describe exactly what was going on and why, but the one thing i can say for sure is that fuerza bruta was surely entertaining to say the least.

perhaps the funnest part of the night was the ending....the show concluded with insane stunt where three actors jumped off a ledge and crashed through these cardboard boxes and started flying through the air (sound ridiculous?? yeah, it was). as if that wasn't enough, the staff then put on the rainworks, strobe lights, and some thumping techno music, inspiring a wet and crazy dance party. complete mosh pit. cheers to a great week!! i'm wiped and the weekend has barely even begun!!

my friend thomas pretty much sums up the moment  

me: the expression after your mind has been blown
and is still reeeeeling with confusion 

pasándola bieennniiiccceeee

in my typical procrastinating fashion, i have now been in the bustling city of buenos aires for a solid five weeks and am only now setting up my blog. not a huge shocker. i almost had to begrudgingly create a gmail account in order to do so, but managed to get around that by using the georgetown students helping honduras email address instead. googlybear80@yahoo.com will never die!! 


but anyway. i'm here and loving the endless sights, sounds, and sabores (that means tastes in spanish, dropping a little bilingual alliteration here) of this cosmopolitan city!! the past five weeks have definitely been a transition period but i am finally feeling completely settled in and loving my new life as a porteña (buenos aires-an??). 


for those who don't know, here's the basic deal: i am a spanish major at georgetown (along with english and anthropology..... the most impractical academic plan imaginable but i thoroughly love what i'm studying) and wanted the opportunity to fully immerse myself in the spanish language (which argentines actually refer to as castellano, don't you dare say español here) and realize my dreams of fluency. i spent two months in ecuador last summer as well as a week in honduras over spring break.....on both trips, i realized how important speaking spanish is to me and how much the world has opened for me because of my abilities. in both ecuador and honduras, i fell in love with the people and their culture. since those two unforgettable experiences, all i've wanted is to experience more of latin america. so here i am!! 


i've done and seen and experienced a ton in the past five weeks but here are the main highlights so far. in an un-sarah-like organized bullet fashion!!

• tango classssss. right now, i'm taking a weekly 2-hour class with some other american students.  our teacher looks exactly like benjamin bratt and enjoys making me dance in front of the entire class, whoopeee. the dance is a lot more formal and serious than i thought, but i absolutely love learning and gliding around the room. i've also been to a famous tango club called "la viruta" several times to watch the pros and take a stab myself. i've mastered the basic steps and am excited for the more complicated stuff in the near future. the absolute coolest part about tango is the shoes however, they are absolutely beautiful. unfortunately, i'm already a scandinavian ogre here in argentina and most of the men are my height or shorter so i'm not sure i will ever be able to wear them without towering over my partner. until i find a very tall argentine boy, converse and boots will just have to do!! 

getting some free tango lessons at la viruta!!

• one saturday afternoon, i attended a free outdoor concert of classical music conducted by world-famous argentine daniel barenboim. more than 50,000 people attended, the streets were absolutely packed!!! the orchestra played beethoven's fifth symphony, a beautiful piece of music for a beautiful day. the even more entertaining part of the afternoon however was what happened before the main event. with a little time to kill before meeting my friends for the show, i found an empty bench at the park near my house and spent some time writing in my journal. a guy several years older than me approached wanting a photo of him in from of teatro colón (yess, one of the best opera houses in the world looms one minute away from my apartment, no big deal) and then asked if he could join me on the bench. we started chatting and found out he was a student like me. i asked what exactly he was studying, but instead of a normal response, he spontaneously BUSTED OUT into a full-blown aria and serenaded me in front of the entire park, dramatic facial expressions and hand gestures to boot. apparently, he's an opera student!! 

• before the official start of classes, our entire group of american exchange students (120 in all!) headed out to the small town of san antonio de areco to experience the argentine gaucho culture. which, to sum up, was a giant meat-binge that i think i've had dreams about since then. at a typical cowboy estancia, we sat down for an incredible asado lunch of choripán (simple sausage sandwich which is absolutely divine and absolutely lethal on the arteries), empanadas, and then lots and lots and lots of steak. i was in heaven. afterwards, we were treated to a real gaucho rodeo-show which was truly amazing, my favorite event was a game called pato pobre where the horseback riders split into two teams and gallop around tossing this fake "duck" into the hoops on each side of the field. and when the "duck" falls onto the grass, a rider has to jump off his horse in the middle of crazy horses and collect it to restart the game. i was amazed no one got bucked in the face. i hope to return to las pampas region soon, the countryside was so tranquil and provided a nice change of scene from the hectic pace of buenos aires.

• this past weekend, several girls and i went to a professional production of beauty and the beast.....all in spanish!!!! the show featured the same caliber as anything on broadway, but for more than half the price. our fifteenth row seats cost a mere $35!!! i understood pretty much everything and loved hearing some of my favorite disney and broadway songs in my adopted language. it was also really interesting to compare the translations and see how the music and syllabification affected what spanish translations were chosen. watching the performance brought back great memories of when i saw beauty and the beast in los angeles many years ago with my family, i was probably five years old at the time. and obviously, i loved having an excuse to get all dressed up for the theater, argentines definitely go out in style here!!

• shockingly, school. i'm taking a total of four classes, two of which are in the study abroad headquarters with other american students (a general spanish class and then an anthropology class called "ethnicity and multiculturalism of argentina" which is absolutely fascinating) and another two classes at la universidad de buenos aires. which, to say the least, is perhaps the FURTHEST thing away from georgetown. a completely different world, but i absolutely love going to class because the mere experience of going constitutes a whole experience itself. unlike the bright white walls of georgetown classrooms that feature a crucifix in each one, the classrooms at UBA are decrepit, covered in hand-painted posters advertising political rallies and random student causes, and always overflowing with students (one day i arrived to class late because the trains broke down and had to take notes standing outside of the classroom). to call the place "liberal" would be a severe understatement. to give you an idea, the classroom where my latin american lecture takes place (for over 300 students) is literally called "ernesto che guevara classroom". to give you another idea, my class on monday will be canceled on monday due to the student strikes!! which are so common at UBA that they even have their own name: estudiantada. the different buildings get literally "taken over by students" protesting this and that. i got a warning email about the upcoming estudiantada from our study abroad advisor and i honestly imagined teacher hostages. not sure that i fit into the über-political and opinionated UBA-student stereotype, but i thoroughly enjoy watching them in action. 

in general, my favorite things about buenos aires thus far 

• the professional dog walkers that trek around the city with up to twelve fatties at a time!! twelve is the highest i have counted so far, 8-10 is usually the average. apparently there is an argentine law forbidding dog-walking groups of over fifteen. yes, they actually have to implement laws like that!! this city is very dog-friendly and people don't seem to mind the huge groups of dogs that completely take over the sidewalks every morning. so obviously, due to the huge amount of yellow labradors traipsing around buenos aires, i am constantly in a state of euphoria. 

• unlike in the states where we only have ridiculously expensive ghiradelli or ridiculously nasty hershey's cookies and cream, here in buenos aires the white chocolate is everywhere. perhaps my favorite snack from the kioscos to help tide me over before the argentine 10pm dinners!!! 

• the cozy bookstores that can be found on literally every corner of buenos aires. i love perusing the shelves and killing a little bit of time going through the different titles. some really cheap used copies!! although one thing i simply can't understand: despite the fact that che guevara is EVERYWHERE here (you literally can't walk anywhere without seeing some che image or poster or reference), for the life of me i cannot find the original motorcycle diaries with his writings about latin america!!! i've been to six different bookstores!! makes no sense. still on the lookout, i really want to read his early writings in spanish. 

• wine here is often served in adorable ceramic penguin pitchers (pingüinos!!!). with my american friends, we now refer to wine simply as pingüinos.....as in, "you wanna go out for some pingüino tonight??". even more wonderful, the wine in buenos aires is cheaper than water (literally....bottled mineral water goes for about 8pesos whereas delicious wine turns out to be about 6pesos, even less sometimes)!! my wallet is very grateful.

• i wouldn't say i necessarily like the argentine catcalls, but they are definitely entertaining. i knew it was time to finally buy a black coat when i passed a group of men and all they said was "ooooooo rojoooo" (red) in reference to my bright red peacoat. the typical porteño wardrobe consists of black, black, and more black. i guess my little splash of color was a little too spicy. another time, a guy at one of the newspaper kiosks loudly screamed "HI MY FRIENDD!!!" in atrocious english for everyone to hear. some girls get offended by the constant piropo comments, others like the attention, but for me i just find them all really funny. like the time i passed a boy in the park and he started singing james blunt's "you're beautiful" on his imaginary air guitar for me. 

• dulce de leche. obvi. there is nothing better than this thick, rich caramel spread, which i love with bananas or any type of cookie. fortunately, my host family has still not caught me sneaking spoonfuls straight out of the jar (a daily ritual of mine) but respects my full-blown addiction to this argentine staple. 

• the café culture here is unlike anything i've ever seen. like the bookstores, on any given block you will pass a MINIMUM of four cafés, which become packed around 5pm for the daily merienda, usually a cup of tea or espresso shot accompanied by medialuna croissants or other delicious, carb-y and sugary treats. i've definitely racked up my fair share of hours and pesos in the many different coffee shops of buenos aires, i'll never be able to test them all. i miss MUG (a tiny coffee kiosk where i work back at georgetown), but am getting plenty of coffee fixes here in buenos aires. fret not. argentines like their caffeine strong. there is DEFINITELY nothing like my sugared-up personal coffee creation back at home: half milk, half iced coffee, and a million pumps of vanilla syrup. thus, i'm learning to suck it up and take my coffee like a real coffee drinker!!! hence the background photo of this blog!!! 

soooo, that's a general snapshot and summary of the past few weeks!! much, much more to come, no worries!! keep checking when you feel like doing some sarah stalking. for a quick side-note, at this exact moment, my kooky and adorable host mom patricia is in the family room painting with her friend pablo and belting out "memory" from the broadway production of cats. true story. also in the painting-sesh playlist: "splish splash i was taking a bath" from the first airbud film. home stays are the best. don't know why my mom was ever worried.