I’m exhausted.  I just finished a 5-day trip to Bariloche, a small mountain town in western Argentina.  Now I’m riding back to Buenos Aires on a bus through the Andes and I can’t stop taking pictures of the spectacular mountains and unusual rock formations.  It’s a 22-hour bus ride, but I’m not complaining because but this bus is far superior to a Greyhound and the scenery is unbeatable.  My seat is as comfortable as Lazy Boy chair, and a man just brought around ham and cheese crescent rolls…mmm.

The trip was great.  I went with a group of five other Americans and we stayed in a really nice hostel.  We were able to snowboard, kayak, and take an incredible hike.  Walking through the town of Bariloche was also cool.  The town is next to a massive lake that is surrounded by snow-capped mountains.  The locals were relaxed, friendly, and much easier to understand than the fast-talking city-folk of Buenos Aires.

Before my trip I spent 6 days in Buenos Aires, and I can tell I will love the city.  I live in a student residence with about half local and half international students.  My roommates are Philip, an economics student from Germany, and Evan, a linguistics student from New Orleans.  Three people makes it kind of crowded in our small room, but I think we will get a long really well.

The residence is really nice.  The basement has a pool table, ping-pong table, big-screen TV, and some workout equipment.  There’s a small restaurant/cafeteria on the first floor where two chefs make excellent food.  There’s a standard menu of local food, but everyday there’s a different “plata del dia” that I always get.  They make great flan, a light kind of pudding, with some caramel-looking stuff called dulce de leche.

My classes start on Monday and although going to class isn’t my favorite thing to do, I think it will be good to get into a regular schedule.  Stay tuned for more about Buenos Aires and how classes are going!