The weather is warming up, the trees are budding 🌴and things have mostly settled into a routine in the last few weeks. Classes were mellow and easy at first, but this week, all of my professors assigned projects, essays and research. 🤣📚

Last week, the class took an urban arts tour in the Old City and learned the history of Teatro Solís, the oldest theater in South America. There is a lot of graffiti in the downtown area, but some of it is really artistic and beautiful. 🤩

Teatro Solis 🩰

House Party 🎉🥳

I accompanied my host mom’s son to a very lively birthday/house party one night where the ladies were all dressed in black leather, they served black cake on the dance floor, and they had a fog machine, two giant speakers and several strobe lights.

Feria 🍎🥕

I shopped at a local market (feria) which occurs every week and has a ton of fresh fruits, veggies, cheeses and several food trucks.

Fútbol! ⚽️

This weekend, I attended a fútbol (soccer) game, which was my first semi-professional soccer experience and I was surprised to learn that both teams have a band that plays music and drums throughout the game. There were some VERY spirited fans who sat behind us and I learned several choice cuss words during the game. 😆🤣🤭

I’ve also had a chance to try some tasty food, including fried empañadas, churros and alfajores (cookies). My host mom also buys this really delicious tortillas papas dish which is like a potato pie with ham and cheese and veggies. 😋

Challenges 🤪

I’ll be honest, since I’ve only had a year of formal Spanish in the recent past, it’s still really challenging to understand people speaking Spanish. I’ve been listening to podcasts in Spanish (even when I don’t understand them), watching English movies that I know well in Spanish, and listening to Spanish music. I’m learning a ton of new words and have expanded my vocabulary, but this week, I definitely felt the isolation of living in a Spanish speaking country. I’ve missed the ease with which I went about my daily life in the U.S. without having to think about language. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Anyway, I thought I’d share the good alongside the not so good 😬 and this week was particularly trying for me. Next week will be full with school work, but then we’re taking a trip to both Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls in Argentina, so something to look forward to. 🎉 Thanks for following along! ☺️