viviendo

hi!

i'm gonna try something new and categorize all the things i've been up to in these past two weeks.

OBLIGATIONS:
ha. as if..
but actually though last week we did indeed have one very, very important task, all sarcasm aside. IMMIGRATION... gasp. it was pretty rough. cassidy and i had appointments at the same time so we made the trek together, two connecting subte rides and a confusing cab ride away. pros: we got to skip our argentine history class. cons: the warehouse looking establishment seemed to be low on oxygen and smelled of vomit. we waited for an hour, submitted our photo and forms, waited another hour and paid 500 pesos, then another 30 minutes for a little piece of paper. we finally were freed and continued with our duty free life!

HOMEFRONT:

honestly couldn't be better! here at Aguilar 2190, elena, mimi and i are doing great. we have decided to turn over a new leaf and become super organized, put together betches. so far that just hasn't really happened.. well i did clean my room (with a little help from our maid)! also, after scouring my local Disco grocery store, I found PASTA DE MANI (natural peanut butter)!! here in argentina, the magical goo that is crushed peanuts and salt just is not a thing. they do, however, have an entire aisle dedicated to dulce de leche alone! priorities, people. here's the happiest breakfast i've had in weeks: 

except to be honest the pb here is almost a liquid.. eh. As for my original home front, I was so happy to be able to facetime with so many of my homies this week! I surprised my sweet Granna & Papa with a call - Papa got a hipster haircut, you know, the kind with longer hair on top and shaved on the sides, LOL! They were babysitting my sweet puppy Pip so I got to see all three of my favorites! Last night, I facetimed my brother, just in case he forgot what I look like. aren't we cute?? 

and of course, i talk to my mom and dad frequently as well. in a month we'll be chillin in mendoza!! can't come any faster. To continue the chronicles of neely living with her worst allergy, here's a loving family photo of me and mimi... update: she enjoys sitting on my shoulders while i walk around - yesterday morning she scratched me SO HARD that i thought i might become some sort of mutant superhero.. catwoman II? but alas, I remain in the same form, with just a bit of cat DNA in my bloodstream. thanks, cat.

But speaking of communicating with my memphians, I GOT SNAIL MAIL PART II!!!!! my wonderful best friend/neighbor/cousin (?) Hannah sent me the sweetest letter all the way from Fort Worth! When I get letters sent to the house, Miguel the doorman hands it to Elena, who takes it and runs (literally) around the whole house yelling "CORREOOOOOOOS!!" (letters!!) If you liked Blues Clues' 'mail time,' you would LOVE Elena. Who doesn't love mail, though? Be expecting some un-monogrammed letters soon, friend! (why am i so weird)

THE CITAYYY

SPRING HAS SPRUNG PEOPLE. and not a moment too soon. I'm a pretty shitty photographer but check these out - we have a park in belgrano pretty close to cass' house that's full of people playing with their pups, picnicking, and most importantly, drinking mate tea. The beautiful warm weather is finally upon us!!! stay tuned for the purple flowers bloomin on the trees that canopy over the old cobblestoned streets.. ah, basking in the beauty. maybe i'll come home not looking like a total ghost?? o and yes, I am indeed representing all y'all fellow cowboy boot wearers down here. 

  

As for BsAs' economy, take a look at the front page of Clarín last week.

to translate, the exchange rate via the blue/slightly illegal rate has increased to 15 pesos per $1 USD. dang. keep in mind that when we got here it was barely at 12 pesos. this is madness. although i am at the benefitting side of this, I still pray for this city, this country, and all the citizens during this instability. and yes, they are blaming the "vultures" of the USA for not letting them pass go & collect (much more than) $200 post-default. Goodness. If only my friendly neighborhood exchangers would accept ANY of my american bills - they're pretty picky about bills that aren't crispy, or bills that are tainted with any visible tear or pen markings. sheesh.

SCHOOL:

I passed my Argentine history exam!! Yahoo!! Cass and I had another exam on Tuesday in 'History of the Ideas and Processes of Argentina.' Oh, how we studied, and oh, how we ROCKED IT! Leaving that classroom at 9pm has never felt so glorious, let me tell you. We even celebrated our hard work paying off by sharing a bag of peanut M&Ms, which to our dismay only yielded about 8 pieces. My favorite class is on Thursdays from 3-5:30. I love it because our teacher is not only super chill/lets us out early, but also because he takes us to museums and treats us to coffee! This Thurs we went to the MALBA, the modern art museum. We had to pick one piece to write about for homework due next Thursday. I picked this one - it has a real live aquarium in it, which is pretty cool for a piece painted in 1968! it's gotten pretty nasty since i've last seen it... SMH malba workers...

I really liked our museum trip though, because cass/jordan/i decided to lunch beforehand in their adorable yet swanky cafe. a caprese salad and two bottles of chardonnay later... we were extra ready to enjoy the art :) Our professor is such a sweetheart and took our whole class for coffee and sweets afterward.. in the same cafe.. with the same wait staff that just laughed at the three us for returning so quickly.

SOMETHING NEW:

So for the first time in Argentina, I got a mani pedi! Pretty exciting, right?? It was delightfully cheap, just 20 american bucks. It was also kind of terrifying: my nail technician put a POWER TOOL to my feet... as if they were that bad!

See that magazine i'm reading? It's called Hola. It's the biggest, most legit magazine Argies read. I opened it up, expecting to see the lady president doing something lavishly annoying, or maybe even that hunky actor everyone loves. What i actually saw was far cooler: MY COUSINS!! what the f?? Here they are, Rachel, left, and Molly right, sandwiching Molly's pal, business partner, and birthday girl Hilary Swank. Why I can't be as cool as them... argentine magazine, seriously??

Another cool thing we tried out this weekend was Thursday night. After our predictable pregame at ex-pat owned Magdalena's, along with a couple creepy encounters with some older men, our friends Ben and Ponzi joined us to San Telmo, home of the Sunday street fair and the HIP HOP CLUB! It was so cool y'all. I felt like I was in a movie- a mass of dudes dressed as thugs (or maybe they are real thugs, but who's to say) formed a circle for a dance-off. Some of these guys had some serious moves, from smooth footwork to head spins! Definitely a different way to spend the night/morning.

That's just about all the news I've got for y'all today. I'm about to go to spin class (which is pretty much the same anywhere in the world). Keep in touch, people! Love you all!

besos!

happy monday to you and you and you

me again, comin atcha live from my pink twin bed!

I don't have anything really specific to report but I thought I'd update.

This past week flew by so quickly. On Monday we spent all day studying for our Historia de la Argentina midterm, for which I believe I studied adequately, but that remains to be seen. Our classroom on the third floor (really the 4th but their 1st floor is their 0th floor) has white tile floors, cream colored walls that could use a re-paint job, a chalkboard in the front of the room with a table/desk for our professor who really just prefers to wander about the room and lecture. It's fantastically old school. The small, wooden desks are engraved with the clever musings of students past. Above the chalkboard is a small wooden cross. I can almost hear the nuns slapping wrists with rulers....almost. 

Our class is divided; half of the students are porteños and the other half are we Americans. The Argies had a harder exam than we did, thank the lawd.. but they were both in the same format. Profe Nuñez stood at the front of the room and listed three questions/themes for us to talk about. Unfortunately, as a result of the language barrier and his horrible mumbling problem, I mistook "Agroexportador" for simply "portador," which means "carrier," so I can only imagine his reaction to my 3/4 page of complete BS. At least I had the right answer on the previous page... Oops... lo siento, soy Americana...?? 

After that, I once again returned to the life of no obligations. Oh, what a sweet life it is! This weekend, my beautiful friend Nikki came to visit BA with some of her Valpo Chile frandssss. She's the best! We all hung out and explored the bar scene this weekend. One of my favorites was Ferona, a closed-door bar that used to be a big house with a bar/chill-zone on the first floor and a big dance flo on the 2nd. Here's Jordan and I snacking on some carnations for your enjoyment:

On Saturday, I finally met up with Seth Carson, my fellow Memphian, who is here for the semester through NYU! We caught up over a bottle of vino tinto and some queso, of course. No better way to pass the time, amirite? He should consider being a cheese model, no? Love ya buddy.

I find myself spending a lot of time at home. I love to go out and I love some good 'splorin, but Elena is such good company and with the recent rainy, yucky weather, I've really enjoyed my down time during the day just watching the rain from my bedroom window/door. The only way that those moments would be more enjoyable is if I weren't allergic to the 14 year old feline monster that is Mimí... the dang thing is in love with me!! She waits on me to open my door in the mornings, then waits on my bed while I'm eating my breakfast. When I return, she makes her move. "RAAAYR!!!" is all I hear before my life flashes before my eyes and she is hanging on my neck like a scarf... except this scarf breathes too loudly and has ten claws digging into my skin... más Benadryl por favor? If you don't believe me, here we are just before a catnap... ~besties~

Today I let myself sleep in, as usual, until noon. After I bought myself some new tennishoes aka zapatillas, I hit ze gym. If any of you are looking for a new workout regimen, I highly recommend "Way of Gray." It's a $10 eBook with a month's worth of intense HIIT workouts, along with a healthy food shopping list. I'm happy to have found Sophie Gray on instagram because she's super cute and motivates me to keep moving every time I check my feed. I will refrain from showing my embarrassing post-workout "i wanna die is this the end someone help uuuuuuuuuggg" selfies.. lol. Although being abroad calls for lots of good times and indulgences, it's important to remember that this isn't a 5 month long vacation! (although don't be mistaken, i'm still totally living the dream). 

Cassidy and I met up at Le Pain Quotdien for a healthy lunch. I've been craving avocado toast forever, which is really just not a thing in Argentina (along with brewed coffee, ice water, salad dressing and soft cookies... hashtag sacrifice). Anyway, today I asked the waiter if I could order the serrano ham/tomato/avocado toast without the jamón serrano. Of course he looked at me with a pensive, shocked face and said no, because let's be honest, special orders are sooOooOooOoo American. One way or another, I got my toast (the delicious instagram version):

even if it cost me 90 pesos of "innovation" ...... (proof that foodstagrammers are full of shit):

Today was finally gorgeous after LOTS of lluvia (rain) this weekend. Ever had one of those days when you're walking on the same street, going in the same direction, just like you always do, but it all looks totally different and new?? ...No? Just me?... lol. Well either way, that was definitely me on my way home today. I was walking and thought, when did that cafe get there?? Since when was it two blocks from my house? I love that I'm constantly discovering and falling in love over and over again with this place. It's days like these that remind me how God has blessed me with the most incredibly cool opportunities throughout my life, especially in the past few years. Speaking of which, how cute is the Pope??? I just love him. Coolest Argentine in my book!

translation: Lord, make me an instrument of your Peace.

I hope this post has been a little more pleasant on the eyes with my pics jejeje~~~

For your entertainment, here's my awkward moment of the day: who can come up with a more appropriate caption for this photo because I'm really at a loss for words . . . . ? (frank's is actually a really cool speakeasy that requires a secret password upon entering. snooty mixologists in suspenders making delectable concoctions. more info next time).

Annnnnnnnd that's really about it! I hope you all are having a marvelous Monday!

BESOS Y'ALL

:)

21

hi everybody!
sorry it's been a while.. too busy havin fun!

Yesterday was my 21st birthday. i really cannot believe how quickly time has flown by! unfortunately, due to a tennis ball to the eye, my poor daddy-o damaged his retina the night before my parents were supposed to fly over to me for my birthday week. because of this, they were not able to be with me on my big day, which sucks. howeverrrrr, they are looking into rebooking ASAP so we can taste wine and frolic in Arg's wine country, Mendoza! Slurrrrrrrrp.

It's super weird and sad not being with my family on my birthday, but I have the next best thing - Elena. Although I've only known her for a month and a half, we have become so close and I feel like she's been in my family for my entire life. She put together a mini Ladies' Night for us, Cassidy and Jordan, my babes. Seriously I'm so lucky to have made two awesomely wonderful, caring friends that I can hang out with when we get back to the US of A as well! :) #blessed, yall.

feliz cumple! 21 años! que sigas siendo tan buena y linda. un gran abrazo, elena //// happy birthday!! 21 years! Here's to you staying  just as wonderful and beautiful forever. A big hug, Elena. (tears)

This weekend has been so fun - we started celebrating on Friday - we went to one of our favorite spots, Magdalena's Party. It's an ex-pat owned brunch spot by day and a fun bar by night. We love it not only because they speak English and have decent drink specials, but also because they are the only ones in this country that understand what a vodka soda is! (whitegirls of the world, you may now gasp!) Weirdly enough, we ended up sitting with two Argentine men who were super nice and interesting.. one owns two hotels in the city and we ended up going to check out the terrace on the roof of his Palermo b&b. Not too shabby. Free cider didn't hurt either. Although Triste (hotel owner's nickname) kindly offered to throw me a party on the roof, we didn't make that one happen. Y'all should have seen their faces when we told them we were 20... and then ours when they told us they're 30 & 34.. LOL.

Anyways, after that lovely immersion experience we got home at the average hour of 05:00. Saturday was the real celebration. In preparation I bought myself PLATAFORMAS!!!! They're so beautiful... :')

I was going to take my parents to a puerta cerrada (closed door/secret restaurant) for dinner and decided to keep the res and bring bae 1 and bae 2 instead. This one is called Casa Felix. It's owned by a couple and the restaurant is actually their apartment decorated so adorably with colorful, rustic antique furniture and lit by lanterns. They focus on fresh, local ingredients (even herbs from their garden) and serve pescatarian (did i spell that right) dishes. Kind of refreshing in the country of carne, carne and more carne. Good lawd was it good. But demasiado! There were like 10 courses, más o menos. Not to mention some damn good wine pairings. I guess the three of us like food sometimes..

So after the fantastic meal we shared, we set out for Sugar Bar, home of the 75 peso jarra (pitcher.. tryna teach yall some español you're welcome) of vodka lemonade. Splendlidly deadly. Sugar bar (another American spot but I promise we go to cool argie places too) (i use too many parentheses) (sorry) is in Palermo too, just like every other establishment to which we give our business. It's dark in there, with some red lighting.. very punk rock. They play AC/DC music videos on a projector, which of course the inner rocker in me loves. jeje. We sat at a table with all of our guy friends from Tulane who never fail to make me laugh until tears form. Although turning 21 without my family and closest friends was daunting, I had the best company I could have asked for!

Although this morning was a bit of a struggle bus situation, the evening made up for it x10000000 because of LADIES NIGHT III :) ! We had malbec, yummy salad, the best empanadas you will put in your mouth in this entire country, and of course a cake. Actually 2 cakes, thank you friends. The 4 of us got along swimmingly, even Mimí joined the party for a while. Before Elena brought out the delicious tres leches cake, she cut the lights and played a birthday song sung by the minions of Despicable Me!! The cake was adorable - she decorated it with chocolate covered espresso beans, some sparkly decorations and a neon-rainbow"21" candle. When she brought it out, she sang "Happy Birthday" in English. Of course, my heart melted. In that moment, I really thought I was going to burst into tears. That woman would walk to Patagonia and back for me if I asked her to. In that moment I was just so overwhelmed by her love and so happy that she filled in the shoes of my sad mama 5k miles away! Like I said, Ladies' Night just can't be topped. I'm in good hands, y'all.

I know in my last post I mentioned a parilla and never posted about it but i didn't take any pics so you'll have to wait til next week when my lovie friend NIKKI comes to visit from Chile!!!!!!! Yay!!! This week will be super wonderful after we get through our first midterm on Tuesday.. pray for us. Much studying to do! Weeeeeeeee.....


Anywaysssss, I'm super thankful and humbled by all yall's well-wishes and embarrassing pics (lol) today and I send ALL of my love and care from my little casa to yours! I'm one lucky gal.

besos xoxo