Who goes to class?

Apparently not me. I just got home from an epic fracaso (fail) in which I had written down the wrong address to attend at class at University of Buenos Aires that I'm not even going to take, spent 40 minutes getting there only to learn by way of a locked door that I hadn't read my email well enough. I proceeded to get more lost on my way home. From start to finish I was out of the house for 2 hours, the duration of my class, so it's kind of like I went.

But actually: Classes started this week. Some of them. I have a real class at UBA-Latin American Literature of the 20th century-on Monday and Thursday nights, except that doesn't start until March 28th. So yesterday I had my first class about community service. I think it will be interesting but being the first day of class all we did was introduce ourselves. Yesterday afternoon I was supposed to have my Spanish class-Argentine Fiction-but that class doesn't start for another week or so. I DO have class tomorrow-"Cuestiones Culturales"-for three hours, and then my LA Lit class which won't be meeting. My mom and dad are quite happy they're paying for my "education" right now. Except that I'm learning so much outside of the classroom that my time here is already invaluable. Aaawwww.

In other news, I've booked my flight for Santiago, Chile to visit Laura, my roommate of freshman, sophomore and next year. I'm going in the beginning of April, and I snagged a sick deal on my plane ticket. More importantly, we're going to the Lollapalooza music festival and then we're running a 10k together in the Santiago Marathon!

And in just slightly less exciting news, I've finally developped a taste and stomach for maté, the traditional tea of Argentina. It's bitter but used in social situations so the other day when I was handed the maté (also the name for the container) by a host-family-friend, I couldn't say no. It has caffeine but is better for you than coffee, so now I want it all the time. However, I think it's kind of like alcohol in that if you drink it alone you have problems.

This is mate. I didn't take this picture:

Finally: I can't believe I'm saying this but I feel like I'm eating too much sugar. Aside from tons and tons of meat, the second most popular food here seems to be anything sweet, like pastries, ice cream, cookies, candies, DULCE DE LECHE...you get it. And so of course I love it. Except that I'm eating a lot of it and recently I've been getting lightheaded in the evenings, I think from all the sugar. So I'm going to try for a few days to abstain from cookies, cakes, ice creams and other treats. I'll probably forget tomorrow morning and just completely fail, but if I succeed I think I'll be feeling much better.

10 pages is so much reading,
Rachel