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I promised to write some updates in English, so if there are any English-speaking readers out there, here you go!
Its been almost a month since I arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and so far life here has treated me good. Espen and I got help from Argentine friends to find an apartment, and we're staying in Palermo viejo, or more precise, Palermo Hollywood. The metro and train station is just two blocks away, and the avenida Santa Fe with all its stores and what not, is also close. Our neighborhood feels really safe, and we have tons of restaurants, stores, cafes and bares close.
I'll be starting university on Monday, and I'm looking forward to it. I'll be studying at a public university, about 30 minutes traveling time from the apartment. My classes will be mainly within the fields of anthropology, comparative politics and sociology. The university have around 15 000 students and this semester only 25 of these are exchange students. The majority of these are from other Latin American countries, so I'll really get a chance to practice and improve my Spanish.
The whole experience here in Buenos Aires has been very relaxed so far, we've had really great weather and because of this, we've been a bit lazy. The first two weeks we had about 38 degrees centigrade, and it was humid and just generally so different from the Norway we left (with its -8 degrees...), that we didn't do much. We've come to know the neighborhood of Palermo pretty good, and we've also visited San Telmo, Puerto Madero and Microcentro. We've walked a lot, used the metro-system, the buses and the taxis.
Because of the warm and humid weather we had, we wanted to leave the city (as all the normal porteños does in the summer months), but it turned out to be rather difficult, as most of the rooms at the beaches were already booked. Therefore we ended up traveling inland, spending 3 nights in Colonia Carlos Pellegrini, a small town in the middle of the Esteros del Iberá Natural Reserve. After four wonderful, peaceful days there, with horseback riding, a boat trip and several hikes, along with friendly people, we went to Iguazú, where we enjoyed the natural beauty of the waterfalls. The bus back to Buenos Aires took 17 hours, and we treated ourselves with the first class bus, with seats declining 180 degrees, 3 meals with alcohol and private TV with 20 movies to choose from. That makes 17 hours go much faster than the normal bus, and it was only about 30 dollars more which seems like nothing when we're talking about a nights normal sleep.
Safely back in BA we haven't been in any train accidents, nor have we been robbed, and all our hopes and plans for the next 10 months are all about studying and improving the language, getting to know the city and its people, and enjoying Argentina.
Lots of love,
Maren Anneth
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