GO BIG or go home!

So, last week (by week I mean, you know, not the weekend, and by weekend, I mean Jueves-Domingo!woo!) was pretty rough. Classes were awkward, I was awkward, I showed up to buildings completely lost, showed up for class that starts in two weeks, and showed up for a class that wasn't mine and had to run back down corrientes and ayacucho to get to the right class. Pretty embarrassing, Alex King and Elizabeth were in that class and had good laugh at my not being in the right place, I would've laughed too any other time, except I had already been too confused and frustrated with classes to actually laugh. On top of that, I was feeling pretty homesick. Well, I guess I would, with all the frustrating things and scariness of starting school for the first time, worse than the first time I actually started college, because now I don't have my family 20 minutes away to run to on the weekends if I need something. Hell, I don't even have my mom to pick me up along with Memi to get some dim sum.

But, at 7:30 on Thursday, when I was finally done with my three classes for that day, I was ready to forget about this rough start of classes. I called up Natasha and the gals, but they wanted to rest up and then go out later that night, to the drag show/club that we didn't go to last week. So I tried sleeping with no success. But whatevs, I got ready and headed over to Elizabeth's, then to Natasha. We met up with Alex and Katy at Plaza Serrano, as always. We sat outside of Tazz, as always, but this time our waiter was the short guy with dreds and a strokes tshirt! Yay! haha So we hung out there for a while, then finally headed over to Niceto Vega where the drag show was supposed to happen. By that time the girls needed a restroom run badly, so while Alex and Katy stayed in line for the club, Natasha, Elizabeth and I ran across the street and ducked into a bar to use their restroom. But Natasha and I felt bad and decided to buy a drink from the very cute bartender. haha yeah we finished that quick and ran back across the street to find Alex right in front of the window, so we paid our fee and got in. It was another very huge club and the theme that night was KISS, you know, the band, the one I saw when I was in 4th grade, when I first smelled pot? Yeah, that KISS. So there were guys and gals dressed up KISS style and like Amerika, the other club, tons of platforms and different levels, but we just stayed on the main floor. It was pretty fun, lots of electronic music as always, but suddenly in the middle of dancing I realized that I really was still hurt from the break with Eli, to the point where I kinda felt broken inside. It was frustrating. Whatever, but when we got out of the club, I talked to Natasha and Katy about it and felt better to vent. They're amazing girls, I love them so much!

Friday, didn't get to sleep in much because my host mom was in the living room talking to the new maid she was thinking about hiring. It's so weird having a maid, I can't get used to it. But yeah, I was wearing my crazy colored pjs that Auntie Irma gave me and when I went to the living room to saludar, the girl was looking at me like I was crazy, I felt so awkward. So I got ready, ran some errands, then walked to the park to read. I didn't even realize that I had a park like 3 blocks away, good to know though. Minus the mosquitos, it's a great location to study, sadly no tennis courts though. It's pretty frustrating that the only tennis courts I've seen are in clubs, so there are no public ones for use. boo!

Later on that night, I was still feeling kinda bad, a skype convo with Eli didn't help, but it's a good thing Natasha called me and wanted to do something, because I might have just stayed inside and cried. But it's a great thing I went out because it was one of the funnest nights so far. She and I agreed we didn't want to party just chill and she suggested La Peña del Colorado, a mate bar/ folk music lounge/cafe that we had heard great things about. We got there and were laughing and being ourselves, to the point that a family changed tables to get away from us. Gah, it's really annoying when people react like that to laughter. That's the usual reaction I get from people when they hear me laughing in public places, but I guess more than one person is too unbarable for people, so they moved. Whatever, it cleared up space for Elizabeth, Katy, Kris, and Trish to come and sit with us later. As we waited for them, Natasha ordered helado (ice cream) and I got a crepe with dulce de leche and a scoop of helado. It was AMAZING! The atmosphere was great too! Like a little cave, very rustic feel. While we waited, there wasn't live music, just the stereo. But after everyone showed up, we saw that random guys were busting out their acustic guitars and chatting and strumming at their tables. One walked past and tried a line on Natasha, asking if it was she who ordered wine and then invited her to drink with him at his table. She declined. Then we noticed that that guy went back to his table and he started talking with his friends and then they were pointing. I love how guys over here are not subtle at all, they were of course saying that we were americans and a different guy came over to our table and started talking in English, saying he was fluent and proceeded to ask all of us where we were from. After chatting it up, he also invited us to their table, promising to play some amazing Argentine folk music for us.

This time, we decided to say yes and made our way towards the stage, where their table was. They started playing Argentine songs first, then asked us for requests. One guy played "Under the Bridge", I wanted to cry! It's totally my song and I always tend to hear it on KROQ while driving between Oxy and home, gah, it made me miss home for a few minutes! But it was such a great feeling of hospitality that night, it helped me forget about my homesickness. Trish was sitting on the other end of the table, talking to this cute old man who later shared his mate and food with us, he was the sweetest! The guys continued to play amazing songs, it was great. Of course, sometimes a few of them would gaze longingly at Natasha, sometimes just grossly staring at her. But as the night when on, Natasha, Katy and I got to have a convo with two of the guys, it was fun. We learned that they were from el interior, outside of the city. The old man, Jorge, explained to me that lots of interior guys hang out there as a sort of home away from home. He told me that he always hangs out there, usually til it closes at 7 am. It was great. One of those guys gave his contact info to Natasha and said we should all go out to eat and dance sometime. It was nice to have a conversation and get to know people and get to know a very homie, chill place.

I slept in on Saturday, basically chilled indoors all day because it was hot and rainy. Gah, sometimes I think I should go outside in the day more often, but that's what the week is for! haha So I had texted Cecilia on Friday night, she was the girl I met last weekend at the rooftop party. She had said she knew of a free club with 80's and indie music so I wanted to check in with her and get that stuff arranged. Plus, I wanted to see if she'd bring along her friend Zelmar (z not s like I thought) would come along too, hehe. So I texted her the names of me and my friends so we could be on the list. Saturday, I looked at the website and it looked amazing. At 10ish, I met up with Katy, Kris and Trish downtown. They ate and I joined them. Then we went over to a kiosco that had tables and a mini cafe and enjoyed some quilmes before the club. We played some drinking games and giggled at our uncoordinated movements and forgetfulness after a while. I texted a few people to see their wherabouts...then we walked over to the club to meet Cecilia and also Nicolas, one of the other guys I met at the party last weekend.

There was confusion about the time that the club opened, it was daylight savings time. But we ran into more of our friends along the way and we got there for the second time and found Cecilia. She really is the sweetest person. We chatted it up as we waited for it to open, which it finally did around 2am, yeah, we got in free! It was pretty empty because it was still early. There were two floors, but only the top, main floor was open for the mean time. Initially they played the usual electronic music, which was alright. Then they started to mix it up, played a little Does it Offend You, Yeah?, Hot Chip, and MGMT. In the mean time, Zelmar showed up! hehe I said hello, you know the argentine way, which I love because it's besos all around. He was his usual awkward self. He would occasionally offer me some of his drink, then I saw him talking with Cecilia and he turned to me, and was like, "Ok I'm going to try this..." then he asked in English "So are you having fun?" hehehe it was really cute. He said he didn't speak any English but yeah, idk, maybe just trying to impress? haha I wish... yeah I said yeah. And was like, "Vos?" But I already knew the answer, the complete lack of punk music until that point already told me the answer. He said it was alright and hoped they would change it up soon.
Haha ok, so my fear with this kid is that he's going to think I'm a complete poser. Why you ask? Because I made myself out to be some crazy punk fan the first time we talked, but really, I love SLC Punk and know some bands, but that's about it. I don't even know how I know what I know, I guess a combo of Robert's punk phase in high school, where he introduced Rancid, the Specials, the Misfits and Rudimentary Peni to me. Maybe some of the boys from middle skill, with their circle jerks and dead kennedy's. Or maybe it was Mr. Goldstein and his old school punk life prior to becoming a teacher. Idk, but it fascinates me, but I am no punk but can fake it for like, one convo. hahaha

Anyways, they opened up the bottom floor and it was complete heaven for me. They blasted the The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, some 80's including the cure and others, it was absolutely amazing. I had a blast skanking to the songs and in my own little Strokes heaven, never did I imagine listening to the Strokes at a club, it was perfection for me! It was indescribable. Anyways, so I was in my own little world, really, what happened around me didn't matter at that point, it was lik a natural high, probably my fav. point of this trip so far, because I'm not gonna lie, I also chose BsAs for the music, their love of rock and the possibility of expanding my musical interests. hahahaha great decision right? I love how that was a factor, but hey, it was perfect, right? Yeah so I was dancing in my own world when someone grabs my wrist and then I realize there's some guy asking if he could dance with me, and I'm sitting there thinking, "How nice of you to ask before you grab my wrist and whisk me out of my own personal euphoria!" and I told him know but he didn't let go, he kept grabbing my hands, I kept saying no and had to knudge him away. I know, whatevr, it's just dancing but one, I came to have fun and listen to amazing music with my friend and two, the guys here are too aggresive, they quickly move on from dancing, I'm sorry but I didn't want some random stranger in my face.

After a while I had to take a break which was good because I spotted Zelmar creeping by the sides. haha, so I walked on over to him and chatted it up. Then he asked "Y que te parece los chicos argentinos?" "So what do you think of the argentine boys?" and I told him "Son muy agresivos" which he interpretted in a violent way, so I had to explain that I referred more to my personal space and that being violated when these boys wont leave me be and grab me when I'm dancing. I told him that I thought some Argentine boys seem to think that we "Americans" are easy. Then he said that it probably isn't because they think we're easy, but that they just see the possibility as a way of enacting a fantasy of being with a foreigner. Then awkward silence and then he walked away. hahaha it's so funny, he always walks away. At first I thought it was because I was being too boring, but he does it a lot, he does it with Cecilia, he's just awkward. haha whatevs, I like it, I prefer awkward over aggresive any day, plus he seems very pensive and thoughtful, clubs are just not a great place for conversing.

So me and my friends went between floors for the rest of the night. They began to play more argentine songs, which was fun, everyone in the club knew the lyrics and then they'd stop the music and everyone would be screaming the words. Oh yeah, in our floor hopping, we ran into that kid Garret from the party last weekend, it was crazy! Such a small world, we didn't invite him, we don't even have his contact info. So we danced more and Cecilia tried to get Zelmar to dance, a no-go. But mostly everyone had left and me and my friend Molly were feeling tired, so we said bye to Zelmar and Cecilia (who made a hang gesture to call her, she's so sweet!) and then Nicolas walked us to our colectivo stop. We were dead tired on the busride home, but it was so worth it. Got home around 6/7 am again. haha

The next day was BEAUTIFUL! And I finally had an amazing feeling and love for the city. I walked to a kiosco and a bought more minutes for my phone and texted Natasha, who agreed to go to the botanical gardens with me. The temperature was PERFECT!!!! It finally cooled down, it wasn't humid and there as a breeze. Plus I had this wonderful feeling running through me, I was really happy! We met up outside her place and walked to the park. Then we caved and did our usual trip to San Telmo to enjoy the artesanos and the random drum circles in the street. On the subte, Natasha and I enjoyed this group of guys with dreds and other scruffy style... haha we have such similar taste. We were all headed to Defensa, so we walked near them for a while. They seemed like a fun group of kids. haha I'm such a weirdo, I guess since I dont have my group of friends like I do at home, it's nice to freeload off the silliness of other kids. Anyways, I quickly caved and bought a beautiful scarf for 10 pesos, so like 3 dollars. It's gorgeous. I was still running on my natural high then. We stopped at a cafe and had te con leche and then continued, admiring all the beautiful things we wanted to buy but probably should wait for. Then we ran into the same Brazilian drum circle we saw two weekends ago. We were dancing outside the circle, just having a good time then one of the drummers starts to pull us and two other girls into the circle. Ok, so I like having my own little space, but I don't do on the spot in front of everyone. It was so intense, I was in the middle of drum circle dancing, scary! Not something for everyone to watch, but yeah, I guess it was fun. Then it turned to night quickly and we realized we were dead tired from the rest of the weekend.

We were unable to even speak on the subte ride home, we departed and gave besos at our stop and I walked home. I had emailed Cecilia earlier on that day asking her if she had a facebook. She quickly added me and we sent messages back and forth and now we have plans for next weekend. Yay! Then, from her facebook, I found Zelmar's and proceeded to stalk him. haha yeah, with longer hair he looks even cuter! haha yup, plus he has pics up from his mohawk days, very nice. Katy agrees, very cute. I've got Katy's stamp of approval! haha so she told me to add him in a couple of days, she'll do the same so I don't look like such a creeper. Gah, idk what this obsession with punker kid is, maybe just my middle school self appearing out of the blue? idk but he seems pretty cool, it'd be nice to hang out with him outside of a club. It'd also be nice if Pandora worked over here, I could get my free set of punk music tailored to my interests, but no, it doesn't work over here! It couldn't be that easy.

So I was planning on writing about my Monday, but I'm tired and I want to call my parents, so I will leave that until tomorrow!