This entry will be without photo, and it’ll be a quieter one as I sit to gain some perspective on what’s gone down already (only been here a day, seems like so much longer).

I think that it’s easy to lose sight of original intentions when you go on a trip like this. Because everything is so new and exciting, you caught up in the “what” instead of the “why”. Sure enough, my goal is to eventually start doing small multimedia projects, but I also want to be conscious of how I fit into the big picture — who I am as an American, as a journalism student, as a son of two immigrants, etc.

So far, I met tons of foreigners at the Milhouse party — parties and social drinking are a good ways of meeting people in Buenos Aires (not to mention every other part of the world). I’ve met people from England, Australia, Holland, Germany, Brazil and Paraguay. It’s incredible how many languages people know. Speaking English and Spanish, I feel I know enough to get by, but a lot of people here can speak four languages. Especially those polyglots from Brazil — one of the girls spoke Portuguese, English, Spanish and French.

Most people are in their early to mid-20s. Some people are here on vacation for a week or two. One of the British guys, James (name changed for privacy), graduated from college, worked for a year to save money, and is now on a two-year voyage around the world. For him, the next step is Vietnam.

I managed to get into a club called Crobar last night where they played tons of American music, remixed electronica style, and really the scene was no different than anything in the States: some dancing, some not, some good at dancing, others not, etc.

I don’t know where I’m going with this necessarily, but these are all pieces of the puzzle and I’m going to be assembling them throughout the semester. By the end, I hope to have a somewhat coherent picture, though I’m not really sure of what.

I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of this, but toward the end of the trip up from the Ezeiza Airport (a little more than an hour’s drive from the center of Buenos Aires), I saw a lot of blasted buildings and slums, which made me feel a little sad. When I asked the driver what city it was, he said it was Buenos Aires. At the same time, both he, my Tio Rico and Maria (my uncle’s friend) loved to talk about the Argentina and how great it is. Maria said that for those who really want to work, as in every part of the world, there are opportunities in the country to get ahead, have a nice home, Internet connection, the works.

Well, every country, city, area and thing in life for that matter has good and bad aspects to it. I’m going to go off and find out more of Buenos Aires’ right now.

Just two more quick anecdotes.

One: A piece of paper (one of those little tourist maps) fell out of my pocket and a gentlemen called out to me, walked halfway down the street in my direction to catch my attention, and kindly told me about it.

Two: I was in a cab coming home with Gabby (changed for privacy), a girl from Brazil, and Nealsen (changed for privacy), a guy from Holland, and Gabby gave the cab driver a 100 peso note to get change. To make a long story short, when Gabby got the note back it was a counterfeit bill. Whether it was counterfeit before she handed it to him or not I’m not sure, but she claims that he’s the second cab driver to give her bad cash.

Apparently the cab drivers here also take advantage of foreigners by taking longer routes around the city. And I heard that cab drivers sell drugs as well. These things are probably true everywhere in the world, but I’ll have to ask around.

Location: Avenida de Mayo 1245, Buenos Aires, Argentina