2/13-2/18: The Program Has Begun.

But first a brief update (if anyone is actually reading this?):

I had a wonderful last week by myself. My Valentine's Day was quite eventful: Buenos Aires and I woke up to a very rough start and I was really fed up with some of the shit he's been putting me through. I went to the laundromat and, upon realizing that my clothing wouldn't be ready until the next day (the way laundromats work here is that you pay people a teensy bit of money (about 3 bucks or less) to wash, dry, and fold your clothes for you, usually within a day or less), I realized I had absolutely no clean underwear or socks. The adventure began there. I took the subway to an area of the city where you can get pretty much anything dirt cheap, bought some legit BA underwear and socks for, like, 2 bucks total, changed in a McDonald's and then tried to find a bus to find a really cool clothing store where I was planning on giving myself a little Valentine's Day present. But my fucking asshole of a boyfriend Buenos Aires just wouldn't let me find the right bus. The bus guide made absolutely no sense, I got on a bus going the wrong direction, it was about 95 degrees outside, a stranger asked me for a sip of Coke and then chugged the rest of the bottle, it was a rough day to say the least. But, like the good lover he is, Buenos Aires made it up to me and helped me find the right bus, find the clothing store, and buy the sickest T-shirt I've ever seen (it's a little too hip for me, actually). I went to a club later that night and met a cool guy from Brazil, and he and I decided to be each other's wingmen until he left to go back home in a few days. We went to a club, and, since I've been growing some balls I approached three different guys to introduce myself and was rejected three times in a row (the funniest was one guy: my friend walks over to him and his friend and says, "Hey, if I dance with you, will your friend dance with mine?" The guy turned, looked at me, and said, "No" plain and simple. Haha Happy Fucking Valentine's Day, cabron!).

The next day I got a membership at a gym because, hey why not? It's cheap and I'm going to have a lot of free-time. I went out with my Brazilian friend again that night, met a hot little rugby guy named Guido (haha, he is not a Guido though.), made out for a few hours, and went home. Had a low-key day that Saturday and Sunday, reading, relaxing, not spending money. And then this morning I left my apartment for good. It was actually pretty sad leaving it, knowing I was going to be living with an old widow (pretty much a guaranteed cockblock) and would probably lose my limitless freedom I had had.

With my 1203948710259861 lb. bag, this morning I left my apartment, chilled in a park for a few hours and then went to the brief orientation. Afterward, a few of the students and I decided to get lunch, and I made SUCH a bad first impression: I've been alone for so long I've pretty much forgotten how to converse like a normal person and made them all think I'm crazy or coked-up or something. I'm exaggerating a little bit, because I did hit it off with a few people, mostly New Yorkers, and I made a few friends (tomorrow morning I'm going to meet everyone in my program, all 150 of them. Jesus!). Then I went to move in to my host apartment.

I found the neighborhood and it's so lovely. The botanical gardens are literally a block down from me, it's quiet, it's clean, and there are trees everywhere. I got so used to life in my old apartment (with a bar downstairs and fucking drunkies stumbling home yelling the Pink Panther theme song at 4 in the morning) that I almost forgot how wonderful it is to have some peace and quiet. My host mother is an ancient widow named Beba. She's probably 70, with leathery skin, dyed brown hair, and a gravelly smoker's voice. We hit it off by smoking a cigarette and swapping family stories. We went to the grocery store and then she treated me to dinner. She's a little quiet, so it's been a bit awk, but not really. If anything, she's very low-maintenance, I can already tell. Well, time to go to bed because my program is making me show up for orientation activities every day this week at 9 or 10. Fuckkkkkkkk