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Once the plane touched down, you could feel the excitement amp up a bit. Finally, we can get off this metal cylinder and go to the toilet. But more importantly, we were finally here. In Argentina. A new country. In a new city. Buenos Aires.
Once we figured out the rushed and somewhat crowded baggage claim, went through customs, and -to our surprise - were allowed to cruise right through the security checkpoint because we had a group, we found Debora. Debora is an amazing lady who has the job of making sure we don't get lost or have too many 'awkward American' moments. Also, she coordinates our housing and internships with Cultural Vistas. She is awesome. True to fashion, she took us to McDonald's for coffee as soon as we met. But this wasn't just any McDonald's. It was an Argentine McDonald's. It looked chic, cool, and had a separate pastry and coffee counter. It was somewhat like a bargain Starbucks. We were impressed (minus Debora).
Once we had gotten our coffee, it was off to the car - where with the help of the driver, we got all of our luggage into the back of his SUV. We were in for a long drive, during which we all tried to stay somewhat alert and awake, since we didn't really sleep on the plane. Regardless, falling asleep in the car would have been difficult due to the fact that Argentine version of good driving is somewhat crazy (our driver was much safer than some of the others we saw) and the roads were not always smooth. Some of them were cobblestone - aesthetically pleasing, but bumpy. As we drove, we went through the outskirts of Buenos Aires, through an area with high-rise apartments, and finally arrived in Palermo Soho: our neighborhood for the next two months.
After briefly touring the house and throwing our luggage in the living room, Debra took us exploring and we had lunch along the way. Exploring Buenos Aires had three main take-aways: the sidewalks are tiled and uneven so it makes it easy to face-plant, there are lots of pigeons, and having trees (or dog poo) in the middle of the sidewalk is normal.
But also, Buenos Aires is a loud city. Not only is there lots of traffic and activity, Porteños are just expressive. Not only are they expressive, they know how to make really good food. Meandering through Palermo Soho, as the smell of gasoline and foods mingled in the air, viewing the shops that had an antique vibe to them, enjoying artesanal ice cream, and returning to the house for unpacking and a nap, made for an enjoyable afternoon. Evening came and we all had enough time to begin discussing our sight seeing plans for the upcoming week. Around 10, Debora arrived again and took us out to dinner to try a Buenos Aires specialty: Milanesa. As we soon found out, Milanesa is breaded (or not) and fried chicken or beef that is topped with various things of your choice (eggs, bacon, avocado, cheese, to name a few). It was good. As we returned home, full and exhausted from a long day, we all went to bed with a mutual anticipation of the adventure to come.