Sweet Home Buenos Aires

***Disclaimer*** This is my first ever blog post, so forgive any tangents, any boring spells, or any poorly elaborated thoughts. Aside from that, hope you enjoy.

Five years ago, when I was a high school senior, if someone had asked me where I thought I'd be now, my answer probably would have sounded something like this:

"In five years I will have graduated college, I will be in my first year of medical school at a top university, and I will also be married to the man of my dreams."

For those of you who know me, you know that only one of those predictions has actually been realized (so far, I'm definitely still hoping that the 3rd prediction will come true eventually...) – I just graduated from college in December. None of what I'm currently doing would have even entered my mind.

Yesterday morning at 6:45 (4:45 am East Coast time) I landed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, my new home as I try to .  Though I've been here before, this is the first time I will be here longer than a month and doing something other than just vacationing and visiting family. Before the flight, there were certain fears and worries that monopolized my thoughts, one of which was safety and adjusting to being in a city where there is a decent chance of being robbed or assaulted.  Granted, that chance is always larger or smaller depending on where you are in the city and the time of day and whether you look like a "gringo" or a "yankee" or an easy target, but still, after having lived most of my life in places where I never had to really worry about that, it was slightly daunting. Of course, the more one dwells upon something, the worse or more extreme it always seems, so once I actually arrived, settled into my apartment, and saw some family and friends, those fears turned into a more rational alertness and then took a back seat to an optimistic excitement.

Yesterday was a day of adjusting. Adjusting to speaking another language 24/7. Adjusting to a new apartment, neighborhood, city, country. Adjusting to a different schedule, pace, culture. It wore me out (that and the less than 3 hours of sleep that I managed on the plane the night before). Despite my exhaustion, I was unable to rest, for which I am ironically thankful. While it was a day of adjusting, it was also a day of discovering new opportunities in academics, soccer, and friendships.

Some green in the midst of the city

After a short couple of hours in the apartment, my parents and I went to Puerto Madero, a beautiful part of Buenos Aires right on the river, to visit the Catholic University (la UCA) and to find out about the post-graduate program in literature. Within an hour of getting back to the apartment, two of my friends who I met during my time training with the Argentinian National Team in 2011, Fabiana and Yamila, came to visit. I think my grandmother was in heaven, or close to it at least. Within a period of a month, she went from living alone with a caretaker to having her daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter, and two young friends sharing the apartment with her. The girls ended up staying the night as we made a couple of makeshift beds for a "pyjama party" (or so my friends dubbed it).

Considering that this post has quickly become rather long, I will wait to talk about my first day of training at River Plate until a later date. Hasta luego!