Greeting everyone!  I'm back and this time I mean it.  Living in a new country has been exciting, overwhelming, and exhausting.  I think my body is exhausted and I've got a small cold, but my spirits are high!  I've been living the past month in a beautiful little apartment in Caballito, a wonderful authentic "Porteño" (from Buenos Aires) neighborhood geographically at the center of the city.  As much as I enjoyed my apartment, and American roommate, I really wanted a more authentic living experience with Argentines.  Unfortunately, this is hard to find as most Argentines live with their parents until they are well along into their professional careers or have families.

Fortunately, I was able to find an apartment with two Argentine guys that are both very friendly and use to living with foreigners (such as having to explain lunfardo - local Porteño slang - words and sayings).  This will help improve my spanish as well.  To also help with this, I'm taking spanish classes 5 days a week for 4 hours.  Learning all this technical grammar that I know I've already learned, but forgotten, is exhausting though.

That's right ladies and gentlemen, Thomas Mendez is officially a graduate student.  My classes start the 15th of March, and I'm very excited.  The faculty and staff at the school are friendly and intelligent, and the campus is beautiful, located in Puerto Madero, the port area, with some of the most expensive real estate in the city.  I'll be sure to snap some pictures of the area as soon as I get a voltage converter for my camera so I can charge it to take more pictures (should have thought of that!)

In addition to my academic and personal adventures, I have been working the Rotary scene as well.  I am so lucky to have a great and helpful host counselor (far left), pictured here with the vice-president (far right) of my host club, Villa Lugano.  I have attended two meetings of the club.  The first one was an asado (see below) with family members of various Rotarians.  It was a really great experience, and my first encounter with many members of Villa Lugano since my official arrival.  They accepted me warmly and it was very comforting, knowing I have such a welcoming and loving Rotary family here in Buenos Aires.

This is a picture from the Villa Lugano "asado" which was delicious, and I will discuss shortly.  The man I'm sitting next to here is the "Bill Barmore" (for you Rotarians reading this) in Buenos Aires.  He is the scholarship coordinator for Ambassadorial scholars and I'm not sure what all of his responsibilites include, but he is planning on getting all of the Ambassadorial scholars in the BsAs area together along with the District Governor.  He is a great guy, as are all of the Rotarians here that I've met and a member of the Villa Lugano club.

Also, I promise we were all having a great time, even though the people on my side of the table don't particularly look like it.  This picture must have been taken between laughs, or maybe everyone was too busy enjoying the meat, which reminds me...

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a humble "parrilla" (grill) at a friendly Rotarian "asado" (BBQ).  What's amazing about this picture, if you ask your humble correspondent, is not how great this particularly asado was, but that in reality it was pretty average according to Argentine standards.  

You have not experienced Argentina if you have not tried its delicious beef (not to mention pork, veal, and more).  Argentina has the highest consumption of beef per capita in the world.  For all you vegetarians, I highly recommend you check your non-meat eating habits along with your baggage at the airport before coming to visit (I need some healthy suspension of disbelief here from you, the reader, so we can ignore the fact that you should ideally pick up your baggage upon your arrival).  Eating beef is such an essential part of the Argentina experience, and one of my favorites. 

For you vegetarians out there unwilling or unable to shirk your eating regiment for an Argentina adventure, do not despair.  Though meat is definitely an Argentine staple, there are many delicious vegetarian options, which will have to wait for another post though unfortunately.

Sorry for the delay in the update folks, and I look forward to sharing more info about my time here...Now I'm off to have a delicious choripan...I'll share this beautiful edible creation in another entry. Hasta luego!