My first breath of Buenos Aires

Saturday, Feb 4^th, 2012

The 2.5 hour flight to Buenos Aires from Sao Paulo seemed longer than the 11.5 hour flight earlier. I tried to sleep, but usually ended up glancing out the window, still in disbelief that I was really en route to the city I’ve been talking about for 3 years. Finally some buildings and houses started to appear from the clouds, and through the light cover of smog, I could make out the details of Buenos Aires. I started to cry; on the one hand, I made it safely and had many more memories ahead of me, but on the other, every single thing from my life back home was thousands of miles away and would be for 10 months. It was bittersweet.

After landing, everything went just fine in customs (but a note to anyone that plans to travel here, there’s a $140 fee to just get the tourist visa when you land, so don’t come empty handed!). I’d hired a transportation service with a flat rate because there were strikes going on before I landed and the last thing I wanted was to get stuck in a cab while the meter was rising, but we were going nowhere. I talked to the chauffer during the drive into the city and at times I could understand his Spanish just fine, but other times I had to ask him to repeat himself. I sat in shocked silence for half the ride, however. I really didn’t believe the signage that was leading us to downtown Buenos Aires…

Finally we arrived at my host family’s house. I buzzed apartment 2F and waited. My host mom (who I’m gonna just call Ana, because she’s only 30) asked who it was, and I replied, “Soy Nikki” in shaky Spanish. My host dad, Juan, answered the door and greeted me with the standard kiss on the right cheek, but I forgot this is the custom and went in for the hug in an awkwardly funny first moment.

The façade of the apartment building was very inconspicuous and I wasn’t sure what to expect inside. When he opened the door to 2F, I was pleased to see a quaint apartment with bright orange and yellow walls. A cat immediately ran out from nowhere and grazed my calves over and over. Perhaps it didn’t feel like home yet, but were I to live in BA, I’d be pretty content living here.

After a much needed shower, I was invited to the kitchen for some pizza. While the pizza was leftover from previously, it tasted delicious and I ate both slices. One of them had arugula all over it, and before eating they asked me if I liked arugula, to which I said yes. I’m pretty ambivalent about arugula, but my best friend loves it, so it was one way to help me not feel so far from home (later they talked about polenta, Lauren…).

My roommate, who I’d still yet to meet finally came back from the orientation that I’d missed and joined me on the balcony where I was standing, trying to take everything in. At first I was leery of having a roommate because I usually like to do things by myself…but then I remembered that using the buddy system in this city was going to be my best option. And after living in a sorority for 2.5 years, I can handle anybody. We chatted briefly with each other and our host family for a bit where shortly thereafter we wanted to go to bed for all the things that would await us in the morning.