la primera noche

The first night...

Was successful! Ok, so I was super concerned about me being able to make it all night, because my going out routine is much much much different in America than here. In the U.S., you leave a bar or a club at 2 a.m. In Argentina, that's when everyone starts to inquire which one we're going to. But thanks to the 6 hour behind-ness from the jet lag, by 1 a.m. I was rarin to go, feeling like a nice, chipper 7 p.m.

Acutally, I didn't even end up leaving the hostel because we were having so much fun hanging out here. There's a rooftop bar/lounge area and I stayed there for hours talking with people from Australia, England, some from the U.S. and Israel. We talked U.S. politics which, as most of you know, I really enjoy discussing, so it was awesome to see what others had to say/ask about our election process. One Australian girl thought it was Barak and Hilary running in different parties and when I said, no, this is just their primary, she was like, then why can't they join together and stop being so angry? GOOD POINT! It was a fun discussion. I even somehow got so comfortable with these people, some of my stand-up material came out. Sorry Mom and Dad, but now people all over the world know about Dirty Scattagories and Agressive Scrabble.

I hung out with some very cute Australian guys travelling all over Argentina, met a girl named Whitney who's from Marin County (small mundo!), a guy from New York who's planning to start up his own winery in Mendoza some day, and some other Australians who are travelling the world together then settling down to become schoolteachers.

Traveling really gives you a sense of who's out there and what their dreams and goals are. It's such a neat experience and I can't wait to meet more people like them.

-kate