Chau, Buenos Aires...

I graduated! Woohoo! Proudly showing off my diploma, and to my left is Paola my amazing professor and amiga who has taught me muchisimo in a quick month. On the far left and right are Lorena and Carlos who founded the school together and are the sweetest couple ever. They are 29 and I have been so impressed by them professionally and personally. Lorena also teaches some of the classes and they are both at the school every day watching over us like mother hens, juggling many tasks. They have been so helpful with arranging activities for the group, assisting with travel planning, damage control, and just really go the distance to make sure everyone has a good experience at BueSpanish. They make me want to start up a language school! If you are looking for a nice place to study up on your espanol I highly recommend it.

We had a little moment of commemoration in my class as well- here I am with Paola and Nils our compadre from Sweden who taught us both a lot about the ways of the Swedes and always entertained us with his tales of life here in BA. Many serious debates and political/historical commentaries also went down as we tried to make sense of each others cultures and respective countries. So not just spanish have I learned but also a TON about Scandinavia and Argentina, and of course Holland - my joke the whole time was that I am going to leave Argentina speaking more Dutch than Spanish because everyone at the school speaks it and everyone who lived in my apartment as well.



Below is a compilation of sights and moments in BA that I have yet to share...

The famous Cafe Tortoni has been around since 1858, a classic hang-out for important artists, tangueros, and important people over the years. A must-see on the tourist checklist and a nice place to relax with a cappuccino and alfajores (the national dessert consisting of dulce de leche in between two flaky cookies and usually covered in chocolate).



I didn't know why this curious statue was sitting on a bench in San Telmo but had to take a picture with her. Now I know her name is Mafalda, a popular Argentine cartoon character in the 60's and 70's. I like her.

Ok. I have been wanting to write about this for a whole month and now I finally have a pic to demonstrate the wonders of the paseaperro (dog-walker)!!! Those with money here in BA pay for a dog-walking service, but never in my life have I witnessed such dog-walking talent. Never just 1,2, or 3 dogs. We are talking 15+ dogs here and all the dogs are ALWAYS suspiciously under control considering the circumstances. Doggie drugs anyone? I kid, but these paseaperros are no joke, really good at what they do, and they are everywhere! This moment captured was pretty classic. He realized we were running after him trying to get a photo and was loving it.

Flatmates Pieter and Natasha posando en el Subte.

The most famous soccer stadium of BA, La Bombonera, named with love after the box that holds bon-bons. The stadium itself resembles one and there is a serious sweet tooth sitch going on here in BA, so it fits perfectly.

The brilliant architectural hodge-podge of La Boca. I LOVE the colors!

Yo soy el Hiphopopotamo, mi lyrics are bottomless.

Stumbled upon a great indoor mercado in San Telmo that I wish I would have discovered before. The farmer's market bounty looked amazing!!!

Cheers to a successful month in Buenos Aires, Suzie selling her house in Holland, and new life chapters for both of us!

Now onto somehow cramming all my stuff back into my backpack and hitting the road tomorrow morning...