November 28, 2018: A bittersweet but mostly sad goodbye to Cassie

How does one go about saying goodbye to their best friend in the Southern Hemisphere??? Well if they're me, they split a waffle with their bff and cry a lot!

I started the day off by going to Pili's (Loli's sister) play. It consisted of 8 scenes with a mix of characters from a bunch of famous works and famous playwrights. I didn't understand a ton but I was absolutely entertained! Plus they had free refreshments in the lobby area and you know I took advantage of that.

I walked home afterwards, packed up for a day at the park, and then Cassie, Adam, and I walked to Parque Rosedal. We were supposed to meet Loli there and we ended up sitting around for about an hour and half waiting for her. Poor gal was disoriented.

We looked at the rose garden while we waited and the roses were beautiful! I think my favorites are the kind of orangey-red-pink ones, but all were so pretty.

When Loli arrived, the 4 of us did paddle-boating, or biciscafo as it's called in Spanish. Adam and I were the pedallers and it was surprisingly way harder than it looked. The pedals were more narrow than the width of our feet and they kept slipping out but we got the job done. We took a nice big loop through the lake at Rosedal and it was a fun and tranquil time.

Loli had to be somewhere at 4:00pm so she left shortly afterwards and then Cassie and I decided to buy some facturas (pastries) from 2 men selling them. There was a deal for 18 of them for only 80 pesos, which is insane! We now understand the price was based on the quality lol but it was still worth it I think.

Despite mildly stuffing our faces with these treats, we decided to run right after. Or rather, I forced Cassie to run with me right after. This poor womanz. Bless her heart for putting up with me. We actually stumbled across a guy in our program, Jimmy, slack-lining in the park while we were running! Might be the last time I ever see him... interesting.

We did a workout and then stretched and started the walk back with Adam, who so kindly watched our stuff while we ran. Things got rather... heated... with Adam so we walked our separate ways home and cooled off. While I was home, I essentially did very little, but I conversed with Clarisa for a bit and wrote Cassie a goodbye letter. She leaves on December 1st and by the time I get back to Buenos Aires, she'll have already left :(

Around 8:30pm I walked over to Cassie's, talked to her lovely host mom for a while, and then gave Cassie her letter and a little square of dulce de leche. We agreed to meet up later and do some freegan hunting! I ate my leftover pizza when I got home and then Adam and I met up to talk things out and resettle the peace.

Adam, Cassie, and I then began our adventure. Sadly we found no free food. Well, kind of. We found what I thought was free food but was actually somebody's meal... my confrontation with the waiter and with the customer was intensely uncomfortable to say the absolute least. Oh well, I'll never see them again! Adam also came across some beautiful looking fried rice but it seemed to have meat in it so he had to let it go :(

The only way to make up for our lack of freegan finds was to go eat a waffle. Cassie and I ordered the same apple crumble waffle that we got last time and it was just as good... better than I remember actually...

Is yo mouth drooling yet?!?!

Adam headed to his hostel to get to bed and Cassie and I finished up our waffle and paid. We walked back to her apartment for one final time and both agreed it hadn't really hit us yet that we wouldn't be hanging out together in Argentina any more. We said goodbye outside her apartment steps and it wasn't until we hugged that I let out some tears.

I am so grateful for Cassie's friendship. She was by my side for some of my hardest moments not only abroad, but in life. Living alone in a foreign country is a huge learning experience and I'm lucky to have had such a considerate friend to have gone through it with me and supported me. We have tons of fun memories and I hope one day we can make more in the US. Wouldn't want to split a waffle with anyone else!

Cheers to great friendships and meeting people who change your life :)

Song Recommendation of the Day: "Ya No Tiene Novio" by Sebastian Yatra, Mau, & Ricky