September 5, 2018: Mascarpone ice cream slaaaaaps!

Today was such a better day than yesterday... naturally because yesterday sucked, but also because today was awesome regardless. LOOK UP AT MY FRICKING HELADO!!!!!!!!!!

Heavenly. Just heavenly.

I woke up naturally 5 minutes before my alarm and that was a good sign. My body be knowin' what be happenin'. I ate breakfast, left way too late for class, and somehow arrived exactly on time. Class was soooo chill. Plus I brought my homemade trail mix so I was feasting. We had a guest speaker, like we always do, and then I don't even really know what we did for the next 2 hours because the teacher was just kind of circulating while we did minor work on our group blogs. I made plans with my Argentine classmate and I'm so excited to hang with her Saturday! Tonight I helped her with her English assignment haha because she's always helping me with Spanish of course.

Class got out 30 minutes early and I went to my usual Wednesday lunch place. Here is my extremely random but somewhat healthy lunch. There's fruits and veggies, and fries are potatoes so call me a health freak. I read the 64 pages of Cristobal Colon's diario that I had to read during lunch and also had a brief phone call with Emmer Pettit. When I finished eating lunch, I walked to Plaza Lavalle to continue reading before class at 3pm. I fricking love this plaza. All of the buildings that surround it are so cool and it's always good vibes. I will def be showing my fam this place when they visit. This view does not get old!!

In my second class, we had a very very interesting but also somewhat exhausting conversation about racism and racist language in Argentina and the United States. It basically revolved around the fact that the use of the term el chino is not considered racist in Argentina, but one girl was extremely offended by it and couldn't wrap her head around the fact that it is acceptable here. I think sometimes there are cultural differences that are so deeply engrained in the minds of a country's people and there's nothing you can do about it. I mean you can argue that it's racist (and in this case it certainly is) but you can't always change people's minds or understand why things are the way they are in a country whose history and culture is totally different than your own. Anyway, we got ice cream during the recreo of course and that was blesséd.

The subway ride home was insane. I was with my friend Hannah and the subway was SO unbelievably crowded that we decided to get on the train going the other way to try to board in the proper direction at a less busy stop. We were initially successful but when we finally boarded the right train, it was running with demoras (delays) and so the doors shut but the train didn't move and everyone was just packed in like sardines waiting for us to get going. And it was like this every time it stopped. People would try to jam their way on and everyone would say, "Basta basta!!" as in "enough," or, in other words, "GTFO." I swear the people here are animals when it comes to getting on the subte. They see 2 inches of room and think: "I can fit." No, sir, you cannot. Kindly get the hell out of this train car and wait for the next :))) The conductors kept making announcements saying to get away from the door, stop leaning on the door, etc. It was hectic! However, despite how long the ride was and how disgustingly sweat everyone got, it was honestly so fun. Instead of being grumpy about it, we were all kind of laughing and talking. Well in my case laughing and listening because I did not have the vocabulary to comment on the situation lol... A true bonding experience with all those people I was way too crammed in a train car with that I'll probably never see again.

Sunset tonight behind a church 2 blocks from my home.

When I arrived at my house, Laura was outside with our neighbor Ricardo, and she was painting our front door. Before I explain why, let me just go off about Ricardo for a second. He always just walks back and forth in a space of about 30 meters on the corner of our street with a feather-like object in his hand and he just touches things like doors, walls, and the street with this feather and I'll never understand it but boi do I respect it. So anyway, Laura was repainting the door because somebody did graffiti on it last night!!! It was a big silver symbol - and honestly kind of cool - but Laura said ándate a la mierda to that. She said she had to cover it for razones de seguridad because basically in the off chance that it was graffiti by a gang member, it could attract opposing gangs (or the same gang I suppose) to our house and we don't want that. I'm not really scared or anything but that's not exactly the thing you want to hear. Oh well, makes me really grateful for my safety in the US.

I had a really great conversation with Laura and it was the first time that she checked in with me without me having to bring anything up to her. She remembered so many things I told her and asked how my mama was doing! She also told me that the doctor said she needs to stop drinking wine since she's sick and she asked the doctor "but what about a small glass of wine" and he said no. Lmao I literally told her she shouldn't. So I said to her "Y qué dije??" and she said, "Yo sé, yo sé, lo dijiste." Basically, "Don't say I didn't tell ya so" and "Ya, you told me so." Lol.

After dinner, I did a small homework assignment, worked out, and showered. Now I'm going to watch a movie because it's the weekend!!!!!! I have so many fun things planned this weekend, I can't wait. Peace, love, and turtles. (Speaking of turtles, Manuelita keeps blocking the door in the morning. Excuse me, ma'am.)

Song Recommendation of the Day: "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell (...........LISTEN BAaAaAaAabaaaaaay!)

P.S. - Finally went to an ATM today and I got bandz ;)