Well, everybody, here is another first
for me: I'm living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, right now. My main
goal is to learn Spanish to a comfortable conversational level.
Then, go back to the States and go back to school, probably for
Electrical and Computer Engineering. I've been learning Spanish since
I was in middle school, but nothing ever really stuck. I've always
wanted to be able to converse in another language. So, after saving a
bit of money, I decided, kind of on a whim, that I wanted to move
somewhere and learn by living. I chose Buenos Aires for that. With
that decision, I'm taking care of two goals with one move: learning
Spanish and living in another country.
Who knows if Argentina was the right
decision, what with their inflation and their artificially low
exchange rate. I believe I made the best decision I could have made,
right now. And, that's all that matters. I do and will miss my
friends and family while I'm gone, but nothing is forever, and we'll
be see each other sooner than we think. That's what skype is for,
anyway. It's like I'm not even gone!
Living in another country definitely is
very different, right from the get go, than living in most of the
parts of the States I've lived in. For instance, water seems to
fluctuate, a lot, in many different ways. One example, we don't have
much hot water right now, anywhere! I took a shower this morning and
I, very selectively, chose where and what I got wet. It was FRIGID!
Then, there's the issue of pressure not in the shower, but in other
areas of the house. A trickle of water doesn't help much when you
need to wash a few dishes. Overall, however, it doesn't bother me too
much. I didn't expect Buenos Aires to be exactly like the States, and
if I did I wouldn't have come here.
As I get better at Spanish, I hope to
write some of this blog in Spanish. But, that's for later.