I'm ready for my close-up, Señor DeMille.

I got bored on the flight to Houston and started ripping out ads from Sky Mall, like this Brobdingnagian Sports Chair or the Street Strider (which is just one synonym away from Street Walker): One is for men compensating for something and other is on par with a Segway but with the exponentially worse addition of physical activity that makes you want to tell them "Just get a bike." But I have left America...

Two cities and 15 hours later, several of the other students in the program met the academic program people at the airport, and they herded us into the atrium to order taxis. When I walked out of the customs area there were television cameras everywhere, and I thought to myself, "I know I'm a big deal, but not television worthy at the moment. I wonder if they heard of our blog?" Alas, this blog is not famous yet, and I paused for second to observe the futbol team that had just walked out. The cameras were there for them, but on the other hand, I was already rubbing elbows with Argentine footballers. Welcome to Buenos Aires.

My host mother is an adorable little woman who bakes cakes, and talks to me all the time. I get about 40% of it, but the constant bombardment is the dictionary definition of immersion. The soft "j" sound, especially in common words like "calle" and "ella" is harder to get used to, but I'll probably be speaking like a porteña soon enough.

We spent the evening with her friend and her American student from the East Coast, sharing maté and talking about all sorts of topics from politics to pizza. Whenever we got stuck on a word or concept (trying explaining what a McGriddle or a guido is in Spanish), the internet was there to save the day. Thank God for technology and wi-fi.

I'm realizing that my Spanish is bad, but it's functional. I lack the discipline to just speak slowly and say things correctly because I want so badly to contribute to the conversation. The result is tons of errores imperdonables and garbled sentences that are more along the lines of "Me Tarzan. You Jane."

And it's also winter here. It'll be above 32 degrees F or 4 degrees C tomorrow. Bienvenido a la Ciudad.

--Nicole

P.S. Props to Megan for figuring out how to subscribe via email. It works now!